Lizie

I've just had an email from the manager of a Marriott hotel I have a booking with in 3 weeks time saying the home office ( a Government department) has told her that she has to cancel everyone's bookings as they are taking it over as a quarantine hotel. Can some one tell me if this is true - do hotels get told to become quarantine hotels or, do managers put their hotels name forward to act as a quarantine hotel? She's offered to put me up in another hotel for the same price but it's really not suitable transport wise. I'm platinum so not sure if the ultimate reservation guarantee is relevant here unless she applied to be part of the quarantine hotels rather than ordered, then surely she would know there was a chance when taking the booking she wouldn't be able to honor it?

Be interested in people's thoughts as I'm not sure how how to tackle this. The reservation is for 23days.

dgreen12

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/reque...tgoing-1177292

Found a UK Freedom of Information request response that I've linked above. It appears as though hotels apply to be part of the program.

That said, was your hotel participating in the program earlier in the year? (The last countries on the previous Red list came off that list as of November 1, 2021.)

The FOI response suggested that selected hotels were chosen sometime in late 2020.

I'd make an inquiry to your MP for further info on the selection process.

And start looking for a different hotel if you don't like the option you have been offered.

craigthemif

I think most people genuinely thought that UK hotel quarantine was not ever coming back, but due to recent events that obviously has changed, with ministers scrambling to get the quarantine hotel system back up and running.

What are you looking for? You obviously won´t want to actually stay at a quarantine hotel, and they have offered you an alternative. If you don´t like that, take the cancellation and go elsewhere.

Now that PCR tests are back on + the risks of other lockdowns / red list additions, hotel rates should crater as incoming tourism disappears.

Kacee

It's not.

My advice: Just move on.

Mwenenzi

I would expect the decision(acceptance) to be a quarantine hotel is made at a higher level in the corporate tree. Local hotel manager is just hired help.

DELee

Also, one way to keep rooms and beds filled in lockdown conditions.

Omicron, antibody anybody?

David

GUWonder

Property owner/management in some places have decided to go in on such arrangements before to secure a revenue stream at a time when standard occupancy was otherwise looking bad. Governments in some countries are more likely to temporarily commandeer property than other countries. But when regular demand is horrendous for whatever reason, having a government-provided lifeline of multi-day captives paying up to occupy the premises and consume on-property services may be better business in the short term than trying to operate a hotel as if all is normal with regular customer traffic when it’s not (or not going to be soon/long enough).

writerguyfl

Just to expand to provide a little more nuance on your correct answer:

That "corporate tree" you mention probably doesn't directly involve Marriott. Most hotels are independently owned and are operated independently under franchise agreements with hotel groups like Marriott. As such, the hotel owner decided to opt to be a quarantine hotel (for the reasons the other folks on here listed) and then informed Marriott.

The only way Marriott is involved in this decision is if they own the hotel (highly unlikely) or if they manage this hotel (possible but unlikely).

Duck1981

+1

miloworld

Just echoing earlier replies, the hotel owner would have been the decision-maker, not solely the manager. Although I'd imagine if the hotel was once used as a quarantine hotel, it may be contractually obligated and in its best interest to carry out a government contract with stable revenue.

I believe the terms says the hotel must be open and operational, which is debatable in this situation. I personally would volunteer to switch properties if I knew it was a quarantine hotel. You could reply and ask for compensation for the inconvenience.

Oxon Flyer

The stay dates appear to span the holiday and New Year period. If, as it appears, your choses hotel is just not going to be available due to circumstances outside the remit of the Ultimate Reservation Guranantee, what's your desired outcome for this extended stay ? Do you need forum advice in getting an alternative hotel sorted out ?

Lizie

Thanks everyone for your comments, really helpful. I've just come back from a night's stay at the hotel the manager's proposed and the price of necessary extra's is pretty scary: £40 parking charge per car per 24 hours or part of. If you leave the car park you have to pay another £40 to get back in regardless if you are still within the original 24 hour period. We have 2 cars so £80 a day. No breakfast for elites so another £14 p.p per day. We need a hotel for these dates because we're selling our house and there's a 22 day difference between vacating ours and moving into the new one. We booked ages ago.

What I need is help on how to convince the manager to move us to a similar priced Marriott hotel in the area of our choosing which has no parking fees. She has already agreed to keep the same rate I originally booked for her proposed hotel but I think she has an arrangement with them. Our preferred hotel is just a few UK pounds more. I'd happily pay the difference. But it's like Oxon Flyer's said, the booking is over Christmas and New Year and the price has escalated exponentially and if she says no I can't afford to get into a battle of words with her and loose my original booking. My slim arsenal of argument was to be if she took our booking when she had applied to be a quarantine hotel then she knew she wouldn't be able to honor it and should do something to help over and above. I'd be ever so grateful if someone could assist me with this.

MSPeconomist

It would be a bit of a pain, but could you move hotels once or twice during the 22 days in order to find reasonable rates at hotels you like? Also, could you park one of the two cars someplace free or cheap for most of the 22 days and just use one car during this period? Have you investigated prices and availability of parking near the proposed hotel? Is the current hotel going to be used for quarantine during the entire period of your stay or could you stay there as planned for the beginning part of your reservation?

Lizie

Hi MSPeconomist, really good suggestions. I will start looking at alternative parking arrangements but, as the manager's proposed hotel is on an airport, I wouldn't be surprised to find that's going to go into quarantine tomorrow as well

writerguyfl

Just to reiterate, the person with which your dealing almost certainly wasn't involved in the decision to become a quarantine hotel. That's an important fact because you may be inadvertently alienating the only person who can help you resolve the problem.

Complaints usually get voiced using the pronoun "you." For example: "You took my reservation knowing you be able to accommodate me because applied to be a quarantine hotel."

I used to be a hotel night manager. I'd estimate that about 95% of the time when taking a complaint, I had no involvement in the chain of events that caused the problem. Even though I knew this as fact, the natural instinct when hearing someone blame me was to feel attacked. When you feel attacked, you get into the mind frame of wanting to defend your position instead of trying to resolve the complaint.

My Advice: Let this woman off the hook. In any future interactions, try leading with something like this: "I know you didn't cause this problem. Dealing with all of this must be rough. If there's any way you can help me find a solution, I would really appreciate the help."

Doing that might help convince this person to do a little extra to help you.

(This is stuff I picked up in my graduate program in Conflict Resolution. I know it sounds little silly, but it's based on theories in psychology and sociology. And it really does work. It works particularly well with call centers.)