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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
Thread gallery
8
5foot5 · 11/04/2018 13:16

Something similar happened to a friend of mine once. There was a company night out and she wanted to have a drink so she booked herself a room in the town centre Travel Lodge so that she wouldn't have to drive home.

When she went there early evening to check in they told her that she had been relocated to the next nearest Travel Lodge - which is several miles away so wold have entailed a drive. Since the whole point of staying was so she didn't have to drive she blew up at them and they quickly managed to "find" her a room there after all.

LimonViola · 11/04/2018 13:25

And if she has no cash on her? Was she supposed to walk or drive around in the dark in an unfamiliar area looking for a cash point?

Gosh, are people really this poor at problem solving? How do you function day by day when something goes wrong?

For the unfamiliar, should you find yourself in this situation again, you can order a cab and get it to pause at a cashpoint so you can get money out. You can also download the Uber app and pay using your card.

I completely disagree with the hotel's booking policy btw, but all of this hand wringing about 'oh my gosh, alone, young age, what about cash, roadworks, don't know the area' etc etc can all be easily solved with google maps, Uber, phone number for a cab firm, and google. And if your phone has died, charge it in the hotel lobby.

Hotel was bang out of order but I'm sure OP would be the first to admit she made the decision to sleep in her car rather than go to the other hotel. Personally I'd have rather forked out for a cab if the hotel wouldn't pre pay for it, even if there was a risk I wouldn't get the money back, rather than sleep in my car. But we all have different appetite for risk. I'd rather pay a cab fare than sleep in my car but OP made a different choice, that's fine and separate from what the hotel's booking policy is.

Agree with PP re surprise that some 25 year olds would consider themselves to have been too young to take a cab alone. At 13 I was more than capable of travelling to other cities alone on trains, buses, and with the odd cab if needed! Admittedly that's probably younger than most, but you can't claim it's wrong to get a 25 year old a taxi. 😂 25!

Storminateapot · 11/04/2018 13:31

There speaks someone who lives in a city. I haven't got a clue how Uber works personally, never used one, there probably isn't one within 50 miles of here.

Toomanytealights · 11/04/2018 13:34

I'm 50 and wouldn't to get a cab late at night alone to god knows where( presuming there was a room at the other end for definite this time). Then have to make a return trip first thing in the morning to collect my car. That is why I'd book a hotel,which is what the op did. She may well have had an early meeting in the morning so could well do without car retrieval inconvenience. People book hotels for all sorts off often crucial things( early meetings, early plane, ferry etc), they need reliability which TL clearly doesn't offer.

eggcellent · 11/04/2018 13:35

Can't guarantee a refund?! Why, because you refused to go to the other Travelodge? That's appalling!

LimonViola · 11/04/2018 13:36

Storminateapot This happened in a city. Even if you don't use Uber it's useful to know you can get a taxi and get money on the way. If you do visit cities occasionally it's worth getting Uber.

Toomany, so what would you have done in the OP's situation?

Toomanytealights · 11/04/2018 13:38

And yes I'd never even heard of uber until I heard the stories in the news re risks for passengers.

prettybird · 11/04/2018 13:38

InspMorse - if you RTFT, you'd see the OP was offered a room in Ancoats - over 8 miles away, across Manchester, with no offer of a taxi, quite apart from being the middle of the night, an unfamiliar city and motorway closures. Angry

Maybe there should legislation (like the EU delayed/overbooked flights legislation) that means that there should be compensation in addition to putting someone up for the night.

And as someone who used to have to drive lots of long distances for both business and personal reasons, I can fully sympathise with the OP saying that she was too tired to consider driving any further. I often had to stop and have a snooze in a service station in other to be safe to continue to drive. This could be after 3 hours driving - but sometimes after only an hour Shock - and I couldn't predict in advance how quickly I would be tired Confused So I would have done what the OP did, settle down in the car to sleep rather than try to go somewhere else.

