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Hotel Overbooking
Ways for a hotel to refuse you
a room
Have you ever been refused a room or
turned away at the reception desk?

This is a Hotel Assist page about some of the

"excuses" hotels can use to get rid of you.
Hotel reception staff often goes on to be actors,
Name and Shame? double glazing salesmen or estate agents due to
their superb ability to take on the character of a
concerned member of staff whilst lying about the
fact they need you to leave.

Why do hotels do it?

99% of hotels tend to overbook every night on the basis that someone will
cancel at the last minute. When this happens not only do they charge a
cancellation fee but they have probably had an instant taker for the room
so the revenue is suddenly increased.
Parker Hotel Palm Springs, USA
Bushel and Sack Hotel, Stanched Top excuses to turn you away
Airport, UK
1. "We have nothing booked by that name"
>> Go here to see more Hotel Could be genuine but could be they have dumped your booking. There are
Complaints so many persons working on hotel receptions whose mother tongue is not
English that there is every chance they got it wrong, sometimes VERY
Want to add more? wrong. In some instances this will be an excuse because you only booked
Email us and we will publish one night Saturday night and the next guy wanted 2 nights and one was
them! a Sunday when hotels are traditionally very quiet. In this case they
overbook and then when no cancellations they bump you out in favor of
Bad Experience? the better booking.
Email us as we are currently
compiling pages detailing your 2. "Your arrival guarantee credit card was invalid"
worst experiences which will be This is becoming a favorite excuse. Usually happens on a Saturday arrival
read globally. when the city center hotel is full and they need to get rid of the problem.
Name and Shame the hotel They decide on Saturday morning to "check" client’s credit card
authorization validity and....
Funny Experience? "Lo and behold it’s not a valid card! Let’s cancel the booking". "How
Email us as we are currently strange that it now works, must have been the machine... sorry we are now
working on a page of funny full."
experiences that you may have
had in a hotel anywhere in the 3. "Your bedroom flooded"
world The guest above your bedroom left the bath running. Your room is flooded
so sorry you can not stay here we are full.
More Pages
Coming soon... 4. "Must be another hotel by the same name"
Bogus Hotel reviews - myth or You must have the wrong hotel, did you know there are 3 hotels by almost
fact? the same name in this city. You have probably booked the wrong one, bye

5. "You phoned up and cancelled"

It says here on the computer that someone telephoned yesterday and
cancelled your booking. It must be one of your friends playing a prank.
Anyway we are full now.

6. "We told your booking agency we were full"

Blame your booking agency. We told them that we could not accept the
booking ages ago. Did they not inform you? You should book directly with
us in future it’s safer.

7. "We don't accept same sex couples in one bed"

We have a policy here in the hotel. Very sorry but no same sex couples in
the same bed as it may offend other guests.

8. "We sent you an email to say we were full"

We informed you by email ages ago that we had overbooked and needed to
inform you urgently. Maybe your spam filter deleted it

9. "We did not get any email confirmation from you"

What booking confirmation? There was no email from you. It must have
got lost in the internet.

10. "Our reservations computer was wrong"

The computer thinks we had rooms available but in reality we did not. It’s
always doing that.

11. "You booked via our Head office, not us direct"

Head office always just say yes and then leave us to sort it out. We are
sorry but there are no rooms available. It’s not our fault.

12. "The people from last night will not check out"
Very sorry but by law we can not evict the guests so, unfortunately, we are
full we can not help you.

13. "Someone had got sick so they have to extend"

Sorry but Mr. Smith became ill overnight and the doctor says he can not be
moved. It’s a shame because we are full.

Our Tips

1. Call your hotel the day before you arrive

Next time you make a hotel reservation, remember to call the hotel directly
at least a day before you arrive. Things can go wrong with a reservation —
even on the Web — so it’s better to check with the hotel before you check
in

2. Take a copy of the email booking with you.

3. If you book by telephone then ask for them to email or fax you a copy of
the booking

4. Double check they have the spelling of your name correct

5. If they are refusing to help threaten to publish on the net especially Trip
adviser

© Hotel Assist.
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Fellow Travelers Comments
Under Moroccan law, a man and a woman can only stay in the same
hotel room when they are married. The couple must provide proof of
their status, such as a marriage certificate or an entry in their passport.
Mainly the hotels will only enforce this rule if the couple or one of them
is Moroccan.
BR Bhatia * May 20, 2007
I’m sorry but I’ve worked at a hotel chain before and this article refuses
to entertain the possibility that there are ignorant guests, too. Often
times phrases such as "we have nothing booked under that name" are
really true, I’m sure you'll forgive the hotel once you go digging through
your piles of paperwork at realize you're at the property downtown!!!
UGHH so glad to be out of the "hospitality business" :)
MGodby • May 21, 2:40pm
That report must be relating to mainly Europe Hotels. Up to date hotel
reservation computer systems tend to intelligently allow over bookings
based on history and are usually great predictors of availability. Europe
needs to get tech ;) Enjoyed reading it!
Floridaguy2017 • May 21
This is what happens when all hotels are full ...
We arrived at the Quality Crown Kensington in good time 1600 hours
carrying our luggage from Gloucester Rd tube to be advised that due to
'trouble with our room' it was unavailable but not to worry they had
reserved a room at the nearby London Lodge Hotel in Lexham Gardens.
We were not offered the services of a cab as it 'was only 5 minutes away.
Ten minutes later still carrying our luggage we found the London
Lodge. On arrival we found the room booked was in fact a single. We
called your organisation and spoke to a member of your staff who' as
name I believe to be Luke Matthews. After some time we were informed
that the only room you could offer us was in Canary Wharf. He seemed
helpful and concerned and apologized. Staff at the London Lodge was
helpful and found us a room in Earl's Court for £280 as everything else
seemed to be booked. However as we were due at a function nearby and
little time to change and get ready we had no option but to accept the
London Lodge offer of a put-u-up bed in the small single room upon
which my wife spent an uncomfortable night. As I am recovering from a
quadruple by pass operation I passed the night (not sleeping) in the
single which could not adequately accommodate my 6 ft 3 frame.
Withheld • May 22, 6:10pm

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