Crazy mysterious booking on my Bonvoy account
Apr 24, 2019, 7:15 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 89
Crazy mysterious booking on my Bonvoy account
Just wanted to share with the FT community, a kinda crazy thing that happened to me a couple weeks ago with my Bonvoy account. I am at home here in the states on Sunday morning and upon waking up I get a notification from Marriott to check in for my room in London that night for four nights. What? I called Marriott Bonvoy (I;ve been a Platinum/Gold member for the better part of two decades) and relayed that this is not me - that I played no role in originating it and please cancel - I was informed that it originated the night before with a travel agent in Spain - I confirmed clearly I have no connection to this (I reserve directly with the app) and I was advised to change my password and get a PIN and to contact the Marriott Rewards credit card center to have my number reissued. Within 15 minutes I had an email confirming cancellation of the reservation. That is until mid- afternoon, when the reservation mysteriously returned sans the cancellation number. Over the course of the next 24 hours I made several more calls to the center in which they opened a "file" but they shared their communication with hotel was unresponsive - and they couldn't act without hearing from them I tried contacting the hotel by phone directly myself but a combination of an unanswered phone and the system being down continued the mystery. I had success finally by communicating via chat (on the reservation that I didn't make) - I learned that someone was indeed checked in under my name. They relayed they disabled the key card and would investigate. Later that evening I finally found out what was going on - someone who had the same name as me had made the reservation and "the system" had somehow conflated my account with his reservation. I had never heard of that.
So I just wanted to ask one of the most well informed communities in social media - whether this experience mixing up names with others' accounts is more commonplace than I was aware.
So I just wanted to ask one of the most well informed communities in social media - whether this experience mixing up names with others' accounts is more commonplace than I was aware.
Apr 24, 2019, 7:29 pm
#2
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 100,413
I suspect that some of this happens when the other person can't remember their account number and the agent looking it up is careless and takes the first number they find that seemingly matches the name. Depending on the name, it can be better to search by zip code or something else.
Apr 24, 2019, 7:46 pm
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Tokyo
Programs: JAL Metal Card (OWE), SAS Eurobonus Gold (*G), Marriott Titanium (LTP), Tokyu Hotels Platinum
Posts: 21,169
Ghost stays.
It happens from time to time. I have had it happen a couple of times, though long time ago. For me it seemed to be hotels I had stayed at before, where someone with my name booked, and the hotel assumed i was returning. First time I panicked a bit, and called to cancel and check etc. Later, as I could see the last numbers of the credit card in the booking, and it was not mine, it just left it.
There are other threads on this topic
It happens from time to time. I have had it happen a couple of times, though long time ago. For me it seemed to be hotels I had stayed at before, where someone with my name booked, and the hotel assumed i was returning. First time I panicked a bit, and called to cancel and check etc. Later, as I could see the last numbers of the credit card in the booking, and it was not mine, it just left it.
There are other threads on this topic
Last edited by CPH-Flyer; Apr 24, 2019 at 9:04 pm
Apr 24, 2019, 9:06 pm
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Tokyo
Programs: JAL Metal Card (OWE), SAS Eurobonus Gold (*G), Marriott Titanium (LTP), Tokyu Hotels Platinum
Posts: 21,169
Apr 24, 2019, 9:17 pm
#6
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Everywhere
Programs: AA EXP - 3.7MM, Bonv LIFETIME Titan, HH Dmd, Hyatt Glob., Priority Clb Dmd, Ntnl Exec El., Sixt PLT
Posts: 1,680
Several years ago I had couple emails from hotels in Europe about my upcoming stays because a person with the same last name was staying in SPG hotels I have visited before. I never got the points....
Apr 25, 2019, 8:10 am
#8
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 100,413
I'd worry that the night credits could be removed later, for instance if the real guest tried to request missing points for the stay.
Apr 25, 2019, 8:29 am
#10
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: SFO
Programs: Marriott Ti/LTP
Posts: 1,329
I just had the experience of a phantom reservation showing up minutes after I spoke with a phone agent. No real surprise how that one happened... A second call in got that sorted out and I think they even tried to correct the booking to be under the right account. Don’t know how successful that was though.
Apr 25, 2019, 12:17 pm
#11
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: DTW
Programs: DL 2MM, Marriott LTT, Hilton Gold, United Silver
Posts: 223
When this happened to me a few years back (also a hotel in London - one where I had stayed previously), I took the same approach and called to find out. Someone with the same name as I, which is definitely not an uncommon name, had booked a room and had not provided a MR number. For some reason, the system added mine to the reservation. The Marriott rep indicated that it looked like a legitimate reservation that had my number inadvertently added to it. It disappeared, only to come back the next day.
The reservation information posted to my account had enough information on it for me to track down the person who actually made it - what privacy protection?? - which took about five minutes using a search of publicly available information. We traded e-mails, with the other person being as confused about what happened as I was. Both of us called Marriott again to correct the situation, but the reservation remained on my account up to the time of the stay.
I also followed up afterwards to satisfy my curiosity - they (it was an anniversary trip, as I recall) did not receive any of my Platinum benefits. I did not receive any credit for their stay.
The reservation information posted to my account had enough information on it for me to track down the person who actually made it - what privacy protection?? - which took about five minutes using a search of publicly available information. We traded e-mails, with the other person being as confused about what happened as I was. Both of us called Marriott again to correct the situation, but the reservation remained on my account up to the time of the stay.
I also followed up afterwards to satisfy my curiosity - they (it was an anniversary trip, as I recall) did not receive any of my Platinum benefits. I did not receive any credit for their stay.
Apr 26, 2019, 4:48 am
#13
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 97
I once checked out of a Marriott hotel in the UK and when I got my invoice I noticed that it was my name but a different address. I queried it with the front desk agent and she confirmed that a guest with the same name was staying in the hotel that night and she checked out the wrong one.
I then made my way to the airport and tried to get the airline to move me to an earlier flight. The agent was able to do this but then realised that she had actually moved someone with the same name as me by mistake. She was able to correct this no problem.
I then went to the airport lounge and within minutes heard a man with the same name as me introduce himself on the phone. We ended up having a few drinks to celebrate our shared life.
I do not have a common name at all!
I then made my way to the airport and tried to get the airline to move me to an earlier flight. The agent was able to do this but then realised that she had actually moved someone with the same name as me by mistake. She was able to correct this no problem.
I then went to the airport lounge and within minutes heard a man with the same name as me introduce himself on the phone. We ended up having a few drinks to celebrate our shared life.
I do not have a common name at all!