Orwell Hotel

I arrived after booking just two hours earlier, and the hotel put me in a room with no main heating. They already knew there was no heating, but still took the booking. I was cold under the duvet even with all my clothes on, and had to ask for another small plug-in heater. I had to collect it myself because there were no staff. The first night there wasn’t enough hot water either, so I boiled the kettle several times to run a hot bath. Then the power went out on the floor where my room was. There was no electricity or heating, and there was snow on the ground. The hotel blamed the UK power supply, but the problem only affected the second floor, the Wi-Fi there was affected too, and nearby properties still had power. They said I could wait in the bar for the expected hour or so, but I’d have to pay cash for drinks. I went out in my car instead. When I returned 90 minutes later, the power was still off. Drinks were free by then, but it was 9pm, I’d been up since 4am, and I was already tired and upset after going there because of a problem at home. I asked to move to a room in a part of the building with power, but they said they couldn’t arrange it. In tears, I said I was checking out and wanted a refund. They told me it would be done once the power came back and their system was working, hopefully within a couple of hours. The next morning, after thinking about the lack of heating, the hot water issue and how distressed I’d been, I emailed to ask for a full refund. Despite several emails, I’ve had no response. Booking.com hasn’t got a compromise from the hotel either. Be warned, it doesn’t look like Booking.com can adjudicate in a situation like this, though they gave me a token £17 on account. Who thinks it’s acceptable not to refund someone for a night they didn’t stay, especially with snow outside and no electricity or heating in the room? The hotel is tired and needs refurbishing. The electrics seem archaic and need replacing, and there weren’t even USB ports in the room. They should not have taken my booking when they knew the room had no heating. They were obviously keen to take my money.