I recently traveled abroad on vacation and I had my hotel reservations messed up twice by hotel staff:

First Time-

Made reservations via e-mail a few months before, but when I got there the hotel staff said I didn't send in my required CC info and my reservation was never made. But...they said there was another room available if I wanted to buy that one. Luckily I had printed out the e-mail saying they had made the reservation and matters were cleared up rather quickly after that. BTW, this was one of the last rooms available in the area.

Second time-

Checked in around 5pm for a room I had already reserved months before. But the hotel staff said my room had been given away because I didn't arrive before noon when I said I was going to. I know I didn't say I was going to arrive before noon because I wasn't going to be in the area before 3pm. In the end I had to take a downgraded room because there were no more rooms in the area.


My question is, are these signs of a hotel scam or are they just plain old mistakes by hotel staff? BTW, both of these cases were at small, family run hotels.

The first scenario sounds like it could be a scam, maybe with the front desk clerks trying to pocket the rate difference and hope that no one noticed or complained too loudly. The old "Its the last room we've got, take it or leave it" trick, and oh by the way, all of the hotels within a 50 mile radius are fully booked, convention season, you know...

The second sounds more like incompetence on the part of the hotel, but it doesn't look like a scam from what you described. I would have asked for a partial refund on the room downgrade. In any case, you should 'reward' them with a scathing commentary in trip advisor.

If these were chain hotels, I'd say mistakes... but if they're small, I smell a scam

It seems that small run, family hotels can get away with this much more than a corporate hotel chain can.

One other rthing to consider... Small hotels, whether family-run or corporate, have less margin for error. Even if they don't overbook, prior guests may overstay, or rooms may become unrentable due to burst pipes, broken A/C's, etc. If a big hotel loses 1 room of 1000, it will likely be able to absorb the loss and find a room for the guest a lot easier than a small hotel or B&B losing 1 room out of 10.

A couple comments:

1) Many hotels will guarantee your room for arrival (even if it's at three in the morning) if you you guarantee your reservation with a cc. I always look for this information and print it off.

2) If there's no such guarantee, I include in my email of the cc details an estimate of when I'm going to arrive but also a request to please hold the room for me if I'm later than that time, even if it's much later. And I print that email off and take it with me.

3) When I send a cc guarantee to a hotel, I always request that they send back a specific email confirmation that they received it, and print that off. If they don't send one, I keep after them until they do.

Mistakes happen and scams do occur. I NEVER make a reservation without getting an email or snail mail confirmation soon afterwards with the details and the reservation confirmation number. Usually I print it out or store in on my laptop. If you guarantee it with a cc, the cc company has a direct interest in the transaction and will readily back you up. AMEX has been great with this.

MisterNice