About Premier Inn’s Good Night Guarantee?

[Badnightguaranteed]

Recently stayed in a premier inn…
It was an altogether horrible experience, so after night two of a three night stay I asked to cancel the final night and was told that would be ok, it was understandable, and not to worry - I’d be refunded for the night I hadn’t stayed in four days time. Fair enough. Under the circumstances they asked me at reception to fill in the customer relations form, which I did.
Anyway premier inn have refused to refund me , it’s now nearly three months later.
Supposedly they offer a "good night guarantee" in any case but when I asked about this I was told it isn’t applicable "during covid" and hasn’t been "since the start of the pandemic".
So why advertise it? It’s still on the website?
What’s the point of the good night guarantee if it’s not applicable (my experience probably included just about everything that could go wrong with a hotel room, I’m not talking about small issues!).

I’d send this to one of the newspaper consumer / money sections as I think this is a big problem with a big business. It’s a blatantly false promise. At no point were these new ts & cs made clear to you. You should get your refund - end of.

Just seems strange.
They supposedly offer a guarantee on the basis of whether your bed is comfy or other such extravagant promises, yet I had some very real issues that were 100% not minor or diva- ish, and they’re very stubbornly refusing a refund.
I’ll have to perfect my dailymail sadface and yes, write to one of those shows!

It's still on their website!

Definitely time to perfect the DM compo face. Bonus points if you get featured on APILN www.facebook.com/angrypeopleinlocalnewspapers

Is Covid the only reason they’re giving? Or are they saying your bad night wasn’t their fault?
I once got a refund years ago, because the aircon was broken in a heatwave and it was unbearably hot.

@UndertonesOfCake love the link
@Begmoyo1 They don’t believe I had a bad night 🤔. And it wouldn’t matter if I did have a bad night because good night guarantee no longer applies. Cos covid 🙄

Did you book a flex rate? If you did, did you curtail your stay before noon on the last day? In which case, their own T&C say you'd be refunded, that's the main T&C not even the good night guarantee.

The good night guarantee is still in place under their T&C but with some covid exclusions. I'd start with a strongly worded email pointing out clauses xyz under their T&C, whichever applies.

If still no joy, you could try an ombudsman
www.tradingstandards.uk/consumers/adr-approved-bodies/consumer-arbitration

I usually have only good things to say about Premier Inn but I once stayed in one and we were woken up at 4am by loud music being played in the restaurant below - I think it was the cleaning staff.

After that we heard the setting up of the restaurant for breakfast. Lots of crashing sounds. Then to add insult to injury we had no hot water when we wanted to have a shower.

They couldn't have cared less when we listed our issues on check out.

I don't think the good night guarantee is a real thing in practise.

I know someone who got a refund from their 'good night guarantee' after they had some really rowdy people next door and no reception staff to complain to, this was since covid too so that's odd.

I didn’t book the flex rate I don’t think but I was told at reception that under the circumstances it was totally fine to cancel and I’d be refunded within 4 days. I checked because then I had to pay for other arrangements too of course. (In that case train tickets back home, as the situation with the hotel had meant sadly, I had to cancel our onward trip and accommodation… the whole point of our stopover in a premier inn).

If you were told before cancelling that you would be refunded then that overrides any other terms and conditions, provided they were categorical about it and did not caveat with “as long as central management agrees” or ”I think that’s the policy but will need to check” or some such thing. Push that point with them, giving the name of the person who gave you the assurance if you have it.

Unfortunately I don’t have the name of the people (there were two in fact, one asked the other to confirm).
There’s not so much opportunity to push any points as the only current avenue for communicating with the premier Inn guest relations team is via a dm facility on Twitter that is attended to weekly, if that.
Their phonelines are no longer really operational afaia. Not just in a customer relations capacity, but just in general. I attempted to speak to someone in a work capacity about a potential multi room booking for months before I booked somewhere else.
Premier inn have a recent post on their Insta account with the words "Holy sheet" which I think is intended to be a hilarious meme explaining why check in is now later (to make everything covid safe, apparently).. but the responses are just hundreds of people who can not get in touch with premier in for a multitude of reasons. Just zero communication. Why then even bother offering a good night guarantee?

Small claims then. Look at money claim online.

