A "computation error'' at the Marriott's Castle Harbour resort was responsible for misplacing housekeeping staff's gratuities, a hotel spokesman said yesterday.

And union officials are calling for an independent audit to ensure that such a lapse never happens again.

The mistake affected 30 chambermaids and seven housemen at the resort. They staged a sit-in at the Mikado restaurant from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. yesterday.

Others reposed in the cafeteria.

In the restaurant, workers sat talking while others played cards as they waited for a meeting between the union representatives and management to end.

The Royal Gazette understands not all of the housekeeping staff were agreed that a sit-in was the right way to go, although none of them continued to work once the decision was made.

Union officials returned to the restaurant at around 2 p.m. and met with the workers for an hour.

After the meeting was over, BIU general secretary Mrs. Molly Burgess declined to answer any questions from The Royal Gazette .

BIU president Mr. Ottiwell Simmons said the workers would return to work this morning prepared to work as long as management provided a "written statement confirming the promises'' that they made during an hour-and-a-half-long meeting with union officials.

It is understood that there are other issues that are troubling the housekeeping staff but Mr. Simmons would not go into any detail.

"The gratuities are but one of the issues,'' he said. "The other issues have been dealt with and they are a bit lengthy. As far as the union and the workers are concerned they should have been resolved long ago.'' Mr. Simmons said he did not know how much money was involved, although he said that management had acknowledged the problem that led to management "keeping back some of the money from the workers.'' Meantime, Marriott's general manager Mr. Roger Borsink confirmed that he had met with union representatives yesterday and said the error had been found and fixed.

"There was a misunderstanding regarding the gratuities,'' he said. "There was an error in computation which has been corrected.'' Mr. Borsink could not say when the mistake occurred or how long it had been happening.

He explained that when guests left tips for the workers they were put into an account and paid out on a weekly basis.

"No money was ever removed from anybody's cheque,'' he added. "The money was calculated in error that's all. It wasn't like the money was there and then taken out.'' Mr. Borsink could not provide exact figures for the amount of money involved.

Meantime, Mr. Borsink said there was little disruption in the daily routine for guests as a result of the housekeeping staff's refusal to work.

He said that service was delayed in some cases but management and other employees worked to keep these at a minimum.