Hotel Refund

GreenandRed

SusieBlue wrote: »

Just looking for some opinions.

I was staying at a hotel over the weekend and on the last night of our stay, the fire alarms started going off at around 5am.
We got a huge fright and made our way to reception to evacuate, along with many others, only to be told it was a false alarm and all was ok. We went back to our room and the alarm went off twice more (for 5/6 mins at a time) within the next hour.
We went to evacuate again but met another guest on the stairs who said it was another false alarm.

We were so shook and on edge none of us could go back to sleep and it ruined both our nights sleep and the following day, as we were exhausted.
Nothing was mentioned at checkout the next day, the receptionist didn’t even acknowledge it until we specifically asked what had happened. It turned out a drunk guest had been setting it off for fun.

Now if it was a technical issue or something I would have no issue, I’d consider it to be just one of those things, but I’m really annoyed that the guest was left unsupervised and roaming around the hotel for long enough to be able to set off the alarm 3 times. If drunk guests are that much of an issue they should really have security on hand for instances like these.

I’m tempted to email and complain, but I don’t know if I’m being unreasonable or not. I’m not trying to be a money grabber but it frightened the life out of me and ruined the last day of my holiday, and I’m really annoyed that it even happened.
I’m obviously happy and grateful it was a false alarm but it really was a massive inconvenience.
Would you be annoyed and seeking a refund if this happened to you?

No. No refund. One of those things that happens with drunk lúdramás in hotels, either setting off alarms, yapping drunkenly in the hall at 4 in the morning or banging doors when they arrive back to their rooms. Hotels can't police everyone's behaviour and they can't be responsible for everyone's behaviour. Just be glad you're not at the level of behaviour of whoever(s) set off the fire alarm.

gmisk

Fann Linn wrote: »

Exactly. I think people are too slow to say it as it is. I've sat in cafs and restaurants listening to people complaining about the meal being cold, the door always open, kids running around etc and yet when the waiter comes over asking 'is everything okay? ' all the little heads nod positively.

If people don't say it as it is how is a service supposed to improve or rectify a problem. A customer can be assertive without being impolite.

My parents are like that.. they would happily moan about a tough steak etc to me...the minute waitress comes over they are all smiles...oh yes everything is fine thanks...bizarre

Fann Linn

GreenandRed wrote: »

No. No refund. One of those things that happens with drunk lúdramás in hotels, either setting off alarms, yapping drunkenly in the hall at 4 in the morning or banging doors when they arrive back to their rooms. Hotels can't police everyone's behaviour and they can't be responsible for everyone's behaviour. Just be glad you're not at the level of behaviour of whoever(s) set off the fire alarm.

Once is a pass. 2 further occurrences and it's the hotels fault IMO.

bucketybuck

SusieBlue wrote: »

It honestly frightened the life out of me, I got such a fright I started crying.

Talk about creating a victim narrative. :rolleyes:

TheW1zard

OP about 60k

TuringBot47

Fann Linn wrote: »

Once is a pass. 2 further occurrences and it's the hotels fault IMO.

I can sympathize with the hotel too though.
They may have thought it was someone smoking or the like.

Or had to take time to look through security tapes (if anyone of the staff was free and had access to them), then try and recognize the guest or see if there's another cameras to track them all the way back to their room.
Or do some detective work and try to see which hotel room opened/closed just before the alarm.

But assumes there's someone free to do all of that.

There should be penalty signs on the smoke/fire alarms with penalties of €500 for misuse and charge the guests.

Not much else a hotel can do.
Otherwise, imagine a large wedding party decides to pull the alarm a few times in the night to get a discount for the whole party.

SusieBlue

bucketybuck wrote: »

Talk about creating a victim narrative. :rolleyes:

I’m not creating a narrative. I’m explaining how scary and disorientating it was to be awoken to the sounds of an emergency when there was none.
I wasn’t the only one, another woman I saw on the stairs looked close to having a panic attack.
If it had happened during the day it would have been fine, but waking to that kind of situation was a frightening experience, so go away with your hyperbole about playing the victim.
That’s not the case at all here.

GreenandRed

Fann Linn wrote: »

Once is a pass. 2 further occurrences and it's the hotels fault IMO.

