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.

My last PI stay was awful. I was with my two disabled kids (& I'm disabled).
Got out of lift went to room & keycard wouldn't work. Down to reception to get it fixed. Back up & it wouldn't work again. Unfortunately, this attracted the attention of the eight very drunk men coming out of room next door who then became aggressive when I said: 'its all under control thanks'. Had to go back to reception & mentionedit. They spoke to them, & one guy then followed me into lift as we went down to dinner & threatened me. Hotel 'couldn't move us' as 100% full. Said they'd spoken to men & 'would call Police if it starts again, meantime someone will accompany you in lift back to your room (after we ate in PI restaurant): we suggest you lock yourself in'. We did.

It took 3m, 2 calls & 2 emails, to get a room cost refund as they said they were not responsible for other guests behaviour & I could have called the Police myself if I'd wished. True, but had I been able to safely access my room my kids & I would not have come to the attention of the drunks anyway. Eventually they admitted there had been a fault with the key and system in that hotel on that date & refunded my £85 but it really put me off PI after using for years.

I think they will scrap the policy in the near future. Sometimes, you can’t sleep because you can’t sleep and it is not really the fault of the hotel ( it happened to me last night at a four star!)
I can see how people may abuse such a policy. I always see it as my responsibility to use a white noise machine/ app when I am away from home. I don’t expect hotels to be quiet enough.

I did complain in the early hours for two nights running and I still had to email the CEO to get my refund.

well thanks for all the replies. To answer some of them...
As someone else mentioned I have previouly been offered a refund in the morning when I wasn't even complaining, they just asked how I slept and I said not very well.
I would content that any night where you have to get up in the middle of the night to walk down to reception is not a good night's sleep.
There was no phone in the room - it has been a VERY long time since I was in a premier inn with a phone.
I have had maybe 2 refunds ever on the guarantee. I have probably stayed multiple hundreds of nights at Premier inns.
I was not given the phone number when checking in and this have never happened when I have checked in (unless it's written on the card that they give you with the key in - never noticed it if it is).

The last Premier Inn I stayed in (where I had no issues with sleeping) didn't have a phone in the room, nor in my friend's room. We thought that was unusual.

I never get this attitude ... if kids are running up and down the hall why would you not contact reception and give the staff chance to deal with it and make it stop? Why would you lie there listening to it and then complain after the fact when there is nothing the staff can do about it then?

It would be one thing if you contacted reception at the time and they did nothing about it, I would definitely be complaining in the morning and requesting a refund in that case, but if you don't inform a company that there is a problem when it is happening then they can't fix it.

It's like when people go to a restaurant, there is something wrong with their food that they spend the entire meal complaining to their dining companions who can't do anything to fix the issue about but when the staff member who is the person who can fix the issue comes and asks "Is everything alright?" The complainer will invariably pipe up "Fine thanks" and then either complain when the bill arrives, send an email days later or post a bad review - none of which have given the restaurant a chance to rectify the situation as it was happening.

This is very clear in the terms and conditions on the website and is reasonable, you have to to give them the opportunity to rectify by contacting reception at the time.

@Roaders Of course there is no phone in the room you use your mobile! And Google the number, honestly use your initiative.

The thing is, giving them the chance to rectify the situation is great but usually by that point your sleep will already have been disturbed. I don't really care about their specific 'guarantee', an undisturbed night is surely the very least you expect from a hotel, even a fairly cheap one.

@ilovesooty again it’s not unusual because the chances of customer not having a mobile is very low.

Out of interest, what would you have expected them to do about another guest snoring?!?!?
Ideally without waking your sleeping wife.

I am sensitive to noise - I always take some earplugs with me when I stay in hotels. 10p (if you buy in bulk from ebay) and would have resolved all your problems.

I don't think you're being unreasonable. We had this very same issue about 3 years ago and they were helpful and refunded very quickly. I also could have made a complaint at 3am in the morning but it didn't seem very practical to do so at the time. I made sure I mentioned that in the email when claiming because I had a feeling they would suggest I should have spoken to somebody.
I got my refund and, I'm pretty sure, you should be able to get yours too.

I wouldn't expect them to do anything other than having thick enough walls that block the sound. The point is that they guarantee a good sleep. If the hotel has been built in such a way that you can hear everything going on in all the rooms around you then they should be prepared to give the promised refunds.

My point exactly. If you have to be prepared to get up in the middle of the night or creep into the bathroom with your phone and phone reception (after going through some endless automated phone system no doubt) then that is already not a good night sleep.

You've been given pretty good answers here OP?

forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6358435/premier-inn-good-night-guarantee-only-honored-if-youre-prepared-to-report-issues-at-2-a-m#latest

Exactly this. You're awake, the issue has already occurred. Unless they're time travellers, they're not going to be able to rectify it, are they?

Well spotted @AdobeWanKenobi

I suspect the @Roaders has posted here to get some sort of social media traction but it seems most of the posters on here -and on the other site- don't think Op has a claim-unless you give Premiere Inn a chance to fix it the problems I think they are right in not refunding.

There was another thread about this recently and it did not go the OP's way either. IIR it ended up being deleted...

not really sure teh relvance. I posted in 2 different places. Is that a problem?

And apparently I can't edit typos in here! 🙂

Sounds to me like this is something you make a habit of, You are probably flagged on their system as someone who is repeatedly claiming for a free stay.

The fact You don't know if you have claimed once or twice in the past says it all.

This is completely wrong. Any significant conditions that affect a consumer's understanding of the offer and decision to take it up have to be upfront.

"All marketing communications or other material referring to promotions must communicate all applicable significant conditions or information where the omission of such conditions or information is likely to mislead" www.asa.org.uk/type/non_broadcast/code_section/08.html

And in fact on a guidance note published only today www.asa.org.uk/news/keeping-your-free-trials-trial-free.html: As with all promotions, simply stating “T&Cs apply”, “See website for terms” or similar, is unlikely to be considered sufficient to make the relevant conditions clear to consumers.

If PI do make it clear that you have to go wandering about the hotel at 2am to tell them about problems, then they've met their obligations. If it's hidden away somewhere on their website, they haven't.

I wouldn't expect a refund because of other people's snoring 😂

However, I would've phoned and reported the people causing a disturbance (and have done in a premier inn, it was responded to very quickly) and I'd have reported the fan.

OK so I personally would still feel a bit cheeky asking for a, what, £70? £100? refund for issues that I could have solved myself for the price of some cheap ear plugs. I also find the expectation about getting a refund for a good night sleep for any reason (what,illness? Insomnia? Your own baby crying?) a bit overzealous.

BUT saying that OP I apologise because looking at the good night sleep guarantee on their website they don't go into any of that sort of detail and do just a) claim if you don't get a good night's sleep (without any restrictions) and b) far from insisting you have to raise the issue at the time actually say you can claim up to 7 days after leaving.

So in essence you and the posters saying they need to be much more upfront with their t and Cs to reject claims are right, on the basis of what they make publicly and easily available they should refund you.

In a PI now. Been to Reception twice. No one there 1st time, 2nd time told 'nothing we can do, email when you get home' (Soraya, lovely but didn't fix issue/ offer water / chair etc as I explained problem & clearly struggling)