Worth pursuing hotel for refund?
Discussion
Quick background, I booked a hotel for work for a couple of nights, paying in advance.
This was through a booking site which advised that to gain access to the hotel I would have a code sent to my email address (hotel is apparently not manned). By 4pm on the day of arrival I had not received anything, so phoned the hotel company where I was told they couldn't do anything without a booking reference. Found the booking reference and called back and they emailed the code.
Most of the email was taken up with terms and conditions and what they could fine you for. All fine, but in a very unfriendly tone. There was also the following clause :
"All complaints will only be activated if we receive an email from the guest upon their arrival. At which point we can then resolve the issue.
If you arrive to find you are unhappy with your accommodation then you will need to email xxx straight away to make your complaint - xxx@xxx.com.
Complaints will not be taken over the telephone."
On arrival the code I was given didn't work. I had to phone again to be let into a poorly maintained room, with no hot water etc. I wasn't prepared to spend two nights in this place, and immediately booked somewhere else at further cost and a greater distance away, then emailed the hotel with my complaints as per their instructions.
Several days later, having emailed twice and received no reply I phoned the hotel who said that I should have phoned when I arrived with my complaint. When I pointed out this was contrary to their T&C's they said that I had an "issue" and not a complaint, and hadn't given them a chance to fix it. I said that at 10pm at night I wasn't convinced that they would send somebody out to fix the hot water, and I wasn't prepared to take that chance.
I've since sent a stronger worded email, but surprisingly had no reply. Is it worth pursuing this, or am I wasting my time. If I'd checked the reviews for the hotel I would've realised that this seems a common thing, but I had stayed there a few years ago when it was owned by a different company, and had not had these issues.
Thanks for any advice! Mike.
This was through a booking site which advised that to gain access to the hotel I would have a code sent to my email address (hotel is apparently not manned). By 4pm on the day of arrival I had not received anything, so phoned the hotel company where I was told they couldn't do anything without a booking reference. Found the booking reference and called back and they emailed the code.
Most of the email was taken up with terms and conditions and what they could fine you for. All fine, but in a very unfriendly tone. There was also the following clause :
"All complaints will only be activated if we receive an email from the guest upon their arrival. At which point we can then resolve the issue.
If you arrive to find you are unhappy with your accommodation then you will need to email xxx straight away to make your complaint - xxx@xxx.com.
Complaints will not be taken over the telephone."
On arrival the code I was given didn't work. I had to phone again to be let into a poorly maintained room, with no hot water etc. I wasn't prepared to spend two nights in this place, and immediately booked somewhere else at further cost and a greater distance away, then emailed the hotel with my complaints as per their instructions.
Several days later, having emailed twice and received no reply I phoned the hotel who said that I should have phoned when I arrived with my complaint. When I pointed out this was contrary to their T&C's they said that I had an "issue" and not a complaint, and hadn't given them a chance to fix it. I said that at 10pm at night I wasn't convinced that they would send somebody out to fix the hot water, and I wasn't prepared to take that chance.
I've since sent a stronger worded email, but surprisingly had no reply. Is it worth pursuing this, or am I wasting my time. If I'd checked the reviews for the hotel I would've realised that this seems a common thing, but I had stayed there a few years ago when it was owned by a different company, and had not had these issues.
Thanks for any advice! Mike.
Definitely take it up with the 3rd party site. Your contract will be with the hotel I would have thought, but the weight they have to pursue complaints means you usually will get a result that way.
I used to work for one, and they really did take it very seriously. May be limited in what they can do as its the hotel's fault, but you're likely to be ignored by the hotel itself. These sites have a lot of these hotels by the balls in some of their contracts, particularly poorly performing ones.
Finally, if you had a non-refundable booking and did arrive hour of hours, it might not be the hotel's problem at all.
I used to work for one, and they really did take it very seriously. May be limited in what they can do as its the hotel's fault, but you're likely to be ignored by the hotel itself. These sites have a lot of these hotels by the balls in some of their contracts, particularly poorly performing ones.
Finally, if you had a non-refundable booking and did arrive hour of hours, it might not be the hotel's problem at all.
Calletrece said:
None of those things should cause alarm bells to ring. They're all fairly common to come across.
Not in the hotels I have ever booked and i have booked hundreds of them and have booked 5 today.They raise alarm bells with me and will continue to do so.
If the terms of the booking are as the OP described I would recommend not booking such an establishment...if you could call a hotel giving those terms an establishment.
seancp said:
This hotel wouldn't happen to be in Norwich would it?
Sounds exactly like a hotel not a million miles from Norwich. 10 miles or so South West-ish, opposite the Abbey, next to a great pub. The hotel used to be a nice place, then became un-maned and sounds exactly like that decribed in the original message. The Trip Advisor reviews suggest that many people unfortunate enough to stay there have the same problems. I don't know how it stays in business. kh06 said:
seancp said:
This hotel wouldn't happen to be in Norwich would it?
Sounds exactly like a hotel not a million miles from Norwich. 10 miles or so South West-ish, opposite the Abbey, next to a great pub. The hotel used to be a nice place, then became un-maned and sounds exactly like that decribed in the original message. The Trip Advisor reviews suggest that many people unfortunate enough to stay there have the same problems. I don't know how it stays in business. Judging by the reviews, there's a typo in the name - it should be the
Hovel.
Nice bit of detective work! Do you own it?
kh06 said:
Sounds exactly like a hotel not a million miles from Norwich. 10 miles or so South West-ish, opposite the Abbey, next to a great pub. The hotel used to be a nice place, then became un-maned and sounds exactly like that decribed in the original message. The Trip Advisor reviews suggest that many people unfortunate enough to stay there have the same problems. I don't know how it stays in business.
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