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I would be extremely grateful for any advice and guidance on what to do and how to do it please. I've been very comprehensive in explaining the situation so apologies for the incredibly long post and good luck getting to the end of it without falling asleep first!
In September my husband and I booked two nights at the Ramada Hotel in Sutton Coldfield via a groupon offer. We booked a room because we were attending a training day arranged by the charity I volunteer for and it was also my birthday weekend. We were looking forward to using the spa facilities and enjoying a relaxing weekend away together.
The groupon offer was £109 which was for 2 nights in a standard room, main course meal on the first night and a glass on wine on arrival. I paid groupon on the £109 and was emailed the voucher advising me to book with the hotel and quote the voucher number.
I contacted the hotel as advised and after explaining I am disabled with disabled with mobility issues and that I needed a room near amenities with as little stairs or distance from the hotel main amenities as possible.
I was advised that wouldn't be a problem and was given the option of upgrading our room to an executive room for an additional £20 per night, which I accepted and paid the hotel directly and received confirmation via email.
All ok until we arrived around 6pm on Friday 11 November. No initial problems checking in was ok and we were given our room keys. That's where the first problem started. Our room was a considerable distance from the main part of the hotel and involved several flights of stairs (both up and down) with no lift option. We got lost several times finding the room and when we finally got to our room it was clear that I couldn't manage the multiple flight of stairs for the duration of our stay. I contacted reception and explained the situation and they stated that my request for a more accessible room had not been recorded. They asked us to wait in the room whilst they tried to find another room to move us to.
After a while a member of staff knocked on the door and said they had another room available for us which he would take us to. The new room involved one set of stairs (about 10 steps) but was no closer in distance. We were told this was the only option available so although we weren't overly happy we had to accept it.
My husband both and I had a shower that night and noticed the water was not very hot and the shower pressure was very low. We were supposed to have a Japanese shower experience but there wasn't the water pressure to support the full function of the shower. We contacted reception and was told there was a slight maintenance issue that was being resolved.
Saturday morning
Here's when the "fun" really starts!! It was around 9am when the water was suddenly turned off. There was no warning - it just stopped! I contacted reception and was told it was a maintenance issue and they expected it to be resolved shortly. At no time were we warned this could be an ongoing issue or that the water wouldn't be back on within a couple of hours.
My husband and I left the hotel about 10am as we were attending a charity conference for the day
We returned to the hotel around 5pm and walked into a war zone at reception. There was chaos, confusion and a lot of angry guests. It was then we noticed the sign at reception stating the hotel had a plumbing problem and the hotel could not access any water to any part of the hotel and because of this there was not heating.
After waiting in an incredibly long queue at reception I finally managed to speak to a member of staff.
I was told that the water was off and they were waiting for a part to be delivered from London and they were hoping this would resolve the issue and water would be back on.
I explained that I have a bowel and bladder disability and not being able to use the toilet and washing facilities was a very big problem for me. I asked if we could be transferred to another hotel but was told that they had already transferred over 100 guests to other hotels in the area and they didn't know if there any rooms were left still in other hotels to transfer us to. I asked why we hadn't been contacted and offered a transfer and the member of staff said they had only thought to contact guest that were booking in and has not contacted those already booked into the hotel.
The member of staff thought there maybe one hotel left that had space but didn't know about access and whether they had a room I could access. The member of staff tried to call the hotel but couldn't get an answer. She tried repeatedly for a considerable amount of time. It had taken approximately 2 hours so far and so was nearly 7pm If we had of managed to get a transfer to another hotel by the time we had packed up, driven to the new hotel unpacked etc it would have been very late I was beyond stressed and this was causing my pain levels to rise rapidly and I was feeling really ill so travelling back home (as it's over 200 miles away) wasn't an option either. It was with extremely reluctance we had to agree to stay at our exisiting hotel. I told the member of staff my reasons for staying and she arranged for us to have a main course and a free drink in the bar. We couldn't eat in the Resturant because it had been closed because of the lack of water.
The member of staff also arranged for some 5 litre containers of water to be delivered to our room so we could flush the toilet and to wash etc. They could also put an electric heater in the room to help with the lack of heat. I explained that I would need to use the toilet frequently so she assured me there would be plenty of water containers left in our room.
I asked about a refund and was told that because it was a groupon offer I had to contact them for a refund.
The final straw that night was after we had our meal and then returned to our room we discovered we were locked out!! Luckily one of the guests came back to their room and kindly contacted reception who sent somebody to us to let us in our room - after a 20 minutes wait! When we finally got into the room we found they had only left 2 x 5 litre containers of water - enough to flush the toilet once and have a wash. Not really enough for a person with a bladder and bowel disease!!
Sunday Morning
Still no water and the hotel finally admits that the problem won't be fixed until Monday. Our check out time was supposed to be 2pm but with no water and therefore unable to use any of the spa facilities we called it quits and came home.
Now I get to the help I need part!
is the hotel correct in regards to contact Groupon to claim a refund from?
The weekend was extremely stressful and totally ruined my birthday so what amount of refund am I entitled to?
It is reasonable to ask for additional compensation due to the disappointment and distress the hotel caused us?
If so, what is reasonable among to request and who do I request it from?
