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?

I think what makes this so awful is that it’s a small hotel which you’ve been to before. If I were you OP, I’d have a word with the manager when you get there. Explain what happened and the response you got down the receptionists.

You can only hope they apologise profusely and offer you a free bottle of something!

I hope you have a lovely and relaxing time once your there!

*you’re

Checking in for the checking in.

@SusieBob

Many, many years ago I moved abroad with my family and had a rather extended stay at a very naice hotel. During that time Nancy Reagan came to visit the city and stayed at this hotel. Both her and her entourage took up an entire floor of the hotel and security meant that both the floors above and below were kept empty. I would have loved to see the hotel staff member that tried to put anyone in one of those 'empty' rooms; "Yep, you may be the FLOTUS, but this is business, ma'am" 😂😂

Hope you have a lovely weekend Op when you do finally get there!

I think

This is going in circles.

SusieBob It certainly is, because you keep repeating yourself, failing to follow what other posters are saying and failing to grasp that OP isn’t a no-show.

It's not fraud, it's not "breech of contract" and it's common practice. If you have a prepaid hotel room and you don't turn up until the following day, the hotel owes you the grand sum of fuck all.

If you reread, this time more carefully, you will see that I have said ‘ it would be fraud in similar circumstances’, not that it actually is fraud. More by luck in how the terms of the Fraud Act 2006 is drafted than in terms of morality, however.

OP is not failing to show, she is merely arriving late.

You and all the other posters getting outraged about it doesn't change that.

As I have said twice already, it may well be common practice and the shysters may well get away with it, but it doesn’t make it right and it doesn’t make it good practice in terms of customer service and reputation.

Almost every other poster has said similar and other workers in the industry have said their hotel wouldn’t engage in such wide-boy tactics.

We’re allowed to be annoyed and outraged about things even if legally there’s no redress. The law is often an ass. You seem to be confused about things being common practice and being acceptable. They’re not one and the same.

You seem incapable of reading and retaining what anybody else writes.

[quote Staffy1]@SusieBob, oh I am sure they do do it, but that doesn’t make it right. They are keeping someone’s money and not allowing them to check in until later the next day. I didn’t say it doesn’t happen, I said it shouldn’t happen.[/quote]
Exactly my view. I'm surprised it's legal because it's been paid for.

They are obviously letting it out Friday night.

I shouldn't read threads like this just before bed! What a frustrating situation for you OP. Have a lovely weekend however it turns out. I am now going to start a get away fund like a pp suggested. But I'll probably have to take the husband 🤣

I'm here for the Sat morning update :-P

I wouldn't have told them you weren't arriving ... it makes no difference to them.. its your room.. you paid for it 😳

@JurassicPark101

itsgettingwierd I know, it’s pretty irritating. It’s my go to hotel whenever I have a bit of spare cash and my ex condescends to see his own kids - it’s a lovely spot with lush walks, less than 2 hrs away, not posh enough for me to feel self conscious eating dinner on my own, nice pool and just somewhere I know.

I’ve already thought it was slightly odd that it’s cheaper to book through booking.com. Most hotels you can see the booking m.com price but if you actually phone the hotel direct and quote that price they’ll offer it slightly cheaper or give you a room upgrade for the same price as booking direct means they don’t get charged booking.com fees, works out better for both of us. When I called last time about that they didn’t understand that either and got a bit shitty with me so I just booked through booking.com . Then with this ridiculousness too I think I’ll find somewhere else to stay next time I need a break. If anyone knows anywhere that sounds similar in Cornwall or Dartmoor way please let me know.

Has there been a change of management, or are they struggling for good reception staff and having to scrape the barrel?

Just reading this has enraged me!

@QueenBee52

I wouldn't have told them you weren't arriving ... it makes no difference to them.. its your room.. you paid for it 😳

But then after a certain time wouldn't Op just be a "no show" & the room considered available for someone else for the night?

DdraigGoch I’m assuming it’s like everywhere round here at the moment in that they’re desperately trying to find staff now that a lot of the Eastern European students aren’t coming over for the summer. I think pretty much every restaurant and hotel in my town (tourist town in S Devon) is advertising for staff at the moment. Businesses are just hiring whoever is willing to turn up at the moment and it seems the hotel I’m staying at have employed receptionists who don’t know the difference between Friday and Saturday or susiebob

@JurassicPark101 booking.com are a third party they do not take any payment, it is the hotel that take payment, whether that be in advance or on arrival/departure. Please check that a payment has been taken because your friend might get a shock when checking in for you.
Also booking.com do not oversell rooms, it is the hotels that oversell them, the hotels manage the number of rooms that they have available by logging into their account and physically adding how many are rooms available. Overselling easily happen when the hotel is on many different 3rd party sites, also selling directly and they aren’t quick enough to update them with the actual available rooms. This is why we always put on less rooms that are actually available to avoid this situation.
I don’t understand why they refused to let you check in the following morning as you have paid for the room that is just bad customer service, enjoy your break OP.

diddl that’s why I phoned in the first place. I didn’t want them to think I was a no show. Oh well, hopefully my mate will be able to check in this afternoon.

pinkshimmersparkle payment has definitely been taken so no worry for friend about that. It wouldn’t be too much of an issue if it hadn’t though, she only lives over the road from me and we’re pretty close so I’m sure she’d be happy for me to just cashapp her quickly if I needed to for any reason.

It’s not the Penventon is it?

@mafted

We've just returned from a hotel and DH and DD had to show ID on check in.

and I've just returned from a hotel in England and not shown any ID - just told them my name and they found my booking. There are no hard and fast rules

theboywiththearabstrap no, further west and in the countryside. That place looks lovely though, have you been? I need to find somewhere else to stay for my next escape (which probably won’t be for another year but it’s good to have something to look forward to). I’m not sure I can face staying at my usual place again after this.

Ask your friend to "use" the bedroom too on Friday. Just mess up the towels and the bed to make the room look occupied

I do get the both sides of it.

That the room isn't "yours" until you book in & if you don't then it's still theirs to rent out if they can.

It's the inflexibility of not say giving a last minute booking an early checkout/Op an early check in.

I mean if there's only about 20 rooms you wouldn't think it was that difficult!

@diddl

I do get the both sides of it.

That the room isn't "yours" until you book in & if you don't then it's still theirs to rent out if they can.

It's the inflexibility of not say giving a last minute booking an early checkout/Op an early check in.

I mean if there's only about 20 rooms you wouldn't think it was that difficult!

Surely it's 'hers' from when she paid and the hotel took money for it - from 3pm today.

"Surely it's 'hers' from when she paid and the hotel took money for it - from 3pm today."

Well the hotel don't seem to think so!

I'm sure bookings are often cancelled & not refunded & no one expects that the room will be left empty.

Op had effectively cancelled the Friday night booking, so usual check in applied for the Saturday.

I'm not saying it's good practise on the part of the hotel though.