The management of the hotel in New Hampshire that destroyed the passports of numerous English students is apologizing and giving details as to what h
The management of the hotel in New Hampshire that destroyed the passports of numerous English students is apologizing and giving details as to what happened.
According to Kate Hibbs, headmistress of the Barr Beacon School in Walsall, West Midlands, England, 42 students and four staff members recently went on a ski excursion to the Kancamagus Lodge in Lincoln, New Hampshire.
“We’ve heard a lot of anger and disappointment these last two weeks in response to an unfortunate, regrettable situation that occurred involving one of our visiting ski groups,” the administration of Kancamagus Lodge posted a statement on Facebook. “We are deeply sorry. We take full responsibility and offer a genuine apology to our guests and community.”
The rear office of the Kancamagus Lodge was being cleaned and organized on February 19. The box containing the passports was mistakenly taken and dumped in the on-site dumpster while being collected for disposal.
The management team discovered that the passports had unintentionally been destroyed when one of the teachers arrived and requested to add a student’s passport to the box.
“Our scheduled, contracted garbage disposal company emptied the dumpster and promptly destroyed all contents,” administrators said “We immediately notified the guests and began working with our guests to come to the most satisfactory resolution. We worked closely with the tour operating company, contributing however we could towards their extended stay, to come to a swift, safe, and successful resolution that was satisfactory to all involved.”
The party traveled from New Hampshire to the British Embassy in New York to request emergency travel authorization so they could return to England.
The group flew home on March 1 instead of the weekend of February 25, as originally intended.
“In addition to offering our profound apologies to our guests and their families, we also offer our sincere apology to our community for not representing our industry to the best of our ability and for not living up to the expectations you have of us,” said a statement by the managers.
New procedures are being implemented by the Kancamagus Lodge to ensure that a similar incident won’t occur again and that they can continue to safeguard all of their visitors. The management team stated that in order to place customers first, they will network with other professionals in the field to better understand industry standards and enhance the guest experience.
“Our values will guide everything we do. Our guests and community expect more from us and we promise we can and will be better. We are committed to putting proof behind our promise. Thank you for gifting us the opportunity to re-earn your trust.”
