"Walked" by hotel -- What is the point of credit card "guarantee"?
Yesterday I (along with several other travelers) was "walked" (denied a hotel room and sent somewhere far away) by the Doubletree Guest Suites Minneapolis from my confirmed and guaranteed reservation which I had made a month in advance.
OK, someone here please help me with this. I understand why airlines overbook. If people don't show up, the airlines lose the revenue associated with lost ticket sales for other people who would have booked those seats. Even with a non-refundable ticket, a no-show passenger can use the value of the ticket toward future flights.
But what about hotels where I have given them a credit card and they tell me, in writing, that my reservation is "guaranteed for late arrival"?? Do I just not understand English, or does the word "guarantee" not mean, you know, guarantee, as in they guarantee my reservation? If they have told me in writing that it is guaranteed, how are they within their legal rights to tell me when I show up for check-in "Oops, sorry, no rooms left"?
If I don't show up, they still get my money because they are authorized to charge my credit card for the night when I didn't show up. I'm going to pay them regardless, so where do they get off bumping me from my downtown hotel reservation to some place 15 miles away in the countryside that is nowhere near where I need to be?
The other thing that infuriates me is that the compensation they offer for this type of situation (paying the first night's hotel charge and giving taxi vouchers for transport to and from the alternate hotel) demonstrates a total ignorance about the needs of business travelers. I am not paying out of pocket for my stay, so I don't care if they cover the first night. I also don't care that they're paying for transport between the hotels and upgrading my room the second night. The last thing I need in a business trip is the extra hassle involved in switching hotels, checking in, unpacking, re-packing, checking out, checking-in, and unpacking again. This kind of compensation does not compensate me in any way for the inconvenience.
If I complain, can I expect anything such as extra HHonors points or a free night's stay somewhere? It seems to me the airlines offer far better compensation for involuntary denied boarding than the worthless compensation (from the perspective of business travelers) hotels give for overbooking.
And finally, is there any way to prevent the hotel from doing this to you when you know you will arrive late? If I call the hotel early on the day of arrival to let them know I am coming and to ask them not to "walk" me, will they hold my room? If, at the time of reservation, I put a note in the record "Please do not walk me if hotel overbooked," will this help??? Does elite status with the hotel's frequent guest program make any difference?
And finally, what does it say about this so-called "service" industry that I have to expend so much time and energy watching my reservations, contacting them, and trying to plead and cajole them into not canceling the room that they supposedly "guaranteed" me?!?
I got walked once, oddly also in Minneapolis and under similar circumstances. When I got to my new room I called the original hotel main 800 number and complained bitterly. The agent arranged that my room for the night was comp'ed. You should be able to get the same. And Seinfeld once said -
"you took the reservation but you failed to hold the reservation"
If they put you up somewhere far away you should complain more and they will probably compensate you somehow. You should very easily be able to get an additional night for free at the Doubletree. Talk to the hotel manager. It's their mess and they benefit plenty from overbooking. I'm sure they'll be willing to accommodate you.
OK, someone here please help me with this. I understand why airlines overbook. If people don't show up, the airlines lose the revenue associated with lost ticket sales for other people who would have booked those seats. Even with a non-refundable ticket, a no-show passenger can use the value of the ticket toward future flights.
I think they "overbook" for the same reasons airlines do.
I can still call most hotels before 4pm the day I was expected and still cancel my reservation.
I am assuming they do it to assure all their rooms will be full.
It does not make it right..I am just saying I would believe this is why they "overbook".
Simple answer is GREED. They are hoping that you do not show up (flights get diverted and cancelled), they can charge you the no show fee, and resell the room. What other business would be able to get away with this?
Did you hear about any follow-up to this powerpoint? I assume the guy submitted it to Hilton executives. Would be interesting to find out what happened as a result of this powerpoint.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bumpme
It's a guarantee for them not you.
Yeppers. The credit card "guarantee" is a guarantee from the guest to the hotel that the guest will pay even if he/she fails to check in. Some hotels take a chance by reselling the room when someone with a reservation has not arrived by a certain time. Worst case is that somebody gets walked. Best case is that the hotel gets paid twice for the same room.
Heck, I've even been walked by a Hampton at an I-95 interchange, to a Choice property next door owned by the same franchisee corporation. I was late arriving, and they had re-sold my room.
Hmm, I wonder if this discussion would point to a benefit to the guest from Hilton's on-line check in?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Analise
Did you hear about any follow-up to this powerpoint? I assume the guy submitted it to Hilton executives. Would be interesting to find out what happened as a result of this powerpoint.
A few of the execs who viewed it are collecting workers' comp due to the injuries suffered when they fell out of their chairs laughing.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bumpme
It's a guarantee for them not you.
Yeah, that's it. And they are still justified in overbooking like an airline. They don't do this so they can bill twice for the same room. They do it because most of their bookings allow for cancellation up to 4-6pm the night of the booking, with no charge. If you cancel your room at 5:59pm, it's not too likely that someone else is going to reserve it or walk in looking for a room that night. So instead of taking zero for that room in such a case they have formulas just like the airlines that predict x number of cancellations will happen, so we can book in x number of extras.
So in the end it's very much like an airline, with similar (perhaps more annoying actually) inconveniences in the times like this when the math prediction is wrong and they have to walk someone.
What should still be "guaranteed" for you, though, is that if one room was left, you had a reservation but hadn't turned up yet, it was past the free cancellation time, and someone else walked in off the street with no reservation and wanted a room, that person would be turned away. In that case, you are correct. The room is already paid for. But if there's one room left and two reservations, and the other reservation gets there before you, well, you get walked.
If you want to know what's happening, there's apparently a girls and boys volleyball tournament. All the Hiltons 50 miles of MSP were sold out for yesterday night. Well, the Marquette was offering rooms if you called them directly for $339 a nt.
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