BobRoss

I agree. Every hotel chain - perhaps down to the given property - likely has different business rules that decide whether or not a voucher will be accepted. A "no more voucher" situation sucks, but is probably a non-trivial, if even solvable, problem for every airline.

Sure, the solution is to get every hotel to always accept a voucher, but it's probably not cost-effective to have that kind of relationship (likely it costs a lot more) for this corner-case.

Delta has done the math, and the occasional oversell apparently is not as expensive as the eventual customer service recovery.

socrates

Was this bash really called for? It's not as if the city doesn't have enough issues of their own without the help of folks like yourself but to help you with your travels in the future Detroit Metro/Wayne County Airport isn't located in the city itself, it's located about 25 miles SW of the city limites (DET is located inside the city) - the metro area while one of the hardest hit during the recent downturn still has a strong economy which is making a comeback....I'm certain with as many flights cancelled as there were that the hotels near the airport would be sold out (and just for added note: the airport authority did report they were fully operational during the storm, the reasons for cancellations were not weather related at DTW but operational issues elsewhere in the system)

socrates

They are limited by airline - but hotels have been known to change the allocation limit on DL too

socrates

Sorry but DL does have contracts with hotels to provide rooms to them at discounted prices, the price is set but the number of rooms is subject to what the hotel wants to give...if the hotel said DL you have 50, then DL enteres 50 for hotel X into their database and prints out 50 vouchers to 50 PNR's...now agents can forcesell (or at least they could in the past) and print out 51 if they wish but the hotel has said DL only had 50 (on the other hand the hotel might call DL back later and say opps, we made a mistake, you only have 40....)

socrates

You dont know that - you dont know who changed what...either party could have been at fault here

socrates

well I'm on the other side of the table and know how it works first hand....and to be 100% accurate you'd need to add that most of the airlines these days use an intermediary to handle hotel rooms for pax (and it's becoming more and more common for crew needs too)

socrates

Sorry but each airline does have a contract amount - or some intermediaries will have a contracted amount and allocate out to individual airlines - eitherway the airlines have a specific inventory from which to work

Anyone wanting more information should contact "Airport Accomodations" - I'm certain many of you have spoken to their call center agents many times over the years

socrates

that is exactly how the system works (except the airline agent shouldn't need to call except in extreme situations)

edscholl

you're telling me that delta has a guaranteed, contracted number of rooms blocked at their discounted rate? that makes no sense whatsoever.

rrz518

It varies by the day.

Speaking as a (former) front office manager at an airport hotel at EWR, it goes like this:

The affected airline calls the hotel to secure a quantity of rooms, for any number of reasons. At EWR it happened pretty much every day.

The amount of rooms is based purely on the airlines needs, coupled with the hotels availability.

So, if CO (for example) calls, and wants 75 rooms, you make 75 reservations. Usually, < 75 rooms arrives, and the airline pays for the full amount contracted, and the hotel has some no shows (that helps offset the low rate). Sometimes, > 75 rooms arrive, and you either accomodate or you don't. It's usually the former, not the latter, but both scenarios happen.

They call for weather reasons, international flight misconnects, you name it. Believe me, though, you do NOT want to antagonize that relationship, as your hotel can start the day empty and end up full. So you do want to be as helpful as possible.

However, there may be arrangements by which the hotel/airline have a fixed amount per day, but the same applies.

rrz518

That's why I laid out numerous bullet points and scenarios, you've only quoted me for the one.....by NOT honoring the voucher, it was clearly the hotels decision, for better or worse. But, as I noted in the point following this comment, the airline could have overbooked their allottment, walk ins, etc.......

socrates

as someone who's been in the hotel industry for decades I'm telling you DL contacts their intermediary and says "hey there's weather today, we'll need extra rooms" (the intermediary has history and knows on a typical day how many rooms they are looking for, they continue to monitor the block and are in constant contact on bad IRROPS days with the DL station contact thoughout the day)...the intermediary reaches out to the hotels DL has a contract with and see's how many rooms the hotel is willing to give DL (no different than you calling and saying you're having a family reunion and want a block of rooms for your relatives, hotels do this all the time, heck even DL holds inventory for groups) - I'm not sure why this doesn't make sense to you, DL doesn't guarantee payment if the room isn't used and the hotel is able to change the block of rooms at anytime as well....now now where did I say DL had a contracted amount of rooms....only that they had a contracted rate - there is a big difference, crew blocks (including training blocks) are the only thing that is guaranteed

socrates

the big difference between the way CO does it and the way NW did and DL currently does it is CO provides a onetime use MasterCard on the voucher so the hotel KNOWS they will get paid immediately - I've been known to cut airlines off in the past (sometimes it's the only way to get the station managers attention)

socrates

ah sorry - guess we're on the same page

MikeMpls

What good is paying their bills if their vouchers aren't accepted?