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Original poster

Travel lodge. Am fucking fuming

577 replies

IAmNoAngel · 11/04/2018 01:05

I am currently bedding down in the car park of the travel lodge at Birch services on the M62 as the room I booked and paid for over a month ago has been double booked and there are no rooms left.

Am especially pissed off as have driven here straight after a 6.30 start this morning and a long day at work... in Nottingham. So a nice tiring drive as well.

I have stayed here a lot. I never will again. Cunts.

OP posts:
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8
amusedbush · 11/04/2018 11:34

I was bumped to another hotel at 2am after arriving at the Marriott in Glasgow. Simply put in a taxi... age 25 travelling alone...

And? I got married at 25, having moved away by myself (to Glasgow, funnily enough Wink) some years previously.

It's a crap customer experience but being 25 (i.e. a capable grown adult!) has nothing to do with it.

catinapoolofsunshine · 11/04/2018 11:35

The 25 year old comment is beyond odd. That isn't a "young adult" in the vulnerable grey area between dependent childhood and independent adulthood context, which would be essentially an older teenager from 16 to 19 perhaps up to 21 max. The only context in which 25 comes within "young adult" is when distinguishing between middle aged people and adults who are not middle aged yet...

I was also backpacking in India, Nepal, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysi, Indonesia and Australia on my own at 18, working in a town in Japan where I was the only non Japanese person at 22 and taking taxis there too :o. I know that isn't for everyone but a 25 year old without SN phased by taking a taxi is way more of an outlier on the boarders of the normal range of independence than an 18 year old backpacking around Asia IMO.

Storminateapot · 11/04/2018 11:36

The M62 had overnight closures as OP has said at least twice. The pretty maps of other TL's she could have tried her luck at are a bit pointless because it wasn't as simple as hopping onto the motorway and zipping round.

Staff member didn't have authority to book a taxi.

Why was the onus on OP to sort all of this out in the middle of the night in an unfamiliar place when she had every right to assume a prepaid confirmed booking would be honoured? Surely that's the whole point of the existence and prepay policy of these rancid little holes?

SpringNowPlease2018 · 11/04/2018 11:40

@AnnPerkins "I agree it's appalling to give away a room that someone has actually paid for in full but it's obviously quite common practice so no point railing against it as a policy. "

surely the opposite is true - it's a common practice and causes a lot of issues, so we should lobby for the law to be changed?

if we all said "ach, this bad thing is common practice, we should accept it" I don't think we'd have any good law at all!

catinapoolofsunshine · 11/04/2018 11:41

ParisUSM it isn't everyone. I'm mid 40s but I know lots of people today in their very early 20s who are living on their own hundreds or thousands of miles from family, working and studying in their second or third language.

InspMorse · 11/04/2018 11:47

From the OP I have stayed here a lot. I never will again. Cunts.
Not an unfamiliar place.

IamXXHearMeRoar · 11/04/2018 11:48

InspMorse do you work for Travel lodge then?

snowagain · 11/04/2018 11:49

'staff member didn't have the authority to book a taxi.'

Load of shit.

InsomniacAnonymous · 11/04/2018 11:50

To the people blithely posting maps showing nearby Travelodges. Why on earth are you assuming they would have any empty rooms given what you know about their policy of double booking to ensure that they don't? The nearest room the receptionist could find was the one which was too far away especially given the roadworks, the OP's unfamiliarity with the area and, not least her extreme fatigue. The receptionist wouldn't phone for a taxi to take the OP there because there was no manager available and she was "not authorised".

snowagain · 11/04/2018 11:50

No WAY would a staff member not be allowed to book a taxi for a customer.

People are making shit up now!

snowagain · 11/04/2018 11:51

People are 'blithely' posting maps to show how close the OP was to other travelodges that she was offered and couldn't be arsed to drive to.

And no I don't work for them, I just find all this a bit ridiculous.

DGRossetti · 11/04/2018 11:53

When ds was a baby we arrived at 7pm at a hotel belonging to a different chain to find that we didn't have a room because several of their rooms

When DS was 2, we arrived at a Forte hotel to discover that the "disabled family room" was suitable for neither. Unfortunately for the manager, there was a BBC local radio team in, so he was forced to actually do something which was to "upgrade" us to their just opened posher hotel 15 miles away.

Next morning at "posher hotel", there was a problem with the kitchens, and breakfast was delayed by 2 hours.

It was that incident which started us caravanning. Yes, there were all sorts of issues with accessibility and mobility. But at least you knew you were covered when you got there.

