To think this is bloody daft of the hotel?

[JurassicPark101]

I’ve booked a hotel for Friday night until Monday morning. Unfortunately due to childcare issues I found out today that I won’t be able to get there until Saturday morning now. It’s all been prepaid for and as it’s less than 7 days before the booking it’s completely non-refundable and can’t be rearranged.

I’m not too fussed about it being non-refundable, totally understand they probably wouldn’t be able to fill the room again at short notice. Anyway, I phone the hotel to let them know that I do still want the booking but that I won’t be arriving until about 9.30ish on the Saturday rather than the Friday afternoon as originally planned. Receptionist on phone says ‘that’s fine, thanks for letting us know. Just so you know you’re welcome to use the facilities but your room won’t be available until check in at 3pm.” I reiterate that I’ve already paid for the room (and breakfast and dinner which I won’t be having either) from Friday so it should be available when I get there at 9.30. Again “sorry, no but we can’t allow early check in under any circumstances at the moment. We’re totally fully booked and the cleaners just can’t get the rooms ready before this.”

I ask to speak to someone else as I assume she’s possibly new or young or thick as mince. She passes me over to another woman but I hear her say “can you speak to this lady, she won’t understand why she can’t check in at 9.30am”. I explain the situation again. New lady replies with “I empathise with your situation but as we are fully booked we simply can’t allow you to check in nearly 6 hours early”. I tell her that it’s not 6 hours early, it’s 18 hours late. Im booked from the Friday night. I’m paying for the Friday night but I can’t get there until Saturday morning. I’ve paid £145 for a room, dinner and breakfast and none of it will be used. If I was arriving on time, I would be able to return to my room at 9.30am if I chose to do so. She tell me that I'm not arriving on time though so the room won’t be ready until 3pm .

I ask if there’s a manager that I can email, or a head office as this is just bonkers. She gives me an email address. I write a very calm, concise email explaining that I’ll be getting there at 9.30 the day after I’m due to arrive. I’ve just had an email back (from the reception again) telling me that my room will be ready at 3pm and they hope I enjoy my stay.

How do I resolve this? They’re all mad. Aren’t they? I’m not going crazy in thinking I should be allowed in the room when I get there am I? It should be ready for 3pm on Friday so will still be ready at 9.30 on Saturday, surely?

This is BONKERS. Could you maybe go down the route of asking why you'd have to check in at 3pm to allow for the room you didn't stay in to be cleaned - i.e. why are they letting a room you paid for out to someone else - surely there has to be some rules about that? **

**I realise you aren't using the room but it might be an angle to try to get them to engage brain.

@SusieBob

If you could sell something twice and get away with it 99% of the time, would you do it? Of course you would, especially when the odd time it goes wrong you still make more money than you would just selling it once.

Understand this and fully agree. 99% of the time it works - but its the 1% of the time they makes a good business.
They should see past the money at this point and just say "of course no problem" and privately think bugger we missed the chance to get double for that room.
I personally read Trip Advisor reviews before booking, if I had a choice of hotels a review with this sort of inflexibility would lead me to booking an alternative.

“@SusieBob

If you could sell something twice and get away with it 99% of the time, would you do it? Of course you would, especially when the odd time it goes wrong you still make more money than you would just selling it once.”

Nope, I want my customer’s coming back, leaving good reviews and having a wonderful time. It’s not worth the occasional £100 to get a bad review and someone leave with a really bad feelings.

I work for a hotel company and they're being totally unreasonable. It sounds like they may have sold your room? Question them on that, better to get a refund for the night you can't use.

Perhaps, contact them again saying you're arriving Friday very late/Saturday early morning.

At 9:30 you can explain you are just late checking in.

Once you're in the hotel when you check in ask to speak to the General Manager. Calmly explain, hopefully the GM will see sense. You should get a bottle of wine with dinner at least. If no joy then, mention trip advisor, a complaint to Booking.com and an email to the owner/Head Office if the hotel

They are just stupid!! Not listening! No common sense!

