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AIBU?

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Original poster

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

407 replies

Oddish · 06/03/2018 13:03

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?

OP posts:
Original poster
Oddish · 06/03/2018 16:35

I’m taking everything on board and will read links, thank you to those who have thoughtfully put the information across without trying to belittle me. I’m not going to apologise for caring and perhaps I have been a little naive. It was more that it was so SO cold and that the hotel let the ‘nice’ couple with an actual home (albeit flooded) in. I do care about the homeless, and heart wins, it’s just so heartbreaking. I am glad I have brought this to peoples awareness though, even if the majority side with PI.

OP posts:
theftbyfinding · 06/03/2018 16:40

Never apologise for caring op! And you have a point about the flooding couple being given the room.

whatishappeninginsalisbury · 06/03/2018 16:42

I must admit, I was angry at first.

But. Looking at the facts, I was a bit naive really.

We've used PI tonnes. You have to sign, show ID or card or if done online, they have your card anyway.

At first I thought the lady had made a wonderful gesture. But in fact, she just couldn't make her original booking herself.

Giving it away to the homeless was poorly thought through. It gave hope to the homeless, unfair. And not fair to premier inn either.

Instead we should be blaming councils and government, not a hotel chain.

whatishappeninginsalisbury · 06/03/2018 16:44

The flooded couple had a fixed abode, and ID of some kind.

cinderellawantstogototheball · 06/03/2018 16:44

OP, the "nice couple" would have had ID and a bank card. And they had a home, therefore they would be assumed to have assets to pursue if they caused damage. That's the difference.

Original poster
Oddish · 06/03/2018 16:46

Yes I understand that but PI later went on to say that the lead booker would have needed to be present. Which she wasn’t. I don’t like the back tracking.

OP posts:
theftbyfinding · 06/03/2018 16:47

Ah yes, fair point about the flooded couple. I don't think I've had any awareness raised here really, I was of the same opinion before I read about PI. It's a business with shareholders, not a refuge. There's a homeless hostel here in Glasgow that has sucked funding dry from the local council and made a fortune for the owners. Big business is very happy to get into homelessness and care homes and needs to be looked at again I think.

Bluelady · 06/03/2018 16:48

Precisely, give them the haves, refuse the have nots. Encapsulates everything that's wrong with our society.

Snowysky20009 · 06/03/2018 16:50

Sadly some have mental health problems
Shit that means all they years I've stayed at a PI for work, I should not have been let in, seeing as I have bipolar! Seems like I was lucky hey Hmm

blackteasplease · 06/03/2018 16:52

Sometimes I've booked a PI room and not been able to use it. I've thought about givinf the booking to a homeless person but I just knew they wouldn't allow it.

liz70 · 06/03/2018 17:14

"Sometimes I've booked a PI room and not been able to use it. "

If they operate similarly to HIE, you should be able to reschedule to another date to avoid wasting your money.

Unfinishedkitchen · 06/03/2018 17:38

Homelessness is often romanticised as though all homeless people are good but have fallen on bad luck. This is not always the case. I know of one (not a friend but know of him) who was shunned by family, turned to drink, lost job etc. Why? Because he was a convicted sex offender and nobody wanted him around them. Would you want a drunken convicted sex offender with no ID next door to you in a hotel or hanging around the hotel restaurant? Would you fuck.

cinderellawantstogototheball · 06/03/2018 17:42

Bluelady - how many homeless people have you taken in?

theWarOnPeace · 06/03/2018 17:56

The homelessness crisis is horrendous, and I’ve done as much as I personally can for the homeless in our immediate area. BUT. Knowing the very complex issues that cause homelessness, I would never invite a homeless person into my home unless I had spent a very long time getting to know them. It’s a very difficult position to be in for desk staff manning an entire hotel in crazy weather, to then be tasked with accepting in nearly 20 homeless people. They would have none of the skills or experience to manage the potentially complex issues that were bound to arise. Our government are the ones to blame for failing our vulnerable people when it comes to mental health services, drug addiction rehabilitation services, and lack of homeless shelters. If I was staying in a premier Inn and they accepted a huge amount of homeless people, I would be quite concerned, even as a person with direct experience and understanding. Even with the urgency presented by the bad weather, these people needed proper help, not just a quick fix via completely unqualified and inexperienced staff. Also people staying in the hotel would have become potentially vulnerable, as they have very few staff as it is, barely any security, long quiet corridors etc. It’s barely manned to deal with minor issues! I’ve stayed in premier inns where there’s been issues in the middle of the night and it’s just a young girl at the desk freaking out. It’s not their job, is what I’m getting at I guess.

retirednow · 06/03/2018 18:21

I wonder how many empty schools, churches, church halls, meeting halls, carehomes opened up their doors during this awful weather so that no one was left out on the streets. Why pick on PI.

