Should I sue Travelodge for compensation?

365drills

Legal advice needed guys. Just wondered if you had any views and help for me:

Background: I am a contractor and had to be in Manchester at 8am which from London is 200 miles away. So a 400 mile round trip.

I decided to book a Manchester Travelodge at £40 a night and drive up the night before.

That evening my plan was to put my daughter to bed at 8pm, eat my dinner then drive up at 10pm arriving there at 2am.

THEY CALLED AT 9PM AND ASKED IF I WANTED THE ROOM. I SAID YES.

Heres what happened next - Explained in my letter to them.

================================================== =========

Statement of Facts.

To customer services at Travelodge.

Dear Sir At 17:59 on 11th April 2013 L**** from Travelodge Warrington Lymm services WA13 0SP called my mobile and spoke to me for 15 seconds.

She asked if I still needed the room {Invoice WB318****} and {Booking 2587****} as she was fully booked and had another guest to check in.

I said yes I am just leaving and it will take me four hours to get there. She said OK your room is defiantly confirmed for you. I travelled for 3h 20m [190 miles]

On arrival at 1.19am I spoke to G*** on reception who told me they had no rooms left and they were fully booked.

She said she had spoken to the manager at Knutsford WA16 0TL and I was to travel one junction back up the M6 where a room was reserved and guaranteed for me. I waited with G*** while she telephoned again to confirm this. There was no answer but I was told that this was normal. The manger is making his night rounds. Just go to Knutsford and the room will be ready for you.

On her advice I travelled for 21 minutes [21 miles] arriving at Knutsford at 2am. I was bluntly told by the desk manager they were fully booked. We have no rooms left and no reservation.

I left Nutsford at 2am and travelled for 25 minutes [25 miles] to Widnes WA8 0HA where a girl on reception told me they were fully booked.

At 2.30am I had to abandon the trip. Returning home took 3h 30m [210 miles] and I arrived at 6am.

It is now noon on the 12th of April and I have travelled a total of 446 miles which at a standard rate of £0.25 will cost £111.50 in fuel.

I have paid 2 x £5.50 for the M6 tolls. And my day rate is £250.

I hold Travelodge responsible for my expenses and inconvenience.
I am giving you 14 days notice that I want my expenses of £372.50 paid plus a £200 gesture of goodwill.

There were two contracts formed. The first contract was when your representative L**** telephoned me from Warrington Lymm services and guaranteed me a room. The second contract was formed when your representative G*** based at Warrington Lymm guaranteed me a room at Knutsford.

==========================================
Thank you for your e-mail.


I have personally spoken to the managers of Warrington Lymm and Knutsford M6.


Knutsford M6 have no records of your having arrived there. They were fully aware of the fact that you were expected there as per your outbooking from Warrington and had a room ready for you.


I have also spoken to Knutsford Tabley in case you accidentally went to this hotel. However they also have no record of your having arrived.


As we have conflicting reports of this situation from the hotels I would be obliged if you could please confirm for me the exact hotels that you went to.

Thank you again for contacting us.
Kind regards

Travelodge Customer Services
================================================== =========


Dear TCS. Yes I can confirm that at Nutford I arrived between 1.40am and 2am.

The postcode I was given by G*** to go to was WA16 0TL (At that time I did not know the name of the second Travelodge was Nutford)
I simply typed it into my SatNav and followed its directions back down the M6 for 20 miles. It is in a service station.



I parked at the back and then walked around to the front entrance (inside the service station) Your CCTV system will see that two men came out from the Travelodge and opened the door for me.

I was in a black jacket and jeans. I spoke to the manager (he was a male) late 20’s to early 30’s quite tall and chubby.

I told him I had come from Warrington Lymm and there was a reservation for me.

He said “No sorry we are fully booked tonight” I explained that I was sent there by another Travelodge and he said “No I am sorry but we are fully booked all the rooms are occupied”

The conversation lasted less than a few minutes.

Bearing in mind I just had exactly the same conversation with Warrington Lymm it seemed pointless to have the same argument.


In an effort to mitigate my losses I decided to try to find another Travelodge.

