Terms and Conditions - Hotel, England - plain English
Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2008-01-26 09:01:37 - Graham Ellis
With our hotel getting busier every month, and with advertising in place to fill rooms at weekends and holidays when our training courses are not in full swing, it seems a good time to update our terms and conditions.
On one hand, I wanted to cover almost every eventuality, but on the other hand I wanted the text to be easily read and understood - in plain English, with the sections all logically arranged so that people can easily find what they're looking for ... and when they do find it, I want them to be able to understand it, and to consider it fair. I really dislike the "small print" philosophy that many people seem to adopt, especially when they print in mid-grey on a slightly lighter grey background!
See what you think of ours - this should open in a separate window for you:
One of the other aspects of a set of terms and conditions is a need for our staff to understand them, and also for our staff to know the reasons behind them. So the page that you may just have looked at if you clicked on that link above needs some additional "behind the counter" comments for our own team. I've provided that via our Wiki system - indeed that's where the terms and conditions are maintained. If you have a look at them, you'll see
but our staff, logged in via their passwords, will see additional comments in blue:
Some of the elements of our terms and conditions will vary significantly from those for other accommodations - our approach is to provide a home from home for the businessman visiting the area, or for the discerning tourist. And we feel that the best way to do that is not to have a cash till at every corner looking to take more money, nor a set of rules that force extra expenditure on our guests over and above the base room rate. So "bring in your own food" and "invite your contacts in for a complimentary coffee" wouldn't suit other establishments. Having said that, readers are welcome to grab our ideas if they wish - but make sure they suit your needs, and please provide a link back to Well House Manor along these lines:
