Premier Travel Inn profteering from Alton Towers closure

[TheGrocer]

Hi there
I have a new story you may be interested re Premier Travel Inn at Rugely profiting from many customers who had planned to visit Alton Towers last weekend 6/6 and 7/6.

I had pre booked a room at the Rugely Travel Inn using the Whitbread web site and booked 2 rooms under their lowest cost offer Non Flexaible Premier Saver Rate to £232. The sole purpose of driving myself and my 3 kids 300 miles each way to the Hotel was to treat the kids to a weekend break at Alton Towers. Im not currently working and so couldn’t afford to book the Alton Towers hotel or though now I wish I had.

After making the booking the terrible accident at Alton Towers occurred and the park announced it would be closed for several days while the investigation continued. On Friday 5/6 the Alton Towers web site announced it would not be open over the weekend and I therefore called the Hotel and the Customer Service line to try and re-arrange the booking due to the tragic accident and the fact the park would be closed. I met with a brick wall and blank refusal of any type of re-booking. I have attached my letter to them and their response and Im sure many families for the Premier Travel Inn hotels would have met with the same fate. While they hide behind the T&Cs of the booking they aren’t doing the RIGHT thing and its disgusting behaviour.

I have contacted BBC and Watchdog - Has anyone else been affected by this??? Thanks for reading

Whitbread Customer Services letter below and my original letter below that.:

Hi [name removed by MNHQ],

Thanks for your email.
Your reservation [removed by MNHQ] was booked under the Non Flexible Premier Saver rate.

Although we appreciate no one books a hotel room with the expectation to cancel or amend, the only reason we're able to offer these discounted rooms is by adhering to strict booking terms. This is why customers are informed at the time of booking that they will not be able to cancel or amend the reservation, once confirmed.

For these reasons, we regret that we would not be able to assist with your request on this occasion.

Please note that any pre-paid supplement charges for breakfast, meal deals etc will be refunded back to the card held on the booking.

Kind Regards
[name removed by MNHQ].
Email Support Team
Premier Inn - Central Reservations
Telephone: 0333 003 0025 (option 2)
Email: [email protected]
Write to us at: Oakley House, Oakley Road, Luton, LU4 9QH.

-----------------

Hello
I have contacted you today in relation to my reservation [removed by MNHQ] held in the name of [removed by MNHQ] for two room on the night of Friday 5/6/15 and Sat 6/6/15. The rooms were booked under the Premier Saver Rate at a total cost of £232 at your Rugely Hotel. The purpose of travelling 300 miles from my home in Kent with my children was to enjoy a weekend at Alton Towers. As you will know after the tragic events earlier this week the park has now announced that it will remain closed over the weekend thus making my trip a waste of time.
I contacted your reservations team and your guest relations team speaking to [name removed by MNHQ] to be told that nor change of reservation can be made! While I understand the T&Cs of the booking surely you have been inundated by customers who through no fault of their own have literally nowhere to go.

The team at Alton Towers have been great in breaking their T&Cs and re-issuing tickets etc. and to be honest it seems as if Whitbread is taking advantage of a situation which has been a personal tragedy for those involved in the accident. The two hotels closest to Alton towers appear fully booked when I made the booking and I’m sure over 50% of those staying over the weekend had planned to visit Alton Towers. Yes I know the T&Cs which have been quoted to me but come on Whitbread let’s look at this from the angle of what may be the right thing to do and prove that you have some feelings for the situation that I and many other families find themselves in. From a PR point of view you could take this two ways - one show your loyal customers some flexibility due to the problems that have beset the theme park or two you could provide some great local TV and radio negative press when they are contacted as the perception is your taking advantage of an unusual set of circumstances!

I’m not asking for a refund just the opportunity to rebook to an alternative date when they re-open?

Yours hoping you will do the RIGHT thing please??

Rugeley (and OP you may want to note the spelling) is not actually that near Alton Towers. As others have said, it is nearer to Drayton Manor. There are loads of other attractions which others have noted (also the Black Country Museum and Shugborough Hall) in the vicinity. The OPs intention might have been to visit AT, but I don't suppose that was part of the contract, or even communicated to The hotel. I don't think there is a case, tbh.
I think OP is massively U.

But the hotel is 20 miles away! There isn't a desolate plain between Rugeley and Alton Towers, there could be other things to do that people might book the hotel for. Should Premier Inn refund every time an attraction closes or transport fails anywhere within striking distance of one of it's hotels? Also has every b&b, pub, campsite, hotel chain within 20 miles also refunded on the same basis? No, of course not.

Surely a hotel is there to provide the accommodation, not the entertainment?

