TravelBuzz! - Desk claims no rooms, but was able to book by phone?

I think this is the right forum:

My SO is in Florida travelling for business. He pulled into a Best Western (Tavares) to get a room, and was told there were none available. Since I had just pulled it up on Expedia and rooms were showing, and the parking lot was virtually empty, he called me back. I resubmitted the hotel and it was still showing available rooms in all categories. I then went to BestWestern.com, and they also showed available rooms in all catagories....then I called the hotel direct and asked, but was told they had no rooms as he was.

Before I booked online, I called the res. hotline, and sure enough there were a number of rooms available. I was offered a king room, a king suite, a double queen room, or a double queen suite, all smoking or non. That means at *least* 8 rooms available. I booked one on the phone ($.90 cheaper than the web rate after some haggling). He walked in, and the desk clerk snotily said "I told you we have no rooms", to which he replied "the reservation line thinks otherwise" and gave her the confirmation number.

The desk clerk claimed that the 800 number/website have rooms *they* can rent out, that she can't. WHAT? I've *never* heard this one before! In the day and age of instant databases and electronic communications, don't they allow booking either way until the last room is gone? Am I right to assume she was giving him a line of bull trying to cover her butt (she was on what sounded like a personal call both times he walked in, BTW).

My SO says the parking lot and pool areas are virtually empty and it looks like the hotel is less than half full at best...probably closer to 20-30%.

Frustrating....

Am I right to assume she was giving him a line of bull trying to cover her butt (she was on what sounded like a personal call both times he walked in, BTW).

My SO says the parking lot and pool areas are virtually empty and it looks like the hotel is less than half full at best...probably closer to 20-30%.


It could be entertaining to write a note to the property's general manager. :D

is your SO -by any chance- obviously from a non-wasp ethnic group?

i.e wearing chasidic garb- or a dashiki- or mukluks??

do we have a discrimination case here??

isn't tavares red neck heaven??

is your SO -by any chance- obviously from a non-wasp ethnic group?

i.e wearing chasidic garb- or a dashiki- or mukluks??

do we have a discrimination case here??

isn't tavares red neck heaven??

I was going to say no, but, he's part Jewish, has a darker complexion, currently sports a beard, and gets the extra security hassle at the airport, so maybe? He looks waspy in general, though, IMHO.

Nevermind, just spoke to him and the desk clerk was black, so I think we can rule out a redneck situation.

However, he was dressed in Renaissance attire...he was at a Renaissance Faire with his son today:) Maybe that's it LOL

well, that's it then....

she probably thought he was still in his halloween costume

It would be interesting to call the front desk and ask if they have any rooms from an outside line. If they answer yes, come on in, then they didn't want to rent to your friend. If they still say no, then they don't believe they have rooms available.

I've been in positions where the hotel had no rooms, and the internet and reservations people did, usually at lower rates. Never understood why that happens, but it does.

Offering you a bunch of different rooms doesn't mean that they are all available, they could just move people that aren't in yet to a different room. If somebody pays full price for a suite for example, they just don't upgrade somebody who didn't. They could have had only one room left, you can't say because they offered many.

INevermind, just spoke to him and the desk clerk was black, so I think we can rule out a redneck situation.

You rule it out; I wouldn't.

Offering you a bunch of different rooms doesn't mean that they are all available, they could just move people that aren't in yet to a different room. If somebody pays full price for a suite for example, they just don't upgrade somebody who didn't. They could have had only one room left, you can't say because they offered many.

I doubt it...shortly after he checked in I went back to the website, under the number of rooms chose three, and was able to pull up all room categories that way as well. So at a minimum I would have been able to book three rooms...and this was *after* he checked in, so that means at least 4 rooms were not spoken for when he first inquired, right? Unless in that 15 minutes there were a slew of cancellations, which I find unlikely.

This just happened to me on Tuesday. I was at a Wingate and was bored and just messing around on their business center computer and internet. The business center is just off the front desk so I could hear everything going on.

A person came in and asked for a room and was told there were no rooms. I thought this was odd since I had only seen a few people so I went to the website and looked for vacancies. Sure enough I pulled up about 4 different room category rooms that I could reserve. While I was doing that another person came in and asked for a room and was also told they were full. I turned so I could see the person and it was a guy in business attire. So it was not based just on looks.