InspMorse · 11/04/2018 11:55

Iam Haha! I wish... Hmm No I do not but I do know the area. I have said several times that I think they are out of order double booking.
I just don't understand why OP didn't insist that they find her a room close by.
OP turned up at the hotel, turned her away after offering her Ancoats (ffs) and OP went and slept in her car.
A quick google search shows more hotels close by. Other people have said they got a free taxi when they were messed about like this.
Why did OP give in so easily?

Storminateapot · 11/04/2018 11:55

Yes, she'd stayed at place she had paid for before. That's the point isn't it? OP was unfamiliar with the other random places she was told to make her way to via road closures in the middle of the night. Plus being able to find a hotel you've stayed in before off a motorway doesn't mean you'd have the faintest idea of how to navigate road closures in the surrounding area to get to another one.

You seem very invested in this all being OP's fault morse. Got out of bed the wrong side or do you work for TL?

InsomniacAnonymous · 11/04/2018 11:55

People are making things up? It was the OP herself who said "Just to answer a pp, I was too tired to drive and the receptionist was not allowed to authorise a paid taxi."
My point about nearby Travelodges is that there policy is to doublebook rooms so they don't have any empty ones, so what's the point of saying how close other ones are, when they won't have a room available at 1 am anyway?

InsomniacAnonymous · 11/04/2018 11:57

their policy, not 'there'.^^ Blush Typing in haste.

Nicknacky · 11/04/2018 11:57

If the op has a smart phone like most of us done she could have used that. And road closures always have clear diversions.

DGRossetti · 11/04/2018 11:57

I agree it's appalling to give away a room that someone has actually paid for in full but it's obviously quite common practice so no point railing against it as a policy.

I'm sorry but "that's the way we've always done things" is meaningless - as an explanation or a justification.

HadronCollider · 11/04/2018 11:57

Not all 25 year olds are the same. I was a very unconfident 25 year old and would have felt very vulnerable in those circumstances. Hell I still struggle with confidence now depending on the circumstances.

I hope everything is resolved now OP. I certainly would think twice about booking with travel lodge after this thread.

Hillingdon · 11/04/2018 11:58

I think all this people piling in stating they will never use TL. Really? I bet you will, if its cheap, convienet etc. Ryan Air gets such flack but their flights are dirt cheap and when I have flown with them always full.

Its a typical response to say you will never use them again (until you do!)

Having said that sleeping in a service station car park is the pits!

pigmcpigface · 11/04/2018 11:59

Experience of being young is never wall-to-wall is it? There will be independent youngsters and dependent youngsters at 25. However, I do think it's fair to say that the balance is shifting. I teach at a university and I find undergraduates increasingly lacking in independence, initiative and general vim. I am also dealing with a few 28 year olds who are trying to set up their own business - I'm one of the first clients, and Godalmighty it demands patience. They are all hipsters, they expect to be given latitude like a child does in terms of deadlines, hours of work, conditions (they rarely work beyond 10-3, and are frequently unable to come because of hangovers, football injuries etc). It's all a bit pathetic and I do wonder what will happen when parents are no longer able to protect and the encounter with real life expectations begins. Not all youngsters are like this, of course - indeed, it does seem to be fractionated by class. The 17 year old apprentices I've had contact with recently have all been more than prepared to work 8-6, and seem more experienced in the ways of the world than middle class counterparts 10 years older.

Nicknacky · 11/04/2018 11:59

Hadron Surely youncould have coped with being put in a taxi and taken to a nearby hotel?!

rookiemere · 11/04/2018 11:59

I'd have done the same as the OP.
No way I'd be driving around unfamiliar roads in the middle of the night after an early start and full days work. I can only think that those suggesting it have no idea of the feeling of relief and exhaustion when you finally arrive at your hotel after such a trip.
If OP had had an accident in her car would TL be held in anyway liable - no I don't think so.

As overbooking appears to be a thing - although it absolutely shouldn't be- each TL should have their own overbooking policy guidelines where they pick the nearest hotel and are authorised to pay for a taxi to get the person there. Anything less is ridiculous.

InsomniacAnonymous · 11/04/2018 12:00

InspMorse "A quick google search shows more hotels close by."

It was 1 am. Why are you assuming they have not only a room available but staffed receptions at that time of night?

FailingMotherhood · 11/04/2018 12:01

No WAY would a staff member not be allowed to book a taxi for a customer.

Lots of companies have procedures (sometimes coded into their systems) that mean that refunds, concessions and similar have to be authorised by more senior members of staff.

I'm sure that they could have called the taxi, but not have the authorisation to pay for it. If the OP has no cash to pay for a taxi, then she'd be stuck unless she was willing to drive around diverted roads whilst tired.

Ultimately, she shouldn't have to, because she'd book and paid for a room, confirming that she'd be arriving late.