Basement hotel room

emmajones1976

In all cities I have ever stayed in, i only ever went back to the room to get changed or to sleep. Far too much to see and do. Cant imagine it ruined your enjoyment that much, when I went to Prague the room we had didnt even have a TV in it. So what?

akkers

As I pointed out, there were 2 issues. First, because of the window situation I was feeling claustrophpbic and found it difficu;t to sleep. Secondly, the paper-thin walls meantg that you could hear anything and everything from adjoining rooms and vice versa. So much for privacy.

Sandtree

akkers said:

Secondly, the paper-thin walls meantg that you could hear anything and everything from adjoining rooms and vice versa. So much for privacy.

And you know the higher rooms are any better?

akkers said:
I believe he implied that the rooms on upper floors wered standard rooms.

The pic below is one I have of our basement room, Yes that a big pillar in the room! And the window is behind the curtains.

But unless he explicitly stated that yours is in the category of "Sub Standard" then you paid for a standard room and got a standard room... just one of the worst ones.

The easy check is to go onto their website and see what the lowest room category is... if its Standard then thats what you got. If they have a "Cheap and Cheerful" category (or however Marketing can spin such a room) thats below Standard then you have a possible argument you didnt get what you paid for

Westin

akkers said:

I thought I got a good rate because this booking had no cancellation rights. It was supposed to be a standard room so I did not expect a dungeon. Further, according to the staff member the booking site sold me a standard room but booked a sub-par room with the hotel.

IMO this hotel/booking site are shifting its sub-par basement rooms using their 4* tag to fool people.

You have not mentioned the booking site but typically the room names/types and descriptions are loaded on the booking site by the hotel themselves.

I sadly suspect the hotel staffer told you a bit of a porkie on this.  Probably easier for them to blame the booking site that take the flack from you after they couldn’t move you as promised on the second day.

All hotels will have some standard rooms better than other and worse than others.  They might indeed sometimes place the “cheaper” rated guests from booking sites into the poorer location rooms on perhaps the basis that these are not direct or loyal bookers (and dare I say not important to the hotelier as much as other bookers).  Luck of the draw.

Doshwaster

emmajones1976 said:

In all cities I have ever stayed in, i only ever went back to the room to get changed or to sleep. Far too much to see and do. Cant imagine it ruined your enjoyment that much, when I went to Prague the room we had didnt even have a TV in it. So what?

I hardly ever turn on a hotel TV (especially abroad) as I have my phone if I want some background noise so the lack of one wouldn't bother me.

I've also stopped in hotels without external windows and it wasn't a problem. Like you, hotels are for sleeping not gazing out of the window. I've also ended up in the box room of hotels (quite common when you are a single traveller booking last minute) and while it isn't ideal if you have booked a "standard room" I don't think I would be taking legal action. I would have happily accepted a drinks voucher at the bar in compensation. If a nice view is that important to you then it really should be specified at the time of booking.

Grumpy_chap

I understand the room may not be wonderful and the OP may have thought they'd booked something different, but neither the photo of the room or the view from the window (into the stairwell area) look disastrous either.  Indeed, the photos look better than the textual description given by the OP.

For a city hotel, I'm normally seeking functional sleep place only and have stayed in venues offering basement rooms with far less pleasant outlook than the OP shows in the photo.  I've always known at the time of booking.  Different for a country estate hotel or sea-side resort where you may be purposefully seeking the view.

Difficult to comment any further as the OP has engaged a Solicitor who will be the best person to advise on the course for any redress.  As with any case, the OP will first have to demonstrate a loss and it is not clear from the thread what that loss actually is.

Sandtree

Grumpy_chap said:

Difficult to comment any further as the OP has engaged a Solicitor who will be the best person to advise on the course for any redress.  As with any case, the OP will first have to demonstrate a loss and it is not clear from the thread what that loss actually is.

Given many countries have a concept of a "small claims" process where legal fees are excluded or highly limited they may quickly find that their international solicitor will quickly be billing them more than the full cost of the stay.