I booked a "hotel credit offer" rate at the Sofitel St. James, which included a 50 pound credit per night toward hotel services (food, drink, etc.). I learned at checkout, though, that "per night" in their vocabulary means "per calendar day". So if you check in at 3pm, you can choose to apply your credit toward charges between 3pm and midnight that day, or between 12:01am and your checkout time the following day, but not both. You can't use 25 pounds at the bar at night, and 25 for breakfast the next day; one or the other but not both. For me this meant that I got credit for 111 pounds (not 150, as should have been the case) on a 3 day stay where I spent over 200 pounds on hotel services. The offer is misleading at best, potentially bordering on fraudulent.

I asked for the manager, pointed out that I stay at the hotel once a month or so, and no accommodation was offered. This was my first bad experience there, so I will give them another try, but the service I received was truly awful, even hostile.

I know Sofitel offers this rate plan at other hotels...has anyone had similar problems elsewhere?