Friday 17 June 2011

Hotel rooms -be careful what you believe in an advert.

On 14th June I found myself looking for a hotel in Oxford. A receptionist at one hotel that was full kindly called a Travelodge. They had a room but I was staggered to be quoted a cost that was so outrageous I've forgotten exactly what it was - something like £130. The Travelodge receptionist kindly said that I might get a better rate if I 'phoned central reservations & gave me a number. I expect you can guess what happened - several minutes of PR claptrap at a premium rate before I am invited to press a number to speak to reservations & - you got it- more minutes of PR claptrap before my phone ran out of credit. I eventually got a four star hotel dinner bed & breakfast deal at less than Travelodge quoted for a bare room. On the way home I checked at a Travelodge reception and was told that for 'walk in' bookings there are 'flexible charges'.I tried to verify this when I got home but could find nothing on the Travelodge website - not even a central reservations number. So if any Travelodge executive reads this could they please use the comment option to correct me if I have anything wrong and set out exactly how their system works when one cannot use the online service.

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