Travel lodge rip off

allen

Can you believe the cheek of Travel Lodge !!! My wife and daughter are doing the moonwalk in edinburgh for charity and travel lodge want a £100 for the night of the walk and 5o for the following night. Its outrageous to make money from cancer fundraisers. Shame on you ! Love to read your CSR policy !

mouth

You mean the bit where it says "we will provide you with a room if you pay us some money"? Obviously I'm paraphrasing but part of doing stuff like this is to experience some hardship. I walk everywhere I don't ride. Add a little toughness and ask Decathlon to donate you a tent instead.


A few years ago I was a general store manager for a large national pizza chain and we regularly received charity requests such as vouchers for school raffles and stuff like that. Not problem. Had the template ready made on the back office computer. One particular request was for a homeless charity event. Some school girls were sleeping in a tent on the school field and could we provide a meal for them. Naturally we said yes and the on the night of the delivery we took them no food and some cardboard boxes instead. Told them all if they slept in/under the box they could eat. All but three retreated into the school hall. Couldn't even go one night like the homeless.

We chose to donate the cost we would have incurred directly to the charity instead.

Vesterberg

allen wrote:

Can you believe the cheek of Travel Lodge !!! My wife and daughter are doing the moonwalk in edinburgh for charity and travel lodge want a £100 for the night of the walk and 5o for the following night. Its outrageous to make money from cancer fundraisers. Shame on you ! Love to read your CSR policy !

Tell me about it! I did a sponsored pub crawl for British Liver Cirrhosis Awareness round my way a few weeks back and not one of the bastards would give me a free pint! They have a NERVE! Shame on you Courage - you are MAKING PEOPLE DIE!

alihisgreat

Mouth wrote:

You mean the bit where it says "we will provide you with a room if you pay us some money"? Obviously I'm paraphrasing but part of doing stuff like this is to experience some hardship. I walk everywhere I don't ride. Add a little toughness and ask Decathlon to donate you a tent instead.


A few years ago I was a general store manager for a large national pizza chain and we regularly received charity requests such as vouchers for school raffles and stuff like that. Not problem. Had the template ready made on the back office computer. One particular request was for a homeless charity event. Some school girls were sleeping in a tent on the school field and could we provide a meal for them. Naturally we said yes and the on the night of the delivery we took them no food and some cardboard boxes instead. Told them all if they slept in/under the box they could eat. All but three retreated into the school hall. Couldn't even go one night like the homeless.

We chose to donate the cost we would have incurred directly to the charity instead.

I think he is more outraged by the price discrimination between the two nights ->

i.e. the night that charity workers are staying (and demand is high), it appears travel lodge have upped their rates.

Can you believe the cheek of Travel Lodge !!! My wife and daughter are doing the moonwalk in edinburgh for charity and travel lodge want a £100 for the night of the walk and 5o for the following night. Its outrageous to make money from cancer fundraisers. Shame on you ! Love to read your CSR policy !

is the walk on a Saturday? rates are probably higher for Saturday night than any other night anyway.. nothing to do with the charity walk?

allen

Its the profiteering I object to. The night of a mass participation event the price is doubled. No it is a Saturday night but the price hike is only that weekend and not previous or subsequent. Pure greed. I would have no objection for a concert or business related event but its really quite a shallow and cynical way to do business. It was BTW the same last year

Not sure I would suggest sleeping rough in the centre of edinburgh after walking a marathon to the hundreds of participants raising funds for a massively god cause.

Ben6899

Think if it was your hotel. In a recession. With a chance to make a few extra quid...

flasher

Supply and demand :roll:

mroli

Do Travel lodge not sell rooms on the "easyjet" model - ie, if you have 100 rooms, the first 25 are at £29, the next 25 are at £49, the next 25 are at £79 and the last 25 are at £99?

Also, presumably, they'd be making money out of cancer fundraisers at the lower rate too...

schlepcycling

allen wrote:

Can you believe the cheek of Travel Lodge !!! My wife and daughter are doing the moonwalk in edinburgh for charity and travel lodge want a £100 for the night of the walk and 5o for the following night. Its outrageous to make money from cancer fundraisers. Shame on you ! Love to read your CSR policy !

It's called 'Inventory Management' and is used almost without exception in the travel industry.

Airlines, hotels, car hire companies, ferries, rail companies you name it they use it. Anyone with a finite amount of inventory is trying to maximize the amount (or yield) from each item be that an airline seat or a hotel room so prices and levels are monitored and changed on an almost real-time basis and outside influences special events, school holidays etc are one of the factors used to determine how many of each item to sell at each price point.

It's unfortunate in your circumstances that the special event is a charity event but from the hotels point of view, they either sold out of or decided to limit the number of rooms they have available at the lower rates working on the premise that people will be prepared to pay more.

It's exactly what the airlines do during school holidays and special events like the football world cup. Just check out the cost of flights and hotels into/out of the UK around the Olympics next year and there will be a definite spike in prices for a few weeks before into the UK and a few weeks before out of the UK.

Monkeypump

A business trying to make money? Surely not!

I think the OP is being rather naive. Hotels put prices up when there is a big event in town. In this case it's a charity event, but Travelodge (like any other hotel chain, or indeed any other business) is NOT a charity.

