Premier Inn Good Night Guarantee only honored if you're prepared to report issues at 2 A.M.

[Roaders]

I regularly stay at Premier Inn hotels and have occasionally in the past claimed on their Good Night Guarantee (I might have claimed once or twice over the past 10 years or so).

I stayed at a hotel on the 1st April and had an awful nights sleep. I could hear another guest snoring, another guest moving about in their room and a whining noise coming from the fan all night (there was nothing I could do about this fan, even turning off all power to the room by removing the card from the slot did not stop it).

The next morning when checking out I mentioned the issues I had had and that I would like a refund. I would not do this at any other hotel but this is exactly what they offer so as I had not had a good nights sleep I requested a refund.
The staff at the hotel told me I had to report to central office and gave me a phone number to call, on phoning the number I was told to report by sending an email which I did. I got a response saying that they were busy and I wouldn't get a response for 20 days.

After quite a bit of back and forward the situation now is that management has reviewed the case and will not take it any further. The outcome:

As this wasn’t reported to our team within a reasonable amount of time, we will not be able to provide you with a refund on this occasion.

According the them "within a reasonable amount of time" means that when I was lying in bed in the middle of the night unable to sleep I should have fully woken up, turned on the light (waking up my wife who HAD managed to get to sleep), get dressed, go downstairs and try and find a memeber of staff who would then presumaby not be able to do anything about the noise - certainly not able to do anything without waking my wife.

This, to me, is utterly ridiculous. They only guarnatee a good night sleep if you're willing to report issues to them in the middle of the night. In my mind if I have to get up in the middle of the night and go down to reception even if they do instantly resolve the issue that is not a good nights sleep.

Small claims court is the next step I think.

They're notorious for this!

I can see their point tbh, they didn't have a chance to do anything about the issues because you didn't report them at the time. They might not have been able to fix them even if they were given notice, but I can see why that is their response.

Did you ask for a 50 per cent refund as your wife did get a good night’s sleep?

Well of course, the point is you're awake and can't sleep so can report it. Otherwise tons of people would say (with no evidence) oh i didn't sleep last night!

YABU.

You need to give them a chance to solve the problem first!

They are so hit and miss with this. I once had two out of three nights at a Manchester premier inn refunded because of noise from other guests and because they put me at the very end of a long corridor which was apparently against policy for lone female travellers. They wouldn't refund the third night because they said I hadn't reported the issues at the time. Well no, I am not going to get my arse out of bed in the small hours with people drunk in the corridors to report it am I?

They are just really inconsistent and it seems to be at the whim of whoever gets your enquiry as to whether you do get what you should out of them.

Seems a reasonable enough policy to me - and yes, it’s tighter than it was a few years ago, probably because they had to issue too many refunds! It seems clear enough on their website you need to talk to reception at the time and I think most restaurants, hotels etc expect you to give them a chance to rectify issues. Otherwise you’d just get loads of people wanting refunds for non existent reasons or complaining about trivial issues. It’s like eating an entire meal at a restaurant then complaining you don’t want to pay because you didn’t like it. Presumably the whining from the fan started well before 2am - they could have swapped your room perhaps if you’d reported it at bedtime.

Hearing people move around on the floor above, doors opening and closing on the corridor etc is completely normal for a budget hotel brand - if that level of noise disturbs you you need ear plugs, complete silence is unrealistic.

To be fair they didn't get a chance to fix it, and you can call from your room.

You'd have had to wake your wife to change rooms and if you'd have refused they wouldn't have honoured the promise anyway.

Couldn't you have called reception from your room?

I had an issue. And they swapped my room immediately.

The problem is some people try and use this guarantee to get a refund when they've had a perfectly decent stay. If you report it at the time, the staff are aware of the issue and can possibly do something about it but it also means they can validate your claim of being disturbed.

Many years ago I did report the people above me at 2am at a premier inn. I think they were trying to smash everything up, it went on and on!
The woman on reception took a note of my complaint and I had to email them the following day too. They tried to wriggle out of it , but I stood my ground and explained that I had reported it to them and reluctantly they did refund me. Took a while to come through.
I agree that walking around at that time of the morning isn't great though and security was just one lady on her own.
I didn't record the disturbance, maybe I should have done ? Do they accept this as ' evidence' ?

You do have to report it at the time to them a chance to rectify it, it's in the terms and conditions

If it is the policy that you have to report by a given time, then adverts should say so. I think OP you should refer the matter to the Advertising Standards Authority.

Policy is reasonable in my opinion, but should be advertised as such.

I think it's fair enough to say that issues have to be reported at the time.

You can't eat the entire meal at a restaurant then say it was no good and demand a refund!

But the adverts do say terms and conditions apply. The onus is on the customer to make sure they read and understand the terms and conditions, the same as any deal. Otherwise all adverts would be ridiculously long.

Reading you list your complaints makes a canny picture in my head to the kind of person you might be. You should have let them try and recify the situation OP and you didn't. Good luck with small claims.

The adverts do say "terms and conditions apply".

You just phone from your room in the bathroom so as not to disturb your wife.

I claimed the other day via twitter, didn’t even mention it to staff at the hotel at all and still got my refund. Maybe try another method of raising it

Email the CEO, they sorted it immediately for me and apologised.

I've had two refunds from Premier in the past and didn't have to claim for either!!

First one, I struggled to sleep as there was a weird vibration running through the bed. Ended up sleeping in the chair. When receptionist asked me how my night was I explained but didn't take any further (I'd had a good breakfast 😂) Full refund and the explanation that a vending machine had been moved slightly and was touching the building.
Second refund. Had a good nights sleep. Again, on check out asked how I slept. Good I said, except there was a hole in the duvet cover and until I turned it over I kept catching my feet in it. No big deal, just informing them for next guest. Again full refund.

These were a few years ago so maybe they have tightened up if people have been taking the mick.

Last time I stayed at a PI it sounded like there was kids running up & down all night & diving off the bed. I mentioned it the next morning at breakfast & they said loads of people had complained, but nothing could be done as no one complained at the time. Just don’t stay there again OP. I find that most of them are really noisy anyway so I’ll stay somewhere else in future.

Oh just remembered I got a free breakfast once, very nice too. That was before I knew about the money back thing. I did complain but not at the time as I didn’t want to wake up TheMrH, or get in the lift on my own at any time never mind 3am.

YANBU to pursue this.

It would be interesting to know if an email at 2am to customer services would count as reporting it? Or does it have to be reported in person?