The purpose of the hire of the flat was to watch the procession was entertainment (not accommodation). Nothing to do with travel/accommodation to allow them to participate in that entertainment.

In OP's case, the booked entertainment which was cancelled is being refunded.

The accommodation was still available, and from it they could have visited the equidistant other theme park. So the purpose of riding roller coasters could still have been fulfilled.

YABVU for all the reasons stated by others. I am sceptical that you wanted to cancel because Alton Towers is closed as it isn't that near Rugeley and if you had really wanted to visit a theme park you would have gone to Drayton Manor instead.

YABU and doubly U for having your own personal information removed to protect your own identity, but being perfectly content to leave the personal data of the two employees you contacted there for all to see, assuming that these two individuals aren't senior employees or officers of the company and so have a reasonable expectation of privacy. Pretty poor show by MNHQ as well, tbf.

Even though I doubt you'll be back OP I would like to know why you didn't just go to Drayton Manor instead?

I think YABU.
It's none of Premier Inn's buisness why you need to be in that area, after all you could be going to Drayton Manor, a wedding, anything.
All they are doing is providing you a room.You wanted the cheaper possible rate, they agreed to give it to you on the condition you couldn't change it. You thought that was agreeable.

Just because it hasn't worked out because of the awful incident it's not PI fault.

Maybe you can take your case to judge rinder op. I'd record that episode.

The hotel were not being unreasonable but you had nothing to lose by asking.

TartinaTiara

In fairness, I reported the OP as it contained the OP's actual email address and booking numbers, and I'm not sure if he ever actually returned to the thread so it's possible that he had no contact with HQ to say which details he wanted redacted. Given the near-unanimous verdict on the thread, they may have thought that the only contact likely to be instigated by the staff's details being left on here was a congratulatory email or two!

YABVU! I can understand you are disappointed but this awful accident wasn't the fault of premier inn & they are not profiteering from it!

Profiteering, what nonsense. You could have done something else with your kids. Rugby is miles away from Alton towers, I don't believe anyone would stay that far away

Just realised misread location, explains why it was so far

I have a new story you may be interested re Premier Travel Inn

Nope, it's not even remotely interesting.

WTF do you think 'non-flexible' means?

Premier Inn has two prices for each room - one flexible, one not. If you wanted flexibility, you should have paid the flexible price. You chose not to. YABU.

Another one saying YABU. I stay at PI quite a lot and they are good and reliable. The terms are clear. Suck this one up. And learn how to communicate.

YABU - the booking is not flexible

There is loads to do around the area that is not AT

Finally you waited until after the dates had gone, if you had posted before the weekend someone on MN may have been able to take up your rooms.

You don't seem to know that Premier Inn and Travelodge are different companies

You are getting a refund of any extras such as breakfast.

You wanted the super cheap non-refundable price, with the flexibility of the refundable price cost. Sorry you took the risk, you can't have both options.

OP joins MN to whine and then disappears. How many other forums has s/he spammed today?

Yabu, in future pay that little bit more for flexible bookings.

This is exactly why when booking travel and hotels to book together via an agent, they can create your bespoke package, agents are Atol/Abta bonded meaning for example if something happened to affect your travel plans I.e bad weather, strikes, you would not have to worry about the hotel part.

Rugeley is nowhere near AT. I doubt many of their bookings are from people purely visiting AT. Drayton Manor is nearer surely. Why not go there? Also Twycross Zoo isn't that far if you fancied something else. Or the Peak District?

OP YABVV unreasonable. No idea why you think PI should suffer a loss instead of you. What on earth has it got to do with them?

If the whole park was open, apart from the Smiler ride, then yes, I would agree that Herne Bay would be applied, as there would have been other rides for OP to enjoy, but as it is, the whole park was closed...

Except for the minor problem that a significant part of the holding in Krell was that it could be inferred from the behaviour of the renter of the flat that it was for the purpose of watching the coronation and, by implication, the only reason the owner was able to rent the flat on that occasion was because of the coronation.

Booking a Premier Inn in Rugely, when there are nearer Premier Inns in Uttoxeter, Leek, Stoke (2), Derby, Newcastle under Lyme and Stafford (2) is hardly in the same category. How would Whitbread be supposed to infer from someone booking the ninth closest hotel, getting on for three times further away than closest (19.9 miles rather than 7.2), that the purpose was Premier Inn.

And hotels chains would fight the application of Krell in these sorts of cases to the Supreme Court, because if upheld, the concept of non-refundable hotel bookings would cease to exist.

that the purpose was Premier Inn.

That was purpose was going to Alton Towers. Need more coffee. And Rugeley, too.