Hotel complaint

Sandtree

Grumpy_chap said:

Sandtree said:

You had one night in a bad room and were then switched, they have refunded you for one night... doesnt seem too unreasonable to me.

Then, the second room also had faults (communal carpets, mirror lights and no TV remote).  Not sure whether the OP requested a TV remote.

So one bad evening rather than night with the faff of switching rooms... if anything makes the offer more generous.

I'd struggle with the idea that communal carpets are an issue with the room and any issue with them is significantly less problematic than with an issue inside the room - as others have already said, you wont be walking about bare foot in the communal areas.

TELLIT01

The impression I get from the TA review is that the OP complained about the room and was moved.  Nothing to indicate they complained again about the 2nd room at the time.  On that basis a full refund of the cost for the first night seems totally reasonable.  The accommodation was very cheap for anywhere, and especially for London, not that that justifies poor cleanliness.  We paid over £200 for 2 nights at Travelodge in Bath! 

The cleaner coming early is most likely down to human error and hardly the crime of the century.  How long does it take to answer the door and explain that a late checkout has been arranged.  Strikes me as the modern generation demand for kompensayshun at the slightest opportunity.

Grumpy_chap

TELLIT01 said:

The impression I get from the TA review is that the OP complained about the room and was moved.  Nothing to indicate they complained again about the 2nd room at the time.  On that basis a full refund of the cost for the first night seems totally reasonable.  The accommodation was very cheap for anywhere, and especially for London, not that that justifies poor cleanliness.  We paid over £200 for 2 nights at Travelodge in Bath! 

The cleaner coming early is most likely down to human error and hardly the crime of the century.  How long does it take to answer the door and explain that a late checkout has been arranged.  Strikes me as the modern generation demand for kompensayshun at the slightest opportunity.

Normal process when moving rooms is the Receptionist shows you the new room, the customer agrees it is better, then the move happens.  Not much opportunity to complain after that, even if the new room was only accepted as "better" with a shrug. 

As to room rates, London hotels are really struggling with absurdly low occupancy at present because business flights and conferences simply are not happening.  Marriott near me remains on lockdown closure (since March 2020) and at one point between lockdowns last year, local Hilton had rooms at £45 each per night (breakfast excluded).  Very cheap rates for that grade of hotel in the Greater London area.  I do think the outer London hotels are particularly squeezed on this - enough tourist traffic for the real central London hotels and enough flights for "Heathrow Strip" hotels but the ones stuck in the middle and usually picking up some of both are getting nothing.

Sandtree

Grumpy_chap said:
Marriott near me remains on lockdown closure (since March 2020) and at one point between lockdowns last year, local Hilton had rooms at £45 each per night (breakfast excluded).  

I'm surprised Hilton went to that pricing, the one near us (Zone 2) dropped from their normal ~£150 to ~£100 but never lower.

In the City a lot of the more budget (relatively speaking) hotels did drop to £40/night from their normal £150-£200 but Hilton again persisted their rates. Rates have increased since then but were still half normal when I last checked a couple of months ago.

emmajones1976

Loads of hotels have now lost the red list quarantine income stream, too.

Grumpy_chap

Sandtree said:

I'm surprised Hilton went to that pricing, the one near us (Zone 2) dropped from their normal ~£150 to ~£100 but never lower.

£45 each is for each person sharing a double room, so £90 room rate. Breakfast extra.
I realise what I wrote could have been read as room rate £45, but that is not what I meant.

EDIT - cheapest normal room rate now seems to be around £150, so £90 was very competitive

Sandtree

Grumpy_chap said:

Sandtree said:

I'm surprised Hilton went to that pricing, the one near us (Zone 2) dropped from their normal ~£150 to ~£100 but never lower.

£45 each is for each person sharing a double room, so £90 room rate. Breakfast extra.
I realise what I wrote could have been read as room rate £45, but that is not what I meant.

EDIT - cheapest normal room rate now seems to be around £150, so £90 was very competitive

I dont think Hilton have ever advertised a PP rate, if there are no meals involved there is rarely a difference in single or joint occupancy, even on a "executive" room with access to the free drinks/snacks in the Exec Lounge. PP tends to me more the preserve of package holidays but then is often misleading given the single occupant supplement they charge etc

Grumpy_chap

Sandtree said:

Grumpy_chap said:

Sandtree said:

I'm surprised Hilton went to that pricing, the one near us (Zone 2) dropped from their normal ~£150 to ~£100 but never lower.

£45 each is for each person sharing a double room, so £90 room rate. Breakfast extra.
I realise what I wrote could have been read as room rate £45, but that is not what I meant.

EDIT - cheapest normal room rate now seems to be around £150, so £90 was very competitive

I dont think Hilton have ever advertised a PP rate, if there are no meals involved there is rarely a difference in single or joint occupancy, even on a "executive" room with access to the free drinks/snacks in the Exec Lounge. PP tends to me more the preserve of package holidays but then is often misleading given the single occupant supplement they charge etc

Well, I'm not quite sure as I didn't stay there.  So, I may have made an assumption and may have been incorrect.  Or the £45 may have been room rate - I did mention to my wife at the time it was more Travelodge rate than Hilton rate.   The number was £45 but not sure what you got for that....

I did book a spa day there for my wife and I but it got cancelled and refunded because of the second lockdown.  It was excellent value and I happened to call last week to try to book the same again and it was prohibitively more expensive, so I booked the spa day elsewhere.

Sandtree

We've leveraged the covid impact on pricing a few times but unfortunately a few places have stood their ground and maintained normal pricing. On the plus side, have finally managed to make a serious dent in the airmiles we'd accumulated over the years as reward flights have been available in First and Business on almost every flight even at short notice.

There is a hilton just outside Birmingham we used to stop off at if we were going up north after work which was about £45/night pre-covid and as a regular got free parking (£10), free breakfast (£15 pp) and 4 free drink vouchers (lets say £5 each)... not the best hotel, less stains than the OP though, and certainly felt value for money!

Hoping321

Grumpy_chap said:

Hoping321 said:

I recently complained about the state of a Travelodge hotel and hearing nothing back after 15 working days sent a follow up email. They had already asked me to send pictures of the issue. See review on trip advisor  Travelodge Kingston upon Thames   - “ Put me off Travelodge for life “

I then went to ' pay off my credit card bill in full ' 😉 and noticed that Travelodge had refunded 49.99. I had not noticed as have not used credit card in the past week. Seems like this is an attempt to pay me off to shut up - there was no email / letter regarding this. Then I got a response:  " I have reviewed this case with a senior member of customer services and we believe that a refund of your first night is an appropriate resolution in regards to your complaint. I am sorry for any disappointment this may cause." . People have suggested that should have moved hotel - this is not the point. 

Any advice on next steps - or am I pretty much stuck with this outcome ?
Thanks. 

How long did you stay at the hotel?

You have a refund for the first night.

What resolution are you after?

3 nights. I did not have the option of booking in somewhere else. It is the process that I'm really after advice on - they have paid without responding - as in trying to pay me off, no acknowledgement. Only when I asked for a response to my complaint they responded.  Loving some of the feedback though.