If Irish hotels had to police and curb every guests misbehaviour, often under the influence of drink or drugs, 2, 3, 4 or more times in a night, they would be more expensive places to stay or many of them would close.

meeeeh

I wonder if my kids can demand a compensation of week long chicken nugget dinners since they were subjected to prolonged smoke alarms on Sunday because of my cooking..

That kind of stuff happens. Or you're next door to someone having drunken arguments, weather is bad,places are closed and so on. Yes you can call and ask for some sort of compensation but does really every mishap have to be compensated nowadays.

Fann Linn

GreenandRed wrote: »

If Irish hotels had to police and curb every guests misbehaviour, often under the influence of drink or drugs, 2, 3, 4 or more times in a night, they would be more expensive places to stay or many of them would close.

I don't agree. I worked in the f&b service industry for almost 20 years and it was the role of the staff to police and curb the guests misbehaviour.

meeeeh

SusieBlue wrote: »

I’m not creating a narrative. I’m explaining how scary and disorientating it was to be awoken to the sounds of an emergency when there was none.
I wasn’t the only one, another woman I saw on the stairs looked close to having a panic attack.
If it had happened during the day it would have been fine, but waking to that kind of situation was a frightening experience, so go away with your hyperbole about playing the victim.
That’s not the case at all here.

It's not scary though. There was no smoke and you were quickly told everything is fine. You would want to toughen up because that kind of reaction can cause more damage in actual emergency.

IAMAMORON

If you don't ask you won't get.

GreenandRed

Fann Linn wrote: »

I don't agree. I worked in the f&b service industry for almost 20 years and it was the role of the staff to police and curb the guests misbehaviour.

How were they trained in curbing misbehaviour of aggressive, drunk or drugged, guests?

eviltimeban

This is definitely not a "compo culture" situation. The OP did nothing wrong, nor acted in any way that would've made them at fault. This was the hotel's screw up.

SusieBlue

meeeeh wrote: »

It's not scary though. There was no smoke and you were quickly told everything is fine. You would want to toughen up because that kind of reaction can cause more damage in actual emergency.

I beg to differ, the sound of the alarms, all the windows springing open and trying to move down about 30 flights of stairs without panicking (without knowing there was no actual fire) was actually very scary at the time.
I was shaking, it put the fear in me. Quite a normal reaction judging by the brief research I’ve done into the matter.
I was then told everything was fine, and then, within the hour, the exact same thing happened twice more. I gave up trying to go back to sleep at that point.

I wasn’t so scared the subsequent times but I did have to go downstairs again to check it was another false alarm even so. That was a massive inconvenience.

I expect noise when I go to hotels, hence I always bring ear plugs and I’ve never had the issue of hearing drunk guests or neighbours fighting. I’ve never in my life had to make a complaint about noise or the band being too loud or anything like that.
This wasn’t the case and this wasn’t a reasonable amount of noise. This went on for over an hour and management did little to nothing to prevent it happening. That’s why I’m angry.

GreenandRed

eviltimeban wrote: »

This is definitely not a "compo culture" situation. The OP did nothing wrong, nor acted in any way that would've made them at fault. This was the hotel's screw up.

As a goodwill gesture the hotel should have offered free breakfast or a voucher or that night taken off the bill. But I wonder, when businesses talk about high insurance, will some legal person take an apology as admitting fault for something and a load of guests claiming against them?

eviltimeban

GreenandRed wrote: »

As a goodwill gesture the hotel should have offered free breakfast or a voucher or that night taken off the bill. But I wonder, when businesses talk about high insurance, will some legal person take an apology as admitting fault for something and a load of guests claiming against them?

Wouldn't the guests have to be claiming against the hotel's insurance company for that to happen? Rather than the hotel settling it with the guest directly.

Bikerman2019

If it was you, yours, or a friend of yours setting off the alarm. Would you still expect compensation from the hotel?
Is it their fault? Were they somehow negligent at what you, yours or your friend did?

I don't understand this?

Maybe go and see a solicitor and get a proper opinion :rolleyes:

SusieBlue

Bikerman2019 wrote: »

If it was you, yours, or a friend of yours setting off the alarm. Would you still expect compensation from the hotel?
Is it their fault? Were they somehow negligent at what you, yours or your friend did?

I don't understand this?

