I booked the Tower Bridge Travelodge in Jan for the night before this year's FLM. When I turned up, they had overbooked and had no room for me. The manger confirmed it is policy to overbook to ensure they maximise occupancy.
Of course, London was full, and the only room they had was in Ilford, which I had no choice but to take. No refund, no discount, no apology. Had to get up a whole hour earlier and had a sh!te evening and morning before the race.
Eventually got a £25 discount voucher via email, as if I'm going to spend any more money on them to redeem it!
Just a suggestion as per my previous post I ran last year and we organised our own accomodation and found a really good Halls of residence at Roseberry Hall - near the Sadlers Wells Theatre.. Total cost £52 for two of us for one night including breakfast next morning! Iand they have have baggage room set aside to leave your gear in !
I've entered in the ballot and I rang up to check that all my previous rejections (I have 5 so am hoping for automatic entry) had been logged as I thought the first might have been made under my pre-married name - only to find that they had 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2009, but no record of me applying in 2007
Luckily I have kept all my rejection slips - but are these sufficient proof - they seem pretty generic to me - only one year has my actual name and address printed on it (and it's not 2007!) - the rest could belong to anyone...
Has anyone had something similar happen, and did you manage to get in?
When I applied in 2005 I had five years worth of rejections but they wrote and said they couldn't find me listed for one of the years. I gave them all my addresses but they still couldn't find me. In desperation I sent them a photocopy of the cheque stub saying "London Marathon entry" and the relevant bank statement showing the cheque clearing for the entry fee amount (I had bequeathed). It stil wasn't enough so I sent them every address I could possibly have used for that year and bingo, I'd used my parents address so they finally accepted that, and I got my guaranteed place. It was a little stressful and I know they have their rules but it's a shame they didn't feel like they could say "is it possible for you to prove that your address for that year could have been 1 Tottenham Court Road?" So I'd suggest listing every possible name and/or address that you might possibly have applied under.
OMG I had better be prepared if i dont get in 2010 and have to prove my entries - think i kept a list of which addresses i applied for each year as i have moved 4 times in last 5 years and not sure if i used my parents for one of the years!!
Not sure the generic slips from the rejection magazine are sufficient - i kept a couple and wrote the year on it as it didnt even state which year it was for.
Hopefully i will get in this year as my friend who 'i will never run a marathon' has just entered Amsterdam - slightly peeved as she has never shown any interest over past 4 years and she has to do everything first and better than anyone .
Comments
Just a comment re hotels:
DONT STAY AT TRAVELODGE!
I booked the Tower Bridge Travelodge in Jan for the night before this year's FLM. When I turned up, they had overbooked and had no room for me. The manger confirmed it is policy to overbook to ensure they maximise occupancy.
Of course, London was full, and the only room they had was in Ilford, which I had no choice but to take. No refund, no discount, no apology. Had to get up a whole hour earlier and had a sh!te evening and morning before the race.
Eventually got a £25 discount voucher via email, as if I'm going to spend any more money on them to redeem it!
Hi again!
Just a suggestion as per my previous post I ran last year and we organised our own accomodation and found a really good Halls of residence at Roseberry Hall - near the Sadlers Wells Theatre.. Total cost £52 for two of us for one night including breakfast next morning! Iand they have have baggage room set aside to leave your gear in !
I've entered in the ballot and I rang up to check that all my previous rejections (I have 5 so am hoping for automatic entry) had been logged as I thought the first might have been made under my pre-married name - only to find that they had 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2009, but no record of me applying in 2007
Luckily I have kept all my rejection slips - but are these sufficient proof - they seem pretty generic to me - only one year has my actual name and address printed on it (and it's not 2007!) - the rest could belong to anyone...
Has anyone had something similar happen, and did you manage to get in?
Running Monkey...
When I applied in 2005 I had five years worth of rejections but they wrote and said they couldn't find me listed for one of the years. I gave them all my addresses but they still couldn't find me. In desperation I sent them a photocopy of the cheque stub saying "London Marathon entry" and the relevant bank statement showing the cheque clearing for the entry fee amount (I had bequeathed). It stil wasn't enough so I sent them every address I could possibly have used for that year and bingo, I'd used my parents address so they finally accepted that, and I got my guaranteed place. It was a little stressful and I know they have their rules but it's a shame they didn't feel like they could say "is it possible for you to prove that your address for that year could have been 1 Tottenham Court Road?" So I'd suggest listing every possible name and/or address that you might possibly have applied under.
Good luck!
OMG I had better be prepared if i dont get in 2010 and have to prove my entries - think i kept a list of which addresses i applied for each year as i have moved 4 times in last 5 years and not sure if i used my parents for one of the years!!
Not sure the generic slips from the rejection magazine are sufficient - i kept a couple and wrote the year on it as it didnt even state which year it was for.
Hopefully i will get in this year as my friend who 'i will never run a marathon' has just entered Amsterdam - slightly peeved as she has never shown any interest over past 4 years and she has to do everything first and better than anyone .