Beware Premier Inn Cancellation Policy!

henleygoldnet

I booked a Premier Inn on their Semi-Flex rate, whih allows cancellations 3 days in advance of check-in. The wording when you select that tariff on the booking is "Pay now, fully refundable with free cancellation up to three full days before arrival". Nothing appears on the confirmation about cancellation. Buried in the T&C is a very different wording - Semi-Flex rate room bookings may be cancelled before midnight UK time three days prior to the arrival date, (e.g. For a stay arriving on Saturday, you can cancel until 11.59pm UK time on the Tuesday three days prior). SO 3 clear days (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in this example) are insufficient - you must give 4 full days notice, irrrespective of the fact that you can't check-in until 3pm on the Saturday, so in effect an additional half day!

In my case it was an inconvenience rather than a disaster, I had booked the Semi-Flex rate in case my train was cancelled and I wanted to switch to the lower non-flex rate once it was confirmed. Premier Inn really ought to be clearer on their booking system though - the wording is carefully framed to suggest less notice than actually they require.

In future, I'll simply book at Flexi rate and then cancel and rebook. All of the London hotels I have been looking at have lowered their prices since I booked.

TELLIT01

henleygoldnet said:

I booked a Premier Inn on their Semi-Flex rate, whih allows cancellations 3 days in advance of check-in. The wording when you select that tariff on the booking is "Pay now, fully refundable with free cancellation up to three full days before arrival". Nothing appears on the confirmation about cancellation. Buried in the T&C is a very different wording - Semi-Flex rate room bookings may be cancelled before midnight UK time three days prior to the arrival date, (e.g. For a stay arriving on Saturday, you can cancel until 11.59pm UK time on the Tuesday three days prior). SO 3 clear days (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in this example) are insufficient - you must give 4 full days notice, irrrespective of the fact that you can't check-in until 3pm on the Saturday, so in effect an additional half day!

In my case it was an inconvenience rather than a disaster, I had booked the Semi-Flex rate in case my train was cancelled and I wanted to switch to the lower non-flex rate once it was confirmed. Premier Inn really ought to be clearer on their booking system though - the wording is carefully framed to suggest less notice than actually they require.

In future, I'll simply book at Flexi rate and then cancel and rebook. All of the London hotels I have been looking at have lowered their prices since I booked.

The two statements are exactly the same.  You need to cancel by 23:59 on Tuesday if you are arriving on Saturday.  The 3 full days being Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  I don't understand what point you are trying to make.  The T&C doesn't say '72 hours before arrival', which would obviously be a different thing.

sheramber

For a booking on Saturday , three days before in Friday, Thursday and Wednesday.  ( you would't say Friday was two days before Saturday).

You need to cancel by 11 59pm before Wednesday, the third day. So 11.59pm on Tuesday.

onashoestring

I can’t see where the confusion is ? 

If you are due to arrive on Saturday and cancel on Wednesday that is not three full days before arrival -that would only be 2 full days before arrival ( full days being Thursday & Friday ) so you need to cancel by 11:59 Tuesday at the latest .

p00hsticks

onashoestring said:

I can’t see where the confusion is ? 

I can (although it's not how I and I suspect the vast majority of people would look at it).
The OP has taken 'a day' to be equivalent to '24 hours', and so assumed that 'three full days' meant at least 72 hours prior to check in time. 
Whereas Premier Inn, and everyone else on this thread have take 'a day' to be a calendar day from midnignt to 23:59 and so have counted back three 'full days' as days of the week from the midnight on the check-in date, 
 

merlincat

I booked for 2 nights Semi-Flex. I had to amend the booking, which worked fine, however I subsequently had to cancel the booking a few weeks later (for reasons beyond our control) 4 weeks before the arrival date. I was told that having already amended the booking, it wasn't possible to then cancel it. Where is that stated in their Ts & Cs?

sheramber

merlincat said:

I booked for 2 nights Semi-Flex. I had to amend the booking, which worked fine, however I subsequently had to cancel the booking a few weeks later (for reasons beyond our control) 4 weeks before the arrival date. I was told that having already amended the booking, it wasn't possible to then cancel it. Where is that stated in their Ts & Cs?

What did they say when you asked them where it stated in the Terms and Conditions?