Last week, Travelodge came under fire for kicking guests out of two of its hotels during an overbooking crisis. As a consequence, many guests were stranded and in disarray. The case A 77-year-old man was living in short-term accommodation, having prepaid for his room at the Travelodge in Oxford. Only an hour ahead of check-in, the hotel informed him that it had been overbooked, putting him in a very difficult position. This caused him to have to rush to rebook his train home from Swindon rather than having the leisurely time he’d planned in Oxford.
Our older guest, TA as we’ll call him, was understandably upset at the hotel’s management for their failure to communicate. He was given no advance notice of the overbooking. Though he applauds the outpouring of relief funds, he thinks the whole situation could have been better handled.
“I had to spend time sending receipts to recover my £63 cab and train costs, and was refunded the £118 cost of the room, but I have been offered no compensation for the distress,” said TA.
As a result of the oversight, TA had an unintended trip home in front of them. This was not only highly inconvenient, it introduced new burdens on his travel plans.
This incident is not isolated. The other guest, JF from Leeds, described the same at the Travelodge in Cardiff city centre. Once JF had prepaid for his room, he was sent a mysterious “maintenance problem” notice. A reoccurring water leak had made three therapy rooms completely unusable. The late-night call, however, moved JF to take the leap and write a bigger check to move to a completely new space. When he got to the Travelodge at 2 AM, it was closed and empty.
JF took on his challenges together with five other prepaid attendees. Among them were four junior women, all of whom went home with the same discouraging news. This habitual failure to manage the finances begs the question of Travelodge’s approach to booking management and customer service processes.
One fellow traveler had just come from a family funeral. He encountered further delays, waiting two and a half hours before being moved to a different ICU room. In compensation for his troubling experience, Travelodge agreed to give him a one-night stay voucher.
Travelodge has publicly pledged to ensuring the safety and satisfaction of their customers. “At Travelodge, the safety and wellbeing of our customers is always our number one priority,” the company emphasized in response to the mounting complaints.
Even with these promises in place, hosts have left many guests unhappy with the handling of their accommodations. Litigation and subsequent settlements The absence of compensation for emotional distress has been widely condemned by affected individuals. TA and JF discuss experiences that reflect an increasing concern among customers. They are worried about Travelodge’s capacity to honor those commitments in times of operational stress.