Bags packed, hotel booked, and transport organised, Carolyn Luckhurst was heading to London for a trip to celebrate her friend's 50th birthday. She had travelled with two others to stay in a hotel on the corner of Leicester Square for a 'special treat' in July 2024. But as soon as they arrived, things went downhill. When they turned up at the hotel they'd booked, Hotel Indigo, they didn't have a room.
Carolyn tells the Daily Mail: 'We arrived at the hotel at 12pm, not even late in the day. We were told that our room was full. Staff told us, "no, you have to go away and find somewhere else to stay." But we said no, that they would have to find us somewhere. We aren't from London, we don't know where to go.'
Due to overbooking, the hotel room the trio had reserved was full, leaving them with nowhere to stay. They showed the receptionist the booking on their phone, and Carolyn says 'a receptionist then explained that often people don't turn up, so they overbook.' The group implored staff to help them out. With one of the three in her 80s, they didn't want to traipse around London all day in search of a new hotel.
Carolyn adds: 'Eventually they did. They found us another hotel on the other side of Leicester Square, one of their other hotels, and offered us free breakfast. It took around an hour and a half to get it all sorted, but we were only in London for one night, and one afternoon. It was a surprise to us and a disappointment. How does this happen? The hotel staff told us it was quite normal.'
Staff found the friends three double rooms in a nearby hotel, but they weren't refunded the money they'd paid for the original hotel, £648 between them, despite the inconvenience and stress. They say the new hotel was not as good as the one they'd originally booked. Carolyn adds: 'They didn't offer us compensation. The new place was not the same level of hotel. It had lovely views from the bar at the top, but the rooms didn't even have tea-making facilities, which are essential at our age. We had to get up very early to go to the restaurant to get a cup of tea.'
She continues: 'It was bad enough for us as Brits, and we're quite worldly-wise. But what about international visitors? It put us off staying in London in future.'
Unfortunately, it seems this is not an isolated incident. More and more holidaymakers have reported being turned away from hotels they have paid for, in a worrying trend of properties overbooking rooms. It might seem extraordinary, but some hotel chains have terms and conditions 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 known in the hotel industry as 'walking', and while it doesn't happen often, it can ruin your trip.
According to research from consumer champion Which?, this is far from a one-off situation. Another traveller arrived at the Travelodge he had booked, before being told it was full. Another person with a similar story is Mark Smith*. Before arriving at Heathrow Airport, Mark had 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 it would be. But when he arrived, he was told that they had no rooms free. 'I had to be quite assertive to even get our money back,' he told Which?. 'It was offered as "a gesture of goodwill"'!
Travelodge told Which? later 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, a whole 19 hours after the standard checkout time of the previous guest. Travelodge's legal terms set out what will happen if they've overbooked and your room is already occupied when you arrive. It says 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.
Which? thinks its insistence that 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. Travelodge's terms and conditions also include mistakes in the wording. Which? asked it to rewrite them to be clearer and fairer to their guests. It's admitted that there are typos and has said these will be fixed.
Meanwhile, the notorious Britannia Hotels, long the worst chain in Which?'s annual survey, has an even stricter 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. Which? believes 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, you should be able to claim reasonable expenses, it argues, 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.
Hotel giants IHG, who own Hotel Indigo, as well as Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, and Intercontinental among other brands, also have 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 cannot 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.'
Travelodge told Which? it is very rare for it to have to turn away customers. It said that it relocated fewer than 0.01 per cent of its 7.5 million 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 that it tried to ensure there is a minimum impact on the guest. It also said that terms and conditions 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 terms and conditions to correct the errors Which? found and said that it is committed to providing clear terms to its customers.
Meanwhile, Britannia didn't respond to Which?'s 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 it is 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 is not possible and a booking must be cancelled, guests will be informed as soon as possible and issued a full refund.'
IHG told Which? that it is investigating Carolyn Luckhurst and her friends' issue at the Hotel Indigo and said that they had been offered a free breakfast. Which? asked whether it will refund their booking but it had not 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, Which? says. If there isn't a room available, Which? believes the hotel should find you another one of a similar or better standard nearby. It should also cover any additional, reasonable expenses that you incur when having to move to the new hotel.
Some people said that they did get some small gestures of compensation when overbooking occurred, such as a free meal or drink. If you are refused entry to a room you have paid for, it's worth politely asking if they can at least pay for your dinner, as well as covering any additional expenses. If you do need to make a claim against a hotel, you can use Which?'s standard template, tweaking the wording, if you didn't get to stay at all.
*not his real name
