A woman claims that she and her group of mates were told they weren't allowed to laugh while staying at a luxury hotel.
Vanessa, Kathy and Sue, and mum Francesca recently checked into the Grand Hyatt Melbourne for a special weekend away.
To mark Vanessa's 41st birthday, the quartet pushed the boat out, forking out $2,000 (£1,006) for the short stay.
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However, their excitement quickly turned to utter disbelief when they realised how strict the hotel's rules were.
Speaking to Kidspot, Sue said they immediately had a run-in with staff at the five-star establishment when they sat down for a drink at its Grand Club Lounge on 21 July.
“We were talking and having a little laugh, like regular women would do when you’re having a light drink,” the 56-year-old recalled.
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“I noticed that the staff were speaking to someone on their laptop on the other side of the room, and one of them came over to us and said to ‘keep it down’. And we were thinking, ‘Keep down what?’."
Despite them believing they were talking at a ‘normal, respectable’ level, the group were apparently approached again by another member of staff.
Vanessa claimed: “Another staff member came over and asked us again to ‘keep it down’ and to ‘stop laughing’.
“We actually thought he was joking. We were in shock. We had no idea what was going on, then the guy on the laptop walked past us and said, ‘bloody women’.
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"That’s when we left. It was rude, awkward and uncomfortable.”
But the friends' ordeal was not over there. The following evening, they returned to the Grand Club Lounge for some complimentary drinks and canapés.
“Within 10 minutes, they came to us and said, ‘You’re being too loud’," Vanessa said.
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“We didn’t even have any alcohol - we were drinking tea. Our friend cracked it and said, ‘This is ridiculous’. Even the table next to us looked shocked and said, ‘What are you girls doing that’s so wrong?’”
Following the second run-in, Vanessa and her gang went back to Kathy and Sue’s room, thinking they would be safe there.
But not long after tucking onto their teas and coffees at around 10pm, a member of staff knocked on to tell them they had received a complaint about noise coming from their room.
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And Vanessa claimed that they were offered a 'laughing and talking room' for a few hours.
"It was so bizarre," she said.
On top of that, the group was also hit with a $400 (£201) for allegedly bringing two extra guests with them, which they strenuously denied.
“They were not in our group at all, yet we were charged for them," Vanessa said. "We asked how we could prove that they weren’t our guests but there were no options. We couldn’t believe it.”
Since making her own complaint, Vanessa and her group have received a $500 (£250) refund, but are now demanding the full $2,400 (£1,206) back through the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
A spokesperson for the Grand Hyatt Melbourne said: “The comfort and satisfaction of all our guests is of the utmost importance to us. Therefore when other guests alerted us to noise complaints on two separate occasions, our team politely addressed this with [Vanessa] and her party. This increase in volume occurred both in the Grand Club Lounge and later in their room.”
“The Grand Club Lounge charges that were applied for the access of two additional people were based on our discussions with the party that night. We have been in touch directly with the guest and explained our position in these matters.”
Topics: Australia
Dominic Smithers