Free hotel stays

bdmum1

Quick update on our freebie at Chester; haven't wanted to post before in case it jeopardised stage 2 of the deal!

We checked in on 13th Ocober armed with our various emails and the helpful (male) recepionist confirmed that the booking was for an executive room at NIL cost.

He then pointed out that we had 2 rooms booked. We queried this and it transpired the 2nd one was for 27th October, although we had no details of this booking; it had somehow been recorded on their system as another complimentary night in an executive room.

We asked him to cancel the 2nd booking, knowing that we wouldn't be able to use it, then realised my daughter might be available to make use of it. We asked if that would be OK and, not only did he agree, but he kindly printed off their system confirmation so she would have paperwork for her arrival (we had no details of this 2nd booking at all).

The icing on the cake was that Chester included free breakfasts with their executive room package for both bookings, so we were 4 happy bunnies!

So a massive thumbs up to the OP and another one to the reception guy at Chester who couldn't have been more helpful.

bdmum1

Just a thought taxiphil....

Sorry to hear about your problems getting your monies refunded; when you say the cheque was in a joke version of your name, do you think maybe someone somewhere may be following this thread and hadn't taken kindly to some of the variations of names we had been using? Just thought they may have decide to get their own back?

Hope you get it all sorted really soon.

taxiphil

bdmum1 wrote: »

Just a thought taxiphil....

Sorry to hear about your problems getting your monies refunded; when you say the cheque was in a joke version of your name, do you think maybe someone somewhere may be following this thread and hadn't taken kindly to some of the variations of names we had been using? Just thought they may have decide to get their own back?

Hope you get it all sorted really soon.

Hi bdmum, thanks for your words of support, and I'm glad to hear you had a better time at Chester than I did. Sounds like they've got their act together.

Yes, I agree with your theory about the cheque. The name they wrote was so ludicrous that it couldn't have been an accident. They substituted my first name with a silly and mildly offensive word that rhymed with my surname. So for example, if my name was David Kelly, they wrote the cheque out to "Smelly Kelly" (this is not the actual name but an equivalent of what they did). They also wrote this name on the envelope.

Those crazy Americans, hey?

Plus the fact they refused to reissue it in my correct name pretty much confirmed they never intended for me to cash the cheque in the first place.

If it's because of the variations of their names we used on this thread, I think they have seriously misunderstood why we did this - none of us were trying to cause any offence, we were simply trying to comply with forum rules to protect their identities! (And if any of them are reading this now I hope that clarifies the misunderstanding once and for all).

I'm still fighting for the refund... our Red Breasted friend has now dropped his demand that I must prove I didn't enter a dispute with my credit card company, and he says he'll investigate further with the UK accounts department to see if my payment went through undisputed (which it did - a long time ago!). But it's dragging on, and on....

Don't want to sue them again as it's a load of hassle but I may eventually be forced to as I'm not going to wait forever for this refund.

GlennTheBaker

I'm off to Chester this Saturday, armed with all the paperwork :rolleyes:.

By the way, bdmum1, did they just include breakfast automatically or did you have to ask for it? I've got an Executive room booked - a free brekkie would be lovely!

bdmum1

The free brekky was included automatically in their executive package. We queried it, but he confirmed it was definitely included. In fact on the print out he provided for the 2nd stay it showed "£10 breakfast package" and he just struck through that, so hopefully you'll be OK.

It was a pretty good breakfast too; we were planning to pay for breakfast and wouldn't have felt ripped off. Even better was that they serve until 12 on a Sunday, and check out is 12 noon so you can have a decent lie in / go for a swim first.

One other tip is that you can actually check in from 12 aswell if you're in an executive room; we'd taken a print out from the Ramada website of what's included but the hotel didn't know about the 12 o'clock check in. They took a copy of our paperwork, but were more than happy to oblige in getting us our room early.

The only thing they tried to charge us for was our Sunday paper, and exactly the same happened on my daughter's stay, but that's included in the excutive package too so they quite happily deleted it.

Just realised we sound like a family of total cheapskates!!!

Enjoy your stay!

blindman

Free breakfast may have been included in the Hyde Park Ramada.

Similar statement on the check in print out.
Not plannning to have breakfast so didn't ask if it was included.

May be worth asking at all the hotels where 'we' have executive rooms.

GlennTheBaker

Thanks bdmum1, that's really helpful. I knew about the 12.00 pm check-in but I'm working until about 2.00 pm on Saturday so can't take advantage.

clareyp

I stayed in the Ramada Hyde park 2 weeks ago & they tried to dispute the free movies in the executive room saying that 'multimedia package' on the printout I took means it's available but still chargeable.
When I asked why in a standard room it states pay per view & no mention of this for an executive they caved in .. something to watch out for if anyone is going to Hyde Pk soon... (also they were going to charge for brekkie but I didn't want it so didn't really query it.

purplegirluk1

Hi, I have been trying to find a way of getting a free room in London for Monday 12th October. Days hotel are quoting £135 for a double room at the Hyde Park hotel but I cannot find anywhere doing it cheaper. Can anyone suggest a place I ma not have looked or another way of getting a free room? We are attending a free bbc radio recording, have a bogof voucher for dinner at Pizza express so a free room would just make it an amazing bargain trip. Any ideas? Thanks guys.

GlennTheBaker

Just returned from our free stay in Chester and I have to say it was fantastic. From the moment we walked in and were greeted by Phil on reception (consumately professional) we knew we were onto a winner. Phil confirmed that our stay was free and that breakfast was included. The room was pretty spacious, very clean and comfortable. Breakfast was very good indeed and the service from all of the staff was great. Full marks to Ramada Chester in the end!

By the way, they have a job vacancy if anyone's interested - click HERE.