To let you know that the Premier Inn Good Night Sleep Guarantee is worthless

[CherryMaple]

DD and I stayed at a Premier Inn recently. We were disturbed by noise from other guests in the corridor several times in the night - up until 3.30am. In the morning we spoke to the receptionist about the noise and said that we wanted to claim on the Good Night Sleep Guarantee because we had slept badly because of the corridor noise. We gave details of the times, and said she would be able to confirm on their CCTV of the corridor if necessary. She said she would make a note on our account.

When we got home, I contacted Premier Inn to confirm that we wanted to claim on the Good Night Sleep Guarantee. Premier Inn have said that our claim is not valid and have refused to refund us.

The website clearly says “We’re so confident you’ll have a great night’s sleep that, if you don’t, we’ll give you your money back. Just speak to one of our friendly reception team. This is our Good Night Guarantee.” This is absolutely not true and very misleading.

In turns out, there is a lot of small print. If you are disturbed by internal hotel noise, you have to report it to reception at the exact time during the night if it is ‘safe’ to do so.

Just wanted to let you know - if you’re planning to stay at a Premier Inn - to read the detailed list of exclusions, and not rely on their big promise of the Guarantee which is worthless unless you have read the small print.

Worst night in a hotel ever - got a full refund the next morning under the guarantee.

The only time that I claimed, would have been about 4 years ago, and got a full refund.

@CherryMaple

I haven’t posted about this recently. If I was on Twitter, I’d tweet it.

My point is that they need to be upfront about the small print - and they’re not. They say we Guarantee you a great night’s sleep - if you don’t sleep well, just have a chat with our friendly receptionist. That’s not the case. They need to be up front about it.

I disagree. I would have assumed it meant because you eg found the bed uncomfortable though, or the aircon was too noisy, not because of other guests, which they can do little about. We've had heavy people in the room above us who've sounded like a herd of elephants.

You shouldn't need small print to point out the bleedingly obvious. No doubt they will change it if this keeps happening though.

It really spoiled our trip. We had 3 DC with us too. PI said it didn't come under the guarantee thing. Fair enough, but I think that having facilities to wash for a 4 night stay is a pretty basic assumption to make. We won't book with them again because of it.

@CherryMaple

I haven’t posted about this recently. If I was on Twitter, I’d tweet it.

My point is that they need to be upfront about the small print - and they’re not. They say we Guarantee you a great night’s sleep - if you don’t sleep well, just have a chat with our friendly receptionist. That’s not the case. They need to be up front about it.

I hate this report it on Twitter mentality, no wonder the place is a cesspit.

As for the "small print" the clue is in the name. Even if you hadn't bothered to read these detailed terms and conditions before you claimed, it's common sense to report an issue at the time rather than until after when they cannot possibly take any reasonable steps to rectify it

Why would you not just phone reception at the time though? Why suffer all night if it could have been sorted at the time?

Why on earth lie there until 03:30am having been disturbed several times without contacting reception?

YABU

Tell them it wasn't safe to report at the time because you couldn't leave DD unattended and there's no phone.

My mum had this with them a few years ago - guests allowing kids to play noisily in the corridors in the middle of the night. My mum is a wheelchair user and would have struggled to get to the phone in the night and won’t have been able to get to the door. My dad slept through. They refused to refund because she didn’t report.

@FuckYouDebbie, wouldn’t OP use their mobile?

@tintodeverano2

Didn't you post this recently...

I think that was a poster who had been woken at 6am by staff moving furniture, setting up a conference room or something. They didn't get a refund either.

We had a similar situation but the noise was the central heating pipes banging for most of the night at the Hampstead premier inn. We complained each morning, three in total and insisted they recorded our complaint. They ended up refunding only one night and only for one of the rooms. It’s a crock of shit. They are not replying to our emails now.

OP, my suggestion would be to go down the misleading advertising route. Generally speaking, it's not OK to have small-print that effectively contradicts a headline claim. I would tell them you intend to complain to the Advertising Standards Authority.

As a PP agreed, the marketing for this is misleading. That’s my point.

And if you contact them in the middle of the night, they’re not rectifying it or putting it right - it doesn’t magically turn into a great night’s sleep. If you’ve had to speak to reception in the middle of the night to complain about the noise, even if they come up and bang on the door of other guests, it’s still not been a great night’s sleep. You’re basically just providing evidence that you’re awake and the noise is real. The evidence we provided that we were awake and the noise was real was reporting the times the noise happened - this could have been evidenced on the CCTV.

People who are saying ‘it’s a cheap hotel, wear ear plugs’ are missing the point.

Of course you’d have to report the disturbance at the time, otherwise everyone would come down in the morning and demand their money back. Why on earth didn’t you phone reception when the noise was being made?

@NellesVilla I thought the only number they give you is a central number. Could be wrong though.

@Antarcticant Thanks - I will do this.

I've reported noise in the past, they dealt with it then and there, I got a complimentary breakfast as a sorry - I thought this was fair

I used to work for PI many many moons ago and it was no quibble back then. I once had to refund someone because he saw a rat in the car park (we were in an enormous park, it was more likely a squirrel) and couldn't sleep for worrying about it

Just before I left I refunded a Woman who complained the fire alarm had gone off at 5am. She hadn't bothered to evacuate, but rocked up to reception 7 hours later bang on check-out time waving the guarantee in my face. I put through her refund while asking if she'd rather have been left unawares if it had been a real fire?

As a PP has mentioned, notes went on both of those client profiles. Chancers.

Oo I did not know about this, we stayed in a Premier inn recently there was a local karate competition and they were all staying at same hotel as us. Person in the room above clearly practiced moves from 5 am which woke us all up, plus room was cold. No loo roll on arrival in room so had to go down to ask for some then discovered only 1 towel for the four of us so back down to reception again. On top of that reception areas were being revamped so builders skips and huts taking up car parking spaces meaning we had no where to park ! Won’t be re turning

It's always been the case that you are supposed to report it at the time.

In the past they often bypassed that rule but have been more strict about it in recent years - probably too many people trying to claim.

It's can be a pain as they don't usually have a phone in the room and it's not always easy to find the direct number for the reception on your mobile.

But they need to know at the time so they have the opportunity to put a stop the disruption. And to have some 'proof' on their records on the noise - let's face it some people would just say it happened to claim the money even if it hadn't.

I have known people to successful claim before in the past and more recently. But they did report it at the time too.

Hmm, a few years ago, my family and I had a terrible nights sleep due to some awful racket in the car park. We mentioned this to the reception the next morning, not at the time and they refunded us on the guaranteed good night's sleep.

I got a full refund for a night last summer. Now worried I've got a Chancer note!

It has never occurred to me to try to claim because a noisy person walked past my door.

I thought they were guaranteeing a comfortable bed, a quiet room (as in, no internal noise), blackout curtains, noisy disturbances dealt with quickly once reported, that sort of thing.

I expect they'll stop offering it if people are claiming spuriously or for things beyond their control.

Politely reporting the noise to the receptionist at 8am, with details, and asking for the Guarantee does not make someone a difficult customer who needs a note on their account to alert other Premier Inns