AIBU to think Premier Inn should’ve let homeless in.

[Oddish]

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/premier-inn-homeless-people-turned-away-customer-paying-westonsupermare-a8240171.html

A woman who couldn’t make her mass booking of 19 rooms due to the weather last week offered the rooms to the homeless in the area via a charity’s Facebook.
A couple who had a flooded home were also given a room.
Flood couple let in no problem, homeless people who attended with charity rep were turned away.
Now Premier are saying they needed the lead room booker to be there and ID to be presented which is obviously bollocks because the flooded home couple were allowed in with no problem.

AIBU to think they should’ve let them in, it was bitterly cold and I think they acted heartlessly. Then the backtracking that followed. AIBU to boycott them? Would you?

Nope. Not boycotting PI.

MojoMoon, among others, made very good points as to why that was not practical / feasible.

Imagine I had saved up to go on a lovely mini break with my family at the Premier Inn and when I turned up 20 homeless people were there. Then I'd have that chat to explain it all to my children and I'd watch their little eyes tear up at the worst aspects of our cruel world.

How terrible! Your children might have cried. Far better that homeless people be left outside to sleep rough in life threatening conditions. If a few die, as at least one poor chap did while sleeping rough, you can be comforted by knowing that Duddikins childhood innocence has been preserved.

Also, in this instance, it wasn't a woman randomly handing over her booking to a bunch of homeless people. She went though a charity who referred some rough sleepers to the hotel. Screening had happened. It was blatant discrimination.

I note, I took over a friend's Premier Inn booking in August. I turned up, said "room in name of X" and was given the key card. No ID check at all. I've passed on bookings of mine to friends with no issues either. The ID check really isn't something they are normally that fussed about.

OP my heart says you are right - it would have been right for PI to let them stay the night.

However, my head says you are wrong. It could have caused all sorts of problems. What if they'd refused to leave (they had nothing to go home to), what if they had mental health problems causing them to be violent, what if they'd trashed the place... how would it have looked when PI tried to claim the money back from the lead booker - in this case the benevolent lady in question - how would she have reacted to a huge extra bill?

The rough sleepers are a wide variety of people. Some simply don't want to be in hostels as they prefer the streets. Some have fallen through the cracks in the system and can't seem to get back. Some are victims of relationship breakdowns through which they also lost their home. The list is endless. I found a man shivering on the streets in the snow last week and stopped to talk - he was ex army and basically not coping. I took him to breakfast at Weatherspoons and with his permission contacted the local outreach team for him but I didn't take him home with me because to put it bluntly I was wasn't' prepared to take the risk of letting an unknown stranger into my home

They weren't being asked to be a charity. The rooms were paid for.

No, I won't be boycotting them. It's at their discretion who they let in. They're not a homeless shelter. They're heavily automated with most places have few staff about at night and then usually female staff. They're liable for the reasonable safety of all their guests on the premises. You're also not entitled to pass on booking without their permission, because you're paying for the hire of the space, it's not yours to dispose of how you wish. As for no refunds, if you book on their non-flexible rate, it's very clear you are not entitled to make any amendments to the booking or to a refund except at their own discretion
This
In addition staff at homeless centres have training for running the centres and training for supporting people with all of the additional complex needs that people who are on the streets often have. Expecting totally untrained staff to suddenly manage a large group without any training or additional support is not reasonable and PI would have failed in its duty as an employer if it had expected that.

guest2013

People who are homeless often have plenty of other issues. Drugs, smoking, drinking.. They might have been worried about the other guests. I can understand.

So can I.

I apologise for apparently virtue signalling, still not entirely sure what that means but anyway, I am sorry. The intention was a discussion, even if it hasn’t gone ‘my way’ it has people talking and thinking about the issue. I definitely didn’t jump on here to bleed my heart. I am not naive, the charities I support are local ones in my city, not the faceless corporate type.

Believe it or not I do understand the difficult
position the hotel were put in but these were extreme circumstances. It was bitterly cold, there were empty beds and I KNOW it’s not as cut and dried as that, it is just a horrible awful situation.

As for Costa, how silly to say it is awful.

No, I definitely won't be boycotting premier inn. I think they made the right decision actually.

Don't get me wrong I absolutely think more should and could be done to help the homeless however PI were right on this one.

teresa
Yes we are not ‘supposed’ to give cash to the homeless but I don’t agree. So bloody what if the person buys whatever they need to get them through the night, I am in no position to police that. I do buy food/drinks too.

eena

Guessing you were clean? not high or drunk? No obvious mental health issues? Had some form of ID?

My dh stays in PI all week every week in London and quests has to have ID.

Would you really think it wouldn’t be a huge risk for this manager to take for all the reasons stated above by numerous posters who actually work with the homeless?

You know nothing about me or my situation elton but you are entitled to your assumptions. FWIW I don’t believe it’s outside the realms of possibility that I could end up on the streets. Could only take one thing to change, one job to be lost, one wrong decision.