I searched on my iPhone on the internet to find another local Travelodge. It came up with postcode WA8 0HA.
I arrived there between 2.15am and 2.30am

Again CCTV on the front desk will confirm this. The Travelodge looks modern and is on an estate next to gypsy traveller site. I rang the bell and a young girl (20’s to 30 max) Came out of the back office.

I asked her if there was a room for the night. She stated that there was no room. “We are fully booked – sorry”


At about 2.30am and with it unlikely that there would be anything I could do further that is when I decided to abandon the trip. I hope that this detailed breakdown of both hotels will help jog the memories of the staff on that night so that you can establish the chain of events that evening and in the very early hours of the next day.



If you would like me to be more specific are recall even more events then I am happy to do so.

---

So thats how we leave it at the moment

QUESTION: Should I insist on my expenses. Do I have any leg to stand on? Would a small claims court be sympathetic to my claim and my losses.

vikingaero

Travelodge do have it in their T&Cs that they overbook and you may have to travel to another lodge. But to do so several time is taking the pish. This one T&C is why I NEVER use Travelodges.

I

marywooyeah

That's awful - did you have go to home to London then? what about your 8am in Manchester? I probably would have just slept in the car tbh. As for the mileage, I'd ask for 45p per mile as I think that's the maximum you can claim, don't think they'd be amenable to the £200 goodwill gesture but you've certainly got a very good cause for complaint.

365drills

Thanks yes I had to drive home. The reason for the trip was that a brand new tile shop in Manchester had responded to our promotion and wanted their shop stocked with our products.

This was a brand new customer and I have never even met the manager.

Our company van was filled to the brim with stock ready to do the shop installation. I wanted to be there bright and early to make a great impression.

But I had to call him and grovel to be allowed a second chance to go back and do it all again. Luckily he let us come back the following Monday to do the job.

Note: this time I left my house at 5am and arrived in Manchester at 8.30am with NO TRAVELODGE stay.

Maybe I should have done that in the first place...

Anyway it was a bad start for my company and this tile shop and I had to appologies of course. Obviously I am looking mitigate my tangible losses (Fuel and road tolls) and the intagible costs (my time - compensation) so I dont know how I would stand in court.

bylromarha

I genuinely don't know if you have a leg to stand on, but if you can evidence the phone calls took place, if you have a name confirming your booking, I'd be tempted to push this all the way to the small claims court.

They did something similar to my sister - she rang to confirm they were on their way, and they gave her room to someone else. All she got after visiting 3 travelodges was her taxi fare between them, and she had to fight hard for that.

susancs

What an awful experience. Just something I picked up on, but I note that in your email to the TL you state the person rang you at 5.59pm (17.59) and you confirmed arrival within four hours, but in your MSE post you state they rang you at 9pm. I would correct this information in another email to TL as they do not seem to be addressing your orginal booking confirmation on the day of stay that your room would be available, in their reply, which may be down to the fact they think your room was reserved only until 10pm and that within a reasonable time of this, with no further contact, you could be considered a "no show".

I hope that you get somewhere with your claim. I wonder if you might be better served if you dealt with the MD or CEO, rather than basic customer services. You could google for emails and send them an email.

Noname29

I would go straight to this chap ;

Travelodge

Grant HearnChief Executive E-mail[EMAIL="grant.hearn@travelodge.co.uk"]grant.hearn@travelodge.co.uk[/EMAIL]Telephone01844 358500Websitehttp://www.travelodge.co.ukCompany Twitter@travelodgeuk

VoucherMan

Off topic but you may want to consider

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365drills

Fanfare please boys and girls.....


Thank you for your recent email which has reached our Chief Executive’s Office.

I was most concerned to hear of the problems that you experienced in regards
to your booking at Warrington Lymm Services Travelodge.

We have taken your comments seriously and the District Manager

and

our Health and Safety department are currently investigating the issue.

As soon as that investigation is complete, we will be in a position to respond to you in full.


Thank you again for contacting us.
Kind regards



Travelodge Customer Services
Chief Executives' Office

bylromarha

No fanfare yet - they've only acknowledged your email!

paddyrg

Health and Safety department? Not sure I'd fanfare yet if this generic response suggests they're asking the wrong people to look at the case??