Online Travel Booking and Bidding Agencies - Help with occupancy in a single hotel room? (S.O. denied entry)

I had a reservation for me and my S.O. at a hotel booked through booking.com (priceline), but we were denied access to our room since we were 2 people, and the reservation was for a single. Does any one know what if anything governs the ability of hotel owners to limit the number of people in a hotel room? The hotel kept the payment since they consider this a cancellation. Am I S.O.L?

To make things slightly more confusion, somewhere in the T&C of priceline, they state "Your rooms are guaranteed for double occupancy. " though I am guessing now they meant this to refer to the name-your-own-price option.

It depends on the hotel and, probably, the country. In the UK hotels charge for the room on the basis of single or double occupancy, but sometimes a single occupancy room will be a double room at a reduced rate. I'd guess they wouldn't be too keen on couples turning up to use such a room when it was booked for single occupancy.

I can't help wondering why you booked a single occupancy room if you were going to stay with your SO? It's hard to think of an innocent explanation and I don't see why you'd be entitled to compensation.

However, if the booking company communicated the wrong information to the hotel then you could expect compensation from the booking company.

What hotel? The priceline.com standard is to book a room for two people... never seen it ever indicate one room.... were you using priceline site outside the US where the rules might be different?

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To the OP - did you offer to pay a suppliment (or did the hotel offer you the option of paying a suppliment) that would have allowed your SO to co-occupy the room?

European hotels commnonly have higher rates for two guests, part of it to do with the cost of the included breakfast, I presume. I can remember staying in European rooms into which two folks of normal dimensions could not have fit (and what was once a "Maid's room" in an old NYC hotel decades ago).

Certainly, for meetings and other group events, major US hotel chains use two tier, Single or Double, prices a majority of the time.

On the other hand, in today's slow market, I'm surprised you were not offered the choice of a modest additional fee for youtr SO to join you. I don't blame the hotel, for you seem to have requesteda "Single".

Please continue to follow this discussion in the Online Booking Forum.
Thanks..
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

"Booking.com" is an on-line reservation service owned by Priceline but it is not the same as Priceline's booking agency, so any issues relate to the site on which the reservation was made and the hotel. The site operates out of the Netherlands, whereas Priceline's epomymous travel sites are based in the US.
When using that site, the reservation clearly indicates the "max persons" for the room.
Here is the information from booking.com's web page:

Booking.com bv
Weteringschans 28-4
1017 SG Amsterdam
Netherlands

CEO:
C.P.H.M. Koolen, CEO

Contact information:
Tel: +31 20 712 5600
Fax: +31 20 712 5609
Email: customer.service@booking.com

Good luck.

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To the OP - did you offer to pay a suppliment (or did the hotel offer you the option of paying a suppliment) that would have allowed your SO to co-occupy the room?
---> I did offer to pay the suppliment once they told me we could not stay in the room. But at that point, they said to switch to a double I would have to continue to pay for the current room as well.


Mr H: I can't help wondering why you booked a single occupancy room if you were going to stay with your SO? It's hard to think of an innocent explanation and I don't see why you'd be entitled to compensation.
--> Because we are cheap :) And we don't mind sharing a bed, especially when its an extra 100 euros a night to do otherwise.

Mr H: I can't help wondering why you booked a single occupancy room if you were going to stay with your SO? It's hard to think of an innocent explanation and I don't see why you'd be entitled to compensation.
--> Because we are cheap :) And we don't mind sharing a bed, especially when its an extra 100 euros a night to do otherwise.

To me, this sounds like a clear mea culpa.

Because we are cheap :) And we don't mind sharing a bed, especially when its an extra 100 euros a night to do otherwise.
I guess you answered your own question. The hotel has to enforce its stated policy. Sometimes you can get away with it - but not by announcing it. Obviously, if you brought a "date" to your room without informing the desk, ignorance would have been its own reward.

In some countries there are well-enforced laws on how many people may occupy a room. Part of this is due to fire codes. There cannot be more people staying in the hotel than allowed by that. Part of it is to protect tourism at other properties in the region. I once stayed at a rather large castle in Italy that probably could have comfortably slept 50. They were licensed for 12 or 14 (I forget) to protect the occupancy at nearby hotels and going over that could result in steep fines for the owner.

I had a reservation for me and my S.O. at a hotel booked through booking.com (priceline), ....and the reservation was for a single. Does any one know what if anything governs the ability of hotel owners to limit the number of people in a hotel room? The hotel kept the payment since they consider this a cancellation. Am I S.O.L?
..


You didn't have a reservation for you and your S.O. You had a reservation for yourself.


--> Because we are cheap :) And we don't mind sharing a bed, especially when its an extra 100 euros a night to do otherwise.

Sounds like you intentionally booked a single, you knew it would cost an extra 100 euros to book a double and you decided to take your chances. You lost.

edited to add the way you worded your OP suggested you made an innocent mistake. That's not the case.

To me, this sounds like a clear mea culpa.

My confusion isn't that I booked a single (we knew we were receiving one bed), but that I thought priceline's policy of permitting double occupancy on all reservations would apply for booking.com. It was my mistake for not realizing booking.com is not the same as priceline.com, though they are part of the same family.

So, mea culpa :). The question is, can anything be done about this? It seems the consensus is no.

I don't claim to know booking.com's policy, but I don't doubt that Priceline would not offer any compensation in a similar situation with them.

My confusion isn't that I booked a single (we knew we were receiving one bed), but that I thought priceline's policy of permitting double occupancy on all reservations would apply for booking.com. It was my mistake for not realizing booking.com is not the same as priceline.com, though they are part of the same family.

So, mea culpa :). The question is, can anything be done about this? It seems the consensus is no.
I wouldn't think there is much to do. When you book through Priceline.com using their bidding option a double room will always be booked but not using their normal booking tool as you can then select room types. The same would apply for booking.com that you see exactly what room type you book. As stated above a single room in many countires mean single occupancy and not
a single bed. I see no reason why you should try to claim anything back. However, I would also avoid staying at that hotel in the future based on their inflexibility.

I am not a fan of priceline as anyone who has read my posts knows; however, it is perfectly clear on their website that a double is booked; i.e., the price is the same, single or double occupancy. In Europe, OTOH, there are many hotels that do book single room - and they do often have 1 twin bed. It is very chancy to assume you could book a single and take someone else along, in essence "sneaking them in." I do not blame the hotel itself at all - someone tried to rip them off, and they caught on.

When I still was a single guy trying to lure innocent ;) women into my room, I mostly booked for double occupancy as usually there´s no price difference. Many, many times at check-in they asked for the other person´s name. What was I going to answer? I don´t know yet? :confused: Most of the time I just said that it was a mistake. Of course I booked single occupancy rooms if there was a price increase of any significance as I was not getting lucky all that often. :D

I don't claim to know booking.com's policy, but I don't doubt that Priceline would not offer any compensation in a similar situation with them.

Oh, I absolutely doubt it. Priceline's NYOP system is very clear: bedding for TWO ADULTS. Any hotel booked through that engine that denies the second adult, or charges more for him/her, would be a violation of that contract. And I am fully confident that PL would, if telephoned at the time of check-in, insist to the hotel that they provide the lodging as arranged. And if you were turned away, I am confident that PL would refund your money.

My experience has been that Priceline's diligence in enforcing the clearly-stated policies goes both ways. YMMV.

(And yes, I recognize that the OP has clearly stated that they did not use PL's NYOP, they used a different engine. My comment above is meant as a response to "shabster", not as further argument with the OP.)