I recently stayed at a hotel in Stansted airport and a short while later got a speculative invoice from a parking company.

Normally I ignore but as this was an expensive hotel I had assumed parking was included.

When I rang the hotel they said I should have indicated parking on the booking (I must have missed it) but the hotel said if I paid them a £35 administration charge they will get the ticket cancelled.

It makes me wonder what the parking company are invoicing me for?

Which hotel was it please?

HB

also, who is the parking co.

I can see a successful argument with ther hotel chain over hidden terms in their contract and also their £35 admin fee being way above their actual costs so also not legal and grounds for a complaint.

Some of the bigger hotels offer a parking service to people other than customers

so there is a reasonable cause to bill people who are just dumping their cars there whist going to gatwick but in your case this doesnt hold.

If you get no joy after throwing stones as high up the tree as possible

you can always leave them factual but damaging reviews on a multitude of review sites like Trip Advisor

. Let them do their bit first though and start by complaining to head office

and mention the unfair contracts clauses regs regarding both the parking rigmarole and the unlawful admin charge.

Please let us know the answers to the questions asked above.

However, if I were you I would pay the "administration charge" demanded by the hotel. Then when the parking fine was definitely cancelled, I would go back and challenge the hotel and demand that they provide me with a full breakdown of the administration charge to show that it really does represent any losses that they have incurred. I rate the chances of you getting your £35 back as very high.

It all smacks of unethical practice and trickery doesn't it? Well they don't like it up 'em.

not sure about that,

it could be claimed that you are creating and agreeing to a separate contract

but on the plus side it shows that the contract with the parking co is invalid UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE as the driver has the power to negotiate their own deal with anyone else in the hotel chain they see fit to talk to.

If you fancy going down that route get everything recorded,

whether on the phone or in writing so you can screw them down if need be

Sorry for the late reply it was Hampton by Hilton and being a bit absent minded it was actually Stansted Ariport and it was Parking Eye

Thank you for the information, I've amended your thread title.

HB