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Sold Out Hotels

Sold Out Hotels

Old Sep 9, 1999, 7:06 pm
  #1  
In memoriam
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Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: Dallas, TX
Posts: 1,697
Sold Out Hotels

Have you ever walked into a hotel, asked for a room and been told there are no rooms available, and then called the hotel's toll free number and been able to make a reservation?

Now that this has happened twice to people I work with, I thought I'd post about it in the hope that it may come in handy for someone at some point.

This evening, a co-worker's flight was cancelled out of Detroit. He called me to say he didn't want to fight for a late flight out, and that he would just stay overnight and leave in the morning. He walked over to the Marriott Hotel which is located inside the airport and was told there were no rooms available. I then called our travel agent who booked him into that hotel in about 30 seconds. He walked back up to the front desk with his confirmation number and was immediately checked in!!

This wasn't a one time fluke. The same thing happened at the Sheraton Gateway Suites near Chicago O'Hare airport several months ago. That time, when the traveler was told the hotel was full, he walked over to a pay phone in the hotel lobby and called Sheraton's toll free number and was immediately given a reservation. He walked back to the desk and was checked in.

Anyone else had something like this happen?
Sheryl is offline  
Old Sep 9, 1999, 7:23 pm
  #2  
Commander Catcop
 
Join Date: May 1998
Posts: 10,259
I think it's a stupid policy of hotels to deny walk-ins from checking in. But maybe the "upper tier" hotels don't want to operate in the same way as walking inot let's say a Howard Johnson's. (that ANYBODY can get in.)

This was one of the first tricks I learned in my education as a Frequent flyer.

When my friend Rick and I went to China, Rick was the kind of person who did everything "for the moment" (I.E: he told me not to bother making hotel reservations.)

So we end up lugging our bags through Beijing then Shanghai then Guanghou then Hong Kong for many blocks before we foudn an available room.

One place had one big bed so I said "OK, where's my bed." and the woman said you both sleep here. (I ended up at the Chinese version of Motel Six with a cat who went ina nd out of the window all night. Broken window.

We did get a nice hotel in Shanghai but after visiting eight hotels.

So my advice is CALL THE RESERVATION NUMBER FIRST, GET A RESERVATION AND THEN GO TO THE FRONT DESK WITH A CONFIRMATION NUMBER.

DON'T FORGET THE CONFIRMATION NUMBER.

AGAIN, DON'T FORGET THE CONFIRMATION NUMBER.
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Old Sep 9, 1999, 9:17 pm
  #3  
 
Join Date: Apr 1999
Location: Montral, Canada
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Sheryl
Are you the same (in)famous Sheryl the travel agent on rec.travel.air? You sure sound like her. In either case, welcome to FT!
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Old Sep 9, 1999, 9:55 pm
  #4  
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Yes, that's me, but I'm NOT a travel agent.

Gosh, how many times do I have to say that

Thanks for the welcome.
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Old Sep 13, 1999, 12:46 pm
  #5  
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Yes, welcome Sheryl. I've seen your posts to RTA. I think you'll like it here.

Samantha
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Old Sep 13, 1999, 1:46 pm
  #6  
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Not just upper tier. As my trip report (CHA-ATL-CHA) mentions, I had it happen this past Saturday at a Days Inn. And last weekend, the Crowne Plaze in Dunwoody had no record of me even though I was in the national computer...
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Old Sep 13, 1999, 11:10 pm
  #7  
dg1
 
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I guess I've been lucky - I've stayed at over fifty Marriott hotels (whole chain) in the past year and have never needed my confirmation number. Same for Hertz (except once), or even USAirways (for e-tickets). Used to always carry all that, and now am slacking off. But normally I have the info on my laptop anyway in worst case.
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Old Sep 14, 1999, 5:57 pm
  #8  
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dg1, the issue is not whether you have a confirmation number. The issue is walking up to the front desk and asking if there are rooms available and being given untruthful information.