Maybe go and see a solicitor and get a proper opinion :rolleyes:

One time is an accident, three times is a p*ss take, so yes the hotel was negligent imo.
I or my friends weren’t the ones to do it so I don’t see what relevance that has.
As an aside, if I did do such a thing, I wouldn’t be shocked if I was thrown out or had my security deposit withheld by the hotel. I wouldn’t expect to act the langer and inconvenience so many people with no consequences.

I’m not looking to take a case or anything of the sort, I was just wondering if anyone else thought a refund, partial refund or gesture of goodwill might be in order. The hotel has a duty of care to all guests and I don’t see why I should be expected to have my money wasted after spending good money expecting a peaceful nights sleep.

3 fire alarms set off by someone having a laugh just isn’t reasonable.

bucketybuck

SusieBlue wrote: »

I
That’s not the case at all here.

Its exactly the case, you are spinning what happened in emotive words to create a narrative that suits your desire for this to be more than it really is. I mean:

SusieBlue wrote: »

I beg to differ, the sound of the alarms, all the windows springing open and trying to move down about 30 flights of stairs without panicking (without knowing there was no actual fire) was actually very scary at the time.
I was shaking, it put the fear in me. Quite a normal reaction judging by the brief research I’ve done into the matter.

God forbid anything ever really happened to you.

You were wakened at 5 in the morning by a fire alarm, thats all. I'd be annoyed about it too but I wouldn't try and pretend it was anything more than that.

GreenandRed

eviltimeban wrote: »

Wouldn't the guests have to be claiming against the hotel's insurance company for that to happen? Rather than the hotel settling it with the guest directly.

Probably. But it would affect their premiums. Don't know at all if that's true.

splinter65

Susie the appropriate time and place to register your dissatisfaction was at checkout with the receptionist.
When you pointed out to him/her that your whole weekend had been spoiled by the fire alarm incident did he/she not offer to ask the manager to come and speak to you?
In fairness thats not clear at all from your OP.

retro:electro

Something similar happened to me the last time I stayed anywhere. There was workmen in the hotel and at 6am they began work right outside our room and one fella was having a full blown conversation with the other lad down the far end of the corridor meaning they were full on shouting over and back to one another. I gave them about ten minutes before I went out and told them to shut up. We couldn’t get back to sleep after that because between the noise of tools and masking tape and every other kind of crap it was impossible. I complained when we went to pay and they were very apologetic and we were refunded half of the price.

It’s not acceptable imo. You’re paying good money for a bed and a decent kip and when that is interrupted not once but three times, you should be compensated imo. You could accept it going off once and forgive the nuisance of that but three times is a piss take and you absolutely have the right to complain.

Extremely rude and unprofessional of the hotel not to apologise for the inconvenience the next morning too. I’m assuming they were hoping you’d forgotten and they got off scot free. Pathetic how people are calling the op a money grabber for rightly being irritated and inconvenienced by this. The usual suspects with the usual unhelpful responses.

Jim Root

Absolute chancer.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

The time to resolve this was at checkout.

Prominent_Dawg

bucketybuck wrote: »

you are spinning what happened in emotive words to create a narrative that suits your desire for this to be more than it really is

You make it sound like she set of the alarm herself for her own benefit

MoonUnit75

Hotels sell food and shelter, nice food and shelter of course, but they don’t sell sleep. It’s a different story if they allow works in the morning or at night or if the fire alarm malfunctioned continuously but really it’s the goon who triggered the alarm you should be chasing for cash.

JustMe,K

I don't think its fair of people to say the OP wasn't scared - how on earth would any of you know how they felt in the situation?!

It's not unreasonable to expect an apology on check out...thinking about this more, I guess what I would ultimately be happy with in terms of apology from the hotel would depend on how much the stay had cost me, and their star rating. If it were a 4/5 star hotel I might want more redress than from a 2/3 star hotel.

Loopylineking

Stuff happens and you cannot blame a hotel for a drunken idiot whatsoever. Instead of placing blame on the staff I actually feel sorry for them when stuff like this happens.

If your that way inclined just drop them an email saying about the fire alarm, awake all night etc, going to leave a negative review etc. and you should get a free night stay.

Your not going to get refunded. Some of your posts sound like your planning a law suit or something for distress.

gibgodsman

Just be glad the fire alarm works and you didn't get a dodgy hotel without one, I mean come on, looking for some type of refund because of a few hours of missed sleep due to some other dumb guest at the same hotel, maybe complain to the drunk guest, not the hotel