Toomanytealights · 11/04/2018 13:42

I'd have had to put myself at risk and sleep in the car like the op did. Hope companies will think twice re using TL for workers. There is no need, plenty of other reliable companies to use. TBH everytime I've done hotel research PI has come out better. I'd be pushing for PI or other more reliable/ favourable chains if sent away by work for business.

londonrach · 11/04/2018 13:44

Whats urber. No way would i drive across a city i dont know late at night whilst tried

MiaowMix · 11/04/2018 13:45

What's uber?!
Confused

Toomanytealights · 11/04/2018 13:46

Op I'd put your story on TA with a link then anybody doing hotel research in that area when booking will see this farce as an issue and get a heads up.

LimonViola · 11/04/2018 13:50

Toomanytealights Well then that'd have been your decision, preferring to sleep in a car rather than get a taxi. Totally up to you but there are options.

I googled this issue earlier and there's a guardian article a few years ago about the exact same thing that happened to OP.

Toomanytealights · 11/04/2018 13:50

Well that's ok then.Grin

LimonViola · 11/04/2018 13:51

"Today 13:44 londonrach

Whats urber. No way would i drive across a city i dont know late at night whilst tried"

Well, with 'urber' you wouldn't have to! :)

LimonViola · 11/04/2018 13:51

No, the hotel are still acting horrendously! I just don't think it does anyone favours to pretend someone is helpless and a damsel in distress in such a situation when there are several options. That's all.

Molecule · 11/04/2018 13:54

Ancoats is in the city centre, and no doubt would generally involve leaving the motorway at the closed junctions, so making it difficult for the OP to get to, never mind having to deal with the rush hour in the morning. From what I understand from the OP’s posts this was the only hotel she was offered, so no doubt assumed/or was told all closer ones were full. Other than Ancoats she really didn’t have many options left, especially at 1am.

rookiemere · 11/04/2018 13:58

I'm sure the OPs problem solving capacities are perfectly fine, but perhaps after a 17hr day at 1am she wasn't in the best frame of mind to :a)be googling TLs Ts&Cs
b) working out the location of a hotel she has never been to before with road-works or
c) forking out her own money to pay for a taxi which she may never get a refund for.

Honestly it beggars belief that people are berating the OP over this.

GnotherGnu · 11/04/2018 14:02

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

Why not? I appreciate the hotel might not want to authorise it, but is there any reason why it shouldn't? If, as a hotel, you operate an overbooking policy, there really should be standing directions that if this means that a guest is without a bed they will be booked into the nearest available hotel and a cab will take them there and bring them back in the morning if necessary. An account could be set up with a local cab firm to ensure that it's reasonably reliable and that the system can't be abused.

justanothercreditissue · 11/04/2018 14:03

Goodness knows how you are going to get home tonight op after another long day at work and presumably very little sleep in your car.

LimonViola · 11/04/2018 14:07

It's what people do when something has gone wrong, rookiemere. They discuss it and think about whether they'd have done the same and make suggestions for others reading who may find themselves in a similar situation at some point in the future.

I see plenty of people discussing what she could have done but I've not seen many people actually berating her, what makes you say that?

PattiStanger · 11/04/2018 14:07

Justanothercreditissue - that's a bit uncalled for, who knows what the OPs plans are for tonight, why so snippy?

DontDrinkDontSmoke · 11/04/2018 14:07

To be fair, OP, your car was probably more luxurious than the room you’d booked.

Travelodges are crap IME.

LimonViola · 11/04/2018 14:09

One good thing that'll come from this is you'll REALLLLLLY appreciate your lovely comfy bed tonight OP! It's so lovely being able to fully stretch out horizontally with a snuggly duvet in clean PJs after spending a night catnapping in a car.

InspMorse · 11/04/2018 14:09

Pretty-bird
Have you read the thread?! Grin

Today 11:55 InspMorse
... OP turned up at the hotel, turned her away after offering her Ancoats (ffs) and OP went and slept in her car.