I'd always had good experiences with premier inn until one occasion I booked one near a friends birthday party. When we arrived it wasn't like any I'd stayed in before. It was grim. It felt dirty and grubby, I wouldn't take my socks off on the carpet. It was so gross we decided not to stay and got a taxi home. There was no one at reception when we left at about 11pm (after the party, we'd gone back to the room thinking we'd grin and bare it but it was so gross I didn't want to sleep there) I put the key in the box and left a note on the reception desk. The next morning I emailed to complain. After a lot of contact with customer service the eventually gave me a 50% refund as 'good will'

We also noticed that the last couple of times we stayed in London the beds were normal doubles and not king size like they used to be.

So in short they've gone from being my 'go to' hotel to me not using them at all anymore.

It used to be a brand you could rely on, you knew what to expect. That is no longer the case in my experience.

I had a nightmare with them recently because I needed to change a booking date and no matter what I tried, I couldn't do it (customer service line closed, no response from twitter/Facebook, hotel phone just rang, website had an issue, app had the same issue)

I emailed the CEO and got a refund in a couple of days. The email is [email protected].

They also refused to honour the good night guarantee when they gave me a room with scaffolding and very noisy builders right outside of the window. It made me very uncomfortable and yet I really had to fight to even get a different room because the woman on reception couldn't understand my problem with it.

@wtfisthatspiderdoing

I'd always had good experiences with premier inn until one occasion I booked one near a friends birthday party. When we arrived it wasn't like any I'd stayed in before. It was grim. It felt dirty and grubby, I wouldn't take my socks off on the carpet. It was so gross we decided not to stay and got a taxi home. There was no one at reception when we left at about 11pm (after the party, we'd gone back to the room thinking we'd grin and bare it but it was so gross I didn't want to sleep there) I put the key in the box and left a note on the reception desk. The next morning I emailed to complain. After a lot of contact with customer service the eventually gave me a 50% refund as 'good will'

We also noticed that the last couple of times we stayed in London the beds were normal doubles and not king size like they used to be.

So in short they've gone from being my 'go to' hotel to me not using them at all anymore.

It used to be a brand you could rely on, you knew what to expect. That is no longer the case in my experience.

Yes, I’ve noticed that they now advertise double rooms as having “double or king size bed” and there’s no way of checking which. It’s a shame as DH and I simply can’t sleep together in a double!

Thanks everyone, I think I’ll take it to small claims as HaveringWavering suggested.
I’ll try Questionablemouses email address too, thanks for that
Shame to hear other people have had similarly bad experiences. Used to be such a reliable brand!

A friend of ours (a lawyer, who makes complaints about poor service) told us, if anybody makes 2 complaints about a Premier Inn, they get told, they are not welcome anymore.

Gosh @Intercity225
Well, I think after my experience I’ll need therapy before I manage any hotel again, let alone a premier inn 🙈
They’d have to pay me (lots) to even think about it.

I used to be a fan of PI and their big comfy beds. Not any more, I’m afraid. Like PP have been given a standard double to share with 6”3 DH whose long legs take up more than half the bed when he bends them.

It’s a real shame that you can no longer trust a brand that used to do what it said really well.

Come on OP give us some detail - were there rats/mould/room mates you didn't ask for? Name and shame which one it was too maybe so we don't stay there

I was told it isn’t applicable "during covid" and hasn’t been "since the start of the pandemic"

If that's the case then it shouldn't still be on their website

I wouldn't normally say this, but that sounds like one for the media - at which point your refund will arive pretty damned fast

I just checked, and in the fine print it does say that the guarantee stops applying if your discontent is down to the measures they've had to apply because of Covid

So I guess it depends why it was a horrible experience?

@Puzzledandpissedoff

I just checked, and in the fine print it does say that the guarantee stops applying if your discontent is down to the measures they've had to apply because of Covid

So I guess it depends why it was a horrible experience?

Interesting - so if it's due to noise/dirt/pests or anything like that then it still applies. OP get your facts in order and email the CEO. Depending on what you're complaining about and how they've handled it I'd be tempted to ask for a refund for the whole stay since the service and the miscommunication has been shocking since then.

@Puzzledandpissedoff

I just checked, and in the fine print it does say that the guarantee stops applying if your discontent is down to the measures they've had to apply because of Covid

So I guess it depends why it was a horrible experience?

I was going to say this what's in the small print?

I spent three nights in a PI between house moves. There was a heatwave and it was sandwiched between two busy dual carriageways. The window only opened an inch and then the noise was too loud to sleep. It triggered my asthma and my DH found me not breathing and had to revive me two nights running. He had to stay awake all night and watch me. I did get a full refund, but this was before COVID. I can't see how the pandemic at this stage could impact on a good night in a hotel. They should refund OP.