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Old Jan 10, 2019, 5:31 pm
  #7  
writerguyfl
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Fort Lauderdale, FL
Posts: 3,360
Originally Posted by DeirdreTours
The only "solution" offered was that the agent email the Sheraton, explain the situation and ask them to waive cancellation fee. I told the agent that I was uncomfortable with this as the problem was clearly with the website, not the hotel. He was adamant that this was the only possible solution and said I would hear something in 3-5 business days.
I know this doesn't make much sense, but it is basically correct. Although most people assume that the hotel chain is in charge, the truth is that each reservation is "owned" be an individual hotel. That hotel would be the entity that could waive the fee. That true even if the reason behind the error isn't the result of anything that the hotel did (or failed to do).

The reason for this odd situation is the franchise business model. Most hotels are franchises. As a result, the chain doesn't have direct access to the financial systems at individual hotels. (Even corporate-owned hotels would have "firewalls" set up so that no one at the Central Reservations Office or Rewards Program could see the actual transactions.) Basically, the chain can't reverse a charge because they don't have access. That part is up to the hotel.

The only thing that was really wrong here was the insistence that there was only one solution. Technically, there are people at Corporate and Central Reservations that can gain access to financial transactions at hotel. That said, those people would be many levels higher than the agent with which you were speaking. (To be fair, that agent might not even know that those people have that access.) Regardless, those people would not become involved in any problem until the normal procedures are exhausted.

That's my explanation. (For what it's worth, I've worked at both "regular" and corporate-owned hotels as well as at a Central Reservations office.) It's not a very guest-friendly set-up. But, it is what it is. The only way to fix it would be if hotel chains actually owned and operated all their hotels. If that scenario were true, hotel chains would probably be much smaller. Whether that set-up is good or bad for guests depends upon your point of view.
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