Lodge staying at £340 ?

[chasgames]

Yesturday it cost £260 incl EAS night (£65 per night). Now its £340 ?? (£85 per night) ...........


Also i noticed nearly everyone is in the "other games" area.

Whats going on?

[doeboy]

Yea i got £320, i think they're still fine tuning it.

Still overpriced IMHO

[v3nd3774]

Is there any way of finding out how many rooms are still left to book?

[stickyfingers]

Is it possible to get confirmation on the price of lodge hotel?

I don't see why i should have to pay over £100 extra than my clan-mate who booked less than 24 hours before lol

[Wizzo]

The lodge price is £85 a night which includes double-occupancy and breakfast. Yes it's not particularly cheap, but is comparable to most "Hilton type" hotel experiences.

There was a mistake made with the price we put up initially, which has now been corrected and those who paid contacted. Apologies for the confusion.

[Dav3y]

Paid for my room Tuesday night and not been contacted by anyone yet ?

Can you confirm these rooms are twins and NOT doubles ?

[Snarf]

Why have the lodge prices changed then? Did Multiplay not agree an amount up front? It was definitely £65 a night the other day, looking at the weekend afterwards it's £75, so how do they justify £85 a night? Surely booking out the whole hotel should attract a discount not a premium?

[chasgames]

Multiplay do get a discount for booking more than 9 rooms off the lodge. Proberly bigger because they booked all 58 rooms. On the Stoneleigh park lodge website, it says twin rooms are priced at £75 including B&B. So at the most Multiplay should be charging that at a maximum cost. However there not, there adding an extra £10 for every night.

A bit unfair to compare it to the Hilton also, You can book the Hilton for £55.50 / £69 for B&B and you get a POOL :). Plus the lodge is only 3 star.

Whats going on Wizzo???

[ez64]

Multiplay do get a discount for booking more than 9 rooms off the lodge. Proberly bigger because they booked all 58 rooms. On the Stoneleigh park lodge website, it says twin rooms are priced at £75 including B&B. So at the most Multiplay should be charging that at a maximum cost. However there not, there adding an extra £10 for every night.


ouch..... but im sure theres a reason.

probably to cover very very likley damages the hotel requested a higher cost.

[doeboy]

You have to remember that Multiplay is a business and in that context are right to add a small profit. It's simply a case of supply and demand, if they don't all rent out, then perhaps they're asking to much. My bet is that they will sell out at that price.

Look elsewhere if you're not happy, i've just snapped up a double En-suite with a kitchen 5-15 mins walk for £40 a night inc brekie.

[ez64]

You have to remember that Multiplay is a business and in that context are right to add a small profit. It's simply a case of supply and demand, if they don't all rent out, then perhaps they're asking to much. My bet is that they will sell out at that price.

Look elsewhere if you're not happy, i've just snapped up a double En-suite with a kitchen 5-15 mins walk for £40 a night inc brekie.

that would seriously annoy many many people if that was the real reason but im 100% sure its not.

[Snarf]

You have to remember that Multiplay is a business and in that context are right to add a small profit.

Pardon? Is this a Multiplay hotel? I can't see that they have a right to profit on a hotel room when, if they hadn't booked all the rooms, we could have got one for £75 a night. As I said I can only assume that it's the hotel that's adding a premium (which is a rip-off anyway if they're doing that). If it's MP that's increasing the price then some questions do need to be answered.

[Wizzo]

I've taken the lodge bookings down for now until I can get to the bottom of this in the office tomorrow. It seems there has been some confusion internally about this and I certainly thought we were getting a better deal from Stoneleigh on the lodge.

Will post when I have confirmed the details, so those of you wishing to book/have booked the lodge please hold on whilst I make sure it is right and avoid any further confusion.

[Baz]

Damn businesses trying to make money! What's next? Charities giving money to needy people?! For SHAME!

[doeboy]

Damn businesses trying to make money! What's next? Charities giving money to needy people?! For SHAME!

I agree TBH, as i said, if you don't like it go elsewhere. Yes MP are "for the people by the people" but still need to take profit, and as long as it's not too painful for Joe public why not?

[Snarf]

Cheers Wizzo.

