The travel club for hotel lovers

Frequently asked questions

How can I trust Mr & Mrs Smith's hotel choices?

A hotel has to be genuinely special to make it into the Mr & Mrs Smith portfolio. Properties do pay a fee to be included, but this doesn’t mean that a place can buy its way in – the Smith team has to have decided it’s great before adding it to our exclusive collection is even considered.

I'm a Mr & Mrs Smith member. What special treatment do I get?

Whenever you book a Smith hotel through us, you'll receive a special, life-enhancing Smith Extra on arrival (it could be a spa treatment, a bottle of champagne, museum tickets or something else). Check the hotel overview page to see what extra is available. Smith Extras may not be applicable for some special-offer bookings – if that's the case, it will be clearly displayed. In addition, you get access to year-round exclusive offers at Smith hotels. All members (BlackSmith, SilverSmith and GoldSmith) also get cash back in as loyalty money with every booking.

I've signed up as a BlackSmith member online. Will I receive a membership card?

No. You can access all the benefits of BlackSmith membership just by signing in to the Smith site, and booking through Smith guarantees you get your Smith Extra when you arrive at your hotel.

I am trying unsuccessfully to register my card online

If you signed up for your membership online, you will already have entered your details, and don’t need to register again. Simply sign in with your email address and the password you selected when you joined. If you are unable to register a card that came inside a Mr & Mrs Smith book, please contact us.

I have lost my SilverSmith/GoldSmith card. How do I replace it?

You can request a replacement card by contacting us.

Do I need my card with me when I check in?

No, booking with Mr & Mrs Smith guarantees that you get your Smith Extra when you arrive at your hotel.

I have been given a gift card. How do I redeem it?

To claim on a voucher, book online and enter your unique voucher reference in the appropriate box or call our in-house travel team, who will help you choose how to spend it.

Can I use more than one gift card or voucher to make a booking?

Yes – you can put up to five gift cards/vouchers towards a single online booking. If you’d like to use more than five gift cards/vouchers towards a single booking, please call our in-house travel team.

What is the Smith deposit for?

The Smith deposit is a percentage of the stay cost taken to secure your reservation when you book with us. It’s not an addition to the cost of the stay, and is deducted from the hotel booking total. The Smith deposit is fully refundable if you need to cancel, provided you do so in writing before the hotel’s cancellation policy comes into effect.

Why are some rooms not available to be booked online? What does ‘on request’ mean?

For a number of reasons – usually if there are only one or two rooms in a certain category – a hotel might be unable to provide up-to-the-minute availability information for the Smith site. We don’t provide online booking for hotel rooms where we can’t guarantee availability, but these ‘on request’ rooms are, more often than not, available to book by phone. If you’d like to book an on request room, just call our in-house travel team and they will confirm with the hotel whether it’s available.

Can you hold the room for me for 24 hours?

That’s down to the hotel’s own policies. Check with your consultant and they’ll let you know if we can hold the room for you.

Can I make a booking for a friend or relative under my membership?

Yes. And all members (BlackSmith, SilverSmith and GoldSmith) get the loyalty money too.

I made a mistake on my reservation/need to alter my dates – how do I do this?

Contact us to let us know. As long as your amendments don’t conflict with the hotel’s cancellation policy (and assuming there is availability), we’ll make any changes you need.

Are you able to guarantee a particular room at a hotel?

We can’t always guarantee a specific room when a hotel has several rooms in one room category – but we can certainly do our best. If there’s a particular room you’d like to stay in, please let us know and we’ll see what we can do.

I can’t book a Smith-recommended room. How can I be sure the other rooms are of the same standard?

All the rooms at Mr & Mrs Smith hotels are great – not just the ones we specially recommend.

How do I cancel my booking?

If you need to cancel for any reason, please do so online by visiting your bookings area. Or you can contact us and we'll review the cancellation policy, contact the hotel for you and be in touch once the cancellation has been processed. If you cancel before the hotel's cancellation policy comes into effect, any deposit you have paid will be refunded.

I don’t understand the payment and cancellation policy

We always follow the hotels’ own cancellation and payment policies. Any deposit paid will be refunded to the card used to book, provided the cancellation is made within the hotel's stipulated cancellation period.

