Premier Inn cancellation charges for Premier Saver booking

katejo

I have just checked in to stay at Gatwick Premier Inn on Saturday and do intend to stay there. I was fully aware on booking that I couldn't change my booking or get any refund at all (should I need to cancel). However I don't remember being told on previous occasions that a Premier Saver booking can't be cancelled at all. It doesn't say whether there would be an additional charge if I tried to cancel or simply did a no show. I had simply thought that I would lose the money. Has anyone been charged extra for this reason?

flea72

They can be cancelled, you just dont get a refund. There is no additional charge, beyond the room rate. its a technicality, when they say a saver room rate cant be cancelled or amended, it just means theres no chance of getting your money back,

PompeyPete

flea72 wrote: »

They can be cancelled, you just dont get a refund. There is no additional charge, beyond the room rate. its a technicality, when they say a saver room rate cant be cancelled or amended, it just means theres no chance of getting your money back,

I think it's simply called 'non-refundable'.:)

agrinnall

I've never been charged any extra when I haven't turned up for a PI Saver booking on a few occasions. I'm not sure that I've ever bothered to cancel.

bigadaj

I wonder if they are missing a trick.

Whilst they are non refundable if I were them I'd be tempted to offer a nominal partial refund, say a tenner, as many people might then cancel up to the day, partially for the extra few quid but often because people like the idea of notifying their non attendance.

This would allow them to resell potentially at near rack rate, whereas now they presumably have to leave the room empty on the basis the Booker might rack up late at night or even early the next morning.

katejo

Yes I expected it to say 'Can't be amended or refunded' but the 'no cancellation' part threw me slightly. Just thought that they might use my credit card details to impose an extra charge.

If I were to cancel, I would probably let them know but I agree that a partial refund might give clients more incentive to do this.

blindman

bigadaj wrote: »

I wonder if they are missing a trick.

Whilst they are non refundable if I were them I'd be tempted to offer a nominal partial refund, say a tenner, as many people might then cancel up to the day, partially for the extra few quid but often because people like the idea of notifying their non attendance.

This would allow them to resell potentially at near rack rate, whereas now they presumably have to leave the room empty on the basis the Booker might rack up late at night or even early the next morning.

Hotels quite often sell more rooms than they have and by experience and luck they rarely have to negotiate with a late comer.


And even if they do, they would usually "walk" the guest to a nearby hotel (for free)

bigadaj

blindman wrote: »

Hotels quite often sell more rooms than they have and by experience and luck they rarely have to negotiate with a late comer.


And even if they do, they would usually "walk" the guest to a nearby hotel (for free)

Well airlines certainly do it, or did but I've not heard of hotels overbooking, and not experienced it in the uk at least.

We did stay in a premier inn in London a few years ago, got to the room and found it didn't lock. After informing and checking they said they were sold out so we did move to another premier inn, they organised a cab and we transferred but then got moaned at by the private hire driver that we hadn't paid the bill, just handed him over to the front desk and left it for the two hotels to sort it out.

blindman

bigadaj wrote: »

Well airlines certainly do it, or did but I've not heard of hotels overbooking, and not experienced it in the uk at least.

We did stay in a premier inn in London a few years ago, got to the room and found it didn't lock. After informing and checking they said they were sold out so we did move to another premier inn, they organised a cab and we transferred but then got moaned at by the private hire driver that we hadn't paid the bill, just handed him over to the front desk and left it for the two hotels to sort it out.

That hotel room should have been free also

IHG policy for overbooking.

As with airline bookings its sometime handy to know what is their procedure for overbooking situations.

duchy

bigadaj wrote: »

Well airlines certainly do it, or did but I've not heard of hotels overbooking, and not experienced it in the uk at least.
ut.

Hotels do it too. If checking in mega late at a busy time for the hotel it's always advisable to let them know so they aren't tempted to decide you aren't coming and sell your room at three times the price to a walk in customer. It happens.

SW17

bigadaj wrote: »

Well airlines certainly do it, or did but I've not heard of hotels overbooking, and not experienced it in the uk at least.

Hotels overbook a lot, the extent to which they do it will be linked to how much of their inventory is out on allocation and/or on a refundable basis with late cancellation allowed. For example, Booking.com's very consumer-friendly late cancellation terms result in a lot of no-shows, so hotels have to overbook to ensure occupancy levels.

I'd expect hotels like Premier Inn to overbook less than hotels with more indirect distribution (in the same way that low cost airlines overbook less than legacy carriers), but they would still do it.

blindman wrote: »

That hotel room should have been free also

IHG policy for overbooking.

As with airline bookings its sometime handy to know what is their procedure for overbooking situations.

It's handy to know, but I wouldn't bet my house on IHG honouring every aspect of this policy unless the booking was made direct with them.