Warmans Barn

I strongly suggest you not book accommodation here. The experience we had raises several issues. Not least being that they advertise as being accessible to Stanstead Airport, therefore are selling themselves as a stopover for travellers. Therefore anyone who flies is at risk of being in a similar position to ourselves, as outlined below. If any flight is delayed and you cannot for reasons beyond your control arrive before 10.30 you will be refused access, charged a no show fee and be out on the streets late at night, no discussion allowed.

We had booked on 18th September for a stay on 8th October, at the time of booking we asked for information about access to the property out of checking in hours.

Under the heading Special Requests, I wrote, “ Because of late arrival we need to know if you have self check in facilities. Arriving late 8th October to early 9th October – Flight = Ryan Air FR4967 due to arrive at 22.55. We have meet and Greet Parking so should not be significantly delayed if flight is on time. PLEASE E MAIL RESPONSE TO ______ . Thank you."

We received no information from them about how to do this so naively assumed that there would be no difficulty.

On arriving back at Stanstead at 10.30pm when my roaming switched back on, they had sent an e mail the day before we arrived back in the country (19 days after we requested the information from them) saying that they could not allow our access after 10.30pm. They were also going to charge us for “no show”.

From:

Add to: To Do, Calendar

To:

Date:

Tue, 7 Oct 2014 11:52

Good morning

In response to Your message I must inform You that check-in is only available within 18:00-22:30. If that's impossible for You to meet please cancel as soon as You can (before 18:00 today 7-10-2014) to avoid cancellation fee."

Note that this appears to have been put into a To Do calendar instead of providing an immediate response, or am I being cynical?

As there was a 24 hour telephone help line we decided to drive to the property to speak to the reception. Despite there being other guests accessing the property (they were walking in and out as we arrived, presumably from the pub), a barrier prevented our entering with our car. We rang the number provided and the phone was answered immediately so someone was on reception/available who could have allowed us entry. We tried to explain what had happened regarding their lack of communication with us leading us to believe there was not a problem. They said that we had accepted their terms and conditions and flatly refused entry, hanging up the phone on us.

We rang Booking.com who tried to act on our behalf but they received no satisfaction either, and the staff at the accommodation were reported as being very unhelpful, even with them.

As we live almost 300 miles north of the airport we decided to try to find accommodation en route to the A1. By now it was midnight our only real options were to try chains at or near the A1, which we did. Whilst I cannot hold the establishment liable for the fact that no other beds were available because of events taking place at or around the A1 which resulted in every hotel between Stanstead and Doncaster being fully booked, I do hold them responsible for our being put in the position of needing to find accommodation. Finally, we found a bed at 3.45 am in the centre of Doncaster.

I notice that they have strengthened the wording in relation to access since we booked.

My advice – steer clear!!!