Yes Multiplay do need to make a profit, but the hotel is independent, and shouldn't be part of profit making. As Wizzo says he's going to clear up the confusion, which sounds to me like this wasn't where the profits were coming from. Imagine if you preferred staying at a Travelodge, but someone booked all the rooms and wanted to rent them back to you for more money than they originally cost ;)

[Rough*]

£85 A NIGHT? LOL WTF BBQ?!

How is it so expensive when theres the travel lodge etc at £60 a night for a twin room with plenty of space and all inclusive breakfast!

Where is the extra £25 coming from? The use of a pool table etc? :|

[SquireMuldoon]

Rough... the stoneleigh park lodge hotel isnt a travel lodge. It has recently been awarded the AA 4 Star Guest House status. As such you can expect it to cost just a little bit more than a travel lodge. In addition to this, all the rooms are double occupancy and includes breakfast for both occupants. For £60 I can pretty much guarantee you the travel lodge doesnt include breakfast for 2... at least no in any travel lodge I have stayed in within the past 5 years.

[her0n]

The Travelodge is currently showing as £49 for a double or family room. At the beginning of this week it was £29! No mention of brekkie.

Good to see the issue with cost is being investigated. Clearly someone is being taken for a ride here, hopefully it won't be the customers!

[Towneh]

Travelodge in Newbury is usually £52 a night for a family room (3 adults, 4 if you spoon in the double bed) and gets cheaper with various discounts on offer throughout the year. During the i33 weekend, the cost of the individual nights were between £19 - £39 a night.

This gives you a place to sleep at night and an en-suite shower with beds made and new towels provided during the day. I'm not sure what else is needed from a hotel room during an i-event.

Are we getting more from/paying more for these hotels rooms than is required?

[WhiteKnight]

I think the point they are trying to make here is that it is a stand alone 4 star hotel with all the usual 4 star features. You wouldn't go in to a Hilton and say "well i`m not going to use half the bed, or the shower so give me a discount".

If you don't want to stay at the hotel, then don't. Camp, find another hotel, or stay in the hostel.

That said, the hostel IS over priced for what you get, and I would suggest that any time spent on negotiating discounts should be spent there.

[kalleth]

I should be in my flat in coventry by then. 15 minute car drive at -most- to get home! :D

[_Medusa]

That said, the hostel IS over priced for what you get, and I would suggest that any time spent on negotiating discounts should be spent there.

Hmmmm, now i actually emailed the hostel to enquire about availability and pricing .... they quoted me £30 per room per night :confused:

[Kas]

That said, the hostel IS over priced for what you get, and I would suggest that any time spent on negotiating discounts should be spent there.

^^

[Murray-Mint]

Hmmmm, now i actually emailed the hostel to enquire about availability and pricing .... they quoted me £30 per room per night :confused:

Same quote I got too. Now if they're offering it to MPUK at that price a night, then it's a cool £3000-£4000 profit for MPUK on it. I'm all for making money, but not under the pretense of doing it for our benefit.

If however, it's Stoneleigh offering it at this price, then Wizzo needs to f**k them over a bit.

[ez64]

Same quote I got too. Now if they're offering it to MPUK at that price a night, then it's a cool £3000-£4000 profit for MPUK on it. I'm all for making money, but not under the pretense of doing it for our benefit.

If however, it's Stoneleigh offering it at this price, then Wizzo needs to f**k them over a bit.

If stoneleigh are doing this there insurance company is going to hate this weekend for the people that payed that much :p

[Dav3y]

If Stoneleigh are screwing Multiplay then the best thing to do would be for Multiplay to turn around and say no thanks, we don't want the lodge or hostel anymore so we can book directly ourselves at the better pricing. If however we're getting screwed by Multiplay, this would not be a good turn of events. I really do hope this isn't the reason for the higher pricing.

I shall await Wizzos clarification before i decide to keep or cancel my room booking that i thought i had paid for.

[Boffykins]

The hostel pricing is very much seasonal. That quote won't be accurate for the i34 weekend as we've already booked the whole hostel.

[Pingman]

It's obviously a very expensive hostel in the first place, as any reasonably priced hostel that I've stayed in before has been in the region of £5-10!

But, If the standard rate for the Hostel is £30 a night then I would expect Multiplay to negotiate a substancial discount for booking not only in a non busy period but block booking the whole hostel and then managing the room allocations themselfs. Multiplay should therefore be able to pass this saving down to the customer and be offering a room in the hostel for a mucm more reasonable £20 a night in my honest opnion.

