Hotel chains overbooking and sending guests away

Before arriving at Heathrow Airport, Mark Smith (not his real name) checked twice that the Travelodge room he’d booked would be available, despite an early morning check-in after a long flight.

The receptionist assured him that it would be. But when he arrived, he was told there were no rooms available.

‘I had to be quite assertive to even get our money back, and it was only offered as “a gesture of goodwill”,’ he says.

Travelodge later told us that his room wasn’t available because it hadn’t been cleaned. This is despite Mark and his family arriving from their night flight at 7am – 19 hours after the standard checkout time of the previous guest.

It might seem extraordinary, but some hotel chains – including Travelodge – have T&Cs that allow them to cancel the rooms of the last guests to arrive, with no compensation and, at best, a last-minute relocation to a different hotel. 

It’s a policy that’s known in the hotel industry as ‘walking’, and while it doesn’t happen often, it can ruin your trip.

Hotel chains that ‘walk’ guests

Travelodge’s legal terms set out what will happen if it's overbooked and your room is already occupied or unavailable when you arrive. 

It says that it will move you to another Travelodge hotel, paying any reasonable expenses. But if there isn’t ‘suitable hotel accommodation’ nearby, it will just refund you the money you paid and leave you to sort out your own last-minute accommodation.

We think that its insistence on whether it will be the one to decide whether there’s ‘suitable’ accommodation nearby could be challenged in court. In legal language, this is because the term could potentially be deemed unfair under the Consumer Rights Act – due to the possibility of a significant imbalance between the rights and obligations of the parties 

In other words, we think a guest shouldn’t simply be refunded and left to pay more for another hotel.

Travelodge’s T&Cs also include mistakes in the wording. We’ve asked it to rewrite them to be clearer and fairer to its guests. It’s admitted that there are typos and has said that these will be fixed.

Britannia Hotels’ unfair small print

The notorious Britannia Hotels – long the worst chain in our annual survey – has an even meaner policy. It says that if it doesn’t have a room available, it will ‘endeavour to find suitable alternative accommodation with one of our other hotels’. But it explicitly says there will be no compensation and no expenses paid – just a refund.

We think this clause is ridiculous and should be challenged in the courts. In most towns with a Britannia, there isn’t an alternative in the same chain where it could move guests.

If you pay for a room and don’t get to stay, we think you absolutely should be able to claim reasonable expenses, such as the increased cost of booking a last-minute hotel with a different chain, or a taxi across the city. 

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 includes sections designed to stop firms hitting customers with unreasonable terms in this way.

Compensation for a denied booking – in theory

Hotel giants IHG, which owns Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza and Intercontinental, among other brands, also has a policy for overbooking – but the policy does at least say you won’t have to pay for your first night’s stay if they have to move you. 

It says: ‘Upon arrival, if, for any reason, your reservation can't be honoured, IHG will provide you with a room and transport to another convenient and comparable hotel. We will also pay for the full cost of the first night’s lodging price, plus tax.’

Octogenarian turned away by Hotel Indigo

Unfortunately, three guests who were turned away by an IHG brand didn't get to stay for free.

Carolyn Luckhurst had arranged to meet two friends in London for a night out in the West End. But when they turned up at the Hotel Indigo they had booked, they didn’t have a room.

They showed the receptionist the booking on their phone and, as Carolyn says, ‘a receptionist then explained that often people don't turn up, so they overbook’.

According to IHG’s policy, they should have been relocated and refunded. Instead, the staff told them to look online for some last-minute accommodation. 

‘Our friend was 82 at the time,’ says Carolyn, ‘and she was politely adamant that she wouldn't be traipsing around London looking for a bed for the night.’

Eventually, the staff agreed to find the friends three double rooms in a nearby hotel, but they weren’t refunded the money they had paid for the original hotel – £648 between them – despite the inconvenience and stress. They say the new hotel wasn't as good as the one they had originally booked.

‘The experience has put us off booking in London,’ says Carolyn. ‘If we want to have an overnight trip, we will meet elsewhere.’

Hotel chains respond

Travelodge

Travelodge told us it’s very rare for it to have to turn customers away. It said that it relocated fewer than 0.01% of its 7.5m annual bookings. That would work out as up to 750 people relocated each year, but it said that in most cases this was because of unforeseen circumstances, such as emergency maintenance issues.

It said it tried to ensure minimal impact on the guest. It also said that T&Cs are shared with guests before the booking for transparency.

It apologised to Mark for not offering him alternative accommodation or a refund at the time. It said this didn’t reflect its policy and said that his experience with customer service 'was not of the standard we would expect'.

It promised to rewrite its T&Cs to correct the errors we found and said that it's committed to providing clear terms to its customers.

Britannia

Britannia didn’t respond to our concerns about the lawfulness of its terms and conditions, but did say: ‘As with all hotels, there are occasions when rooms may become unavailable due to unforeseen issues, including last-minute maintenance or operational requirements. In some cases, this may result in an overbooking.’

It said that its ‘multiple hotels’ in many areas of the UK mean that it’s often able to relocate affected guests to another property.

It added: ‘We always use our best endeavours to provide accommodation of an equivalent standard or higher. If relocation isn't possible and a booking must be cancelled, guests will be informed as soon as possible and issued a full refund.’

IHG

IHG told us that it's investigating the issue Carolyn Luckhurst and friends had at the Hotel Indigo and said they had been offered a free breakfast. 

We’ve asked whether it will refund their booking, but it hasn't responded by the time of publication.

What to do if your hotel fails to provide a room

If you’ve paid for a room, then the hotel should provide it. If, because of the chain’s own overbooking, you don’t get to stay, it should never just refund you the cash and send you on your way. 

If there isn’t a room available, then we think that the hotel should find you another one of a similar or better standard nearby. It should also cover any additional and reasonable expenses you incur when you have to move to the new hotel.

Some people we heard from said that they did get some small gestures of compensation when overbooking occurred, such as a free meal or drink. This seems to be the minimum the hotel should provide. 

If you're refused entry to a room you’ve paid for, it’s worth politely asking if they can at least pay for your dinner, as well as cover any additional expenses.

If you do need to make a claim against a hotel, you can use our standard template – tweaking the wording, if you didn’t get to stay at all.