Declined refund for filthy uninhabitable hotel room

simonthenurse

I cannot begin to describe the filthy hovel that is the Swan Inn Heathrow, but as they say, a picture speaks a thousand words!
On pulling up to the property my heart sank as it was almost as tatty on the outside as it turned out to be on the inside!
The guy behind the bar was quite disinterested and rude and wasn’t really interested at all and had to call someone else to come and show me to the room. After waiting about 10minutes, a man who barely spoke any English arrived, scribbled down a few numbers on a scrap of paper which were copied from the back of a cupboard door in the bar and explained they were my not so secure electronic door key code!
He then explained to me in very broken English how the door locks worked and showed me into my room.
The room looked more like a crack den than a hotel room.
Filthy and unsanitary does not even come close to describing what I walked into, as I was greeted by mouldy pillowcases, dirty walls and broken windows, a splintered, soft and squishy floor under foot and a layer of dust and hair that you would probably only find in somewhere like a geriatric barbers shop. It was at least a centimetre thick around the edge of the room and even worse behind the TV stand.
I can only describe the bathroom as disgusting 🤮 with dirty stained toilet bowl and a shower tray that had more greenery and mushrooms growing around it than my back garden.
There was a kettle on the floor sat in the dust behind the tv stand, but no tea/coffee or cups, no towels or toiletries and the room stank of stale cigarettes and mould. There were stains up the walls and the white doors were black from dirt and the bedroom door seemed to have no way to secure it from the inside.
I went downstairs to complain but was told there was no manager I could speak to, no supervisor they could contact and if I didn’t like the room I could contact my booking company for a refund, which I did (OYO hotels) who basically told me to Foxtrot Oscar, so I lost £248 as there was NO way I was staying in that unsanitary hovel for a single night!
The website pictures do not remotely reflect the actual room and this is blatant false advertising
How do i move forward with this to get a refund now as its a lot of money to lose and I had to book an alternative more expensive accommodation as a result

outtatune

Half of what you posted is irrelevant, the other half obvious exaggeration.

Photos please.

born_again

How many nights & how many people.
No chargeback rights anyway, as this is not a covered scenario.
If it was via a 3rd party booking co no S75.

la531983

outtatune said:

Half of what you posted is irrelevant, the other half obvious exaggeration.

Photos please.

To be fair, I just looked on Google Maps at the last few reviews. Suspect not as much exaggeration as you are making out!

eskbanker

simonthenurse said:

I cannot begin to describe the filthy hovel that is the Swan Inn Heathrow, but as they say, a picture speaks a thousand words!

Perhaps best to include pictures then, rather than the thousand words?

kimwp

The point of the saying "a picture speaks a thousand words" is to post a picture rather than writing words...

flaneurs_lobster

I see you've posted the same "review" to Tripadvisor, shame you didn't check there before booking.

OYO score a rather impressive 1.2/5 on Trustpilot too.

Was £248 the cost for 1 night? Don't suppose it really matters but a Travelodge within a couple of miles of Heathrow is £50/night.

You can try a chargeback with your card company (if you paid by credit card) but booking with an intermediary makes this difficult.

GrubbyGirl_2

I don't think newbies can post pics

sheramber

simonthenurse said:

I cannot begin to describe the filthy hovel that is the Swan Inn Heathrow, but as they say, a picture speaks a thousand words!
On pulling up to the property my heart sank as it was almost as tatty on the outside as it turned out to be on the inside!
The guy behind the bar was quite disinterested and rude and wasn’t really interested at all and had to call someone else to come and show me to the room. After waiting about 10minutes, a man who barely spoke any English arrived, scribbled down a few numbers on a scrap of paper which were copied from the back of a cupboard door in the bar and explained they were my not so secure electronic door key code!
He then explained to me in very broken English how the door locks worked and showed me into my room.
The room looked more like a crack den than a hotel room.
Filthy and unsanitary does not even come close to describing what I walked into, as I was greeted by mouldy pillowcases, dirty walls and broken windows, a splintered, soft and squishy floor under foot and a layer of dust and hair that you would probably only find in somewhere like a geriatric barbers shop. It was at least a centimetre thick around the edge of the room and even worse behind the TV stand.
I can only describe the bathroom as disgusting 🤮 with dirty stained toilet bowl and a shower tray that had more greenery and mushrooms growing around it than my back garden.
There was a kettle on the floor sat in the dust behind the tv stand, but no tea/coffee or cups, no towels or toiletries and the room stank of stale cigarettes and mould. There were stains up the walls and the white doors were black from dirt and the bedroom door seemed to have no way to secure it from the inside.
I went downstairs to complain but was told there was no manager I could speak to, no supervisor they could contact and if I didn’t like the room I could contact my booking company for a refund, which I did (OYO hotels) who basically told me to Foxtrot Oscar, so I lost £248 as there was NO way I was staying in that unsanitary hovel for a single night!
The website pictures do not remotely reflect the actual room and this is blatant false advertising
How do i move forward with this to get a refund now as its a lot of money to lose and I had to book an alternative more expensive accommodation as a result

Report the total to the local Envirinmental Health.

They won’t get your money back but will deal with the concerns over the hotel 

QrizB

OYO seem to specialise in buying rundown hotels and keeping them that way. I stayed in the OYO Sunrise near Leicester a couple of years ago. I think it used to be a Travelodge.

It was cheap but shabby.

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g503966-d19070849-Reviews-OYO_Sunrise_Hotel_A46_N_Leicester-Thrussington_Leicestershire_England.html

If you booked directly with OYO and paid by credit card, you might be able to pursue this via your CC company.

MyRealNameToo

simonthenurse said:

I cannot begin to describe the filthy hovel that is the Swan Inn Heathrow, but as they say, a picture speaks a thousand words!
On pulling up to the property my heart sank as it was almost as tatty on the outside as it turned out to be on the inside!
The guy behind the bar was quite disinterested and rude and wasn’t really interested at all and had to call someone else to come and show me to the room. After waiting about 10minutes, a man who barely spoke any English arrived, scribbled down a few numbers on a scrap of paper which were copied from the back of a cupboard door in the bar and explained they were my not so secure electronic door key code!
He then explained to me in very broken English how the door locks worked and showed me into my room.
The room looked more like a crack den than a hotel room.
Filthy and unsanitary does not even come close to describing what I walked into, as I was greeted by mouldy pillowcases, dirty walls and broken windows, a splintered, soft and squishy floor under foot and a layer of dust and hair that you would probably only find in somewhere like a geriatric barbers shop. It was at least a centimetre thick around the edge of the room and even worse behind the TV stand.
I can only describe the bathroom as disgusting 🤮 with dirty stained toilet bowl and a shower tray that had more greenery and mushrooms growing around it than my back garden.
There was a kettle on the floor sat in the dust behind the tv stand, but no tea/coffee or cups, no towels or toiletries and the room stank of stale cigarettes and mould. There were stains up the walls and the white doors were black from dirt and the bedroom door seemed to have no way to secure it from the inside.
I went downstairs to complain but was told there was no manager I could speak to, no supervisor they could contact and if I didn’t like the room I could contact my booking company for a refund, which I did (OYO hotels) who basically told me to Foxtrot Oscar, so I lost £248 as there was NO way I was staying in that unsanitary hovel for a single night!
The website pictures do not remotely reflect the actual room and this is blatant false advertising
How do i move forward with this to get a refund now as its a lot of money to lose and I had to book an alternative more expensive accommodation as a result

What was your £248 loss? 

Looking at booking.com its under £50 if I book for tonight, a week or a months time even peak booking at Xmas is only £45.

Can see your post on Trip Advisor so clearly you were able to be aware of its 2.0 average customer rating and its price tells you all you need to know. Compare it to any of the other near by places and its a tiny fraction of the price. All the official hotels are asking £250 for tonight compared to £49, other B&Bs that are much further away are still charging nearly double that. 

The photos on tripadvisor show me more about people camera skills than the place but yes the place looks run down, tatty etc which is what I would expect for something being priced so low against the market.