Originally Posted by gengar

You're going to have to do a lot better if you want to declare my argument invalid.

First off, note that the airline case isn't absolute - buying a refundable ticket only means a full deposit has been given.

If you want to play contracts, then note that all airline CoC's I'm aware of have stipulations for oversell situations. So your statement of default as far as airlines (and any hotels) that have those clauses is incorrect.

Even if there is no oversell clause in the contract, there have to be actual damages in order to exist liability. It isn't good enough that a contract was broken if there are no damages. This is why the industry standard minimum for walk situations is walking to a comparable hotel and paying for transportation, because that's the damage caused. In the luxury properties I mentioned above, that's why the standard minimum was walking and a full refund, not only to go way above and beyond on any possible damage/inconvenience caused to the guest, but also a goodwill gesture for the mess.

And we can go on and on about "greed" and wanting to increase revenue, but the simple reality is that in a competitive marketplace, that is what lowers prices for all of us. The irony here is that hotels would MUCH rather have all reservations be nonrefundable, but it is customers who demand flexibility and that's why refundable fares exist.

Finally, even if your desire is to refuse to patronize hospitality companies that oversell, you still have options. B6, for example, has a no-oversell policy. Many luxury properties won't oversell and you can certainly inquire if they do - although, as I pointed out already, a no-oversell policy doesn't mean that oversold situations won't happen. If the property is at 100% occ and a guest wants to extend his stay and refuses to leave, management is left in a very tough position; sure, they can Dr. Dao the guy, but walking someone else is certainly a better and easier option than getting the police involved and the horrible press that will ensue. And ironically, it's very difficult for restaurants not to oversell, simply because it's impossible to know how long patrons are going to take - I mean, have you ever showed up for your X p.m. dinner reservation and you're made to wait 10 minutes? I guess you blow a gasket because they oversold.

Yes, in a utopian perfect world, there wouldn't be overbooking and few people would cheer the practice in a vacuum. But there are reasons for it and consumers as a whole do realize benefits from the practice, even if they aren't obvious to you.