[Shazz]

Just spilt a travelodge between 4 people.

Job done.

[Murray-Mint]

Indeed, worked out about £31 cheaper EACH, which just about covers taxi back each evening. Dissapointing negotiating on MPUK's behalf with the hostel - they really had you there!

[_Medusa]

The hostel pricing is very much seasonal. That quote won't be accurate for the i34 weekend as we've already booked the whole hostel.

Unfortunately it is an accurate quote, here's a reply i received from Ruth at Blackdown Village (hostel)

"No the prices don’t change during that time its still £30.00 room only.

We have availability the whole of July and most of August the dates we don’t have in August are the 7th to the 10th."

Maybe time to re-negotiate the prices with them, because i for one hate being ripped off :mad:

[Dav3y]

If the lodge price stays at £85 per night, can we have our 8 free warrick castle tickets per room for the four nights and the £10 per room per night reduction instead as is available by booking directly per night ?

If £65 per night turns out to have been correct all along with the bulk discount, then I'm happy to give up the warrick castle tickets.

Some clarification on pricing for both forms of accom. would be good on this though ASAP.

[_Medusa]

Dav3y to get the warwick castle tickets the price is £75.00 per person NOT per room :p

[Wizzo]

The lodge (hotel) is usually £105 a night during the August period but we've managed to negotiate it down to £85 a night B&B. The hostel we're unable to negotiate much of a discount at all due to the fact it's already quite cheap. I will be going back to Stoneleigh to find out what can be done though, as I agree it doesn't seem great from what they are telling you guys directly.

The reasons for us block booking the available rooms are simple:
1. It's peak season and the lodge and hostel are popular for tourists. We want to ensure as many rooms as possible are available to our attendees and not get taken up by others.
2. To ensure you get a guaranteed rate at the time of booking, rather than rates going up with the seasonal changes and occupancy levels.

Yes we do take a small cut to go towards the admin costs of doing this, but I think most will agree the benefits of being able to book your accommodation at the same time as you order your ticket, and ensure maximum on-site accommodation for i34 attendess, is worth it.

I've reactivated the hotel bookings as we've now confirmed the cost at £85 per night which includes double-occupancy and breakfast. Yes it's not cheap but it would have been £105 a night had we not done a block booking. As for the hostel... we'll investigate further.

[_Medusa]

I think Stoneleigh are having a laugh with MPUK. If you go to their online booking page and put in any date in august (apart from i34 as already booked up) it comes up with £85 per room per night and includes breakfast. Not quite sure where they are getting £105 per night from, unless of course you count single occupancy of a garden room .... these would incur supplement charges which could bump it upto £105.

Think i'll just buy an air bed and tent it!

[Wizzo]

I think Stoneleigh are having a laugh with MPUK. If you go to their online booking page and put in any date in august (apart from i34 as already booked up) it comes up with £85 per room per night and includes breakfast. Not quite sure where they are getting £105 per night from, unless of course you count single occupancy of a garden room .... these would incur supplement charges which could bump it upto £105.

Think i'll just buy an air bed and tent it!

We spoke with them at length yesterday about the hotel situation and were assured it's usually around £105 in the August period. We'll be up there Weds for another meeting about the event in general. You can bet this will be on the agenda :). We'll also be looking into a "red room" option.

[ez64]

Fair enough for multiplay getting onto them.

3 star hotel and a jacuzzi for four nights in a double room is £328 or £248 without the jacuzzi down the road in august but I cannot choose it because I dont want to worry about drink and driving every night taken to the cleaners isnt right.................

[Wizzo]

There are over 5000 hotel beds within 10 miles of Stoneleigh. I think there's enough choice for people who may think the on-site stuff is too pricey. Kenilworth is a very short taxi ride away and has loads of nice hotels, including some really cheap ones. With an on-site taxi rank there's no excuses.

Horses for courses really (yes I've avoided using that line previously! :p). If it's too expensive... just camp... for free! :)

[Predat0r]

Hilton experience, eh?

If I remember, andyf LOVED the Hilton Hotel experience. http://forums.multiplay.co.uk/showthread.php?t=57213

:awesome:

Damn businesses trying to make money! What's next? Charities giving money to needy people?! For SHAME!

This, my friends, is clearly an outrage.

[Snarf]

The lodge (hotel) is usually £105 a night during the August period but we've managed to negotiate it down to £85 a night B&B.


