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?

@whatausername

I rather feel like people are piling on LouHotel when she is explaining how it works. As a GM she is highly unlikely to be setting the rules herself. Depending on the company culture she might have some leeway but that leeway can come at a price (e.g. the redundancies she mentioned earlier). It comes down to corporations wanting to forecast everything and set targets for every scrap of barely measaurable data from revenue to the number of hairs on an employee's head. Somehow the bigger a business gets the more common sense it loses.

She's not explaining how it works though. She said they'd lose an occupancy, then said an occupancy is a paid-for room, which is what this room is. She also hasn't explained the losses she said they would incur by someone not being physically present in the paid-for room having paid for a meal. I was genuinely interested, hence my questions about costs, which she has ignored. She doesn't seem like she actually understands the situation well enough to explain it beyond saying 'hotels need to hit targets'. Possibly just hasn't explained what she means very well, but it's hard to tell.

If you have informed them you are not staying Friday night so have cancelled the first night, they have every right to re sell the room for that evening and indeed say you can't check in to 3pm on Saturday because you are altering your booking that the terms and conditions are based on.

But OP isn't altering her booking. She still wants the room to be available on Friday night so that she can check in early on Saturday.

The first night of that booking is no longer room revenue its cancellation revenue - its not poor customer service or bonkers practise, cancelling Friday will have cost them revenue in other departments which will have been forecasted.

Will it, given that dinner is prepaid? How is it possible to make an accurate forecast? If it were me, I never order drinks from overpriced hotel bars or room service, nor do I pay for wifi. If anything the hotel would be saving money by virtue of not having to pay for electricity, hot water, laundry, cleaning, in-room teas and coffees etc. To say nothing of the fact that I usually ask for extra milk for the room as they never leave enough.

In OP's case, the hotel also has to take into account the fact that they've got a returning customer who is now thoroughly pissed off, won't book there again and will let other people know. Sounds like thoroughly bad business to me.

I don't understand either. Whenever we book a room, we turn up, check in, throw our suitcases in the room, go out, eat out, and don't come back till very late. Room is paid for, our choice to spend very little time in there. As OP, has paid for the room shouldn't make a difference if she spends one hour or six hours in it. Unless the owner is going to charge her and then book it out to someone else and charge them too - hence two payments for one room.

Looks like the pile-on to anyone who dares to try to explain how things work is continuing then.

Yes, hotels are mean evil bastards who steal people's money and fill the swimming pools with cash each evening to go swimming in it. Better?

I’m in!

susiebob no one is debating that hotels do this - I said in my Op the reason I called in the first place was because I knew they’d likely resell the room if I didn’t turn up. But in the particular scenario, not some general how hotels operate kind of way which I don’t think anyone disagrees with, it doesn’t benefit the hotel to do this. Because they’ve done this they’ve now had to pay for a meal for my friend which they wouldn’t have done if they’d just done as I’d asked in the first place.

@SusieBob that's a bit extreme. People are just asking for an explanation.

Person books a service and pays for it
Person has booked for service for hour x to hour y
Person will not arrive at hour x but intends to use the service up until hour y
Why is this not OK?
How does Hotel lose money by Person arriving later for a service that they have paid for?

what a palava, lucky you had a friend to check in for you

@JurassicPark101 yes! Enjoy your stay

@JurassicPark101* I’m in!*

Have a fab time, and when you check out make sure you thank them for being so bloody helpful 🤣

Computer says no. Some peoples lack of common sense is shocking isn't it?

I’m currently sat by the pool drinking tea and reading books doomscrolling MN. Life is good and will continue to be good for at least another 48 hours.

LouHotel misunderstood.

"If you have informed them you are not staying Friday night so have cancelled the first night, "

No. That wasn't the case at all she hasn't cancelled the Friday night at all.

I am at a total loss as to what the receptionists think is going on, I am a total loss as to how the hotel is losing any money or is disadvantaged at all.

Good. Pleased OP.
What a shenanigans.

Looks like the pile-on to anyone who dares to try to explain how things work is continuing then
Well if it made sense then maybe they wouldnt need more explanation.
Room , Meal and breakfast all prepayed for,

They are saving not having to provide the meal and breakfast, what they may lose out on is profit from money spent at the bar. Op is not asking for her money back.

If anyone has any recommendations for nice hotels in Cornwall/ West Devon that would be great. Don’t fancy coming back here again but I do love sitting in a hotel planning my next trip! It won’t be until I save up enough money but I love having something to look forward to.

I love the Boskerris in Carbis Bay. www.boskerrishotel.co.uk

Enjoy your weekend OP!

I'm sorry, @JurassicPark101, I don't have any recommendations for hotels in West Devon or Cornwall, but I hear that Burgh Island Hotel in South Devon is fabulous!
I'm glad you got the situation sorted, and are happily ensconced there now - I'm another who doesn't understand the lack of understanding about your late arrival by the hotel staff, given that the room was pre-paid for last night as well as the rest of your stay. I hope you can relax and enjoy it now!

I’ve been trying to work out where you are. What sort of price do you want to spend.

By west Cornwall do you mean before Penzance or after. The journey time makes a difference

@JurassicPark101

I’m currently sat by the pool drinking tea and reading books doomscrolling MN. Life is good and will continue to be good for at least another 48 hours.

I hope it's complimentary tea and not one you bought. I feel like they shouldn't get another penny out of you unless it's for something you really want. is a grump 😂

@SusieBob

Looks like the pile-on to anyone who dares to try to explain how things work is continuing then.

Yes, hotels are mean evil bastards who steal people's money and fill the swimming pools with cash each evening to go swimming in it. Better?

It's not a pile-on. I for one have pointed out that this is a clear breach of contract, and neither you nor any of your colleagues have come up with any valid reason why that should not be the case - yet you still maintain this conduct is perfectly fine.

Good for you Op. glad you are in and I agree it's bloody daft of the hotel.

However, that being said, I've just read this new item on the BBC website which probably highlights the pressure and strain the hotel industry are in just now, so I can understand uncertainty, pressure to rebook rooms, and probably under-training of staff just now.

Abuse leaves hospitality staff at 'breaking point' www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-58149364

The Pednolva at St Ives is good and has absolutely fantastic views.

Fantastic update Op.

Well done for circumventing the "computer says no" mentality.

Enjoy your break. ☕️🍷🧁

I’m after Penzance. It’s a bit of a bugger to get to as I only live about 20 minutes from the Cornish but I’ve always just enjoyed being off the beaten track a bit and it’s felt like a real hideaway.

jconnais Burgh Island hotel is indeed very lovely. It’s pretty formal though - the one time I stayed there it was black tie dress code for dinner. Exdh and I went down and there was a pianist and all these staff stood to attention around the edge of the the room. The only other guests coming to dinner turned out to be the parents of the boy I went out with as a teenager! It was awkward enough as a couple. I don’t think I could face having dinner there alone, I’d feel a bit like a fish in a bowl.

She doesn't seem like she actually understands the situation well enough to explain it beyond saying 'hotels need to hit targets'. Possibly just hasn't explained what she means very well, but it's hard to tell.

I thought the same Hygge.

I wondered if Lou was either the hotel receptionist contacted by Jurassic, or if this is a hotel management mindset that no hotel staff can get out of when a room becomes unexpectedly empty for 25 minutes