On Sat, 4 Jan 2025 15:09:40 -0000 (UTC), Jethro_uk
Post by Jethro_ukhttps://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/britannia-
hotel-manchester-tourist-tax-30703737
Since most people have gone off on a tangent about the broken URL, I thought
it might be worth trying to address the actual point :-)
Post by Jethro_ukTL;DR a disabled lady couldn't pay £1.20 by cash as the hotel only
accepted card and bad things ensued.
With the understanding that generally no one cares about the rights of
the disabled (res iposo loquitor and all that) then could a businesses
decision on payment methods be considered contrary to the equality act ?
Would the reverse situation of only accepting cash and refusing card
payments be similarly viewed ?
For it to be discriminatory, you'd probably need to show that disabled
people are disproportionately likely to not have cards (or not have cash).
The fact that this particular person preferred not to use cards due to a
particular disability isn't directly relevant; there may well be other
disabled people who, for similar reasons, prefer not to use cash.
More generally, businesses are increasingly going card-only, so if it was a
breach of the Equality Act then I think we'd have already seen the court
cases. But I'm not aware of any.
Whether it was poor customer service is, I think, more questionable,
although I note that some of the comments below the article suggest that it
hasn't been accurately reported. Certainly, I find it a little implausible
that the staff were responsible for the customer giving up after trying just
one card and finding that required a PIN, especially since the situation was
eventually resolved when she tried a different card and that worked fine. Of
course, her decision to initially abandon the transaction when one of her
cards required a PIN she couldn't remember may well be related to the
anxiety issues that are part of her disability, but it's hard to see how the
staff could have prevented that. Maybe someone experienced in dealing with
panic attacks might have been able to help, but it's unrealistic to expect
hotel receptionists to routinely be trained to that level.
Also, difficulty remembering PINs isn't particularly uncommon, but there are
a number of strategies for mitigating that issue, including, if necessary,
writing them down, or letting a trusted friend know them (or, at least, know
one particular key PIN) who can then remind you if necessary. Or use Apple
Pay/Google Pay on a phone and unlock it using biometrics. There may, of
course, be many reasons why some people are uncomfortable with one or more
of those, but simply saying "I don't use cards because I can't remember
PINs" is probably getting close to being untenable for anyone of otherwise
normal mental acuity.
What I do think is unreasonable, and is definitely the fault of the hotel
(or, possibly, the Manchester Accommodation BID) is making the tourist tax a
separate item which has to be paid on check-in rather than as part of the
up-front payment made when booking the room. I haven't stayed in a hotel in
Manchester since the charge was introduced, but I am expecting to later this
year, so I'll see if I get asked for it up-front or have to pay it on
check-in as well. But even if that is a decision by the hotel operator it's
not something that the staff on duty have any control over, so it's
unreasonable to blame them for any issues encountered in paying it.
Mark