Consumer rights for hotel stay

steampowered

I've had bad stays in places with good reviews, and good stays in places with bad reviews. You don't know for sure until you go.

The reality is that any cheap city centre hotel (the kind affordable to 18 year olds) is going to be a bit naff.

At the end of the day, if they only want a bed for the night, it should be fine.

I doubt the hotel is that bad. There might be a bit of general city centre noise but that is hardly the worst thing in the world for a couple of 18 year olds.

I think she should go and not worry about it. There is certainly no right to get a refund if the room was listed as non-refundable.

stuartJo1989

ringo_24601 wrote: »

Sounds like the boyfriend needs educating.. he's probably never booked a hotel before. I made some shocking mistakes when booking my first trips with my girlfriend

This place was terrible - https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g186402-d193225-Reviews-Apollo_Hotel_Birmingham-Birmingham_West_Midlands_England.html

BUT, I learned. We eventually laughed it off. There's no reason why he should be allowed his money back unless it said there was a cancellation policy.

Try to not let it cloud the weekend too much. Either write it off, book somewhere else, or just get drunk and forget about it.

What's wrong with that hotel?

It just looks a bit non conventional and low budget to me...


Upon checking the customer photographs (some sad git took a photo of the scuffed tiles, black marks on the wall, something to do with the bin, slight rip in the lampshade), it looks like somewhere which is towards the low end of the budget range; you get what you pay for... Maybe I'm a bit less fussy with these things though?

Besides, sometimes people can be much harsher with scoring hotels when they don't like certain aspects. One person, for example, stated that the room was clean (apparently the only plus) but only marked them 2/5 for cleanliness (and 1/5 overall)!! That sort of thing unnecessarily drags the ratings down.

photome

which hotel is it

unholyangel

With hotels, some people forget to adjust their expectations to the price.

So is that possibly a factor here? How does it stack up price wise to the competition and their standards/reviews?

SouthUKMan

Most hotels aren't as bad as negative reviews make out. A lot of people think their money should have bought them more / a grander experience - so you're always going to get mean people posting negative or neutral reviews. It happens across the board from budget to top end hotels. People complain because their expectations weren't met. But in reality their expectations were unreasonable for the money paid. Seriously, if the hotel was THAT bad, would it still be trading?

hollydays

unholyangel wrote: »

With hotels, some people forget to adjust their expectations to the price.

So is that possibly a factor here? How does it stack up price wise to the competition and their standards/reviews?

Looking back at the op , it’s the daughters 18th birthday , so she was no doubt hoping for something modern or romantic . It’s not the hotels fault the boyfriend is somewhat inexperienced in booking hotels
I know some people get excited about the prospect of staying in “ a hotel” imagining all kinds of luxury exists there-but as said- you often get what you pay for.

[Deleted User]

stuartJo1989 wrote: »

What's wrong with that hotel?

It just looks a bit non conventional and low budget to me...


Upon checking the customer photographs (some sad git took a photo of the scuffed tiles, black marks on the wall, something to do with the bin, slight rip in the lampshade), it looks like somewhere which is towards the low end of the budget range; you get what you pay for... Maybe I'm a bit less fussy with these things though?

Besides, sometimes people can be much harsher with scoring hotels when they don't like certain aspects. One person, for example, stated that the room was clean (apparently the only plus) but only marked them 2/5 for cleanliness (and 1/5 overall)!! That sort of thing unnecessarily drags the ratings down.

What was wrong with it? Dirty room, with dirty sheets - and the hotel gave someone else 'our' room key and they tried to let themselves into our room at 12.30 while we were asleep. The place was sketch as hell.. I'd lodged a chair against the door because we didn't feel safe in it.. and I was right.

To be fair they did a decent breakfast!

There is a premier inn round the corner that is much nicer, we've discovered. I've found that independent hotels are rarely decent if they are cheap. They just don't have good minimum standards.

This is our families favourite hotel now .. https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g1773834-d945835-Reviews-Gran_Melia_Palacio_de_Isora_Resort_Spa-Alcala_Guia_de_Isora_Tenerife_Canary_Islands.html

stuartJo1989

ringo_24601 wrote: »

What was wrong with it? Dirty room, with dirty sheets

Fair enough if that was your experience! But here's some extracts from some of the more recent 1-star reviews for that hotel:

Review 1: "had to move room as 1st room dirty , 2nd room ok"

Review 2: "Bedlinen and bathroom were clean"

Review 3: "Room basic but clean but that's the only positive comment I can make" (this is the person who marked it as 2/5 for cleanliness )

(reviews beyond that seem to be from Feb 2017 time).

So yep, quite a few of the more recent 1-star reviews appear to be at odds to your own views. Not to say you are wrong, but it doesn't seem to be the experience of every person who visits...

- and the hotel gave someone else 'our' room key and they tried to let themselves into our room at 12.30 while we were asleep. The place was sketch as hell.. I'd lodged a chair against the door because we didn't feel safe in it.. and I was right.

Yea, that's not too good.

[Deleted User]

Now, I did stay there about 10 years ago.. but there are still numerous 'red flag' reviews. One or two 'I'll never stay there again' isn't great.. but if you look at the number of poor/terrible reviews Vs the very good/excellent reviews - there is definitely a downward skew.

Compare the 'review skew' with the hotel I now stay at in Birmingham. It's also low budget, but much more consistent - https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g186402-d1464925-Reviews-Premier_Inn_Birmingham_Central_Hagley_Road_Hotel-Birmingham_West_Midlands_England.html

Notice that bad reviews are replied to.. as if they care.

Look at 'review skew' on Tripadvisor and Amazon - it's very telling.

stuartJo1989

ringo_24601 wrote: »

Now, I did stay there about 10 years ago.. but there are still numerous 'red flag' reviews. One or two 'I'll never stay there again' isn't great.. but if you look at the number of poor/terrible reviews Vs the very good/excellent reviews - there is definitely a downward skew.

Compare the 'review skew' with the hotel I now stay at in Birmingham. It's also low budget, but much more consistent - https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g186402-d1464925-Reviews-Premier_Inn_Birmingham_Central_Hagley_Road_Hotel-Birmingham_West_Midlands_England.html

Notice that bad reviews are replied to.. as if they care.

Look at 'review skew' on Tripadvisor and Amazon - it's very telling.

Won't disagree there!!

But the 'review skew' I meant was more the fact that people who hate the place BUT found it clean are much more likely to under-mark sections such as "cleanliness" (it desevers 4 or 5 stars in that section if it was clean, but people mark it 2-3 because they think they should penalise the company).

Anyways, I've just had a look at some random days for Apollo (the one you don't like) and Premier Inn (the one you like):

Apollo on 2nd Dec = £89
Premier Inn on 2nd Dec = fully booked

Apollo on 6th Dec = £55
Premier Inn on 6th Dec = £114

Apollo on 13th Dec = £55
Premier Inn on 13th Dec = £94


So there you go.... you get what you pay for On certain days your preferred hotel is over double the price of the one you didn't like! And on certain days it is your only choice

I will say one thing about you though, fair play for your attitude towards the rubbish one! "Try to not let it cloud the weekend too much. Either write it off, book somewhere else, or just get drunk and forget about it." - Really respect that