At extremely late notice (due to a bereavement) we had to drop everything and head for Belfast. My job, find flights, hotel, hire a car, airport parking - all needed there and then.
I do this all the time, albeit with more time to sort things out - I book hotels every week etc and NEVER get anything wrong.
The Premier Inn in Carrickfergus was reasonable given the fact we were so close to the arrival date. Two rooms, two nights. £160. Can't argue with that. Cheap rate - i.e. no changes, no refunds, no alterations but what is likely to change in 24 hours - we are unlikely to not need the rooms...
So everything goes well - car parking, flights, hire car waiting in Belfast. To the hotel. Sorry, no rooms under that name
The lady asked for my booking reference - I assumed it was all because I only just booked it and it hadn't filtered through yet or something. This was Monday 18th January - the booking reference was for 18th April!!! Through panic and having little time to sort everything, Added to that was a cruel coincidence that the last search I did on the Premier Inn site was in the search boxes already and was for 18th April - incredibly also a Monday - I saw Monday 18th and missed the April bit.
Thank God they had rooms available, it hurt but I had to get the credit card out and pay for two rooms again there in the reception.
All my fault, I didn't check everything and I chose the cheap no cancellations, refunds or alterations price. Nothing much to do but take it on the chin. Even worse, we couldn't even return and use the rooms in April as we will be away elsewhere!!
When we got back I thought I'd contact Premier Inn Customer services and explain we were rushing and going to a funeral, not thinking straight etc - I bet they get people telling them that all the time, but it was true this time!!
Incredibly, 2 days later I got a reply saying they were sorry we wouldn't be able to stay with us in April and that a full refund of £160 had been made to me. Just brilliant.
