A couple from Mansfield Woodhouse were shocked when they travelled two hours from their home to Skegness to find the hotel they had booked online was closed. This is not the first time that has happened.
The Skegness Premier Hotel at the time of writing this article was still advertised on Hotel.com as being available, even though the hotel is closed.
Michael, 73, and Jaqueline Smith, 70 who were looking forward to a well-earned break said when they booked the hotel online, they thought they were booking with a reputable brand. The couple said the branding of the Premier Hotel is misleading and they thought they were booking the Premier Inn.
The couple arrived at the Premier Inn Hotel on Skegness seafront and went to reception looking forward to their holiday.
Michael explained: “When we got there, I tried to check-in and the woman at the reception told us we’re not booked in here.
“She checked again and then we realised, we were booked into the Premier Hotel.
The couple were shocked and drove to the Premier Hotel.
“We made our way there and the car park was empty. There was a note on the door that said they were closed.”
Michael and Jaqueline who were determined to find out what was going on decided to do some investigation work and decided to visit the care home next to the hotel and see if they knew what was going on.
“There was the owner of the Premier Hotel, Dr J. R. Kodali, who told me that his hotel has been closed for weeks due to a fire safety inspection deeming it unfit for anyone to stay in.”
“I told my wife we didn’t have a holiday after all. She started crying and I was upset too.
“My wife’s diabetic so we needed to get some food. Whilst we were eating my daughter phoned me telling me we could check in at another hotel on the seafront.
“I walked in the pouring rain. It was really windy too. We booked a room, which was more money out my pocket, but we needed somewhere to stay.”
The couple booked into another hotel and shared their experience with another couple who were staying at the same hotel. It turned out that they had also booked into the Premier Hotel and were also shocked that it was not the Premier Inn, and that the hotel was closed, even though they booked online.
A spokesperson from Hotels.com said: “The hotel in question had been managing all inventory and reservations themselves and we stopped selling this property on our site last month to prevent any other customers experiencing the same issue. There have been no bookings since the hotel was put on stop sell”
Local residents and some hotel owners have called on the Skegness hotel to have it’s named changed to stop the confusion.