Hilton Tampa Airport cancelled a confirmed reservation
My colleague booked a room last week at the Hilton TPA airport through his travel agent, for which he received a confirmation # and a confirmed rate. Room guaranteed for late arrival.
On the day of departure after he left for the airport, his travel agent called to say she had just received a message in her computer saying that they were unable to confirm his reservation. Please note that this is the day he is supposed to arrive and three days after the reservation was already confirmed. I am confident the agent was giving us the correct information, as she printed out a copy of all of the information in her computer and faxed it to us.
The travel agent said she called the hotel directly and was told 1) the hotel was overbooked and they would be walking people, and 2) they had no record of his reservation.
I personally called the hotel myself to make sure the travel agent hadn't messed up and was told the same thing. When I insisted he had a confirmation #, they once again said there was no record of that in their computer, that the hotel was overbooked for the night, and there was nothing they could do. I asked how a confirmed reservation could be cancelled, and they offered no explanation.
The travel agent got my colleague a room at the Marriott instead, so he wasn't stranded, but we were wondering if this had ever happened to anyone else and what compensation would be expected.