S0ph1a · 06/03/2018 18:35

I wonder how many people have a spare room or a sofa bed. They could have opened up their doors in this awful weather so that no one was left out on the streets.

Why pick on schools, churches and other institutions ?

So many people advocating that OTHER PEOPLE should take in homeless people and yet not willing so do so themselves.

AnnieAnoniMouse · 06/03/2018 21:50

I am glad I have brought this to peoples awareness

I’m glad at least people are talking/thinking about it and now the majority of posts side with premier inn perhaps others will not be so brave to speak up

Oh you’re SUCH a hero. All that virtue signalling must be positively exhausting, Hmm

Get back to us when you open up your house to the homeless people in your town.

LadyinCement · 07/03/2018 12:13

Yes, I snorted at the kind deed of the OP letting us know about homeless people and the big bad PI. "I'm not going to apologise for caring" - strewth.

Original poster
Oddish · 07/03/2018 12:52

Fucking hell 🙄🙄🙄 yeah I think I’m so great, I’m the queen of homeless people and you’re all wrong. I’m off to virtue my signal or some shit.

OP posts:
JanDough · 07/03/2018 13:20

Boycotts are trite and worthless. I agree with the majority that Premier Inns have more to think about that simply letting the homeless people in.

@oddish - I assume you have homeless people kipping in your house?

0ffredgotaway · 07/03/2018 13:21

The Severe Weather Emergency Protocol was activated nationally which provides emergency accomodation to rough sleepers during very cold weather. Accomodation staffed by specialised, experienced workers. Mentally running through my experience of working with homeless people, the needle stick injury incurred when helping someone with their laundry springs to mind, as does cleaning a room in which the individual was shitting on the bedroom floor instead of the toilet. Oh and the group fight in which a resident had his head smashed against plate glass door so many times he lost consciousness, this was over a missing can of drink. Homeless people aren't charming dickensian ragamuffins who just need a helping hand from a kind person to 'get back on their feet'. Most are sadly a complex combination of traumatised, violent, drug-addicted, alcoholic, mentally unwell, domestic abusers and ex/current offenders. No judgement just the truth. But I can completely see why a hotel chain would not want a large group of them all together without experienced support providers. And there was always the option of emergency SWEP accomodation. People are very naive, try volunteering at a shelter or in drug and alcohol services, have your eyes opened a bit.

FluffyWuffy100 · 07/03/2018 13:23

Well you did tell us how amazing you are because you do lots of volunteering with homeless people (but don’t seem to have the foggiest about the numerous and complex sets of issues they face) and how you like to give people on the streets money despite there not being a single homeless charity that advocates that’s Hope no one died from an overdose off the back off that.

Theresasmayshoes11 · 07/03/2018 13:27

I think some people are very very naive. I totally agree with Offred and let’s not forget the peach who stole off dead and the dying in Manchester

Asdwife · 07/03/2018 13:38

I made friends with a homeless man when I was at uni. I thought I was really virtuous and right on and went as far as inviting him back to my (shared) house during the holidays when nobody else was there so he could take a bath and have some lunch. He had his bath, refused the lunch and then started smoking heroin in my (shared) living room. Obviously I had no clue what to do and waited it out until he left several hours later then cleaned up a bit and left for the holidays. When everyone came back for the following semester they knew by the smell that was still lingering what I'd done and were really angry at me, and understandably so. I did not have the foggiest idea what I was bringing into our home and the risk I was taking. It was naive in the extreme.
All this to say I can totally understand Premier Inn's stance.

LadyinCement · 07/03/2018 13:40

In spite many reasoned posts from posters who actually have experience of homeless people - and they state that the PI should not have admitted them - the OP is still banging on about how much she cares, and how she's drawing it to people's attention. And then she has the gall to admit that she wouldn't let any homeless in her house because she has children when she has previously stated that homeless people are people too, and she doesn't shield her children from them, and just anyone could be homeless...

It is absolute virtue signalling and the OP should be embarrassed. Trying to drum up support to boycott a business (and including Costa Coffee in that!) is pathetic and simply attention-seeking.