Lastminute.com Refuse refund

Danay94

Hi All,

I recently booked a 3-night stay through Lastminute.com

During the stay I had no end of problems with the ventilation system in the room being very noisy. 
I could not turn this off due to the room being a room with no window and I believe requires this ventilation by law.

throughout the 3-night stay, I reported the issue 3 times to hotel staff who informed me they would have the issue looked at, but each time there was no change.

The noise was enough to keep you awake during the night and also a big dump of air every 20 minutes or so would wake you (I have all this evidence as audio files and have shared with both parties)

I have since contacted both the hotel and lastminute.com who refuse to extend any compensation beyond the small offering of the hotel itself. Their reasoning for this is that I did not contact them directly during the stay and therefore they are not obligated. I fail to see how this can be a get out clause, granted if the stay was much longer and I had not contacted lastminute.com I can see the argument.

There must be something more I can do but I am told there is no one to escalate the issue to. Any advice would be appreciated

eskbanker

If you felt that Lastminute.com were responsible for issues experienced during your stay then it doesn't seem unreasonable for them to expect the opportunity to do something about it at the time.

jon81uk

Did you ask the hotel to move you to another room? What other action did you take while at the hotel? Did you try adjusting the temperature control in the room or turning off the aircon (there is usually a control panel in most hotels).

If the issue is as bad as you describe I would not have stayed in the room for a third night, i would have asked to speak to the manager and stayed at the reception desk until an acceptable solution was found.

Hoenir

What compensation did the hotel offer and what are you expecting LastMinute to offer? 

ArbitraryRandom

More specifically, if we're talking consumer rights, have you had a look at the contract and considered what part they may be in violation of (how exactly are you wording your complaint with reference to the law around service contracts)

If you believe you have a right to a refund (rather than a goodwill gesture for a less than pleasant experience) you might find this helpful: https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/how-to-complain-about-hotel-accommodation-ahSjZ5G5jq77

For what it's worth (for your next time away), I have to spend a reasonable amount of time in hotels for work and I agree with the poster above that the issue was more than likely the fan or the temp set - both of which you can generally change/turn off using the control panel in the room. 

Danay94

jon81uk said:

Did you ask the hotel to move you to another room? What other action did you take while at the hotel? Did you try adjusting the temperature control in the room or turning off the aircon (there is usually a control panel in most hotels).

If the issue is as bad as you describe I would not have stayed in the room for a third night, i would have asked to speak to the manager and stayed at the reception desk until an acceptable solution was found.

I did ask to move rooms yes, it was also known to the hotel that there were issues with this system in areas of the hotel - I would say the room should never have been available on that basis.

the aircon was turned off - this is a separate ventilation system that has to be on due to having no purge ventilation - i.e. a window, there was no user control available.

I complained about the issue each day and was reassured that someone would come out to look at the problem each time.
 
Action aside, I don't think it is unreasonable to be wanting to resolve the issue after the fact. If I had stayed quiet the entire stay then I would agree. I am just looking for some advice on what next steps should be.

Danay94

Hoenir said:

What compensation did the hotel offer and what are you expecting LastMinute to offer? 

50% off a 1 night future stay
absolutely not, my entire stay was affected and I would expect something to reflect this 

Danay94

ArbitraryRandom said:

More specifically, if we're talking consumer rights, have you had a look at the contract and considered what part they may be in violation of (how exactly are you wording your complaint with reference to the law around service contracts)

If you believe you have a right to a refund (rather than a goodwill gesture for a less than pleasant experience) you might find this helpful: https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/how-to-complain-about-hotel-accommodation-ahSjZ5G5jq77

For what it's worth (for your next time away), I have to spend a reasonable amount of time in hotels for work and I agree with the poster above that the issue was more than likely the fan or the temp set - both of which you can generally change/turn off using the control panel in the room. 

I will definitely look into this and feed back, as for the fan and temperature - this was not at all configurable (presumably due to ventilation requirements as the room had no window) with a separate unit for climate control. The aircon was turned off entirely.

user1977

Danay94 said:

jon81uk said:

Did you ask the hotel to move you to another room? What other action did you take while at the hotel? Did you try adjusting the temperature control in the room or turning off the aircon (there is usually a control panel in most hotels).

If the issue is as bad as you describe I would not have stayed in the room for a third night, i would have asked to speak to the manager and stayed at the reception desk until an acceptable solution was found.

I did ask to move rooms yes

Did you ask them to arrange accommodation somewhere else instead?

You may have had a good case after one night, but you opted to stay for an additional two nights (presumably knowing each time that they hadn't actually sorted the issue).

What are you hoping for?

Danay94

user1977 said:

Danay94 said:

jon81uk said:

Did you ask the hotel to move you to another room? What other action did you take while at the hotel? Did you try adjusting the temperature control in the room or turning off the aircon (there is usually a control panel in most hotels).

If the issue is as bad as you describe I would not have stayed in the room for a third night, i would have asked to speak to the manager and stayed at the reception desk until an acceptable solution was found.

I did ask to move rooms yes

Did you ask them to arrange accommodation somewhere else instead?

You may have had a good case after one night, but you opted to stay for an additional two nights (presumably knowing each time that they hadn't actually sorted the issue).

What are you hoping for?

What I will say here is that each night I complained again, with further reassurance the issue would be resolved. 
what I didn't want to get into is exactly this, having lastminute.com tell me that because I chose to stay elsewhere I would have no right to refund/compensation.

I am hoping for something more than 50% off a 1 night future stay with a hotel I will have no further business with.
I also wish to pursue this on the basis that Lastminute.com believe they have no liability for this at all

Wonka_2

Danay94 said:

I also wish to pursue this on the basis that Lastminute.com believe they have no liability for this at all

And this is fine - but for the fact that they weren't made aware of the issue at the time and had no ability to mitigate e.g. negotiate with hotel or offer you an alternative room somewhere else.

I've not used them for a few years but what do their T&C's say nowadays in terms of complaints and their liability ?