Disabled woman forced to sleep in Travelodge dining area after booking mix up
A disabled woman was forced to sleep on a sofa in a hotel dining area after the accessible room she booked was out of order when she arrived.
Kat Watkins says she has been in severe back pain since she given little choice after a carefully planned trip to London from south Wales went so badly wrong.
The 36-year-old who works for Disability Wales uses a wheelchair, has brittle bone disease and she also has sleep apnoea so needed to use her cpap machine while asleep..
She was attending a concert at the Royal Albert Hall, where the singer songwriter and guitarist James Bay was performing on April 26 and had travelled in her adapted mobility van with her personal assistant.
She had booked a twin bedded room at the hotel for herself and her PA and had stayed at Travelodge hotel in Hounslow previously.
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But when the pair arrived they were told the accessible rooms were "out of order".
Kat had to sleep in a public area (Twitter/@kitty_kat_1986)
The 36-year-old was trying to stay in London after a concert (Twitter/@kitty_kat_1986)Ans when she enquired further was told by a member of staff it was because the rooms had not been cleaned.
She was offered either a family room - where her wheelchair would not fit in the bathroom - or an alternative Travelodge in Twickenham.
She says she reluctantly accepted the family room and went to the concert, but when she returned at 12.20am was told even the family room was no longer available.
The receptionist then tried ti book her a taxi that would take her to the Twickenham hotel, but none could accommodate her wheelchair.
She told the Guardian: “I was struggling to breathe. I use a ventilator at night and my breathing was becoming more and more shallow.
“The concert I attended was good but I can’t look back on it with fond memories because the experience I had was so traumatic. I have never experienced anything as horrendous as this before.
"I don’t even know how to say how bad it was. It was off the scale. I’ve been in agony with my back since that night. I’ve told Travelodge I won’t be using their hotels again.”
Alex Osborne, disability equality officer at Disability Wales, said: “Kat’s experience was particularly bad, however we have many examples from our members, and my colleagues, of very poor service in hotels.
“Many still find themselves being put in other non-accessible rooms due to double bookings. This causes a lot of stress to the disabled person, impacting not only their holiday/break but also in many instances causing pain when the disabled person has to stay in a room which is not suitable."
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Kat has to plan her travels (Twitter/@kitty_kat_1986)A Travelodge spokeswoman said: “We would like to sincerely apologise to Ms Kat Watkins and her PA for their recent experience with us. On this rare occasion we failed to meet our normal high standard of service.
"We should have informed Ms Watkins ahead of checking-in that her room was out of order and that we had moved her booking to one of our nearby hotels.
“We are very sorry for the inconvenience of this miscommunication and we have refunded the booking in full and offered an e-voucher for a future stay.
"We hope that we can welcome back Ms Watkins and reinstate her faith in our brand.”
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