Hotel called me unreasonable!

[YorkshirePuddingsGreatestFan]

I’m going to an evening event with my daughter that should finish by 10pm. Looked on booking.com and found a hotel 10 mins walk away. We should be back at the hotel and in bed by 11pm so I’ll get a decent nights sleep before driving home the next morning. Booked and paid for the room on a cheaper non-refundable advance rate.

About 20 minutes later, the hotel messaged me with a generic message saying they often hold functions on Friday and Saturday evenings so there might be loud music playing until 12.30am. I messaged back and asked if they had a function booked on the Friday evening I had booked to stay.

A lady from the hotel rang me and confirmed there is a birthday party booked on the night we were staying. She explained the music curfew is 12.30am so by the time people drink up and leave the party, it’s usually quiet by 1am.

I said that wouldn’t work for me as I want to go to sleep earlier than that and asked to cancel. She refused the cancellation as it’s a non-refundable rate but said they would move the booking to a date when they don’t have a function as a goodwill gesture. I explained that we need a room that night after an event.

She asked what it was and I explained and said we were looking to sleep from 11pm. She pointed out we were going to be out for most of the party and would only be disturbed for two hours. She said I was being unreasonable as it’s reasonable to put up with two hours of disturbance during an overnight stay.
I disagreed and I never would have booked it if I had known there would be loud noise until 1am and asked to cancel again.

I was told it was my fault for booking a non-refundable rate through booking.com. I am being unreasonable as the hotel has been courteous enough to tell me about the party in advance and it’s not their fault that I’m incredibly precious about noise. She refused to refund and said there was nothing further the hotel could do.

I rang booking.com who agreed with me and cancelled it with a full refund.

It’s the hotel that was being unreasonable not me isn’t it?

Yes it was the hotel, they are being ridiculous.

I think that's very late to have loud music in a hotel. They should warn you at the time of booking.

Although I just stayed in a hotel where the fire alarm went off 3 times in the night and I got 2 hours sleep before a 6 hour drive, and they just shrugged their shoulders and said sorry. Apparently a drunken guest had set it off. So you're never going to be guaranteed a good night's sleep in a hotel.

Of course you are not being unreasonable. It was only 20 mins after making the booking and so they absolutely should have refunded you.

It's very telling that they emailed you with this information 20 minutes after you booked. I imagine they get al lot of complaints from hotel guests about the noise and have decided to warm you in advance so that they can say, "but we told you we hold events".

They are being unreasonable but to be honest who do you think stays in hotels at the weekend? They will be filled with people attending events. Other guests may stagger in noisily drink at 3am and disturb you anyway.

I think you are the unreasonable one here. It’s a hotel - they often have functions and some noise is to be expected.

I wonder why they bothered messaging you if they weren't prepared to refund if it didn't suit. Have you tried going through booking.com to see if they will help.

If they are going to offer a non-cancellable rate and then tell you about the events after, then they are unreasonable. They should make that information clear from the start so you have an informed choice.

Not everyone is able to sleep though noise and if you have an early start it’s horrendous.

If you book through booking.com don't you have to cancel through them anyway? Perhaps that's what she meant? Perhaps there is a penalty if she cancels

Although not sure what the point in telling you is if you can't cancel...but I might have booked elsewhere first.

I have stayed in so many hotels, I've never stayed I any hotel where the noise from a function has disturbed me apart from my times in Benidorm. You can't normally hear functions in your room! That's not normal.

Just ask them for a room rhe furthest from the event, and pack earplugs.

This

What do the reviews say about noise?
I find it odd that they contacted you.

Yanbu, hotels should decide whether they are a hotel or a party venue as the two are not compatible imo - if a party venue this should be clear on the adverts for their rooms - that you can only expect quiet from 1am to 6am as it is a part venue.

YANBU. You should not expect to hear noise that late at night when paying to stay in a hotel.

some people haven't even bothered to read the OP's post in full. Why is it more important to you to post wuickly than read the post properly?!

@YorkshirePuddingsGreatestFan of course the hotel staff member was being ridiculous, but I suspect it's policy and she'd lose her job.

you've already resolved it so just move on.

Don’t all hotels have functions going on until about midnight at the weekend? I find it odd they felt the need to warn you so I would wonder if their soundproofing is shit/non existent. I’d ask for the furthest away room and pack earplugs as suggest by PP.

It's a hotel, it's primary function is for people to sleep!

It wouldn't be acceptable if the guests in the next room were having a noisy private party till 1am, would it?

This stinks. They only contacted you so quickly because they've clearly had previous complaints.

We stopped staying in anything other than budget hotels on Fridays and Saturdays for a long time for this very reason. If you have planned functions that will go on until late then it should tell you when you book, before you have paid.

Expecting to sleep well in a hotel always leads to disappointment IME. Just pack ear plugs and expect to be kept awake. If you don't get woken up in the middle of the night by other guests banging doors or air conditioning noise it's a bonus.

Yanbu

I think you are being unreasonable here. Pack earplugs and ask for the furthest room from the venue. Even if there were no event, people watch tv loudly, talk in corridors, slam doors etc so it’s always loud. Unless your drive home is massively long, like 12 hours of solo driving, you should be fine.

They probably know that if they decline the refund Booking.Com will take the hit instead.

That might even be part of their deal with the platform.

Anyway, you got your refund, so that’s good.

Surely very normal for a hotel to have weddings going on til all hours at the weekend?

Just ask for a room as far away as possible and suck it up. You'll still be in the room resting and if you're tired from your own day may well sleep.

I think it's a given that they have events on weekends if they have function rooms - I'd expect a midnight curfew as a minimum then noisy people in the corridors after. On weekends we either opt for somewhere without function rooms or ensure our room is far away from the noise.