Thank you for any advice you are able to offer me with this and I'm really sorry if I sent anybody to sleep reading this post!
In September my husband and I booked two nights at the Ramada Hotel in Sutton Coldfield via a groupon offer. We booked a room because we were attending a training day arranged by the charity I volunteer for and it was also my birthday weekend. We were looking forward to using the spa facilities and enjoying a relaxing weekend away together.
The groupon offer was £109 which was for 2 nights in a standard room, main course meal on the first night and a glass on wine on arrival. I paid groupon on the £109 and was emailed the voucher advising me to book with the hotel and quote the voucher number.
I contacted the hotel as advised and after explaining I am disabled with disabled with mobility issues and that I needed a room near amenities with as little stairs or distance from the hotel main amenities as possible.
I was advised that wouldn't be a problem and was given the option of upgrading our room to an executive room for an additional £20 per night, which I accepted and paid the hotel directly and received confirmation via email.
All ok until we arrived around 6pm on Friday 11 November. No initial problems checking in was ok and we were given our room keys. That's where the first problem started. Our room was a considerable distance from the main part of the hotel and involved several flights of stairs (both up and down) with no lift option. We got lost several times finding the room and when we finally got to our room it was clear that I couldn't manage the multiple flight of stairs for the duration of our stay. I contacted reception and explained the situation and they stated that my request for a more accessible room had not been recorded. They asked us to wait in the room whilst they tried to find another room to move us to.
After a while a member of staff knocked on the door and said they had another room available for us which he would take us to. The new room involved one set of stairs (about 10 steps) but was no closer in distance. We were told this was the only option available so although we weren't overly happy we had to accept it.
My husband both and I had a shower that night and noticed the water was not very hot and the shower pressure was very low. We were supposed to have a Japanese shower experience but there wasn't the water pressure to support the full function of the shower. We contacted reception and was told there was a slight maintenance issue that was being resolved.
Saturday morning
Here's when the "fun" really starts!! It was around 9am when the water was suddenly turned off. There was no warning - it just stopped! I contacted reception and was told it was a maintenance issue and they expected it to be resolved shortly. At no time were we warned this could be an ongoing issue or that the water wouldn't be back on within a couple of hours.
My husband and I left the hotel about 10am as we were attending a charity conference for the day
We returned to the hotel around 5pm and walked into a war zone at reception. There was chaos, confusion and a lot of angry guests. It was then we noticed the sign at reception stating the hotel had a plumbing problem and the hotel could not access any water to any part of the hotel and because of this there was not heating.
After waiting in an incredibly long queue at reception I finally managed to speak to a member of staff.
I was told that the water was off and they were waiting for a part to be delivered from London and they were hoping this would resolve the issue and water would be back on.
I explained that I have a bowel and bladder disability and not being able to use the toilet and washing facilities was a very big problem for me. I asked if we could be transferred to another hotel but was told that they had already transferred over 100 guests to other hotels in the area and they didn't know if there any rooms were left still in other hotels to transfer us to. I asked why we hadn't been contacted and offered a transfer and the member of staff said they had only thought to contact guest that were booking in and has not contacted those already booked into the hotel.
The member of staff thought there maybe one hotel left that had space but didn't know about access and whether they had a room I could access. The member of staff tried to call the hotel but couldn't get an answer. She tried repeatedly for a considerable amount of time. It had taken approximately 2 hours so far and so was nearly 7pm If we had of managed to get a transfer to another hotel by the time we had packed up, driven to the new hotel unpacked etc it would have been very late I was beyond stressed and this was causing my pain levels to rise rapidly and I was feeling really ill so travelling back home (as it's over 200 miles away) wasn't an option either. It was with extremely reluctance we had to agree to stay at our exisiting hotel. I told the member of staff my reasons for staying and she arranged for us to have a main course and a free drink in the bar. We couldn't eat in the Resturant because it had been closed because of the lack of water.
The member of staff also arranged for some 5 litre containers of water to be delivered to our room so we could flush the toilet and to wash etc. They could also put an electric heater in the room to help with the lack of heat. I explained that I would need to use the toilet frequently so she assured me there would be plenty of water containers left in our room.
I asked about a refund and was told that because it was a groupon offer I had to contact them for a refund.
The final straw that night was after we had our meal and then returned to our room we discovered we were locked out!! Luckily one of the guests came back to their room and kindly contacted reception who sent somebody to us to let us in our room - after a 20 minutes wait! When we finally got into the room we found they had only left 2 x 5 litre containers of water - enough to flush the toilet once and have a wash. Not really enough for a person with a bladder and bowel disease!!
Sunday Morning
Still no water and the hotel finally admits that the problem won't be fixed until Monday. Our check out time was supposed to be 2pm but with no water and therefore unable to use any of the spa facilities we called it quits and came home.
Now I get to the help I need part!
is the hotel correct in regards to contact Groupon to claim a refund from?
The weekend was extremely stressful and totally ruined my birthday so what amount of refund am I entitled to?
It is reasonable to ask for additional compensation due to the disappointment and distress the hotel caused us?
If so, what is reasonable among to request and who do I request it from?
Thank you for any advice you are able to offer me with this and I'm really sorry if I sent anybody to sleep reading this post!
