WWYD? Hotel Over booked

[hereyago]

Ok so I haven't had the situation come up before.

So I booked a extend stay hotel a few weeks ago.

I go today and the young lady is like oh we called you(um no cause if you did I wouldn't be here). Someone misdialed.

So there isn't another extend stay I could be "walked" to.
I had to book a regular hotel for a couple days.

The young lady was apologetic assuring me she would have a room for me.
However, I am out money because of it.

TIA

 

[ronandannette]

Ok so I haven't had the situation come up before.
So I booked a extend stay hotel a few weeks ago.
I go today and the young lady is like oh we called you(um no cause if you did I wouldn't be here). Someone misdialed.
So there isn't another extend stay I could be "walked" to.
I had to book a regular hotel for a couple days.
The young lady was apologetic assuring me she would have a room for me.
However, I am out money because of it.

TIA

How? They didn't cancel your reservation AND keep your money did they? Just curious and sorry you had this happen - messed up plans are a real drag.

 

[hereyago]

Thanks.

I didn't have to put a deposit down at booking.

 

[clh2]

I would guess the replacement hotel was (at last minute) was more expensive than the extended stay. OR- at extended stay, there could be a meals cost savings, due to having a fridge, kitchenette etc.

 

[sam_gordon]

Ok so I haven't had the situation come up before.

So I booked a extend stay hotel a few weeks ago.

I go today and the young lady is like oh we called you(um no cause if you did I wouldn't be here). Someone misdialed.

So there isn't another extend stay I could be "walked" to.
I had to book a regular hotel for a couple days.

The young lady was apologetic assuring me she would have a room for me.
However, I am out money because of it.

TIA

I don't understand. Who said you would have a room? The front desk staff today? When would they get you a room?

I think the simple question to ask is "I made a reservation. You don't have a room for me. What are you going to do to "make things right"?" If there only solution is that you're SOL, take your business elsewhere and post on Trip Advisor the facts of what happened.

Acceptable to me would be for them to say "stay somewhere else until we get a room, bring us the receipt, and any extra that you paid we'll discount your room that amount".

 

[hereyago]

I would guess the replacement hotel was (at last minute) was more expensive than the extended stay. OR- at extended stay, there could be a meals cost savings, due to having a fridge, kitchenette etc.

Yes to both.

 

[hereyago]

I don't understand. Who said you would have a room? The front desk staff today? When would they get you a room?

I think the simple question to ask is "I made a reservation. You don't have a room for me. What are you going to do to "make things right"?" If there only solution is that you're SOL, take your business elsewhere and post on Trip Advisor the facts of what happened.

Acceptable to me would be for them to say "stay somewhere else until we get a room, bring us the receipt, and any extra that you paid we'll discount your room that amount".

The young lady at front desk told me that they had overbooked. The manager wasn't there at the moment.

I will have a room Tuesday.

Also, there isn't a selection of extend stay unless I want to drive further away.

 

[ronandannette]

I don't understand. Who said you would have a room? The front desk staff today? When would they get you a room?

I think the simple question to ask is "I made a reservation. You don't have a room for me. What are you going to do to "make things right"?" If there only solution is that you're SOL, take your business elsewhere and post on Trip Advisor the facts of what happened.

Acceptable to me would be for them to say "stay somewhere else until we get a room, bring us the receipt, and any extra that you paid we'll discount your room that amount".

This is very good and as a customer, sometimes you need to specifically describe what remedy you are looking for in any given situation. Nicely, there's no need to be contentious, but going to the highest authority you can reach and making a persuasive request may indeed get you what you want and one certainly has nothing to lose.

 

[jdb in AZ]

We had reservations at a hotel that was overbooked. They offered to pay the difference for a hotel that was actually in a better location for us. When DH called the "new" hotel he was able to wheel and deal a better offer than what the first hotel was willing to subsidize, so the overbooked hotel was off the hook and we saved money.

 

[barkley]

The young lady at front desk told me that they had overbooked. The manager wasn't there at the moment.

i would call their nationwide number and ask them for the compensation as outlined above. just b/c a manager isn't at the individual location doesn't mean this can't be addressed-or at least documentation initiated to start the ball rolling.

if you got an email confirmation of your original reservation you can see if they have any verbiage about room being guaranteed absent a deposit or if that was a risk of reserving under a no deposit rate.