If you don't like their policy, don't use them. I'm sure they will be devastated.

My girlfriend (and I, to a lesser extent) do a lot of fundraising. Just because a particular cause is important to you, it's foolish to assume that it means something to everyone else. Any discounts, donations, gestures or gifts should be seen as a bonus, not as a right you have just because you're raising money.

cee

hotel in saturday nights are more expensive than sunday nights shocker!

ooermissus

Not sure about Travel Lodge, but AFAIK Premier Inn - which otherwise has fixed prices - applies an 'event premium' to boost prices when there's a big event happening near one of their hotels.

TheStone

allen wrote:

Can you believe the cheek of Travel Lodge !!! My wife and daughter are doing the moonwalk in edinburgh for charity and travel lodge want a £100 for the night of the walk and 5o for the following night. Its outrageous to make money from cancer fundraisers. Shame on you ! Love to read your CSR policy !

It's a bit cheeky as it is a charity event....... but you'll probably find the 'charity' are making a lot more money!!

shm_uk

allen wrote:

Can you believe the cheek of Travel Lodge !!! My wife and daughter are doing the moonwalk in edinburgh for charity and travel lodge want a £100 for the night of the walk and 5o for the following night. Its outrageous to make money from cancer fundraisers. Shame on you ! Love to read your CSR policy !

Supply and Demand. Travel Lodge anticipated increased demand due to an 'event' & increased prices accordingly.

Travel Lodge don't care why you're staying there.

Unless you expect to get a discount because you're staying in Edinburgh for a charity event (that Travel Lodge have no connection with), as opposed to being there for purely selfish personal reasons :?

AidanR

Wait, the whole point of the MoonWalk is that it's through the night. Why on Earth would they need a room in a hotel that night?

cougie

Good point !

TBH Travelodge wont really be aware of the Moonwalk anyway and the prices just reflect the popularity. Its not their fault so its wrong to slag them off.

Novotel at Ednburgh Park is £105 for a very nice hotel on the Saturday. I stayed there for the Marathon.

cougie

Bliddy pc double posted ?

cougie

Triple even..................

allen

Some interesting responses.....makes you realise why car drivers think they own the road ...as long as I m all right Jack......

And a final note check out London 2012 yes I know supply and demand etc would nt mind but the vast majority of London hotels at the average price point ( 85 to 100) are pretty poor.

AidanR

No, you're implying that Travelodge are specifically taking advantage of a charitable event, but without any proof that this is so. By far the most likely explanation is that it's their standard pricing system working as normal. Instead of moaning about normal amoral (as opposed to immoral) capitalism at work, why don't you try an alternative like couch surfing? I imagine that there are all sorts of people who'd put someone up for free as it's a good cause. Hell, if I still lived there I would.

cougie

I don't follow your logic ? Car drivers ?

Hotels charge higher when demand is higher. Simple as that. Why should they lose out on income just as its a charity thing ? Their cleaners and staff wont thank them if they were asked to work for less just because of charity ? I think it was an even higher price for the Marathon anyway.

When did they book ?

AidanR

The logic is all who have disagreed with him on this thread are indicative of a morally bankrupt me-first society, whereas because his wife and daughter are raising money for charity he's on some moral high ground.

amun1000

We charge the same rate all year round but we are only a BnB

allen

Looking to book June 2012 so a tad in advance ; )

AidanR too true ! Not sure about moral high ground but me first society yes. I am slightly surprised to find the response on here but hey everyones entitled to their opinion.

Cougie do you think the cleaners will get a pay rise on that weekend ? And before anyone says it I am not a socialist union leader just a cynical realist who maybe hoped for better but certainly got flamed on here

Pross

Surely the hotel price is part of your own sacrifice in raising money for the charity?

There will usually be a discrepancy between a Saturday and Sunday in any case.

Keith1983

I stayed in a travel lodge in kent last saturday night and it cost me circa £100. Expenmsive for what it is, but I left it late booking and that was all that was available so it's my fault. Have you approached the travel lodge and asked if anyone doing the charitable event can have a discount?

allen

Pross - of course and yes at 52 I do realise that hotels charge more for peak nights etc.

Thanks all ; )

AidanR

allen wrote:

AidanR too true ! Not sure about moral high ground but me first society yes. I am slightly surprised to find the response on here but hey everyones entitled to their opinion.

Um, I wasn't agreeing with you. Painting all those who disagree with you as selfish is simplistic and insulting. As I said in a previous post, you are accusing Travelodge of deliberately profiteering from a charity event with no proof. For better or for worse, Travelodge has a legal obligation to its shareholders, not to those raising money for good causes. If you dislike this aspect of capitalism (which I do, personally) then there are alternatives like couch surfing.

allen

Oh don t worry I didn t think you agreed with me ; ) Think I went down in flames many moons ago !

gilesjuk

As others have said. The room pricing goes up as the hotel fills up. If you can book way in advance it tends to be cheaper, but it is no guarantee that you will get a room, they will sooner give it to a guest staying one night more at a higher price!

The above happened to me and totally it ruined a weekend break for me.

cougie

I'd not expect the cleaners to get a pay rise on that night - but the businesses price model will account for fluctuating rates of higher and lower days, and even the pay out accordingly.

I work for a FMCG company. We don't get paid less when products are on sale.