The Sofitel Hotel Brisbane was one of my favourite...

The Sofitel Hotel Brisbane was one of my favourite places to stay and dine in Brisbane. The staff are first class, from the bars to the restaurants and house keeping, excellent, it would be very difficult to find better and remember their not working for tips. However the quality and variety of the Thyne Restaurant's Buffet has steadly declined over the last year or so. Also, on last two occasions I have stayed at The Sofitel Hotel Brisbane, I have had great difficulty being reimbursed for the so called security fee they insist on taking, without authorisation. I was until recently a member of their Accor Club, who manage many brands of upmarket Hotels around the world. For this service you pay a fee and receive members benifits regarding hotel accommodation & dining. They have your full details, name, address, date of birth, credit card details etc., as you would expect. I can't understand why they insist on taking money from your credit card account, when they're specifically been told not to. They have your credit card details on record, so any monies outstanding can then be deleted, if required. Two stays back, it took me 6 weeks, yes 6 weeks and many phone calls, for Sofitel Brisbane to return my money to my bank account. On my most recent stay, I advised the lady on reception check-in of this fact and she said it should only take 2 days to be refund. I told her it wasn't about the money it was the principal of the matter and I did not want any money, not one cent, to be taken from my account. I stressed to her the fact, that as an Accor Member, I pay hundreds of dollars a year for the privilege of this status and they had my full details there on record. This message obviously fell on deaf ears, as sure enough on checking my bank balance the following day, Sofitel had again taken a fee, strictly against my instructions. And to add insult to injury, I also incurred a $1.30 transaction fee. After many phone calls to both my bank and Sofitel, (who were way less than honest with me) it took from the 19th of December to the 2nd of January to have my money's return to my bank account. I believe the Accor Group manage something like 28000 hotels around the world. Not a bad little earn on the short term money market is it ??? Withholding guests monies without authorisation. I have no problem with hotels taking your credit card details for security reasons, eg. leaving without paying for accommodation, food, drinks, room service etc. But I do have a major problem with Hotels automatically taking a fee on check-in, without informing the guest of this practice. (which I would imagine would be illegal). Anyhow after many years of a happy relationship, regrettably it seems I have parted company with the Sofitel Brisbane. My advice to all travelers and Hotel guests, on check-in, insist no monies are to be taken from your credit card account without your authorisation and on checking out, check the bill twice and within 24hrs check your bank account. Good luck to all, Jack Kelly.