Premier Inn - Don't be caught out!

squack

yes there is nothing morally wrong with not turning up and not cancelling a travelodge/premier inn room booking that is non-refundable

and there is no incentive provided by the hotel to the person who booked, to ring up and cancel,you are going to be charged anyway

premier and travelodge are missing a trick on this one

a commercially sensible option would be a sliding scale of "refund" in the form of a "money off voucher" for a future stay, up to, say, half what you paid for the saver room which you are committed to paying for, IF you give them enough notice, so they can re-let the room

this offer would not erode the premium priced room offers which offer more flexibility with cancellation etc

the person who had mis-booked or had to change their plans now has some incentive to cancel

the hotel gets to re-let the rooms at last minute premium rates

the person desperate to stay at the hotel at short notice gets a room

win win all round

terryw

squack wrote: »

yes there is nothing morally wrong with not turning up and not cancelling a travelodge/premier inn room booking that is non-refundable

and there is no incentive provided by the hotel to the person who booked, to ring up and cancel,you are going to be charged anyway

premier and travelodge are missing a trick on this one

a commercially sensible option would be a sliding scale of "refund" in the form of a "money off voucher" for a future stay, up to, say, half what you paid for the saver room which you are committed to paying for, IF you give them enough notice, so they can re-let the room

this offer would not erode the premium priced room offers which offer more flexibility with cancellation etc

the person who had mis-booked or had to change their plans now has some incentive to cancel

the hotel gets to re-let the rooms at last minute premium rates

the person desperate to stay at the hotel at short notice gets a room

win win all round

What a good idea! I tend to book a lot of travelodges when the sale is on, but then months later I find that I can't go for some reason. I am naughty in that through pure laziness I don't tell them that I'm not going, but any incentive as suggested by you would concentrate my mind!

real1314

goater78 wrote: »

Yes but if anyone suddenly found themselves desperately in need of a hotel room and tried to get a room at the premier inn for that night they may not have been able to get one as the premier inn would think they were full.

Personally i think its inconsiderate to other potential customers to not cancel. To the actual premier inn it's not as they've got their money!

Oh God, I've had a thought....what if the people who were in desperate need of a room also had children with them?

Won't someone think of the poor poor children? :cool:

System

real1314 wrote: »

Oh God, I've had a thought....what if the people who were in desperate need of a room also had children with them?

Won't someone think of the poor poor children? :cool:

Yep good one.......

squack

real1314 wrote: »

Oh God, I've had a thought....what if the people who were in desperate need of a room also had children with them?

Won't someone think of the poor poor children? :cool:

yes how about jesus' mum and step dad when there was no room at the inn (not a premier inn obviously)

MarsdenCuckoo

McKneff wrote: »

If you try Saynoto0870 you can get a number, I got head office generic number, rang them, told them my phone was barred from these 08 numbers and they gave me the generic number of the hotel I needed. Then I ring them on my free call time.

Ive never paid for a call to Premier Inn or Travelodge ever

Thanks, good tip. :T

Companies quite often quote a tel. no. to call from abroad, which tends to be a normal landline no. too so that's one also to look out for.

MarsdenCuckoo

squack wrote: »

yes there is nothing morally wrong with not turning up and not cancelling a travelodge/premier inn room booking that is non-refundable

and there is no incentive provided by the hotel to the person who booked, to ring up and cancel,you are going to be charged anyway

premier and travelodge are missing a trick on this one

a commercially sensible option would be a sliding scale of "refund" in the form of a "money off voucher" for a future stay, up to, say, half what you paid for the saver room which you are committed to paying for, IF you give them enough notice, so they can re-let the room

this offer would not erode the premium priced room offers which offer more flexibility with cancellation etc

the person who had mis-booked or had to change their plans now has some incentive to cancel

the hotel gets to re-let the rooms at last minute premium rates

the person desperate to stay at the hotel at short notice gets a room

win win all round

Fab idea! :T Hope you suggest it to them and are suitably rewarded if they adopt your suggestions.

MarsdenCuckoo

lucy03 wrote: »

If the hotel has 10 rooms, and all the guests turn up, they have sold 10 rooms. If the hotel has 10 rooms and the guests don't turn up but have pre-paid, they have sold 10 rooms.

Where a customer pre-pays a room they are entitled to stay if they wish, or leave the room empty, the room is paid and the hotel contract is fulfilled. The hotel haven't been deprived of any room revenue, they've been paid for the room. I understand this was the case for the OP, there was just a badly worded e-mail from Premier Inn.

Thanks, yes you're right. Reason for starting the thread was that they confused me by writing to me re. a charge for not turning up.

Know hotels tend to operate on a system of 'arrive by ..... pm or confirm late arrival' otherwise they reserve the right to release the room i.e. specifically to protect themselves against people booking and not turning up, resulting in the establishment losing revenue but the discounted/pre-paid Room Only rate @ PI/Travelodge is particularly useful for International travellers arriving at unsocial hours. If I pre-pay for a hotel room, I fully expect it to be available for me - whenever I arrive (or even if I don't).

jackyann

I have tried to cancel a non-cancellable room with Travelodge. I couldn't go on the trip as I had a fall; but it was a very snowy day and I did think that people (and their poor children) might suddenly need a room.

The pressing of various irrelevant buttons, the inability to speak to a person etc. etc made me give up. I tried an email that was on the site, but never got an acknowledgement, so haven't a clue whether they knew I wasn't turning up.

duchy

I usually call or email the hotel when cancelling a non refundable room .....a couple of times they've actually offered to refund so it's worth a call in my experience.