Travelodge Room Overbooking

wickyt

Anyone else experienced Travelodges policy of overbooking their rooms out on the assumption that some people may not turn up.

Was extremely annoyed on Friday night this week when turning up quite late at Gatwick's Travelodge (1am in the morning) to be told that the two rooms I'd booked in October had been reallocated that night and that I was being moved to another hotel.

Now, even thoughwe were moved to a hotel close by and got breakfast thrown in, I was still extremely angry with the whole situation. I've demanded my money back from the hotel for failing to provide the service I'd paid for however I'm extremely sceptical about getting anything back. Anyone else had simiar experiences with either Travelodge or similar hotel chains?

rosysparkle

Did you confirm to Travelodge that you would be arriving late? It is part of the booking terms that you reconfirm your arrival time if it's going to be after a certain time in the evening.

I can see that you are annoyed, however you still had a hotel room and breakfast, which I assume Travelodge paid for, so I don't see why you are entitled to anything back from Travelodge.

Of course, if you have paid both Travelodge and the new hotel for the same night, then Travelodge should refund you.

mnt99york

Hi, I work in a simlar hotel chain to travelodge, and it is standard practise for hotels to overbook as there is almost always a small percentage of guests that don't cancel their rooms when they decide not to turn up - leading to a loss of profit for the hotel.

It's a pain for you (and for us ground level staff!) but it's unlikely to change. If you wrote a letter of complaint, they would possibly offer you a free night's stay with them at a future date (that's most likely what we would do).

As the frist reply says, if at all possible it's best to advise the hotel in advance if you're going to be arriving late as they will then hold your room for you, but I'd have thought a Gatwick hotel would be used to late arrivals.

pinkshoes

mnt99york wrote: »

it is standard practise for hotels to overbook as there is almost always a small percentage of guests that don't cancel their rooms when they decide not to turn up - leading to a loss of profit for the hotel.

Why is it a loss of profit for the hotel? If people don't turn up and don't cancel, they still get charged for the room, so not only do the hotel still get the money, they also have no beds to change/sheets to wash/bathrooms to clean etc...

If anything it saves the hotel effort!

mnt99york

pinkshoes wrote: »

Why is it a loss of profit for the hotel? If people don't turn up and don't cancel, they still get charged for the room, so not only do the hotel still get the money, they also have no beds to change/sheets to wash/bathrooms to clean etc...

If anything it saves the hotel effort!

Well someone didn't turn up here last night, and their card was declined when I tried to charge it earlier!

The usual run of events is that you will charge someone's card who didn't arrive, they will then call when they realise insisting that they rang to cancel, and in that situation there really isn't a lot you can do!

wickyt

rosysparkle wrote: »

Did you confirm to Travelodge that you would be arriving late? It is part of the booking terms that you reconfirm your arrival time if it's going to be after a certain time in the evening.

I can see that you are annoyed, however you still had a hotel room and breakfast, which I assume Travelodge paid for, so I don't see why you are entitled to anything back from Travelodge.

Of course, if you have paid both Travelodge and the new hotel for the same night, then Travelodge should refund you.

If you want to check in early and check out late then yes, there's any extra charge mentioned in the terms however nothing about checking in at a later time.

The comment about not checking in on the day I booked is in my eyes irrelevant. I'd booked 2 rooms for 2 nights for Friday and Saturday night. Irrespective of the fact I choose to check in in the early hours of Saturday night, I've still paid for the rooms for that time period. I've never seen a hotel where you can book from 00.01!! :rolleyes:

I was happy with the way I was offered a new hotel and breakfast however I was still inconvenienced by the whole situation and just wondered if anyone else had been successful in securing a refund.

Halloway

It's normal practice at the bottom end of the hotel industry. Generally the rooms are allocated in arrival order so if you do arrive late then all the rooms may well be taken. It's the price you pay for low-priced hotel rooms.

Many years ago I worked for Butlins allocating accommodation. They always over-booked by 10% because that was the normal percentage of non-arrivals. This often meant that people who arrived in the evening had no chalet and would be sent to local hotels.

dmg24

Halloway wrote: »

It's normal practice at the bottom end of the hotel industry. Generally the rooms are allocated in arrival order so if you do arrive late then all the rooms may well be taken. It's the price you pay for low-priced hotel rooms.

Many years ago I worked for Butlins allocating accommodation. They always over-booked by 10% because that was the normal percentage of non-arrivals. This often meant that people who arrived in the evening had no chalet and would be sent to local hotels.

Could I ask where you worked Halloway? I had the same job at Funcoast!

robnye

the other problem is try - emailing travelodges customer services...... to make a complaint (as there is no registered phone number)

i tried 7 times , email rejected every time due to mail box being full.......

but then again, you pays for what yous gets.......

ann_marie77

A quick look at the terms and conditions on the Travelodge website and you find the following:

What time is Check in?
Standard check in time is from 3pm on your day of arrival, and you must check out of your room by midday.

What is overbooking?
Like almost all other hotel companies, we overbook some of our hotels because we know that a percentage of our customers make a reservation but then do not arrive to check-in. While we are aware that overbooking might sound negative, it allows us to accommodate customers who would otherwise not be able to make a reservation once availability at the hotel has been booked up. In these instances, we calculate the level of overbooking through computer forecasting (based on historical data) to ensure that we can be as accurate as possible. Our aim is to make sure that people who arrive to fulfill their booking are allocated their rooms, while also ensuring that rooms that would have been left empty due to other customers not arriving are also used. In addition, we may become overbooked because we are unable to sell the bedroom due to our quality management inspections.

What happens if it becomes necessary for my reservation to be relocated?
On rare occasions, it may become necessary for us to relocate you and find you suitable alternative accommodation in the local area or offer to refund the room. In this instance, unless the reason for needing to relocate you is beyond our reasonable control, we will offer you compensation for the inconvenience.

So from the OP's original post you can summarise that they didn't arrive until 10 hours after check-in time and also didn't actually turn up on the day of arrival but at the 1am the next day. No wonder they allocated it to some-else.
So unless you actually informed them you would be arriving later than normal, I can't really see the problem as you were provided another room (although in a different hotel) and breakfast free of charge.

I would personally put it down to experience and try arriving nearer the check-in time or at least inform them that you would be arriving late night.

Must admit that I have regularly used travelodge and never experienced much problems with them, but then I only use them as a place to sleep and don't spend much time in the actual hotel.

nobblyned

ann_marie77 wrote: »

So from the OP's original post you can summarise that they didn't arrive until 10 hours after check-in time and also didn't actually turn up on the day of arrival but at the 1am the next day.

They didn't arrive after check in time. They arrived after check-in had commenced. "Check-in is from 3pm"

I feel it is fairly shabby to overbook in this way, especially as in some cases people have been sent many miles from the tourist attraction/area they came to visit.

However in this case as you were given acceptable accomodation nearby, I would let the issue lie.