THE boss of a luxurious South Cumbrian hotel has pledged that he will to refuse to accept tips from paying customers.

Thomas Noblett, managing director of Langdale Chase Hotel in Windermere, revealed that service charges are not added to diners' bills and customers are advised not to leave tips in a bid to encourage repeat custom.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Mr Noblett said: "Establishments should not be inflicting a service charge on your bill.

"These are supposed to be discretionary, but who wants the embarrassment of doing the walk of shame when querying this charge and having management approach you with the old saying 'wasn't everything ok?'

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"The customer has chosen to use our establishment over other establishments - shouldn't we be giving them the service charge for their loyalty in using their facility, and enticing them to come back?

"My main beef is with the fact that the more you spend, the more you are nailed. A plate of expensive ingredients or more expensive bottle of wine involves no more workload or effort from the service personnel as a lesser plate of ingredients or bottle of house.

"If the service charge is 15 per cent and your bill is £100 you are paying £15 service but if your bill is £200 you're paying £30 service - when the service you received was exactly the same.

"Special occasions can cost you the equivalent of another meal with these charges put onto your bill. If the customer comes to us, I respect their loyalty for choosing us. I do not want to insult them with an added surcharge - with us what you see is what you pay.

"If customers want to leave a tip, we do not take it. I do not think there is anywhere else doing this."

However, other hoteliers in the Lake District think that it should be the customer's decision whether or not they want to leave a tip for the service they have received.

Andrew Jamieson, manager of Miller Howe hotel in Rayrigg Road, Windermere, said: "I think it is purely down to the customer. I personally feel that if they have had good service they will want to leave a tip.

"We don't encourage it or discourage it, we leave it to our customers' discretion."

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Ufi Ibrahim, chief executive of the British Hospitality Association, has called on the government to make it a legal requirement for restaurants to tell customers how tips and service charges are distributed among staff.

He said: "Customers should be able to reward good service and know where their money ends up and how much of it goes to the staff.

"We believe restaurants should have to provide a written notice explaining exactly what happens to service charges and tips and we have discussed this with government."

Langdale Chase Hotel was put on the market in June after JLL's Hotels and Hospitality Team were instructed to sell the grade-II listed building.

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