Locked in bathroom

Hi all,
Basically was in a very high end hotel a few weeks back. Got into the room and noticed the bathroom door was faulty. When closed you could not open from inside the bathroom, I highlighted this to reception and they advised a repairman would be up to repair. This was at about 10:30pm. I waited, nothing happened.

Decided to go to sleep.

Woke at 3am, went to the toilet, as per habit closed the door behind me and I then experienced one of those slow motion reactions turned around and saw the door click shut behind me. Tried to open the door... Nothing...

The room is a bathroom, radiator constantly on, no windows etc etc...I yelled, banged and tried to open the door for hours... 6hours to be exact. Saga came to an end when a hotel employee heard me banging and came to investigate. He opened my door, white as a ghost and found me locked in the bathroom.

I addressed to management as soon as I was out, they brushed it off and basically told it was only something small...

My question is, do I have a legal case here? It was very stressful being locked in a confined space not knowing when I'd be released. It could of been hours before the cleaner came in, and god knows what would of happened if I had the "do not disturb" sign on the door.

Surely the hotel has a health and safety obligation that has gone completely astray here? It could of ended alot worse than it did, but it was still very distressing. What are my entitlements? rights?

Thanks

what do you mean by 'what are your entitlements' ? Surely you are not looking for money to compensate you for a few hours been confined in a warm bathroom. If it were me I would have had a long hot soak!

It was a mishap, the repair man would most likely have called up the following morning to fix the door.

I sympatise with your ordeal but I am full sure you wouldn't have been left in there for days on end without somebody hearing your racket.

cashier said:

what do you mean by 'what are your entitlements' ? Surely you are not looking for money to compensate you for a few hours been confined in a warm bathroom. If it were me I would have had a long hot soak!

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But being trapped in a bathroom for any number of hours is enough of an inconvenience that one could reasonable imagine a complaint to the management would result in a discount / refund of the night's cost or an offer of a voucher etc

OP did you pay for the stay in full?

You should have swopped rooms immediately. Report them to the nearest fire station, what if there had been a fire!! They are in breach of fire regulations.

noah

I'm not sure you are "entitled" to anything but this is bad form of the hotel.
What if you were claustrophobic or a diabetic perhaps or have some other medical condition.
Yes I think Noah is correct that it could be in breach of fire regulations. So I would report this.

+1 on what noah and others have posted.
-1 on what cashier has posted.

It sounds like there was breach of fire regulations.
While the door was probably not a fire door it is unlikely that it or the bathroom enclosure offered more than 30 minutes fire protection.

If there had been a fire emergency in the hotel 6 hours could have seen the building burn to the ground.
The hotel staff response was certainly not adequate given the stress you were apparently put under by this ordeal.

Given the fact that there wasn't a fire emergency and you have fully recovered from the ordeal, I would not be certain that there is a claim for personal injuries here.
The issue of proof arises - the one witness is the hotel employee and they have probably repaired the defective door by now.

Also while you could not get out of a room within your bedroom, or enjoy the benefits of the bed you paid for, I'm not certain you could state that you were detained unfairly against you will, since you had intended to stay in the hotel, in that suite, albeit not in the bathroom, and once your situation was made known, the hotel staff effected your release.

I think you should report the matter as a public service to the local Fire Officer.
This measure may especially be appropriate if the problem was caused by a generic fault with the door fittings or ironmongery.
Not doing so - if the door was not repaired since of if there were similarly defective doors in that hotel - could possibly result in a death by misadventure in a future fire emergency.


ONQ.

All advice on AAM is remote from the situation and cannot be relied upon as a defence or support - in and of itself - should legal action be taken.
Competent legal and building professionals should be asked to advise in Real Life with rights to inspect and issue reports on the matters at hand.

cashier said:

If it were me I would have had a long hot soak!

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For six hours? You'd have been like a wrinkled prune when you finally got out.

Complainer said:

For six hours? You'd have been like a wrinkled prune when you finally got out.

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I'm already a wrinkled prune

At the very least they should have given you a voucher ( dont ask for an ensuite).

Leave an appropriate review on tripadvisor and email their customer service dept of the link to your review.

If hotel outside Ireland basically you haven't a hope (know a situation where a tv fell on toddler and nothing ever came of it despite solicitors letters etc).

From my own experience of a poor quality stay few years back contact Bord Failte who will demand an answer for you (if the hotel dont answer you), in my case the manager failed to respond and they were set ten days again to answer and the manager did and I got a nice 1BBD (although in the same hotel).

