Plan B Forum

A guest trapped in Christchurch's earthquake-hit Hotel Grand Chancellor for nearly four hours feels "kicked in the guts" after being billed $NZ300 ($A232) for his stay.

A New Zealand man and his wife, who declined to be named, were trapped on the central Christchurch hotel's 22nd floor and escaped hours later by braving collapsed staircases, smashing down doors and crawling on to the roof of an adjacent car park.

"It was a pretty traumatic experience for us," the man said.

He received a $NZ300 bill from the hotel for his two-night stay, including an $NZ18 parking fee for a car that took more than two months to recover.

The couple have been unable to get an insurance payment for the $NZ15,000 worth of luggage stuck in the hotel because their insurer says the belongings could still be recovered.

They had so much luggage because they were about to move to Australia.

After contacting New Zealand's The Press, the man received a phone call from a Grand Chancellor accountant who said the bill would be waived.

The man said he was still upset.

"I would never send something like that."

When the February 22 quake struck, the couple were watching a movie for which they were billed $NZ15.20, in their 25th-floor room.

They fled as far as the 22nd floor, where the stairs had collapsed, trapping them in the lobby with about a dozen other guests and staff for three hours as the aftershocks shook the leaning building.

"We were pretty sure the building was going to come down," the man said.

"It was the most nerve-racking time you can imagine."

After a large aftershock, one of the group risked the collapsed stairs, prying open doors on the floor below to allow the remaining guests and staff to inch down the stairs one by one.

It took about 45 minutes for the group to descend to the 14th floor, where they smashed a window and jumped on to an adjacent roof, from which they were eventually rescued by crane.

Grand Chancellor Australia and New Zealand group manager Frank Delli Cicchi said the bill was an oversight and the man – and any other guests trapped on February 22 – would not be expected to pay for their stay.

"The accountant wouldn't have realised that these people were stuck in the building," he said.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-inc ... z1RNEMfEB0