Hotel refund

LizziC84

We booked a weekend getaway at a lovely hotel in Northumberland months ago. It was £250 per night which is pretty pricey for us but we really wanted a room with a hot tub so we could just relax for a couple of days and try to forget about the stresses of the pandemic. We arrived last night and the hot tub was cold and there were no outdoor lights. We spoke to the manager who said there must be an electrical fault and they will get an electrician out in the morning. They offered to reduce the room rate by £50 each night which they said was the supplement fee for the hot tub. First of all I would never have booked to stay here if there was no hot tub as this was the only reason we booked this hotel. Second of all it’s December and freezing so now there’s no hot tub all we can do is sit inside our room and watch TV. Thirdly, this supplement fee was not noted on the website so as far as we were aware we were paying £250 for a hot tub room not £200 for a room and then £50 for a hot tub. I feel our weekend has been completely spoilt yet we still have to pay £400 to stay in what is now essentially a big standard room. Should we be entitled to more than £50 per night back? 

JJ_Egan

Find out what they charge for non hot tub rooms .

user1977

£50 discount for no hot tub doesn't sound too unreasonable to me. If you don't want to pay £200 for tonight then maybe check out and at least mitigate your costs that way? 

cx6

you could argue they had broken a contract and should pay all your costs associated eg travel etc as well as refunding what you paid them.

check their booking t&c first though

user1977

cx6 said:

you could argue they had broken a contract and should pay all your costs associated eg travel etc as well as refunding what you paid them.

That's not going to fly if they've provided the accommodation, which is merely lacking one facility. Especially if the OP opts to stay there for two nights.

pinkshoes

user1977 said:

£50 discount for no hot tub doesn't sound too unreasonable to me. If you don't want to pay £200 for tonight then maybe check out and at least mitigate your costs that way? 

I completely disagree with this. No hot tub would be no stay for me as in Winter it would be the selling point of the room. 

If the OP wanted to watch TV in a bedroom they could have stayed at home or a premier inn.

I would be online looking for an alternative then getting a full refund.

Depending on  distance, if there was no alternative I would have gone home, asked them to pay travel costs and rebooked for when the hot tub was working.

As you stayed the night, then I would ask for a weekend stay in January with1 night free.

soolin

pinkshoes said:

user1977 said:

£50 discount for no hot tub doesn't sound too unreasonable to me. If you don't want to pay £200 for tonight then maybe check out and at least mitigate your costs that way? 

I completely disagree with this. No hot tub would be no stay for me as in Winter it would be the selling point of the room. 

If the OP wanted to watch TV in a bedroom they could have stayed at home or a premier inn.

I would be online looking for an alternative then getting a full refund.

Depending on  distance, if there was no alternative I would have gone home, asked them to pay travel costs and rebooked for when the hot tub was working.

As you stayed the night, then I would ask for a weekend stay in January with1 night free.

I absolutely agree, you buy a package rather than a Premier Inn and taking away one of the selling points materially changes that package- I would be looking for a full refund so I could go elsewhere.

Many years ago I booked a night in a fancy somewhat remote hotel with a fancy candle lit dinner - with a harpist to play during dinner. Just before we travelled they apologised that the kitchen was not available for the evening we had booked due to a private function being held in a different part of the hotel, we were offered a part refund to cover the cost of the meal and were told we could either have a very limited room service menu or a further refund if we chose to drive into town for dinner instead. Neither option suited us and after a few phone calls back and forth, and a bit of hassle they reluctantly gave us a full refund- and we went elsewhere.

user1977

pinkshoes said:

user1977 said:

£50 discount for no hot tub doesn't sound too unreasonable to me. If you don't want to pay £200 for tonight then maybe check out and at least mitigate your costs that way? 

I completely disagree with this. No hot tub would be no stay for me as in Winter it would be the selling point of the room. 

If the OP wanted to watch TV in a bedroom they could have stayed at home or a premier inn.

I would be online looking for an alternative then getting a full refund.

I doubt the fact it's a hot tub makes it of the essence of the contract that a working hot tub must be provided (unless there was some other correspondence to that effect). Lots of guests would view it as just a bonus rather than something fundamental to their weekend.

I'm sure you can argue about whether £50 is the correct discount to apply, but if they accept the room as it is and stay for at least one night, I think the OP is liable to pay for it.

elsien

A hot tub may be one of the main reasons for booking, but presumably you weren’t going to spend the whole stay sitting in it slowly turning into prunes?
So what else were you planning to do, and can you not still do that anyway. 

Or just wrap up and get out somewhere. There is life outside of TV even in December. 

pinkshoes

elsien said:

A hot tub may be one of the main reasons for booking, but presumably you weren’t going to spend the whole stay sitting in it slowly turning into prunes?
So what else were you planning to do, and can you not still do that anyway. 

Or just wrap up and get out somewhere. There is life outside of TV even in December. 

Hot tubs are not my cup of tea, but people really do spend all evening sitting in them with a glass of wine and looking at the stars!  

It costs a lot of money to hire and fill and heat a hot tub for a weekend at home, hence people book hot tub rooms like this. No hot tub available would mean the room has lost it's niche and was just a "room". You can pay much less that that for just a "room".

cx6

The booking t&c may say 'we cannot guarantee a hot tub' but otherwise I would be asking for my money back plus costs.