matthewsf

I booked multiple (consecutive single) night stays for a hotel here in NYC via a 'normal' (not-opaque) 3rd party booking channel (e.g. hotels.com, booking.com). There was a major technical mess up: the hotel showed my res. for 2017 not 2016. The booking website and my confirmation shows it correctly, so they say someone at the hotel may have manually imputed it incorrectly into their system. This actually happened on 3/4 reservation nights. Even if it was the hotels fault, that's between them and the online channel; I made the res. with the booking website.

Since the hotel was sold out, I would have to walk to another property and the booking engine would cover the difference. But NYC was SOLD OUT. So from the time I arrived to the property at 11:30 pm SAT, through multiple calls to customer service (30 & 40+ minute calls on hold and even disconnected by them twice) where the booking site couldn't find a room for me anywhere, we finally concluded our conversation at 2:30 AM SUN that there was no place for me to go. When they asked what I would want for compensation (I said they owe me something), I said I would have to think about it as I was pretty pissed having flown across the country that day/night only to be without a room. In essence, I was left to fend for my self for the rest of the early morning hours.

So I will have to follow up with the booking site to ask for appropriate compensation for not having a room for the night. I had no out of pocket b/c I couldn't go anywhere so it's purely for the inconvenience of having no place to stay. Not sure whether other factors like the fact that I flew across the country to attend a work trade show on Sunday makes a difference (e.g. no sleep; no shower). I appreciate thoughts and feedback on what is reasonable to ask for. I'll need to follow up with the travel site to ask for something since the reservation was with them. thanks.

Often1

What was the website? You've given us two different names. What was the name of the property?

Part of the purpose of FT is so that others here can watch out for pitfalls. Without that information from you, we're all left in the dark.

Doc Savage

I suspect that the year "mistake" occurred because New York was sold out. I suspect your room went for a premium price.

I'd ask for at least one of your nights free in addition to refund of the missed night's charge.

Let the agency fight it out with the sleazy hotel.

matthewsf

Often1-I just used those as examples...it could have been any of the big booking sites like orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity. (Just wanted to point out it wasn't a name-your-own-price). The hotel is a small, local, independent property; not a national chain/brand. Because I don't know all the facts as it relates to the back-end processing of the reservations and whose really at fault, I don't want to identify them just yet to not bring about any negative publicity if it's not warranted.

DocSavage-there is actually no refund due for a missed night charge since the reservation for the night in question (as the hotel sees it) is for June 25, 2017, and not 2016, so I can still cancel that. ). And I don't believe the mistake was due to them selling it out at a high rate since tonight's (Sunday) reservation was correct, but Monday's went back to being an error year.

There are definetely some facts that I don't know about as it relates to who and how they process and upload reservations in their respective systems. Unfortunately, the people at the front desk during the weekend only see what's in their system no matter what the booking site tells them, and as such can't do anything about it, especially since the property was sold out. That management person returns on Monday.

Doc Savage

There aren't many hotels that allow booking over a year in advance. Still seems awfully convenient for the hotel on such a busy night, but if you know the place and are willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, OK.

Hope you get some good rest tonight.

Safe travels!

Tracer_SEA

Sorry to hear your story, OP

Where did you end up staying, and how did you ultimately find it? (I was wondering if you checked HotelTonight)

The one time I was walked from a hotel was in LA and the town was similarly slammed. I finally talked my way into an "Accessible Room" at the Renaissance about a mile away which they didn't want to give me at first, but finally agreed that since it was 1am, it was unlikely they were going to have a walk-in disabled customer at that hour. The hotel that overbooked me paid for the cost of the Renaissance room, and threw me a few goodwill bonus points.

Often1

The problem with the secret squirrel act in not identifying the booking site or the property is that others don't know what to avoid. In addition, if others have had poor experiences, they can't put 2-and-2 together. Maybe the property is a bunch of crooks because 19 other people have had poor experiences. Maybe this was an IT glitch.

Why should people here help you with advice if you won't help them by protecting them from what may be a bunch of crooks (or not) and letting them make their own decision.

Non-NonRev

To me, the room availability at a non-chain property within a sold-out convention period should have raised several red flags.

Addressing just that aspect, it seems fairly clear that ths hotel deliberately overbooked, hoping that subsequent cancellations would let them honor the booking. Obviously that did not happen.

The use of a third party site to accomplish the booking further suggests deception on the hotel's part.

Then, the dating to 2017 goes even further into the realm of deception, if not outright fraud.

OP, did you not capture screen images of your confirmations on the third-party site? How far ahead of your arrival in New York did you book?

OP, you really do need to identify the specific details in this incident.

I think the third party site was unwittingly used by the hotel.

Doc Savage

OP has confirmation emails with the 2016 dates.

What hotels even book over a year ahead? Not many, IME.

I definitely suspect shenanigans.