TransWorldOne

Speaking from my industry experience, it is not expensive per se (unless during a time period of very high citywide demand/special events). The expensive part is the loss of customer goodwill. A smart hotel has agreements in place with a few alternative hotels (at a preferred rate). The extra revenue realized from the overbookings should more than cover this occassional expense.

Sweet Willie

That maybe true julize, but Beckles brings up a very valid point about the industry and why, unfortunately, walking occurs.

I have been fortunate in 8 years of heavy traveling to not have been walked once.

I do believe that if you are an elite level w/the hotel and you are walked, some sort of "apology gift" be given, such as $ or % off next stay (w/the stay still counting to status).

cecelia

This happened to our family once at a Radisson property in Chicago. We needed and had requested late check in and two double beds. When we got there they had no rooms with double beds and no more rollaways.

They upgraded us to a beautiful, huge one bedroom suite and let us stay there for both nights of our stay.

ClueByFour

One would think that the big hotel chains would do everything possible not to walk an elite, on the theory that it would really destroy goodwill in a presumably lucrative relationship.

Just pull out a copy of the "Yours is a very bad hotel" powerpoint and start revisions in the lobby to avoid being walked.... .

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Saving the world, one clue at a time.

pinniped

I don't have a problem with what the airlines do regarding overbooking. I've volunteered many times to be bumped off a flight for vouchers or whatever. In 99% of the cases, airlines can use volunteers to get their plane down to 100% from 110% full with no problems. When they can't, there are specific laws about involuntarily denying boarding. Usually everyone walks away from the situation happy (including the guy who "walked" with vouchers or whatever).

My problem with hotels is that there are no real rules about how they walk people and in a vast majority of the cases, the guy who gets walked is VERY p*ssed about it, for good reason. I know taking volunteers all day at the front desk is infeasible because people can cancel until 6PM, but at 6:01PM, the hotel should know whether it is in a seriously-overbooked situation. At that point, they should have defined processes that kick in which *should* be able to include offering mid-evening arrivals an alternate hotel plus compensation. As much as I hate legislation for these types of things, they do it for the airlines and if hotels can't handle the situation themselves, maybe they should regulate them as well.

Last thought, however: if you think hotels are bad: wait until your rental car company tries to walk you. They REALLY don't care about your needs or your reservation. And just try to squeeze $25 out of a rental car company.

biztrlr

Three years ago I got "walked" by the Sacramento Hilton Arden West to the nearby Sacramento DoubleTree. A blessing in disguise, a much nicer hotel in every respect. Since then I have stayed at Sacto DoubleTree at least two dozen times.

[This message has been edited by biztrlr (edited 11-18-2002).]

MIKEM

You da man! I'm going to remember this technique.

keeton

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this, but the mere fact that hotels overbook because of expected no-shows and THEN have the nerve to charge a nights stay as a no-show fee bothers me.

If a hotel thinks they can double-dip, then they deserve any penalties that are levied on them. This has happened to me twice at Marriott properties, and I am a few hundred richer for it. Not that I was out to earn it, mind you, and the alternate accomodations were either crappy or inconvenient but Marriott makes it relatively painful for the property (the actual hotel has to pay the perks) if they have to walk an elite member.

Middle_Seat

Back to the beginning with a newbie question...does this refer to a situation where you've given the hotel your credit card number with the expectation that you will be charged whether or not you show up, and when you arrive there is no room??

Beckles

The solution is worse than the problem ...

Let's say a hotel offered you two rates for a given night you wanted to stay there:

$100/night - We may overbook the hotel and we may have to walk you, in which case your room at the hotel we walk you to is on us.

$110/night - You are guaranteed a room

I know which one I'd pick 100 times out of 99 reservations ...

Overbooking is in everyone's best interest in my opinion ...

Sweet Willie

I believe so.

hhonorman

Beckles,
I understand your point, that being walked and not charged for the new room, but most "walks" occur when a guest arrives very late. If you have no early appointments the next day and don't have to wake up early, then getting walked to a free room would not be such a bad thing, but if you've been traveling all day, are exhuasted and finally arrive at the hotel ready to crash for the night only to find out that your "guaranteed" reservation is gone, you might be a bit miffed; especially when you realize that it will likely be another hour or so by the time you get to the new hotel and check in. I agree with you that if the new room were free and I didn't have to get up early the next morning, I'd probably not mind so much either, but in just about any other scenario, getting walked is a drag and a big hassle which should be compensated accordingly. My suggestion would be a voucher for a future free night, good systemwide.

amanuensis

And of course the person being "walked" really isn't benefiting from getting a free room if his employer was going to pay for the room anyway. He or she is forced to waste his or her time going somewhere else for no benefit (unless the new hotel is much nicer than the old one). I do think that cash compensation should be paid, in addition to a free room elsewhere, particularly since hotels have their cake and eat it too by overbooking and yet still charge no shows a fee.

Dugernaut

Not really a "walk" story, but last week I checked into the Hampton Inn & Suites in Buffalo as a Diamond and asked about an upgrade. I booked the cheapest rate available. I was told they were sold out and given the usual spiel about satisfaction guarantee and told my hampton touch was already sent to my room.
Parked the car and lugged the luggage up to the room, and there is an ozone machine blasting and the room smells like dead raccoons. I called down to the front desk and told them about the raccoons and asked to switch. Same girl that checked me in said " I already told you we are sold out."

Since I'm getting somewhat smarter in my old age, I counted silently to 3 and politely asked for the hotel manager. ( In my youth I would have just yelled something inappropriate about where they could put the racoon) She put me on hold for several minutes, while I put the phone on speaker and started looking for the raccoon. Never found the corpse. She came back on and said that if I waited a few minutes they would move me to another room. Fine. End of story I spent the night in a very nice, very large one bedroom suite with a jacuzzi and a nice note from the manager apologizing for the inconvenience.

I have stayed at this hotel at least 30 times in the last two years, and I have yet to see a familiar face behind the desk. contrast that to the Homewood in Rochester, where I walk in and they welcome me by name and hand me my folio.

hhonorman

Don't you just hate it when you're lied to.