Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
Thread gallery
8
Storminateapot · 11/04/2018 08:34

One would imagine OP had a conversation with the member of staff which established that the route to the other hotel was inaccessible. That would then have been an opportunity for staff member to say ' actually madam there is an alternative route' and guide her there or book a taxi. Not (presumably) shrug and let her sleep in her car without so much as the offer of a blanket.

It's all very well those of you who are local airily telling her the other options which may have been available, but the whole point is she isn't local and it's all meaningless to her. She arrived very late (having phoned ahead to confirm) after a long day at work and a long drive. To be told to get back in her car and drive another half hour or so through road closures etc in an unfamiliar place is completely unacceptable. Not to mention the fact that TL's own policy excludes this being done to lone female travellers in any case.

If a room is prepaid how is it any loss to a hotel whether or not the guest shows up? Surely it's slightly better to have a no-show as there's no need to turn the room around or provide a breakfast. Booking it out again is sheer greed. The last time we stayed in a TL about 3 years ago it was really grotty - dirty, shabby, noisy and not worth the money so they would never be my first choice anyway, but I absolutely wouldn't use them now.

freshstart24 · 11/04/2018 08:37

I've emailed [email protected] as suggested by another poster.

Original poster
IAmNoAngel · 11/04/2018 08:38

Had a bit of an uncomfortable night, but it wasn't as cold as I thought it would be. My coat is long and warm!

Just to answer a couple of pp's, I was at Birch Westbound, but the TL Eastbound had also turned people away according to the young girl on reception! There was no manager on site.

Have just had a shower in the services, no towel though so I just used pjs to dry myself, but I never knew there were showers in motorway services!!! The lady at WHSmith was really helpful and helped me sort out parking.

Phone battery is low, so I'll update when I've phoned the TL customer services from my dm's (near Kendal) when I've charged my phone.

I didn't want to drive around for a hotel last night because not only was I very tired, but lots of signs on M62 saying parts were closed due to roadworks and I'm not familiar with the area.

OP posts:
Drum71 · 11/04/2018 08:40

Glad you are ok but I’d create a shit storm.

ItsalmostSummer · 11/04/2018 08:43

Just a reminder, this is an online, anonymous forum. No disrespect to the OP but we only know what we read here. That also includes, how do we know this is real? OP, I hope you didn’t have to sleep in your car that is truly awful and please complain about this to the hotel chain. However everyone on MN getting upset and complaining to this chain, um, we haven’t actually seen anything on this IRL. It’s still just on an anonymous forum. Be careful people.

MonsteraDeliciosa · 11/04/2018 08:44

Bunch of greedy cunts, how is this legal? Airlines do it, too.
I use hotels several times per year, DH uses hotels weekly for work. We will not be using Travel Lodge now. Ever.

flowerslemonade · 11/04/2018 08:44

wow! resourceful :) PJ towel.
glad you're ok and made it through the night alright, and that you weren't too cold. really glad this didn't happen in the snow or middle of winter, doesn't bare thinking about. they should've sorted an alternative for you with taxis.

hopefully the memory of all of this will fade, sorry it happened :(.

HardAsSnails · 11/04/2018 08:45

Glad you're ok Angel BrewBrewBrew

SchadenfreudePersonified · 11/04/2018 08:45

Overbooking of pre-paid services ought to be illegal

THIS ^

If you have paid for your room, it is YOUR room, and even if you choose, for whatever reason, not to occupy it, than that is YOUR business, not theirs.

They've got their money, what more do they want?

SchadenfreudePersonified · 11/04/2018 08:46

The lady at WHSmith was really helpful and helped me sort out parking.

Kudos to WHS for employing helpful staff who use their initiative. It's about time more organisations did this.

BrieAndChilli · 11/04/2018 08:47

That’s cheeky as fuck. If someone has paid for a room it doesn’t matter one bit if they don’t actually use it! You have to pay for travelodge upfront (so not like other hotels where you pay on check out)

ItsalmostSummer · 11/04/2018 08:47

And there is something called the Defamation Act. Be careful folks.

MrsHathaway · 11/04/2018 08:48

TL have different rates depending on when you book. I bet when they run out of rooms they bump whoever paid least.

So yes it would make a difference to their income, if they refund a £29 booking in favour of a £59 one.

LimonViola · 11/04/2018 08:52

If this is true then it is absolutely disgusting. No way would I have been leaving the front desk until they found me a room, and if they continued to claim there weren't any I'd have been insisting on a duvet and sleeping on a couch in their restaurant. Or insisting they pay for a cab to another hotel, plus refund.

