Oh, Neopolitan, this reminds me...

Once I called, and the person obviously spoke British English. Used to the American spelling, my last name starts with Z (zee in US) and this is how I spelled my last name for him.

It took a while to realize that I should've said "zet" instead. :)

"Zed"

I had the reverse problem. I called a hotel in the US, and tried to give them my Canadian postal code, which includes a Z. Neither of us could figure out why she couldn't fit the whole Postal code in the 6 spaces provided until I realised she was imputing Z as 3 letters Z-E-D!

LOL

Divided by the common language, huh?

Yes. About two weeks before.

If I read right, I understand that everybody who does NOT reconfirm never had a problem while sometimes cancellations occur when people reconfirm.

Not a correct assessment, traveller. Before I started reconfirming, twice I had a problem of them not having my reservation when I arrived. In one case when I presented my printed fax confirmation, she studied it for a while then finally said, "oh that was done 10 months ago. We don't keep reservations that long!" (No, I'm not kidding you.)

The other one, they had no excuse, but did find us a room at another hotel, after sitting in their lobby for over an hour while they made phone calls.

The only problem I've had since reconfirming was the phone call I mentioned above, which clearly caused more confusion thanks to the language barrier.

I reconfirm and last year I was particularly glad I did when the hotel said they did not have me on the books , although I had been assured all was set two or three months prior. Clearing that up was worth the extra email...Save, print (questionable whether it would mean anything if you arrive and they are full), follow up...better to be safe than sorry...and I would do it about 3 weeks in advance...

There are laws governing reservations and the payment of deposits in France, and if you are aware of them, you know they are strict and enforced if it becomes an issue.

I don't understand the problem. If you confirm with either a deposit or a credit card and get that confirmation in writing from an individual....then you are set...how to do this?

I always email the hotel directly, and avoid the automatic/third party. I ask if they have a reservation available and at what price...they send me back a proposal (a standard thing for the French) for my acceptance or continued negotiation. this process also allows me to get their BEST rate, as they will offer it to me under the concept that I may or may not stay there, depending on the price....of course I usually do this in French, which IS NOT THAT HARD PEOPLE. Use a translator and standard phrases if you need to...after a while, use the same format...it ain't brain surgery...and it always gets me a good deal, respect and an assumption that the reservation better darn sight be there, considering that I am communicating in French and am assumed to know the territory re: the regulations governing reservations....just because you are residing in the U.S. does not mean that you are not French or francophone.

orval, your simple analysis is wonderful except for one thing. It suggests that no one in any hotel reservation office has ever made a mistake. It would be nice if that were true, but I'm afraid it's a little naive to believe that.

Yes, they must find you a room, but if you arrive with your confirmation in hand at 11 AM and someone made a mistake and forgot to hold your room, or forgot to enter it when they confirmed it, or must have accidentally removed it from the computer, it really doesn't help you as you sit there and wait for them to find you a room in another hotel.

I've arrived with my confirmation in hand in the US as well to be told they somehow "lost my reservation". It isn't a language issue here. It's a matter that like it or not, people do make mistakes. I reconfirm in the US as well when I've booked months ahead, and more than once I've found in doing so they couldn't locate my reservation. Having a couple of weeks before my arrival to make a new reservation is a whole lot better than hoping they can still do so when I arrive.

If you feel comfortable arriving for a reservation you made 10 months earlier without rechecking -- go ahead. My stays in an average of 50 to 60 hotels a year for the past 10 years has made me realize that I'd rather be safe than sorry. Confirmed reservations have gone missing more times than I care to think about. In most cases, they happened to have a room anyway so it didn't become an issue, but if they happen to be full and you arrive at a late hour . . .

duh, make that arrival mentioned above 11 PM, not AM!

I did not infer that reconfirmation is bad. If I get a confirmation way ahead of the visit, I will call and reconfirm. I just presented my method of tightening down the possibility of someone not having my reservation when I arrive, otherwise, I would not go through the process to begin with.

If, and it has happened to me, someone looks at me and says, "We do not have a reservation for you", I whip out my confirmation, and the money they took as a deposit and/or credit card confirmation, and they manage to find me a pretty good room suddenly. It generally will work, since they have a contract with you...they have taken a consideration from you via the deposit or credit card, which is the key to the method. Without the consideration, there is no contract, as we all learn in business law courses in school. Same in France...it tends to place the situation into a quite serious mode...which as I have said, awakens the receptionist to the reality of the "mistake"....and the requirement to find me a room like the one I paid a deposit for...along with other benefits according to French law.

Also, there is the concept of direct contact with an individual, and the possibility that you can determine and communicate with the Directeur or other management types at the hotel...if it is large...if small, there is the wonderful contact with the owner...determine who that is prior to the contact, or email and find it out...either way, the direct contact brings you personal information and relationships that allow for less "mistakes", certainly less than making a reservation through a third party or on the hotel's automatic web site reservation board. I never use them, as something can easily be overlooked.

orval, I agree with you 100% on that. Sorry, if I mistook your comments before as being "anti" reconfirmation.

By the way, the case I mentioned where the hotel (in Amboise) said they didn't keep their reservations that long, quickly said, not to worry. They did have a room for us anyway. I was already a bit tiffed since they had told us they had parking, which we couldn't find and then they said, "oh yes, we have parking. You just park in the street" Duh. Sure in Amboise in the middle of a Sunday afternoon. Anyway, when I asked if the room they had available was indeed the top floor one with the big terrace facing the river which they had promised to me after several emails back and forth, she said, "no". We left and found another hotel.

Another time in New Zealand, as soon I arrived and spoke my name, the clerk said, "oh the manager needs to see you". The manager proceeded to tell me that they didn't have a reservation for us. That a previous employee had never assigned us a room therefore the hotel was fully booked. He was unable to explain how they knew that there was supposed to be a reservation even before I arrived as the clerk clearly was expecting me. They promised to get us another hotel (despite this one being supposedly the TOP place to stay in Christchurch and the reason we had booked nearly a year ahead).

In neither of those cases did my printed confirmation in hand do me any good. And in both cases I had failed to reconfirm.

I agree that it makes good sense to send another email a week or so prior to your arrival. I had booked months ahead at a B&B after much research deciding on the best one for us, and was devastated when I reconfirmed a few weeks prior to our trip. The proprietor had thought we had canceled and had no availability. She did book us in a decent but in no way a place I would have chosen myself. I was so disappointed. However, I was glad I had sent that reconfirming email rather than showing up that afternoon needing 2 rooms and finding out the bad news then. Might have had to stay in the car...all 4 of us!!!