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.

How much did you pay for your stay?

Probably a bit late now, but I would’ve taken time/date-stamped photos of myself standing there in the middle if the night at an empty reception to show I had been down and tried to report it.

OP, I had a very similar thread to yours a few weeks ago - it’s really unsatisfactory.

YABU.

Took them to the small claims court and once they had been issued a CCJ they decided to refund my stay and refund the court costs.

Wow, how much did that cost you?

YABU
I find it hard to believe you didn't have a phone with you to ring reception and report it! Absolutely no need to go down yourself! I started with friends once in London, we were woken up by a bunch of drunk guys coming in from a night out, rang reception, they came up and told them to be quiet, and that was that.

I eventually got my refund (after providing time-stamped photos of an empty Reception at 2.30 and 4am). But it was a big battle. Not much point advertising a policy you won't honour (although I am sure some try to abuse it not all do!)

It's a pity as I think PI are very good at what they do & staff are lovely always.

£35

Obviously I had a phone. It wouldn't have fixed my night's sleep and it would have meant my wife had a bad sleep as well.

If you have issues with any service, anywhere, you have to speak up at the time in order to give them the opportunity to rectify the problem.

If you couldn't sleep because of the noise, they could (and probably would) have offered you another room to sleep in, and you could have kept the other room to leave your stuff in so no need to pack up.

If no alternative room was available they would have refunded you there and then

If you have issues with any service, anywhere, you have to speak up at the time in order to give them the opportunity to rectify the problem.

If you couldn't sleep because of the noise, they could (and probably would) have offered you another room to sleep in, and you could have kept the other room to leave your stuff in so no need to pack up.

If no alternative room was available they would have refunded you there and then

If I have to complain that I can't sleep due to noise then I have already not had a good night's sleep. They guarantee a good night's sleep so I expected a refund.

But it's very different raising the issue at midnight, moving and sleeping 12.30 til morning in a quiet room, than laying awake, disturbed, all night.

If your stay was disrupted enough that a refunds due you'd be able to make a call.

They'd have offered to change your room (probably) and you'd have had to wake your wife.

I think it's probably a good thing they're aware of chancers. The customer always pays somewhere.

I think if I’d had to raise action before, I would not have stayed with them again.

The lure of another free night must have been too strong.

premier inn has hundreds of locations across the country. Because one was noisy on one night does not mean that others are. The fact that I was offered a refund pro-actively by the reception staff before about 5 years and probably 50 stays at premier inn ago meant I was more likely to stay ot other premier inns not less.
I stay at premier inns as they are comfortable and generally good value. It WAS an additional bonus that if you didn't sleep you got your money back.

@Roaders

Good on you. Glad to hear you got this sorted.

Don't believe a word of it

Why not? I was thinking I could post a screenshot of the email but then realised I really don't care if you believe it or not. What exactly do you think I am lying about?

you’re taking the piss

Generally what they use if they want to deny a request like this is Exclusion No.1 under the TOC (No 12) which states an exclusion for "internal hotel noise (which you have not reported and provided us with a reasonable period to rectify and it was safe for you to report it)".

Snoring/excessively noisy neighbour and whining fan are both internal hotel noise. If reported at 2 AM, probably all they can do is offer to move you to another room.

Do not stay in the Premier Inn Lancaster hotel if you want a peaceful sleep, and do not use Premier Inn at all if you expect reasonable after-sales customer service.
We were unfortunate to be in a room directly below someone who stamped around almost all night, and there was clearly no sound insulation between floors as it was so loud.
At midnight we decided that if we reported this to reception then, the only way they could remedy the situation would be to give us another room, and by the time we had packed up our things and settled into another room it would be too late to get a reasonable sleep, and moving would also disturb a lot of other guests. The noise from above stopped for a short time and started up again before 4am.
So in the morning we reported the problem to reception and checked out a day earlier than planned. We were given a card with the details of how to contact Customer Service to claim a refund under their Good Night guarantee.
We filled in the feedback form and waited nearly two weeks, only to receive a standard reply refusing the claim because we didn’t report the problem at the time. We replied explaining why – no reply. We emailed again asking for a response – no reply.
We started a new complaint on their feedback form but with more detail, with the same result. So we sent a recorded delivery letter, followed up with a phone call when we got no response, and a month later, (and two months after our disastrous night) we still have had no reply!
We have been long standing regular customers of Premier Inn, having stayed dozens of times in many of their hotels. They have always been our first choice of accommodation when we are away, but they clearly don’t care about losing a lot of future business from us, because we will never use them again.
We would expect any reputable business to refund your money if they haven’t provided what you’ve paid for, so even without their so-called “Good Night guarantee” they should refund us, even if only partially. Their guarantee is worthless and they should not be allowed to use it to sell rooms.

I'm sure if you keep complaining they'll get bored and give in. But I can see the logic of the policy - you could have slept through the night and decided to try your luck in the morning by saying you didn't. It's much more work to fake that by complaining at 2am.

ZOMBIE THREAD FROM 5 MONTHS AGO

If you take them to the small calims court they eventually settle and pay your refund and court costs - in my experience at least.