Man let into my Premier Inn hotel room late at night

[jennylamb1]

Looking for opinions. While staying in a Manchester Central Premier Inn, reception gave a key to my room to a strange man who gained access to my bedroom at 10.30pm at night when I was in bed. As a lone female traveller I was obviously very upset and went down to reception to find out what was happening. Receptionist apologised and said that the man had the same name as me- it wasn't the same name- and even if it was, she shouldn't have given him a key. To make things worse, I ended up in the same lift as him up to my room and he made a somewhat sexually suggestive comment which made me wonder if he was deliberately trying to get into women's rooms. Obviously didn't sleep well after double locking and putting chair up against the door. Complained about it and she offered to credit the breakfasts I'd booked which I accepted at the time. Been waiting 15 days for the refund to go through, which I've already had to chase up and which they reassured would clear within 15 days and which hasn't.
I'm now thinking that I didn't make enough of a fuss over this given the issue of safety for lone women and the additional poor service on top. Should I email the CEO and make a big thing of it?

This had happened to us before. Dh had gone down to the car as we were checking out that day. I was getting all kids to do a last minute toilet visit and checking that we hadn't forgot anything when someone started to open the door. I promptly shut it and said that it was still occupied. They apologised. On the flip side it has also happened that dh was given the key card to someone else's room as he had gone ahead to put the bags in the room before I got the kids out of the car. Thankfully the owners of the room were not in and he quickly realised it was occupied and went back to reception to complain.

I stayed in one in London recently and there was no chain, and I couldn’t work out a way of deadbolting it from the inside. It did make me feel anxious as I would put the chain on normally. I think I’ll invest in one of those door stops listed above.

I got a room refunded from premier inn a few months ago for a far less serious complaint (noisy). Regardless of the seriousness of the incident they still run the “good night’s sleep guarantee” just don’t advertise it so heavily anymore.

def kick up a fuss. I don’t think an email to the ceo is the way forward though. Can you call the actual hotel (numbers do exist but are tricky to find).

Whatabouttery can work both ways. What about if OP was a single mum, the man raped her, she couldn't cope , became an alcoholic and killed her own kids and another familiy in another car while drink driving?

What this receptionist did could have consequences, she should be held accountable as such.

Something I learnt on here. Always take a rubber door wedge with you. Push it under the door, easy to remove in an emergency but no one can get in.
Bloody scary, OP, definitely take it further.

@jennylamb1 if its not already been said can I suggest you take this to the police. It may have been innocent on his part, but it may not and may help other police reports if there is a pattern of behaviour. If he is tricking hotels into this it's very dangerous and the comments in the lift would make me feel very uneasy.

I stay in PI regularly for work. I have had to refuse rooms because the day your room number out loud in the middle of reception.
Them "Your room is 505"
Me "not now you've announced it in the middle of reception it's not."

Your example proves my point OP. Said man overhears the room number announcement. Waits a few hours. Comes in (could even wait for night staff) "oh hey, could I have a key to 505 please? My wife's asleep and turned her phone off. Thanks".

Man enters woman's room.

Absolutely complain. Absolutely.

@jennylamb1

They can't be serious just thinking 🤔 that's satisfactory service and you will go home merrily feeling everything is OK with that.!!!

Bloody hell
whoever that staff member is real Sharpe tongue words need to be spoken at them, and a warning that they are could be dismissed from their work place for this
with meeting with boss and deputy boss,

Also on probationary few months with beady eye 👁 on every move or complaint

Instant dissmil

You need to complain to Premier Hotel "higher uppers" in the hotel chain,

Find out that infor online and mention that at this Premier Hotel you need this require this infor to make an official complaint,

No way you are letting this lie to rest that's for sure

Anything could have happened he could have been a real fruit loop and attacked you and sexually assaulted etc,

.actually instant dissmil would be better all round

With something as potentially as serious as this..

The entire stay and food ought to be fully refunded, plus they should give vouchers/credit for a future stay, along with an apology.

I stayed in a PI in London last month for work on my own. A sign in reception said they won’t announce your room number out loud for safety, which I must admit I’d never considered before.

However as a lone female I was surprised at the room they put me in, right at the end of a corridor tucked away. If I’d read this post previously I would have asked for a different room, so will have this on my mind for future!

Absolutely complain. That is awful.