That is beyond appalling. I'm quite shocked that this is allowed to happen.

chandlersfraud · 11/04/2018 08:53

Maybe naively, I did not know they did this - I don't care that it's less likely to happen to me because I'd probably be traveling with my family or because I'm female, I think it's wrong anyway. You book surely to have peace of mind there's a room waiting for you!!

This has opened my eyes and I will not be using them again & will ask about overbooking policy at other places in future.

SchadenfreudePersonified · 11/04/2018 08:54

Refusing to take up the rescheduled room, which is clearly an option in their T&C doesn’t exactly hold the OP in good stead!

An alternative may be acceptable if they have a burst pipe and the room is flooded, or a nest of rats has taken up residence in the pillowcases - IT SHOULD NOT BE NECESSARY FOR A ROOM WHICH HAS BEEN PRE-BOOKED AND PRE-PAID!

And if the exhausted OP had had an accident driving in the dark, in an unfamiliar area, barely able to keep her eyes open - who do you think the police would have held responsible? OP could have got lost.or killed/injured herself or someone else if she had continued.

flowery · 11/04/2018 08:54

All hotels do it. A (disabled) colleague and I got turned away at a very nice hotel in central Manchester after a long journey. I was Not Best Pleased.

They sorted us out another hotel which was allegedly 5 minutes taxi ride away but we were staying for a few days and attending a conference every morning, 2 minutes walk from the original hotel.

‘5 minutes in a taxi’ from the new hotel in central Manchester at 10pm translates to a 25 minute commute at 8.30am...

Goldenphoenix · 11/04/2018 08:55

I'm really shocked at this, has put me off ever booking Travelodge again. This policy seems so ridiculous, all the bad PR it creates when the rooms are all paid for in advance, makes no sense to me!

SchadenfreudePersonified · 11/04/2018 08:55

OP is female, and alone chandlers, so their proud boast of protecting vulnerable "guests" is a hollow sham.

constantflux · 11/04/2018 08:55

They have done this for a long time. We stayed in a travelodge in two rooms last spring. One of the rooms (mine) had an insect infestation - they were (presumably hatching and) coming out from behind a picture frame screwed to the wall above the bed, then dropping all over the bed and floor and climbing the walls and ceiling.

The only solution offered was for the duty manager to come and hoover them up for us - she duly came and hoovered the floor, walls and bed. Since the insects were still emerging I requested a room change, but she explained that she couldn't do so as the hotel was not only fully booked, it was overbooked. She said that the overbooked party was a family so she was dreading having to turn them away so late at night.

We haven't booked with them since.

LimonViola · 11/04/2018 08:56

And I wouldn't be afraid of getting arsey with whoever was telling me at 1am the room I booked and paid for had been occupied by someone else. I know it's not the counter staff's fault in all likelihood but i'd be kicking up a fuss.

OP what did you do/say when you arrived and they said this?

It should be made illegal for services to double book. It's pure greed. You've paid for a space so that space is yours. Fair enough for a flight if you have a final check in time and the person hasn't arrived you may as well fill it with someone else. But unless a hotel has specified a latest check in time, the room is yours whether you arrive at 3pm or 3am. It's reserved for you whether you're in it or not imo!

GnotherGnu · 11/04/2018 08:57

This happened recently when I went on a work-related conference: one of my colleagues didn't book in till late, and when he did he found his room had gone. Without a murmur the hotel found him a room in a nearby more expensive hotel and sorted out transport to get him there. The rest of us were quite envious.

SerenDippitty · 11/04/2018 08:57

I assume it says in the small print/terms and conditions of booking that the booking is not guaranteed in the hotel you’ve actually booked and paid for in advance, but it is still a shit policy and if they were upfront about it few people would actually bother to book and pay in advance so it is pure greed on their part. Hope OP is ok.

pastabest · 11/04/2018 08:59

Does travelodge even ask the sex of people booking online? I only ever recall being asked how many people the room was for, if I answered 1 how would they know if that was for a male or female?

I suppose they could go off the name on the booking but that's no guarantee that the person whose name it is booked under is the person that is actually staying e.g. if booked by a company. It also makes assumptions about someones sex based on their name (Jamie, Jude, and Taylor all examples I can think of amongst female acquaintances) that may mean they could be assumed to be a man until they turned up.

Daddystepdaddy · 11/04/2018 08:59

I suspect TL are paying their staff near or at minimum wage which pretty much guarantees zero initiative. Pay peanuts get monkeys.