Somebody's telling porkie pies then ;)

Try booking the hotel via their online booking system from 15th August (Friday) for 3 nights - I did and got the following:

Room Type Package Description 1st Night Rate Total Cost
Double Room Bed and Breakfast Single £75.00 £225.00
Twin Room Bed and Breakfast Single £75.00 £225.00

Something doesn't quite add up right!
Do they just hike up the price when an event is on then?
Anyway, time to look at alternatives ;)

[Dav3y]

Dav3y to get the warwick castle tickets the price is £75.00 per person NOT per room :p

Not so, try booking a ROOM for 2 adults on the 4th August and tell me the price. It is £85 normally for two people or £75 with the free Warwick Castle tickets ( not that that makes sense ) when booking a ROOM for two people. It's a straight £75 per room per night for a single person in a twin or double room.

Twin Room (2 single beds) Bed and Breakfast Single £75.00 £225.00
This is the three night price as there is no availability for the Thursday obviously.


The lodge (hotel) is usually £105 a night during the August period but we've managed to negotiate it down to £85 a night B&B.
I've reactivated the hotel bookings as we've now confirmed the cost at £85 per night which includes double-occupancy and breakfast. Yes it's not cheap but it would have been £105 a night had we not done a block booking. As for the hostel... we'll investigate further.

I'm sorry, but this is simply not true. you told me personally when i came to reception that it would be £65/night and when it got put up it was £65/night. This seemed fair as there must have been some benefit made by block booking the whole 58 rooms out. £75/night is fair if it includes a pair of Warwick Castle tickets per room.

It's not acceptable that Multiplay have now barred normal early paying customers from getting these better deals directly to make sure that they can make some more money from these customers.

I hope those now not wanting to pay the extra £20 per room per night are given full refunds due to the Multiplay cockup.

Here's the proof of the 'Seasonal' August pricing, direct from the online booking system. I would rather have used this than having the facility to do it under the services in my multiplay account without the premium.

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n242/Dav3y_uk/i33/lodge1040808-3nights.gif
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n242/Dav3y_uk/i33/lodge2040808-3nights.gif
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n242/Dav3y_uk/i33/lodge3040808-3nights.gif

Please give the accomodation back to Stoneleigh, we can get better deals without Multiplay block booking it.

[Wizzo]

I'm sorry, but this is simply not true. you told me personally when i came to reception that it would be £65/night and when it got put up it was £65/night. This seemed fair as there must have been some benefit made by block booking the whole 58 rooms out.

I was misinformed at the time. If you read my posts above you will see there was an internal mixup and we launched with an incorrect price for the lodge. I have not been dealing with Stoneleigh much on the commercials side, although I've been involved in the meetings. It's not been just me running this company for quite some time now, as I can't do everything (although I used to try :p). Actual real delegation... scary I know... but people do make mistakes from time to time!

It's not acceptable that Multiplay have now barred normal early paying customers from getting these better deals directly to make sure that they can make some more money from these customers.

There are more reasons than just securing a better deal for block booking the rooms (ensuring they are not taken by tourists, convenience of booking with your LAN ticket, etc.). Read my posts above and you will find these discussed in more detail. As for making profit on the rooms, yes we do need to add a little bit for us to cover the admin time in organising the rooms, but we are hardly taking the piss! It is also not as if you HAVE to stay in the Lodge. It is a luxury extra and there are plenty of other options for accommodation nearby, including the FREE camping option.

I was told specifically by our event manager at Stoneleigh that these rooms would be more like £105 in August. I will be taking this up again in our face-to-face meeting with them on Weds (again stated above).

I hope those now not wanting to pay the extra £20 per room per night are given full refunds due to the Multiplay cockup.

Of course these people will be offered either the choice of a refund or to pay the difference in cost.

[Dav3y]

o.k. thanks. Delegation is scary indeed, i have to do it myself at work now :(

Yes yes, i saw all the reasons, but at the end of the day I'm sure the lodge would have most likely filled with Multiplay customers anyway if the speed at booking the event is anything to go by. It's not really that Multiplay are taking the piss, it's just that it's not doing us early bookers any favour, and they certainly look like they've been telling Multiplay porkies somehwere if they're making you believe the rooms are normally more money. I don't think anyone would complain if the Multiplay price echoed the normal price at the time of booking and not booking a room maybe a month before the event when it may well have risen in price.

