Travelodge Doublebooking Scam

2010

coupleuk wrote: »

I would love to see how they'd defend their T&Cs in a small claims court.

They don`t have to defend themselves.
You cannot book a room unless you agree to their T&C`s.
If you don`t like their T&C`s then don`t book.
The OP was given exactly what they said they would give under their T&C and when his wife booked the room online she agreed to the T&C..

Airlines are another service that always overbook.
As the old adage says always read the T&C.

coupleuk

Their own T&Cs clearly state that they are not responsible for giving your room away to someone else IF they took reasonable steps to avoid it happening in the first place.

Overselling a room is NOT a reasonable way of ensuring guests actually get what they are contracted to get.

I don't disagree with the practice BUT they should be far more generous if it comes back and bites them on their backsides.

bylromarha

This happened to my sister - her OH finished work 7pm, sister rang TL late afternoon to confirm arrival would be 10pm - so don't rely on ringing to confirm...they ignore it.

Drove 3 hours to get there - specific lodge arranged as meeting friends they hadn't seen for ages and nightclub was on the same retail park as the TL.

Room pre paid. They turn up at 10pm and were sent to another travelodge 30 minutes drive away as was nearest. They had no maps as they'd used this TL before and knew where it was. TL sent them in the wrong direction to the new TL, so they drove 1 hour down the road - couldn't find it, drove back to the original TL, new receptionist who sent them in the correct direction.

They find the new travelodge - the receptionist there knows nothing of their booking (midnight by now) and ringing the other travelodge proves fruitless as well as receptionist who sent them away was no longer the same person.

They were made to wait around while a manager was rung - manager finally confirms they are in the travelodge they're standing in after 20 mins more waiting.

As they're meeting friends in nightclub, they don't want to drive. TL refuses to pay upfront for a taxi to get them back to where they wanted, and booked, to be.

Whole shebang was a farce - they finally met their friends 1.30am - 3.5 hours after getting there.

All travelodge would do was refund the taxi fares to and from the nightclub - and even that took 2 letters.

I switched to Premier Inn a while ago unless we have no alternatives - and so glad of our decision.

OP - lay it to bed - you won't get anything and you've wasted more time than already needed being annoyed with them. Just make sure they never get your custom again and tell as many people as you can about your experience.

LilMissEmmylou

You know this isnt just something Travelodge do? ALL hotels will overbook by a % even the top 5* London hotels. When fully booked the top hotels will "walk" the guest which means they find them elsewhere to stay and pay for it. travelodge chose to send you to another of their hotels. Yes inconvenient and unfortunate for you - but not uncommon.

2010

coupleuk wrote: »

Their own T&Cs clearly state that they are not responsible for giving your room away to someone else IF they took reasonable steps to avoid it happening in the first place.

No they don`t.
What their T&C says is if the room is unavailable they will move you to another hotel and pay reasonable transport costs.

Over booking is common at hotels and airlines and they also make it clear in their T&C.
Which most people never read.

coupleuk

2010

I think we'll just have to agree that we have a different interpretation of the T&Cs

vikingaero

The overbooking and shabbiness of Travelodge are the main reason why we will never stay in a Travelodge again - not even for bargain £19 rooms. I now set my bar at Premier Inns as the bare minimum.

buglawton

I shifted over to Premier due to the better experience. Guess what, Premier is making money while Travelodge is reported as having difficulties. It would not suprise me if a new owner takes Travelodge over, something better can surely be done with their sites.

thenudeone

My OH had exactly the same issue last year (the MSE post is here somewhere!

Eventually after several letters, they offered about £75 compensation (IIRC) for messing her about (they calculated it as a mileage allowance even though they'd already paid for the transport), so overall they'd probably lost at least £150 and a great deal of goodwill. On the same night, there were two other people who had also been double booked and had to be put put in a nearby hotel at Travelodge's expense.

All for the sake of selling a £19 room twice.

Doesn't seem great business sense to me.

In any case, the T&Cs which seem to allow this practice could be challenged in court as "unfair" if someone was sufficiently determined.

On a practical note - it can be prevented (or at least made someone else's problem) by ringing the hotel and checking in during the afternoon before arrival.

pogofish

I must say that whilst I won't deny that Travelodge do this, one of the reasons I still use them is that over the years I have had far more of overbooking scams from other hotels - To date I've always got my room at a Travelodge or similar chains and they have never tried to ramp-up the price by stupid sums.