That’s dreadful. I’m usually a bit go with the flow but I’d be furious. For once, I hope one of the newspapers pick up on this thread. Either receptionist made a mistake or processes are flawed. Either way, it needs to be sorted from the top. I’m going to get one of those door stop things.

Don't let them fob you off by saying that you accepted the free breakfast as compensation at the time. You were clearly still in shock at this point. And whilst you definitely shouldn't pay for a night you couldn't rest due to their inability to keep you safe, the bigger issue is that they need to learn from this.

Will read the whole thread later but wanted to add it's happened to me too, a few weeks ago

Wembley International Hotel, next to Wembley Arena/Stadium. I used to live in the area, know it well so when I have to stay in London for work I use hotels around there rather than the Central London ££££ hotels. Premier Inn at Wembley Park is my go-to choice (it's very good), but it was way more expensive this one particular night. So went to the Wembley International - I'd stopped staying there 12 months previously as it was pretty ropey, but I figured it's 1 night and £50 cheaper than PI. Got to room at 7pm after long day, telly on, went for a wee and the door was opened and I heard 2 mens voices. I've got my knickers round my ankles in the loo which was next to the frigging door entry room. Thankfully they saw the room was occupied without stepping in, and the door shut as I shouted "is someone there"?....

Again, sole woman traveller. Calmed myself down, stormed to reception, two blokes being given keys to a room - probably same blokes. Did a restrained kicking off at Reception - Manager and female staff member had a bit of back and forth pointing at her computer screen / his computer screen. Apologised and was offered another room (I didn't accept). I moved the table and chairs against the door - had a call from Reception offering me a free breakfast ...

Complained again next morning to another member of staff (different female) and she said she was aware, the night manager had told her, and would I like a free breakfast ...

(Refused the breakfast). My review to Hotels.com where I booked wasn't published.

You aren't angry enough OP. Make a fuss. A big one.

Time to raise hell….

CEO - then the press if not full refund immediately.

Terrifying how often this happens. I arrived at a hotel in Leeds once, very late at night, opened the door to "my" room and was shocked to discover a man in bed asleep. Staff were mortified, room was upgraded, as it was on my next stay, but I have never felt comfortable on my own in a hotel room since and also have a door jammer key.

I'd be raising merry hell given that they're clearly not taking it seriously OP.

Well done for escalating OP.
That's shockingly bad - putting your safety at risk.

Happened to me twice with premier inn, once I was in the room and once I was the ‘extra guest’. There needs to be a system change to flag when keys are already out. This is different to OP case though where it appears receptionist did know she was in there and provided a key anyway. I’d be v suspicious of that one

Yes, make a big thing of it. Social media is often an avenue where companies actually respond, as negative reviews can gain a lot of traction. A lone female traveller should be able to sleep safely. Anything could have happened! You could even go to the press if you felt so inclined - I'm sure some tabloid rag would be interested.

That's awful! It could have ended really badly especially if you say he was creepy in the lift.

I am 100% not blaming you, that should not have happened, but I always put the chain and lock the door from the inside. The more innocent (and more likely) thing is housekeeping won't see the 'do not disturb' and come in but scary things like this can happen too.

I had a very drunk man try to get into my room after a ball at uni but he couldn't he was banging for ages until he sat down and passed out.

I could have died. I suppose the fortunate thing was I would never recognise them again so no embarrassment about bumping into them in the hotel. I still could have died!

I can't see how he could have done it though, it sounds like he just went to reception and they mixed up the booking, I mean how would he know OPs details to do some sort of con job to get her roomkey? Premier Inn are the ones who mucked up from what I see. I don't know what the comment was, he could have been trying to make light of the incident and just got it wrong. I can tell you in this sort of situation it is hard to know what to do for the best. As I said in my case it was fortunate that I wouldn't be able to recognise them but God knows how they felt. All I can say is he was wearing a funny sort of furry suit and afterwards I thought, "What the hell was he wearing."

I can see threatening to bring the police in might get a reaction, unfortunately I don't think the police would do anything and once Premier Inn realise that the power of the threat is gone.

This happened to my husband, he was lying on the bed in his pants when another Mr C (same name) walked in. Husband was refunded the cost for the stay and given a load of loyalty points as an apology.

It was obviously a different scenario though, two men immediately laughed it off. The staff's response is the important part here, and I think you've been treated unfairly.

But there weren't two staying the the room. Unless OP booked as "OP + any random person that happens to rock up".
The booking system should show how many occupants the room was booked for, and no second key should have been issued in this instance.