Re: More tax dodgers targetted by HMRC : Fri Aug 02, 2013 9:14 am  

Big Graeme wrote:

You do misunderstand, pooling tips ensures those who work just as hard back of house get a proportion of the tips.

Fair enough (and thanks for that, I hadn't realised) but it doesn't affect my point about how they should get a fair wage anyway.
If I buy a shirt at M&S the service I get is determined by a system and is not reflected by tipping, so why should it be like that in a restaurant?

Re: More tax dodgers targetted by HMRC : Fri Aug 02, 2013 10:07 am  

Big Graeme wrote:

Same old Tories, if you don't vote for them they couldn't give a stuff.

My present potted theory is that, in 2013, they really don't actually care whether people vote for them or not, they must know with certainty that they have zero chance of being re-elected yet are doing nothing about it. Instead they seem to be hell-bent on offering protection, advantages and doing cosy deals with big business, carry on as usual with banks, line the pockets of the big insurers, crack on with more crazy PFI schems and "outsourcing", hell they even talk about privatising the courts and the borders etc. Maybe some of them will do rather well out of it with non-exec directorships etc in the near future. Maybe some already have.

Re: More tax dodgers targetted by HMRC : Fri Aug 02, 2013 10:18 am  

Mintball wrote:

:lol:

T'Other Half spotted a review there once for a cafe/restaurant that we regularly use in Paris (it's superb for people watching).

It was written by a man who had been to the upstairs restaurant with his wife and child. The child, he acknowledged in this 'review', had been standing on chairs etc, but having done nothing himself, he was appalled that one of the staff was quite "rude" about it.

Talk about a lack of self-awareness.

Trip Advisor is the bain of every hotelier and restauranteur in the country and yet can make or break their business.

To use the hotel of my inside knowledge they now have pro-active management who reply to most guest comments and the most oft-used phrase is on the lines of "I wish you had mentioned this while you were staying with us", or a more polite version of that - time and again they ask every guest at check out if they have enjoyed their stay and most of them state how much they have enjoyed it, only to then moan like hell when they get home and sit in front of their computer.

This particular hotel has recently appointed a new chef and apparently he is superb and is getting the reviews to match, just looking at some of the comments they've received this week on TA there is one that has marked the hotel down two stars for the simple reason that they didn't have baked beans for breakfast, they then go on to say how they loved the rest of their stay but not having baked beans for breakfast was a two star deal breaker - f'kin idiots

The best I saw though was a couple who complained that the reception staff had been rude and insolent at check out when this couple had tried to make a complaint about their room, unfortunately for them the hotel manager happened to be observing his reception at the time as part of their training duties and his comment on TA to them is priceless, basically the couple were lying through their teeth, hadn't complained at all and had received perfectly courteous service at checkout - in all seriousness the hotels now recognise that there is an element of statutory complaint in order to get a reduction on bills and/or free or heavily discounted re-visits.

Why the fook would you accept a free stay at a hotel you've just slagged off (but they do)

Re: More tax dodgers targetted by HMRC : Fri Aug 02, 2013 10:34 am  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

My present potted theory is that, in 2013, they really don't actually care whether people vote for them or not, they must know with certainty that they have zero chance of being re-elected yet are doing nothing about it. Instead they seem to be hell-bent on offering protection, advantages and doing cosy deals with big business, carry on as usual with banks, line the pockets of the big insurers, crack on with more crazy PFI schems and "outsourcing", hell they even talk about privatising the courts and the borders etc. Maybe some of them will do rather well out of it with non-exec directorships etc in the near future. Maybe some already have.

As I mentioned the other day, 206 of 'our' Parliamentarians have recent or current private financial interests in private healthcare. They got to vote on privatising the NHS.

And that's just one subject.

Re: More tax dodgers targetted by HMRC : Fri Aug 02, 2013 10:36 am  

JerryChicken wrote:

... Why the fook would you accept a free stay at a hotel you've just slagged off (but they do)

They probably aren't overly fond of bloggers either, but I do attempt to post from a properly critical perspective.

Re: More tax dodgers targetted by HMRC : Fri Aug 02, 2013 10:58 am  

Mintball wrote:

They probably aren't overly fond of bloggers either, but I do attempt to post from a properly critical perspective.

No, its a well recognised and very commonly used blag at check-out now, to complain bitterly about some random and inconsequential (and sometimes invented) problem, then when offered a future free nights stay they grab it with both hands and walk out with a big grin.

There have been some customers noted who have then repeated the tactic on their return visit too in order to blag another free stay, its not usually offered a second time around

Re: More tax dodgers targetted by HMRC : Fri Aug 02, 2013 11:09 am  

Thing is with TripAdvisor, you can see straight through the stupid-trivial-complaint-blown-up-into-a-major-incident-stuff and the over-the-top-friend-of-the-owner doing-a-favour stuff.
You get to able to judge from it anyway.
If a place gets nothing but complaints, there's got to be a reason.
If an American liked the service and says so on TripAdvisor, wow, it's got to be top-notch.

As my work has taken me all over the place over the years and as my indulgences have also been travel and eating-out, I have contributed to TripAdvisor (fairly, I like to think) about hotels and restaurants, usually on either end of the satisfaction scale ... I mean what's the point posting about Pizza Express for example, doesn't everyone already know it's acceptably bland but out-competed by Zizzi?

Re: More tax dodgers targetted by HMRC : Fri Aug 02, 2013 11:15 am  

I once started a TA review of a Travel Lodge in Birmingham with "I must have stayed at a different place to everyone who has already reviewed this place" because I found it perfectly acceptable in line with the Travel Lodge business model.

All of the reviews that preceded mine were having a right old go at it and rating it one star, in a perverse way I was looking forward to staying there just to see how bad it was, but it was fine, as a Travel Lodge it was exactly what it said on the tin.

Strange enough, every review that followed mine then said "Yeah I thought it was ok too..."

Re: More tax dodgers targetted by HMRC : Fri Aug 02, 2013 11:20 am  

Mintball wrote: It was outlawed – became law in 2009. I'm surprised this lot haven't repealed that one already.They could always throw in the staff meals as remuneration too, so if they take a meal during their duty, the restaurant could dock them the £60 or so it would usually charge a punter

Mintball wrote: It was outlawed – became law in 2009. I'm surprised this lot haven't repealed that one already.They could always throw in the staff meals as remuneration too, so if they take a meal during their duty, the restaurant could dock them the £60 or so it would usually charge a punter

Re: More tax dodgers targetted by HMRC : Fri Aug 02, 2013 11:49 am  

JerryChicken wrote:

I once started a TA review of a Travel Lodge in Birmingham with "I must have stayed at a different place to everyone who has already reviewed this place" because I found it perfectly acceptable in line with the Travel Lodge business model.
All of the reviews that preceded mine were having a right old go at it and rating it one star, in a perverse way I was looking forward to staying there just to see how bad it was, but it was fine, as a Travel Lodge it was exactly what it said on the tin..."

I've done similar ... and also the opposite, for places that preceding reviewers seemed to have thought that, because it was swanky and they paid a lot, it must have been excellent.
If I pay a lot, I expect highly.
If I pay a little, I expect accordingly.