Travelodge on Watchdog tonight

vfm

Even after this report on Watchdog I will still book Travelodge. I have always found the staff extremly friendly, the rooms of a good standard and the value for money has been excellent. I may have been lucky but I have never been turned away due to overbooking, even when turning up at midnight.

Travelodge will still be my first choice when looking for accommodation. There is no alternatives I know at £26 per night, that provide the same quality.

colmil

vhm, No-one questions the quality etc, but how will you feel if you are told to travel 10 miles or so for a room you have already paid for at your original destination?

You are, I'm afraid, a turkey looking forward to Christmas!

MissBehaving

colmil wrote:

vhm, No-one questions the quality etc, but how will you feel if you are told to travel 10 miles or so for a room you have already paid for at your original destination?

You are, I'm afraid, a turkey looking forward to Christmas!

Colmil, I have worked in the hotel industry for 15 years. EVERY single hotel group that i have worked for has a overbooking policy. There is NO hotel group that doesnt operate this way.
In fact, most full service hotels will overbook up to 10% of their room stock.

Travelodge may have been highlighted in this, but they are not the only hotel group guillty of this. Premier Travel Inn run a similar system and I know for a fact that they have in the past booked out several rooms from the same hotel on the same night! We used to take their overbookings!

And to insult someone by suggesting that they are a 'Turkey, looking forward to Christmas' is a little bit below the belt in my opinion.

Altarf

bap98189 wrote:

I think there is some misunderstanding of the way the booking system works.

When you book a normal (ie non-special offer) room with Travelodge you give them your credit card details and yes, they will charge you should you not turn up, as do all other hotels. However, you can cancel the booking up to 24 hours beforehand without charge. If you cancel the booking, they lose out as they have an empty room they could have sold to someone else.

My guess is they get a lot of cancellations, so they overbook some rooms expecting some of the guests to cancel. If none do then they have a problem like the one described above.

The problem you describe is common to all hotels. The specific issue that Travelodge have is that with the special offer bookings there is no opportunity to cancel even if you decide 5 minutes after booking that you don't want the room. Given that you have to book the special offer rooms a fair distance in advance, then I bet they get a much higher rate of 'no-shows', probably two or three times higher, than your average hotel. So they gamble that x% of £15 rooms and y% of £26 rooms can be resold as full price rooms.

bap98189 wrote:

For those who are worried and planning to turn up at a Travelodge at stupid o'clock, I suspect you are being a little bit paranoid. I'm not going to say this doesn't happen, but I doubt this problem is very widespread as I have stayed in Travelodges numerous times and have never had any problems like these.

But how many times have you turned up late? In the test that Watchdog did they booked three rooms and got turned away three times.

MissBehaving wrote:

Colmil, I have worked in the hotel industry for 15 years. EVERY single hotel group that i have worked for has a overbooking policy. There is NO hotel group that doesnt operate this way.
In fact, most full service hotels will overbook up to 10% of their room stock.

But the difference is that other hotels that overbook acknowledge that it is their problem if they end up with a full hotel and a booked guest turn up, and will resolve the problem properly by finding the overbooked guest a room at a local hotel.

Travelodge try and be 'cheap' by sending the guest to the nearest Travelodge with an empty room, which is unlikely to be in the same town, and if there is nothing available try to fob their prebooked guests of with a refund.

In the case reported on Watchdog "Jeremy Wright tried to check in at a Travelodge after a wedding in Somerset. He arrived at midnight but, despite his guaranteed booking, staff had no room for him. They tried other Travelodges, but to no avail. Wright resorted to sleeping on the floor of a room of a fellow wedding guest." Were there no other hotel rooms in Somerset that night. Of course there were, Travelodge were just too cheap to pay for the difference between the £15 they had taken from the customer and the cost of the alternative room.

Travelodge want to be the Ryanair of the hotel industry, very successful but due to scummy business practices.

budgetflyer

colmil wrote:

You are, I'm afraid, a turkey looking forward to Christmas!

You colmil, can book a room with a far more expensive chain and yet still experience EXACTLY the same overbooking situation.

