Shame on you! - Premier Inn

devongina

Yesterday (Friday 14th February), I, like many other people suffered an arduous train journey due to yet another dreadful storm hitting the UK. My journey from Brighton should have seen me arrive in Dorchester at about 8.10pm Friday evening, but the train didn’t arrive there until 2.20am Saturday morning (after almost 10 full hours of journeying).

There is a Premier Inn right by Dorchester South railway station so I headed over to it with my heart full of hope. I was admitted into the foyer, but when I asked if I could have a room I was told that they were fully booked due to the terrible weather (last minute guests not wanting to drive in such bad conditions). I was exhausted, hungry and miserable and told them about my awful train journey, but was met with a distinct lack of interest. I asked if there was anywhere else I could stay and was told that the two Premier Inns at Weymouth were also full and that, no, they couldn’t help. They told me that I wasn’t the only person they couldn’t help that night, that they had also turned other people away earlier.

As I stood looking perplexed with tears welling up in my eyes, did they offer me a chair to sit on for the rest of the night; the chance to use their facilities and buy myself some breakfast when they started serving in the morning? No. They stood and watched me as I went back out into the middle of the night and the dreadful weather conditions, tears now freely flowing.

In their room literature, Premier Inn express concern and commitment towards the safety and security of lone female travelers. Although I wasn’t technically their customer last night, I have stayed with Premier Inns before, however, I will NOT be staying with them again! Shame on you, Premier Inn.

　

duchy

Really ?
I assume you have no access to weather reports so set out unaware of the dufficulties of travelling
As a lone female traveller do you really think your personal safety and comfort is the responsibility of a random business you wander into without a reservation ? In fact in these days of equality what the heck has the female element got to do with it anyway ?

Sorry but I've travelled extensively both here and abroad as a "lone female traveller" and have had my own share of extraordinary circumstances including earthquakes and hurricanes . I've always regarded it as my personal responsibility to do everything I can to ensure I have a contingency plan and deal with the consequences....not shift the blame onto some random hotel I happened to wander into to.

As for turning the waterworks on when you didn't get your own way....... Words fail me.
Hotels are a business-you were not a customer -how would you feel as a paying customer to find the hotel lobby cluttered up with people sleeping rough and stopping you from enjoying the hotel facilities you had booked and paid for? As you said yourself you weren't the only person they turned away -if they let onedo it then they'd be opening the floodgates (no pun intended) to have to let anyone claiming to have nowhere to sleep. They are a hotel not a shelter.

soolin

I would not have expected them to magic me up a room, or even allow me to 'doss' in their foyer.

bluebeary

i might have asked to use their facilities to freshen up and use the loo and also if they could point me in the direction of a smaller b and b that might have a room and then left

do you have a smart phone or andriod phone, you could have looked up places yourself

duchy

It reads like the OP didn't ask to use the facilities -and just left but maybe she did.

zax47

And the employees of Premier Inn are regularly issued with Magic Wands are they? They had no spare rooms - just what did you want them to do - take you to their home??

shaun_from_Africa

As the hotel was full, you might well find that if they had allowed people to stay in the foyer then they could have been exceeding their maximum occupancy which could well lead to them being prosecuted if discovered.

Another point to consider is that some Premier Inns don't have staff on reception on a 24 hour basis (at the one I recently stayed at in Norwich, the reception was unmanned from midnight to 6am).
If this was the case with the hotel in question, I doubt if they would be able to allow non paying guests to stay in the foyer all night and access to the whole building.

Ivrytwr3

As I stood looking perplexed with tears welling up in my eyes,

Wow! Is the OP an author? That reads like Mills and Boon type stuff. How would you finish that sentence?

As I stood looking perplexed with tears welling up in my eyes....................

...............suddenly he grabs me, tipping me across his lap. With one smooth movement, he angles his body so my torso is resting on the bed beside him. He throws his right leg over both mine and plants his left forearm on the small of my back, holding me down so I cannot move … He places his hand on my naked behind, softly fondling me, stroking around and around with his flat palm. And then his hand is no longer there … and he hits me—hard.

poet123

Op I understand your annoyance but I think it is misplaced. If they didn't have rooms what could they have done?

If that had been me and towards the end of the journey I realised I needed a room I would have been on the phone on Trip Advisor, and been trying to get a room before the train pulled in. You could then just have jumped in a cab at the station and it would have been much less stressful.

What did you end up doing? I hope you did manage to find somewhere to stay?

devongina

"As for turning the waterworks on when you didn't get your own way....... Words fail me"

No - you mistake me. I did not ‘turn on the waterworks’ to get my own way. I was exhausted to the point that I had started to shake and the tears came as I was leaving, more as a stress release then anything else.

I am a resourceful mature woman who is normally on top of most situations. I just happened to be caught out in exceptional circumstances and would have appreciated a little human kindness, which was sadly lacking at the Premier Inn. Luckily I did find that kindness in a local B&B owner who admitted me at 3am (no ‘waterworks‘ involved). It is reassuring to know that there are still some people around who are capable of kindness towards others.

poet123

I am glad you managed to find a room OP. It must have been very tiring and we are all vulnerable and not on top of our game when we are tired and stressed.