 

[sam_gordon]

Also, there isn't a selection of extend stay unless I want to drive further away.

This doesn't change what I would find acceptable. You still haven't specified how you are "out money". Figure out what would make you satisfied. Obviously a free stay would, but I think that's asking for too much.

 

[Allison]

I would expect a discount equal to the amount of the extra expense and something a bit extra for the inconvenience.

 

[hereyago]

This doesn't change what I would find acceptable. You still haven't specified how you are "out money". Figure out what would make you satisfied. Obviously a free stay would, but I think that's asking for too much.

I had to spend money on a regular hotel that was more expensive then extended stay. It would be the amount I would be staying at extend hotel by like 5 days.

 

[RamblingMad]

Ok so I haven't had the situation come up before.

So I booked a extend stay hotel a few weeks ago.

I go today and the young lady is like oh we called you(um no cause if you did I wouldn't be here). Someone misdialed.

So there isn't another extend stay I could be "walked" to.
I had to book a regular hotel for a couple days.

The young lady was apologetic assuring me she would have a room for me.
However, I am out money because of it.

TIA

Check this out.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/18/business/hotels-overbooked-walking-travel.html

 

[Wishing on a star]

IMHO, the hotel that did not have the room you had reserved should reimburse you for the cost of the interim hotel room.
Best case scenario, they would have called a nearby hotel that they are familiar with and might have worked with to secure your accommodations.
But, since that didn't happen... Not sure how much luck you would have getting anything other than not being charged for the room that they did not have available.

 

[sam_gordon]

I had to spend money on a regular hotel that was more expensive then extended stay. It would be the amount I would be staying at extend hotel by like 5 days.

My next question is who picked the "new" hotel? You, or the clerk at the Extended Stay? If you, you might be SOL on reimbursement unless you cleared it with the ES. I would still ask, but if you went by Hamptons, Holiday Inn Expresses, Courtyards, etc (a "middle level") and found a W, a Marriott, Embassy Suites, etc (a higher level hotel), I could understand the ES not paying for it. Still ask though.

 

[CrankyDad]

Hotel GM here. We overbook all the time to maximize revenue. It we walk you we make sure it is equal or great quality hotel and pay for a ride there if you don’t have one.

We will pick 3rd party reservations all the time to walk. We won’t walk our top reward members.

Part of the business.

Sorry on my iPad so hard to type

 

[focusondisney]

Hotel GM here. We overbook all the time to maximize revenue. It we walk you we make sure it is equal or great quality hotel and pay for a ride there if you don’t have one.

We will pick 3rd party reservations all the time to walk. We won’t walk our top reward members.

Part of the business.

Sorry on my iPad so hard to type

Do you reimburse the customer for the difference in price? I think that’s the big question. The OP booked a stay for $X. Now he is paying $X plus.

My understanding has always been if a hotel walks you, you should only pay what you originally booked for. Anything over that amount was compensated by the original hotel.

 

[ronandannette]

Hotel GM here. We overbook all the time to maximize revenue. It we walk you we make sure it is equal or great quality hotel and pay for a ride there if you don’t have one.

We will pick 3rd party reservations all the time to walk. We won’t walk our top reward members.

Part of the business.

Sorry on my iPad so hard to type

Just for my own information, I presume this means bookings done through on-line sites like Expedia? We book almost all our accommodations that way. Does your hotel bump reservations that are 100% pre-paid to the travel site? If so, at what point does it become Expedia's problem to deal with? I'm asking so I know what to expect if something like this ever happens to us (which it hasn't in over 20 years of on-lint travel planning). TIA

 

[CrankyDad]

The guest should never pay more. If I was charging $200 for the room we walked in the hotel that you were being sent to was $250 I cover the difference. That hotel bills me the difference

If it is a case where we want to make everything go extra smooth then I will walk the guest and pay everything and the receiving hotel just bills me the whole thing

Regarding third-party like Expedia they are easier to walk. The guest does not know our rate and we can pass you off to pretty much any hotel that has room and then that guest pass to take it up with Expedia

Remember you may pay Expedia $175 but the hotel is only maybe getting $125 so I will over book for a direct booked guest who is paying the same rate but I get more room revenue and then we can drop the third party guest off at another hotel

3rd party sites are not ideal for hotel. Sort of a necessary evil that you put up with to get some base occupancy