You've been lucky though. It's really a good idea to have your confirmation number handy, and in my experience, especially at Marriotts. I know of 2 different people who've had guaranteed reservations at different Marriotts and when they arrived very late at night, their room had been given away and the hotel was full. The hotel found rooms for them at other hotels (both times, far less desirable) and Marriott paid for the first night.

If something similar were to happen to you and you did not have your confirmation number, you would have no proof of a reservation and you would be on your own to find a room elsewhere, at your expense.
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Old Sep 14, 1999, 6:28 pm
  #9  
doc
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Just had this happen to me at Marriott Nashua, NH a few months ago as I tryed to check in around midnight. "Oh. you're not due in 'til tommorrow night, Sir! We are all full tonight. I'm so sorry, we are completely booked."

Naturally, the written conformation I'd twice requested never came. Fortunately, I did have the conformation number handy as is my usual pracice (since I'm always afraid of this stuff). The front desk clerk (miraculously ?) found a room (from someone else?). Being Marriott Marquis CL Black I'm sure did not hurt either.

as I've said before, occupancy levels are rising and service levels are falling throuhgout the industry. I can't hurt t try to protect yourself by carrying the written confirmation or in lieu of this a confirmation number with you!

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Old Sep 14, 1999, 7:03 pm
  #10  
 
Join Date: Aug 1999
Location: Hollis, NH, USA
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When I book a room on the Marriott web site I get a page with confirmation number and confirmed room rate, which I then print out and take along with me. Can do the same with the Renaissance properties. Recently at the Renaissance Denver, manager wanted to know how I got such a low confirmed rate (he thought I was a travel agent), showed him the printout, all set.
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Old Sep 15, 1999, 9:16 am
  #11  
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Try putting you occupation in your profile, then you would not be bothered by THE ?
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Old Sep 15, 1999, 12:21 pm
  #12  
 
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Sheryl, sometimes this happens because the 800 numbers that you call for hotels, are not that hotel's employees, but a separate company that has a contract with the hotel to book rooms. That booking company has a certain number of rooms that are theirs to sell.
For example, a hotel may have 200 rooms and of those 200, 50 are allocated to XYZ Booking Company to sell. The hotel reservations staff already have confirmed reservations with credit card guarantees for 150 rooms. In essence, they are sold out. However, if you call the 800 number of XYZ Booking Co. they may still have rooms and so you can get a reservation through them.
That's just how the system works, but at least you found the way around it.
Also, sometimes the XYZ Booking Co. has the rooms at a certain rate, but if you call the hotel directly, sometimes you can get a lower rate. Go figure. These are just a few of the vagaries of the hotel business.
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Old Sep 15, 1999, 1:03 pm
  #13  
dg1
 
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I always book through Marriott's 800 line. I try to stay at Marriott's exclusively, and when I stay at other hotels I let my travel agent, American Express, take care of it so they can raise hell if necessary (they are effective in my experience). Normally the day before or the day during I call to confirm my reservation, and so far out of fifty reservations have never not found it there. Tomorrow I'm staying at the Torrance Marriott in CA with a reservation I made over four months ago. Checked it and it's just fine but have the conf number in my wallet and also on my laptop. Better safe than sorry is always the bottom line.

My bigger concern is my upgrade on USAirways -- I have confirmed dozens of upgrades w/o problem but there's no confirmation number or any way to independently verify it other than calling them. Most of my confirmed upgrades are done a week in advance, this was done three months in advance (special voucher). I checked about a month ago and it was still there. I'm hoping it sticks.
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Old Sep 16, 1999, 5:55 am
  #14  
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There are some very simple explanations for these problems checking in. I am quite certain that most Marriott hotels use a
proprietary property management system, which directly links to the national system. However, at many other hotels, the
property management system interfaces with the national system, but uses a different confirmation number and doesn't talk back
to the national system.

As for the problems walking-in to a hotel, the fact is some of those $7/hr. employees just don't want to do their jobs.
Especially on the overnight shift, when one employee is alone doing front desk work and nightly accounting work. Be especially pleasant, as your status means nothing to the front desk clerk at this point. Yet, don't be afraid to ask for lower rates.
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