meechyathere

Weird experience at HGI Shelton, CT:
Reception telling several people with confirmed reservations (myself included), that the hotel is sold out and that they have no rooms left.
First guy was told that the reservation could be cancelled free of charge, and instructed to book the Hampton Inn across the way.

I was told the same thing, but pushed back. I said I would be happy to be walked to the Hampton Inn.
He replied "We can't walk you, because we do not have a relationship with the Hampton Inn. You need to make your own reservation there."
Told me eventually that he's bumping a Diamond to get me a room.

Next person had a prepaid reservation with Priceline. He was told the reservation would be cancelled without charge. Didn't stick around to hear the rest.

Yoshi212

Hotels, like airlines but generally to a lesser degree, oversell their hotels often. How it is handled here seems rather wrong and against established practice/policy. They may weasel their way out of it by blaming Covid but that is quite a stretch and should be shamed if they do so. I do suggest taking this up with the hotel manager in the morning and/or corporate (not just CS).

Here is one article about it when it comes to elites. https://loyaltylobby.com/2017/12/27/...-compensation/

LondonElite

It happens all the time. You merely have a reservation, not a contract, so there isn’t much to do.

craigthemif

It happens all the time. True. But there are supposed to be policies in place to get you another hotel room, usually free for the first night at least, and with transportation included to the replacement hotel.

I am quite sure that there will be state-level authorities - AG, etc. - that would be interested in hearing about hotels simply telling reserved guests to get lost.

LondonElite

I agree it is poor practice / consumer protection not given.

retiredfromhilton

Hilton does have policies for 'walking' guests who arrive as planned and cannot be accommodated due to overbooking or maintenance issues that take rooms out of service. However, those policies are rarely enforced currently. Management companies have made it clear that they are in no mood or financial condition to pay the usual consequences of turning away guests with reservations. In some cases, guests are getting walked for the usual reasons (i.e. overbooking or maintenance issues, But these days there are two other more common causes: hotels accept a 'buyout from a company or local government' and cancel all other reservations. More often than not, the hotel will make alternate arrangements and let people with canceled reservations know in advance of the change. But there have been numerous cases in which guests arrive to find that they are being moved to another property (usually one owned by the same management company, but not always a Hilton brand). Compensation is almost never paid in those cases.

The other recent phenomena is frankly sinister. Guests are showing up at some hotels (usually beach resorts in the southern US) to check in for reservations they made months ago when rates were low only to be told they have no reservations. In these instances, hotels have 'replaced' the low revenue reservations with ones made more recently at much higher rates. This is particularly apt to happen with low price reservations made by third parties. The hotel blames the lack of a reservation on the third party. There was a case recently of somebody arriving with a $119 rate who were left high and dry because the hotel is now getting north of $500 per night for the same room. The would be guest didn't learn the reason they had no room. They were just told 'sorry we don't have your reservation'.

In these cases, management companies set the prices high enough to cover the cost of any compensation they might need to pay. But, so far, Hilton has turned a blind eye to this and I am not aware of any case that resulted in the 'bumped' guest receiving compensation. That has been possible mainly because hold times at reservations, the Diamond Desk and guest assistance are so long that most people hang up before they make their complaint. People who write in are facing delays of weeks. In any case, most agents are referring cases that do reach them to the hotel, allowing them to decide whether to pay compensation or not. Most do not,

Super Mario

I always take these threads and examples with a grain of salt. Sure it can happen, and sure I expect more than a "sorry, have a nice life". I've been bumped one time in my life and I survived. I am also skeptical about the above example of a popular beach destination quadrupling in price and booting out the lower priced people.

FoothillFlyer

I must have been absent from Contracts the day they discussed Weaselout clauses in law school.

LondonElite

Maybe, but a reservation is not a contract. It lacks consideration.

johnndor

How does that work when there's a cancellation policy that I miss? If the hotel can charge me when I don't stay in the room, say I cancel before check-in but miss their deadline, doesn't that imply some sort of contract? (IANAL)

cbn42

A reservation is a contract. The hotel is agreeing to provide a room, which has value. The guest is agreeing to pay money, which has value. There is consideration on both sides.

The Road Goes On Forever

A reservation is a contract...sort of. If you have high level status with a chain in premise you should be/are entitled to some form of compensation. But if not, there are no laws that I'm aware of that entitle you to anything. The whole idea of getting "walked" is more about tradition and PR so that you might come back in the future rather than an actual legal obligation.

Parts of the reservation process are all a big game. If you don't show up, the hotel will attempt to charge you...unless of course you're a frequent enough guest then we might look the other way and release the GNS and never bill it. Just like plenty of guests make reservations with "bogus" credit card numbers that they know will allow them to hold the reservation, but if they don't show up they can't be charged. Just like some properties try to get around that by pre-authorizing cards the day of or day before arrival and if you're card comes back declined, you'll get a phone call or email asking for a valid MOP by X time less you're reservation will get cancelled. Sure you could try and get a digital key early on the day of arrival to increase your chances of getting a room...unless the property does something greasy like keeps all or a certain percentage of their rooms vacant dirty or out of order which will be prevent digital key from being used on those rooms/room types. What should be black and white is actually very grey and situational more than an actual standard that applies to all reservations.

disalex

This reminds me of almost everything in the travel game. The hotel is going to try to get away with whatever they can manage and if they tell you "sorry nothing we can do" and you quietly walk away, of course they are happy. If you scream, yell, call the diamond desk, bring on the duty manager etc they will have to do something. This is one good reason to book directly with Hilton and not a third party

writerguyfl

This is incorrect. There are plenty of hotels that are run by ethical people. In the places I worked, we would never do what the OP describes. If you were being relocated (aka walked), we paid for your room at the other hotel. We also paid for transportation to/from that hotel (if necessary).

The never had to scream, yell, or call the chain's elite desk. We simply did the right thing without prompting.

Please don't assume that everybody working in the hotel business is unethical.

garykung

I beg to differ.

I agree - in most of the case, a mere reservation is not sufficient to become a contract, given there is no consideration, i.e. the collateral. But in the case of the hotel, given the general policy is to charge 1 night in advance for the reservation (as no show fee), I would not say that there is no contract. At least this is arguable.

If truly no contract, why do hotels have to compensate and rebook for walking out?