I look forward to the outcome of your Wednesday face to face meeting before deciding whether or not to go ahead with my lodge booking. I may end up camping yet once I've heard from my support ticket i raised 5 days ago and am still awaiting a reply on if the price increase above sticks.

[ez64]

But seing as these hotels can get greedy I would have bet money that they double booked rooms by "accident".

and if multiplay wouldnt have sorted it there would have been killings and all sorts for rooms :)

[Dav3y]

Why do you assume such places should be so incompetent ?
Systems shouldn't allow double bookings, anyone that fails here should be shown the door.

[WhiteKnight]

Ive been to a hotel that was overbooked before, several times. And not some crappy little hovvel, these were big name chains.

They normally just re-locate you to another local hotel (at their expense) but its still annoying and DOES happen.

They assume a certain % of no shows usually, and if everyone turns up they have to run around fixing the problem.

[Dav3y]

That's poor, i guess they're hoping to make money from the no shows then :(

[Dadz]

Hi,
I would just like to say that I have two rooms booked at the Lodge, one room was booked using an external hotel site (ukbookings.com) and the other room was booked using multiplay when I paid for my i34 ticket. To confirm the prices - ukbookings charged me £85 a night for my twin room including breakfast - this was booked before multiplay announced the venue for i34. So I really don't know where Stoneleigh are getting their price of £105 a night from.....as I also checked the prices on their website.
However, if something is advertised at a price (for example £65 a night - which multiplay previously advertised their lodge rooms at) and paid for, then this should be the price that the customer pays and they should not be asked to pay more as it was not their mistake.

[ez64]

Hi,
I would just like to say that I have two rooms booked at the Lodge, one room was booked using an external hotel site (ukbookings.com) and the other room was booked using multiplay when I paid for my i34 ticket. To confirm the prices - ukbookings charged me £85 a night for my twin room including breakfast - this was booked before multiplay announced the venue for i34. So I really don't know where Stoneleigh are getting their price of £105 a night from.....as I also checked the prices on their website.
However, if something is advertised at a price (for example £65 a night - which multiplay previously advertised their lodge rooms at) and paid for, then this should be the price that the customer pays and they should not be asked to pay more as it was not their mistake.

did you just feel like booking a room at stoneleigh lodge in august?, for this exact forum thread? :v

[kandy]

They assume a certain % of no shows usually, and if everyone turns up they have to run around fixing the problem.

Airlines are terrible for this....

[Dav3y]

Hi,
I would just like to say that I have two rooms booked at the Lodge, one room was booked using an external hotel site (ukbookings.com) and the other room was booked using multiplay when I paid for my i34 ticket. To confirm the prices - ukbookings charged me £85 a night for my twin room including breakfast - this was booked before multiplay announced the venue for i34. So I really don't know where Stoneleigh are getting their price of £105 a night from.....as I also checked the prices on their website.
However, if something is advertised at a price (for example £65 a night - which multiplay previously advertised their lodge rooms at) and paid for, then this should be the price that the customer pays and they should not be asked to pay more as it was not their mistake.

I take it they've contacted you to tell you that your ukbookings room is now unavailable ?

this could prove very interesting if they haven't.

[Dadz]

Actually, I have an email from Stoneleigh stating that my ukbookings room is definately confirmed.

[Dav3y]

Great stuff, sounds a complete cockup then.

[ez64]

Twinned in austrailia ^&^

[Elkeeed]

Multiplay never said they booked the entire hotel, just the remaining rooms.

[Wizzo]

Update. I caught up with Stewart (Scoobs) today (our Operations Director) who is working on most of the commercials with Stoneleigh . He confirmed that the price quoted for the hostel and hotel includes the extra security we are having to lay on due to the nature of our event and the 24/7 occupancy.

I'm sure you'll all understand that with such a large group booking and the anticipated "all hours day and night" access that will be going on, that extra security will be necessary. In fact, it's been one of the things you've been asking about on these forums.

So the hostel rooms will be staying at £35 per room per night for a twin room. Similarly, the hotel will still be staying at £85 per night based on double occupancy B&B.

I'm going to close this thread so people get the final response easily, without it getting lost in more posts.

Many thanks for the feedback all round. I hope now people will be able to book with confidence (or choose to go elsewhere) and this brings resolution to the matter in hand.