Definitely let them know you’ll be running late and may not arrive until after midnight but you expect to have the room ready for your arrival. After all you’ve paid for the night. Suppose you didn’t let them know, the room would be ready and waiting anyway. If you arrived and room not ready as they let the room due to your no show they would be breaching the booking agreement, and you’d be entitled to a refund.

Do you know a relative who would love a 1 night stay with dinner to keep it 'open' for you to turn up at 09.30ish on Saturday?

Say your car's had a breakdown and you'll be boringly late as AA are on their way to see what problem is.

loislane66 that’s exactly what I’m doing. My friend is camping nearby and is going to check in and have the dinner. She doesn’t want to stay overnight but she’s going to hide the key for me nearby so I can get it on Saturday morning.

Tell them that if they don't understand the room is yours from 3pm on Friday then you won't pay for the Friday night. It should be ready by Friday 3pm. If it isn't ready until Saturday 3pm then you start paying on Saturday. As you said, thick as mince!

This is crazy! I've had to book a hotel room for the night but not arrived until 6.00 am due to flights, so had to pay for a night but otherwise you do have to wait until 3.00 pm. They seem to have completely misunderstood the situation and are refusing to think!! Good Luck!

I would say I’m going and let them get the room ready for Friday and just turn up Saturday

This sort of thing is so infuriating! My blood presssure is going up just reading it. Hope it all works out for you.

I used to work as a Front of House Manager, this happened alot with people jetting in from everywhere and we'd be informed (usually) if people were due to be a late/early arrival (lots of company/government bookings).

You've prepaid and informed them, all we would have done is allocate your room, make a note on your reservation that you were arriving early Saturday morning and check you into the system before midnight on Friday (end of day, system backup) so your room is ready for your arrival. Its simple.

We did have a 2pm check in policy, but if we had any unexpected early arrivals and rooms were ready we'd check people in at whatever time they arrived (If they're unwilling to budge I'd try this anyway).

They sound like they're reselling (or overbooked), if they have your due a full refund for Friday, they've changed your reservation and cancelled one night stay.

Really awful customer service!

I reckon they have already given the room to someone else!

I am currently in the far west of Cornwall. I probably know what hotel this is. Anyway might see if they have a one-off single night tomorrow.

Op, I hope you enjoy your weekend now without worry 🍷🍸🍹💃
I'd have a word with the manager.
The reception staff seem as thick as two short planks. 🙄

I don’t think they’ve given the room to someone else. When I called back this morning to tell them that I’d be arriving on Friday after all they were absolutely fine about it but just tried to tell me again that I wouldn’t be able to check in until 3pm on Friday. I said I probably wouldn’t be there until 6ish and they seemed really taken aback that I wasn’t asking to come in at 9.30. I really think they were just a bit dim.

Yep. Thick.
No point in trying to reason with them.
Could you "check in" over the phone but arrive on the Sat?

I would ask citizens advice

Because, obviously, it varies between hotels, but if a person with a legitimate booking does get bumped what usually happens is they get put into a taxi and sent to the hotel round the corner with a drinks voucher. Hotels have reciprocal arrangements with others in the area to send

I'd want more than a taxi and a drinks voucher for being bumped, I'd expect at least one free night and the original hotel to cover any difference in cost!

They're absolutely mad OP.

I make 1000s of hotel bookings as part of my job and this is a fairly common occurrence, you absolutely should have access to the room from the moment you arrive Saturday. I've had clients deliberately book an extra night in a hotel if they have a very early flight in order to check straight in on arrival, and just today I called a hotel to let them know guests booked from Saturday may actually arrive Monday now.

I would perhaps put it down to the current hospitality staffing crisis and new / inexperienced staff. A colleague of mine once messed up her own hotel booking the other way around; wasn't arriving somewhere until after midnight so booked her first night in the hotel as that date, not the previous day. Most unimpressed to learn she couldn't check in until 3pm when she arrived at 1am

Most places do ask for ID when checking in. I would just call in the evening on Friday to say you’ve been delayed and will be there early morning for Saturday and to have your room ready.

Email back and tell them you have resolved your problem and will be there on Friday evening then don’t turn up. Has it already been paid for? If so they will have it ready for Friday whether you get there or not

They are thick as shit