Have we come to Fawlty Towers?

8:57am Saturday 24th February 2007

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THE spirit of Basil Fawlty is alive and well in Weymouth, according to guests visiting one seafront hotel.

Baffled pensioners staying at the Berkeley Hotel say they could have received similar treatment at the fictional TV hotel Fawlty Towers.

In today's Dorset Echo we tell how:

• One pensioner was told by the owner to wash in the sea after she complained about having no hot water in her room;
• Another says she was informed she could not have her grapefruit and porridge in separate bowls because 'there was not enough room on the table'
• Evening entertainment involved the owner shouting risqué answers to quiz questions;
• Owners told guests they could 'pack their bags and go' if they didn't like it and even pointed out there was a railway station not far away.

Now Weymouth and Portland Borough Council's Tourist information Centre has asked owners Patricia and Joe Doyle to answer complaints.

Coach tour organisers Coach Holiday Warehouse Ltd say they are surprised at the criticism because other guest feedback forms rate the hotel highly. They say it is the first time they have received complaints about the hotel management.

The Doyles have refused to comment to the Echo directly on the claims. But in a letter to pensioner Betty Bailey, 74, the tour organisers say they understand that Mr Doyle 'did not mean to be offensive' when he told her to wash in the sea.

A letter from Patricia Doyle about pensioner Eric Dyke, 74, says he was told he was free to leave because he had been rude to staff.