Help, Lost in Translation with a Hotel Reservation
 

Greetings

In a moment of naivete, I booked us a hotel over a spring festival at a major hotel. I used their on-line booking to make the reservation.

I booked a triple room for 2, because that was considerably cheaper than booking a twin room for 2 (no idea why, but that was the posted rate.)

Then I decided to change our stay to arriving one day earlier. Went to website to find that the triple rooms were listed as gone for those dates. Went on line and performed 'modify my reservation' of my existing reservation and the on-line engine allowed me to book a triple room at the same rate for the new dates. My reservation confirmation of my 'modified reservation' duly came in the email, but of course, it was automatic.

Now, here's the thing. I can't be sure if I should risk 'believing' the website modification of my reservation. If we arrive during that festival and the hotel has overbooked, I am S.O.O.L. Hotels are already booking in full during those dates, even though we're several months out.

So, I decided to send them an email. I tried to keep things simple, since I was communicating in English. Basically, I wanted them to check my reservation. But in point of fact, the concept I'm trying to get across is fairly complex: I want to keep the reservation (please don't cancel it!) but what I'm trying to establish is, do I in fact have a triple room for two at the old rate for the new dates, or should I rebook a twin room at the higher rates. Although some months out, many hotels are already fully booked, so I can't afford to screw around. On the other hand, it's a lot more money if I don't have to do this.

I realize you guys can't read the minds of Japanese hotel booking clerks, but what should I do? I thought of using an on-line translator, but my experience of those things is that they can garble messages terribly so I figured I'd just try in English. It is a major hotel, with a well-written English website, but I'm still sweating it.

Any ideas?

Stick to English. They can pass it around to someone that understands it, but if you use an online translator and it botches the meaning, there's no hope. Also, don't confuse the situation with the "old rate", "old dates", etc: Keep it as simple as possible, and ask simply that they confirm that you have a confirmed reservation for X type of room for N people for Y dates and Z price. Leave the history out of it.

Agree with the above. Don't rehash the long, tedious story. Just ask for confirmation of your reservation details. Most large hotels have English-speaking staff so they will understand your request.

Are you sure that the rate you are working with is the full rate for the room, and not the per person rate for the room? Because that's the only logical reason that I can think of for a triple to "appear" cheaper than a double....

Yes, I'm 99 per cent sure because if I enter the number of adults as 3, the charge is higher. Plus my confirmation is 'room rate' and the number of adults listed as 2. But thank you for the warning.

I now notice that for so-called twin rooms, the system will accept for 1-3 adults (but not 4).

Since it's important, I would call them directly. Hopefully someone is around who can speak English well enough to give you the information.

I would actually avoid calling. Japanese are far better at written English than verbal...especially over the telephone with no visual clues to work with.

+1 to that.

Thanks all for your interest. I solved the problem by searching on my dates separately. Triple room wasn't gone for my 'new' date, only for the date that I'm keeping (and so no problem.)