Are airport transfers included?

They are not included in the room rate, unless specified, but our in-house travel team can arrange transfers for you – just ask when you book.

Why do I have to pay in full when I use my loyalty money or a Smith gift voucher?

Full prepayment is required for these sorts of bookings because it’s the simplest way to ensure the hotel is paid the correct amount, and prevents any confusion or awkward moments at check-out. However, if the amount of loyalty money or the value of the voucher is less than the deposit, we can deduct it from the deposit and the balance may be paid in the usual way. We realise it can sometimes be inconvenient, but you can rest assured that, as with a credit card booking, if you do need to cancel, as long as you do so within the terms of the hotel’s cancellation policy, your loyalty money or Smith voucher will be reinstated, and any additional money you have paid will be refunded to your credit card.

I’ve got back from my stay and I’d like to give feedback. Who should I send this to?

If something went wrong with your stay, or if there’s something you think the hotel needs to address urgently, please let us know by contacting us. Otherwise, after your stay, you should get an email from us inviting you to leave a comment on the hotel’s Guestbook page – please do, as these are very helpful to other members and the hotel, and we love to hear of any discoveries you made in the local area during your trip. If you booked with our in-house travel team, your consultant would also love to hear how your stay went. If you have feedback about the consultant themselves, you’ll find a link on your confirmation to do so. Anything positive will be relayed straight to them, but if you feel their service could have been improved it will be addressed as part of their ongoing training. If something went wrong with your stay, or if there’s something you think the hotel needs to address, please let us know by contacting us.

I just found a Smith hotel voucher at the bottom of a drawer but it’s expired – can it be extended?

We can’t promise that it will, but we’ll certainly do our best to help. Contact us, and we’ll see what we can do.

My reservation says ‘Fully prepaid at the time of booking’ but my confirmation says only a Smith deposit was taken – why is there a discrepancy?

Smith can only show a balance of zero when we have taken full payment for stay ourselves. If the hotel takes a full prepayment, or an additional deposit at the time of booking, we cannot reflect this as we can’t guarantee the date it will be debited or the exchange rate that will be used at the time of payment. The card details are passed, fully encrypted and password-protected, to the hotel, which has a short window of time to access them and make a charge. The hotel will then provide a receipt at check-in/out.

How do I update my profile and contact details?

In the members’ section, go to ‘my profile’. You will need to be logged in to access this area of the site.

I'm trying to be more ecologically aware as a traveller. What is Mr & Mrs Smith doing?

Luxury travel and eco-friendly ambitions aren’t the easiest of bedfellows, but we’re doing our best to reconcile the two by steering you to greener travel options and sharing details of where you can reduce your environmental impact. To that end, we compile information on each hotel's eco-friendliness – finding out whether they use locally sourced and organic ingredients, ecological detergents and toiletries; whether were built with natural or locally sourced materials; if they participate in recycling schemes; are energy efficient; are involved in any conservation projects; and if they give back by  investing in the local community or employing local staff at every level. When it constitutes a significant effort, this information is featured on our hotels’ overview pages in the ‘Eco-friendly’ section.

We also champion hotels boasting plenty of eco cred each year in our Smith Hotel Awards' Local Hotel Hero category, and support the work of our chosen charity, the Blue Marine Foundation. Founded in 2010 by the makers of the documentary The End of the Line, Blue has already succeeded in creating two of the world’s largest marine reserves (in the Indian and Pacific Oceans), as well as the largest in the Atlantic (around Ascension Island). 

‘At Smith we’re all about exploring the world – and its natural wonders – but we want future generations to be able to enjoy it, too. That’s why we’re standing behind Blue in its efforts to protect 10 per cent of the world’s oceans by 2020’
James and Tamara Lohan, Mr & Mrs Smith co-founders

How can I support the Blue Marine Foundation?

Find out more about Mr & Mrs Smith’s chosen charity at bluemarinefoundation.com; make a donation; join the conversation on Facebook or Twitter (@BlueMarineF); and make a difference day-to-day by choosing restaurants that serve sustainably sourced fish – visit Fish2Fork for details.