I class this very serious as my mother-in-law got locked into our apartment bathroom many years ago which had no window etc and the poor woman suffered a panic attack and the door had to be broken in.

Thanks for the replies guys. They repaired the door alright whilst I was out. Being locked in the room was a huge inconvenience, I was up in Dublin for 3months work and stayed with this particular hotel for several weeks before this incident happened.

Door was a firedoor, tried to kick it in frustration.. big mistake.

and I did pay for the full week. No discount given whatsoever. Also had to remain in the same room (with makeshift repair on door) for the remaining of my stay (4nights)

I think in situations like this, they should not only check the room before occupancy for defects but have some means of an alarm system incase someone fell or got locked in the bathroom. Was very distressing indeed.

As for having a bath and relaxing until I was let out, how can you say this? I had appointments I had to make, which I didn't. I wasn't sure if I was going to be locked in there all day, and if the "Do not disturb" sign was on the door I am fairly sure they wouldn't of entered my room until checkout day arrived and I didn't check out.

It was a very distressing incident, and could of ended alot more worse. Being confined in a sauna type space, with no means of timelimit till it ends is not a pleasant experience at all.

I think I will report to the local fire dept, and would be very tempted to name and shame.

May be you could change your AAM name to "letout"? (sorry, could no resist)

letin said:

I think I will report to the local fire dept, and would be very tempted to name and shame.

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A fire door by definition cannot have a lock on it, defective or otherwise, that prevents egress from the space it helps enclose.

I think you've been treated very shabbily by the hotel.
By all means report them and name and shame them.
Just remain true to the facts and not sensationalist.

On a broader screen I think there are issues for hotel governance.
It could spawn a Prime Time exposé into Fire Safety in hotels.

ONQ.

All advice on AAM is remote from the situation and cannot be relied upon as a defence or support - in and of itself - should legal action be taken.
Competent legal and building professionals should be asked to advise in Real Life with rights to inspect and issue reports on the matters at hand.

Got into the room and noticed the bathroom door was faulty. When closed you could not open from inside the bathroom, I highlighted this to reception and they advised a repairman would be up to repair.

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How did you know the door could not be opened from the inside ? Was the handle missing or was there someone else in the room when you first arrived ? Just curious btw.

You seriously didn't get anything after being locked in a bathroom for 6 hours?? Of course you have a case.

I can't beieve they made you pay for the night spent in the bathroom instead of in a bed! You probably will be able to get some compensation out of them but it will be affected by the fact you knew about the defect and went ahead and locked yourself in.

You knew about the defective door and your brother had been trapped in the same room?

This sheds a completely different light on this matter.

Brief your solicitor better than you did AAM.

ONQ.

All advice on AAM is remote from the situation and cannot be relied upon as a defence or support - in and of itself - should legal action be taken.
Competent legal and building professionals should be asked to advise in Real Life with rights to inspect and issue reports on the matters at hand.

I think you have been treated very shabbily by the hotel, in that you did not receive the service you were purchasing - ie a good night's sleep. A profuse apology, waiving the night's charge, and a move to a new room would have been in my view an appropriate response. A letter of apology from the manager and a complimentary fruit bowl go a long way, in my experience!

letin said:

I wasn't sure if I was going to be locked in there all day, and if the "Do not disturb" sign was on the door I am fairly sure they wouldn't of entered my room until checkout day arrived and I didn't check out.

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Just to reassure you, generally if a room cannot be serviced by the staff (eg if a Do Not Disturb sign is on the door for a prolonged period), reception or a manager will attempt to make contact by phoning the room. Hotel managers do worry very much if guests are locked in their room and do not come out. In two hotels I worked in, I have dealt with tragic situations where guests took their own lives in their hotel rooms, and in each case the alarm was raised by housekeeping staff expressing concern about the guest's well-being.

onq said:

You knew about the defective door and your brother had been trapped in the same room?

This sheds a completely different light on this matter.

Brief your solicitor better than you did AAM.

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It was clear from the original post that she had reported it beforehand, but got no response from the hotel. Not sure where de brudder comes into it???

De brudder's experience means it was experienced by a close relative who reported it to the room occupant, who did not request a change of room.

The whole matter of whether there may be due compensation at all seems to be compromised IMO.

Briefing your solicitor fully is a given.

ONQ.

All advice on AAM is remote from the situation and cannot be relied upon as a defence or support - in and of itself - should legal action be taken.
Competent legal and building professionals should be asked to advise in Real Life with rights to inspect and issue reports on the matters at hand.