If i were to worry about all the "what ifs" in life, Id lock myself up and probably starve myself to death.

Im 99.9% certain if I book with Travelodge, Ill get my room.Wrecklessly Ill gamble on the 0.1% chance of being overbooked

MissBehaving

Altarf wrote:

But how many times have you turned up late? In the test that Watchdog did they booked three rooms and got turned away three times.

They booked the same hotel on the same night. Of course if it is full then it is going to be full! Why didnt they try different hotels on different nights??

Altarf wrote:

But the difference is that other hotels that overbook acknowledge that it is their problem if they end up with a full hotel and a booked guest turn up, and will resolve the problem properly by finding the overbooked guest a room at a local hotel.

Travelodge have acknowledged the problem and are looking into it! I really hate to disappoint you, but every hotel group will do the same thing until someone brings it to light!


Of the 10 000 people that stay at Travelodge 1 person is outbooked. I think I would still take the chance of spending £15 on a Travelodge room compared to £150 at a 'Full Service' hotel that has the EXACT same policy!

MarkyMarkD

MissBehaving wrote:

They booked the same hotel on the same night. Of course if it is full then it is going to be full! Why didnt they try different hotels on different nights??

Don't be silly.

Watchdog actually booked 10 different Travelodges and found that THREE of the booking were turned away - all when the researchers turned up late.

I agree with the points about all hotels doing it. All that is needed is for Travelodge to offer credible alternatives (rather than another of their hotels, 30 miles away) and there won't be much of an issue.

Altarf

Quote:
Originally Posted by Altarf
But how many times have you turned up late? In the test that Watchdog did they booked three rooms and got turned away three times.

MissBehaving wrote:

They booked the same hotel on the same night. Of course if it is full then it is going to be full! Why didnt they try different hotels on different nights??

Perhaps I didn't make myself clear, in the test that Watchdog did they booked a room at a particular Travelodge on three separate occasions and got turned away three times.

MissBehaving wrote:

Travelodge have acknowledged the problem and are looking into it!

Oh no they have not. Have you read their statement

http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/tv_and_radio/watchdog/reports/holidays_and_travel/holiday_20061024st.shtml

"To address the issues that you've highlighted this evening, we're updating our website to improve customer awareness of this process."

Which decodes as "we will carry on as before, but now we can point out you should have read the small print on our website".

MissBehaving wrote:

I really hate to disappoint you, but every hotel group will do the same thing until someone brings it to light!

But other hotels which overbook don't treat their customers to Ryanair style 'customer' service. They realise they have messed up and sort it out, whereas Travelodge make you sleep in your car.

MissBehaving wrote:

Of the 10 000 people that stay at Travelodge 1 person is outbooked. I think I would still take the chance of spending £15 on a Travelodge room compared to £150 at a 'Full Service' hotel that has the EXACT same policy!

Apart from the fact that they don't have the same policy, that is a fair decision to take.

For those arriving early Travelodge is a sensible choice. However for those arriving late people need to be aware of Travelodge's dreadful customer service and factor into the equation the fact that they may have to make a choice of sleeping in their car or suing Travelodge for the extra costs.

MarkyMarkD

Travelodge's conditions state that they will find you "suitable, local accommodation" if their overbooking causes them to be unable to accommodate you in the hotel you booked.

If they offer you an alternative 30 miles away in another Travelodge (or a lesser distance which causes you inconvenience), you should refuse to accept it.

If they refuse to provide anything satisfactory, you should state your reason for refusal (and document it) and get something else yourself, then sue them for the extra costs.

vfm

vhm, No-one questions the quality etc, but how will you feel if you are told to travel 10 miles or so for a room you have already paid for at your original destination?

You are, I'm afraid, a turkey looking forward to Christmas!

Colmil - I find your comment very disrespectful. I have worked in both the hotel industry and for Trading Standards and am very aware of both what happens in this industry and what my rights are.
If I was one the the unfortunate small percentage which was to be overbooked, I would ensure that either a) I was offerred a suitable alternative or b) sue. There are more important things to worry about and it wouldn't be a matter of life or death!