FWIW I don’t believe it’s outside the realms of possibility that I could end up on the streets. Could only take one thing to change, one job to be lost, one wrong decision

why do people say this? It's patently not true.

'Also, in this instance, it wasn't a woman randomly handing over her booking to a bunch of homeless people. She went though a charity who referred some rough sleepers to the hotel. Screening had happened. It was blatant discrimination.

I note, I took over a friend's Premier Inn booking in August. I turned up, said "room in name of X" and was given the key card. No ID check at all. I've passed on bookings of mine to friends with no issues either. The ID check really isn't something they are normally that fussed about.'

She was in no way entitled to hand over her booking to anyone. That's made explicit in their T&C for very good reasons, namely to do with their liability as a business as enshrined in law and for their insurance to be valid. When you book you pay for the hire of the space, it is not your property to dispose of as you wish, same as with any hire - a seat on a plane, a car, even a rented flat or house. All amendments and changes have to be permitted or you are violating the T&C of the hire and that is not discrimination, it is business.

When you took over your friend's booking without their knowledge or permission, you may well have violated the T&C of the booking and had they found out or chosen to, could have asked you to leave as a result and been perfectly within their rights because again, a booking is for the hire of the space and it is not the guest's property to dispose of how they wish.

Yes we are not ‘supposed’ to give cash to the homeless but I don’t agree.

Why? A good friend of mine works with the homeless and has done for years, she has said giving cash is a stupid thing to do, it will often go on drink and/or drugs. They find bodies a lot.

The PI in question is in my nearest town. Any staff living in outlying villages would not have been able to get in, and PI have minimal staffing anyway.
The town has a high number of rehab centres and halfway houses. Unfortunately not everyone going through the process completes it successfully. Any rough sleepers from the town are almost guaranteed to have addiction issues.
The hotel is not town centre, it's on a duel carriage was next to a housing estate. Too far to walk back to town and more importantly, too far to get to their dealers or clinic for drugs or methadone when they start to withdraw.
The hospital is also located in town and a and e was closed as staff couldn't get in.
Severe withdrawal isn't something the hotel receptionist is trained to deal with.
There were temporary facilities set up in town, in church halls and the like, that would have been far more suitable in the circumstances, no matter how nice an idea it sounds.
What were they supposed to be fed? PI don't have their own restaurant, that's in the pub next door.

I imagine I, and people, say it because they believe it to be true of their own personal circumstances trala

sasha I explained that quite clearly in the comment you’ve copied a part of

How do you know it's not your cash that's going to be the cause of their OD?

People can say what they like about the Tories, but you can't deny they've done a blinding job of getting people to blame private companies for the short fallings in MH, addiction and homelessness services.

A couple of years ago I stopped to speak to a woman who was crying and begging on the street. She said that her boyfriend had thrown her out, she was penniless and had nowhere to go. She said she was going to have to sleep on the street. She said that she had been to the police about her violent boyfriend but they "weren't interested"

So I thought I would help her. I didn't say anything to her, but I popped into a nearby Travel Inn to see if I could book her a room. They wouldn't take cash, because they explained, they needed a credit card to charge if there were breakages. And I thought, what if the violent boyfriend tracks her down and trashes the room? What if, faced with the prospect of going back on the street, she snuck out with duvet and bedding? What if she stole stuff to sell? How much could the final bill be?

I didn't book her into the Travel Inn.

You are being very silly and naive.

FWIW, I was visiting the city, so offering to put her up in my own home wasn't an option.

It is making me smile with all the pearl clutching regarding the oh but they might be drunk and rowdy.

The original booking was for a group of young farmers who come to weston with the sole intention to get shit faced and smash stuff up. It happens a couple of times a year, and the police always have to get involved. However I'm sure they have at least had a wash so that makes it all better doesn't it.

You feel for other human beings. That is kind and good. But there are no simple solutions.

If you have to flee dv or another situation there are multiple shelters and hostels, even the council has a duty of care. If you are outside of council opening hours a police station will liaise with a night shelter. I have worked with these organisations.

The problem:

When a person is on the street it is because they cannot use a shelter.

Some of the reasons: banned by the shelter for drunkenness; being high; violence; sexual acting out. Ex-military with untreated ptsd can have complex needs beyond an ordinary shelter.

Some are paranoid about using shelters, often due to mental health and ‘voices’ telling them the people helping are ‘out to get them’. As there are few in-patients mental health and drug treatment places and workers, they can fall through the cracks. You need to campaign for more of those services. Not demand minimum wage hotel workers deal with these issues.

In an ideal world they should have let them in.

Unfortunately we don't live in an ideal world and the risks to the business/staff/customers/property was too great. What if they'd caused problems or trashed rooms or flatly refused to leave the next day?

OP, have you ever seen the state that homeless squatters can leave a property in? Because I have. Just recently I've seen a charity have to spend £75,000 in legal and specialist cleaning fees after a group of homeless people moved into a vacant property that it was selling, and used it to take a lot of drugs.

It's a shame that you can't trust everyone because a small % might cause trouble, but it's being practical.