Rudi, your experience reminds me of an early travel experience I had. It was a last minute business trip and Amex booked me at Sofitel in Brussels. I arrived in Brussels to find that there were two Sofitels. I went to the one by the airport and showed them my travel itinerary which mentioned Sofitel. The reservation people were very friendly and made inquiries at the other hotel also, but said that neither hotel had the reservation, and that both hotels were full. So I made arrangements at another hotel.

A couple of months later I found out that Sofitel had billed my credit card for a no show. I had to go through a lot of trouble to get that charge reversed.