There was smoking and non-smoking rooms available on the internet, so it would seem like they had at least 2 rooms still open, one of each.

This was also in Florida, so maybe it is just a FL thing?

That's interesting Floir...I do not understand why corporate would 'hold' rooms and not allow the hotel to sell them to walk ins. Perhaps that is the case~I just find it very, very suspicious...

I've had this several times especially with the Intercontinental in Montreal a few years back. No rooms available on their website but plenty through a block booking agent accessed through my local travel agency.

Nothing suspicious, the block agency has paid for the rooms so the Hotel can't release.

Don't be too suspicious. This sort of thing can arise with all sorts of computerised booking system blunders, which can take such a long time to get sorted out.

Maybe the rooms get divided into central booking and walk-in booking. This is done so if the communication is lost between HO and the hotel temporarily (which is surprisingly often) each can work on their own for a while. And the local rooms have all gone now, or they were given zero to start with.

Or maybe the availability is kept in two areas, one for local and one for central. Each can take the other's rooms if required but the clerk hasn't been trained/has forgotten the keystroking needed.

I only mention these as actual hotel IT system glitches I have found.

On the other hand maybe they've had trouble with walk-ins after 9pm, but no problem with reservations, so that's how they choose to do it.

The classic computer system error is with a stock/inventory system where someone comes in to the warehouse for something. "None available". "But I can see it on the shelf there". "Oh no, if the system says there are none I can't issue it to you ....". Etc.

However, he was dressed in Renaissance attire...he was at a Renaissance Faire with his son today:) Maybe that's it LOL
This is a lot more likely than you might think. I never cease to be disapointed by they way I can use a property on business and get a reasonable level of service, then come back to the same property another time for a Science Fiction convention, and get treated like dirt. I mean, I'm the same guy with the same status, but to some hotel staff I'm a respectable man when on business, but a freak and a wierdo when at a con :mad:

One of the things I have learnt from reading Flyertalk is that so often we should not take at face value what people tell us when we travel.

This is yet another great example!! ^

I have also had this happen, at a hotel near Midway. My brother had just book his room via phone 20 minutes before and I went to meet him there. He was driving in from a college in Wisconsin. I showed up and was told no rooms available without even pretending to check, I explained my brother was able to book a room only minutes before and asked the clerk to recheck. There were no cars in the parking lot except my rental car. I called my brother on his cell to make sure I was at the right hotel and he called the reservation line and there was lots of availabilty. So he booked me a room. I went out to an early dinner and came back to check in, hoping to get another desk clerk but not my luck, I did get my room without any hassle and no mention of the previous discussion, but I felt that the person was just lying so they wouldn't have to do the 5 minutes of work to check me in. Maybe your husband just happened to get a lazy person working the desk also.

Maybe the rooms get divided into central booking and walk-in booking. This is done so if the communication is lost between HO and the hotel temporarily (which is surprisingly often) each can work on their own for a while. And the local rooms have all gone now, or they were given zero to start with.


If this is the case, I would hope the front desk would be trained to call the central office that has the rooms available. Or at least tell the person that if he wants to book online, a room is probably open.

Especially for a walkin that occurs later in the evening, I would have to think that very few people would book online for that night, so if there are open rooms online, chances are those rooms will go to waste for the evening if the front desk decides to play "I've got a secret".

There are a lot of people working in hospitality who can't even spell the word, much less know what it means. Some are lazy, some are taking out grievances against their boss by not filling rooms, all kinds of things could be going on. A good desk clerk who honestly can't rent you a room would try to help you find a room close by, make a phone call or two on your behalf, something, anything, to make you remember their chain or their location next time you need a place to lay your head. But, of course, you had the nerve to interrupt her personal telephone call not once, but, twice!

I can think of two legitimate reasons, at a reputable hotel:

1) Third party sites like Expedia sometimes don't use real time numbers for occupancy, so they can show availability when there isn't (obviously not the case here).

2) Sometimes the online reservation system will be locked into a forced overbook because someone forgot to (or intentionally didn't) stop overbooking the property on arrival day. One time this happened to me while I was working the desk and it was a nightmare. We really had no rooms, but kept filling in from the website and the 800 number because we were locked out from preventing it. We eventually figured out how to make it stop. :D

Same thing has happened to me. Called the hotel and was told "no rooms." Then got on the Internet and found plenty of rooms. I booked online and then got into the hotel with no problem.