Jason Manford takes swipe at hotel chain's 'ridiculous policy' after being forced to share room

Daily Record

2 days ago

Comedian Jason Manford has slammed a popular hotel chain for making him share a room after giving his room away to another guest.
Jason Manford has lashed out at a 'ridiculous' hotel policy after he was forced to share a room with a friend as the hotel was overbooked. The 44-year-old comedian was in Bournemouth on Saturday for his A Manford All Season show and was absolutely disgusted by the hotel.
Staff at the Village Hotel told Jason the place was overbooked for the night, and that his room had been sold to someone else as he arrived so late in the day.
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Due to the issue, the comedian was forced to share a room with his friend Steve, the Mirror reports. Jason took to social media to blast the popular hotel chain.
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Sharing a video on X, formally known as Twitter, he said: "So we got to our hotel tonight in Bournemouth and it's fully booked. We were like, 'Fine, that's good - well done you'. They went, 'No, no, as in like without you'. So me and Steve, obviously [we're] in separate rooms. And then we just discovered that basically if it's fully booked it means that, [you have to share]."
"Okay, don't worry, it is what it is, these things happen - all that b******t! I mean we spent all day together! Oh, well, at least we've got a nice view of the car park. Oh well, these things happen and all that. Worse things happen at sea. But Village Hotel, just beware, if you are booking and it's a busy day in a busy city..."
Clearly getting wound up by the situation, he continued: "I mean, we're lucky that [our booking] was two rooms because that fella coming behind us, a doctor as well, and no room for him. He just had to walk out, and like and there's no rooms anywhere in Bournemouth tonight. Naughty that, naughty. I've heard of aeroplanes doing it, but I've never known in 25 years of touring, a hotel doing it. That's not on, that is not on."
Jason then went on to show the bedroom the pair had been given, adding: "So we've managed to make best of our situation. But that poor doctor, maybe he could sleep on the floor! Anyway, good night."
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In the caption, he said: "What's your minimum expectation when you book a room at @Villagehotelsup? Staff were lovely but policy stinks!"
The next day Jason returned to social media to reveal the hotel management had been in touch and asked him to remove the video. However he refused to take it down, saying he wanted to warn people about the company's practice.
Additionally, Jason expressed that it wasn't the staff's fault but the company itself.
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"What I will say is it's not the staff's fault. And this is the problem with these big companies. That is somebody in an office, making a policy that makes them more money, but they don't have to deal with the s**t," he said to the camera.
"I didn't kick off, but I can imagine people would. So the staff then have to deal with upset customers and getting vitriol in heightened emotional situations. So I'm not going to take the video down, because I think it's right that people know that's what your company are doing."
"And I'm going to leave it up as a bit of support for the staff, who aren't being paid as much as the person who made the decision is and how much that person is making out of this ridiculous policy. So bear that in mind if these things do happen, same with an aeroplane. We've all been there, we've all been in a moment where the person we're in contact with is the person that's going to get it."
He concluded, saying: "But we have to take a step back sometimes, just remember that person is just doing their job and they don't like it either. In fact that's what the manager said to me last night, 'I don't like this either, I hate it'. It takes a video like this and us talking about it for them, hopefully to have a little look at their policies and think maybe this is not in the best interest of our staff and certainly not of the customer."