Hotel rooms with no outside windows

usignuolo

We are going away next week for a few days. I do not want to be too specific so as not to identify the exact location. However it is a working town as opposed to a holiday location - OH wants to go because there specifically because it is a centre of interest for his particular hobby. It only has a limited number of hotels, none of which sound especially exciting, so I have booked to stay in a hotel based on location, very near to a place he really wants to visit.

However on checking out the hotel in the review sites, although it is ranked overall satisfactory/good, there are quite a few complaints that some of the bedrooms only have an internal window facing a corridor. I always sleep with the window slightly open and do not want to do that facing onto an internal corridor. There is no indication when booking that some rooms face internal corridors and no difference in price for any of the standard double rooms.

It is not super cheap £105 for a double room with breakfast on special offer. So I would have thought rooms without an external window would have been flagged up as such. But they aren't. What do you think? Should I cancel and book somewhere else anyway?

p00hsticks

usignuolo wrote: »

It is not super cheap £105 for a double room with breakfast on special offer. So I would have thought rooms without an external window would have been flagged up as such. But they aren't. What do you think? Should I cancel and book somewhere else anyway?

I'd phone up the hotel now and ask if they can ensure that you will have a room with an external window that you will be able to leave open slightly.


If they can't guarantee that, then it's up to you to decide whether it's serious enough for you to want to cancel or not - but bear in mind that if you've booked at a special non-flexible rate you may not get your money back.


The lesson for next time is to read the reviews BEFORE you make the booking....

usignuolo

I did look at the overall rating before I booked and it was just under 80% so it seemed quite reasonable. Also it is a Best Western and I assume they have to reach a minimum basic standard to use the name. It was not until I read the reviews in detail that I found all the comments about internal facing rooms. Otherwise it seems to be OK. I would rather get it in writing that I have an external room than verbally, hence waiting for the email response but I could ring and ask them to send me a confirmatory email. Might do that.

I do think these internal rooms should be flagged up in the room details at the booking stage and charged less than rooms with external facing windows as otherwise you will expect to get an external window.

p00hsticks

usignuolo wrote: »

I do think these internal rooms should be flagged up in the room details at the booking stage and charged less than rooms with external facing windows as otherwise you will expect to get an external window.

I've never stayed in such a room and it's difficult to picture but I can only assume that if the window looks on to an internal corridor then the glass must be frosted (like a bathroom window) ? I think my main worry would be that it let sufficient light into the room (I find hotel room lighting often very poor), but otherwise unless it's a hotel with great views from external windows and that's used as a selling point I don't really see why they would charge less...

Buzby

There are a number of easy hotels that have no windows whatsoever - so if you turn the lights out, it's dark during the day. No different from an inside cabin on a cruise liner. The rooms have aircon, so a requirement to 'leave a window open' is irrelevant. The rooms are also cheaper!