Do you re-confirm your hotel reservation before traveling?
Mar 5th, 2003, 08:27 AM
#1
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Do you re-confirm your hotel reservation before traveling?
I will be traveling alone to France and Italy for the first time next month. I have reserved my hotel rooms (with credit card) on Expedia and Parisby.com. Should I confirm again before leaving? If so, what is the best method?<BR>Thanks for any advice you can offer.
Mar 5th, 2003, 08:51 AM
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I rarely use a booking service, but when I've done so, I always confirm directly with the hotel a day or two later to make sure that THEY have the reservation. If I've made the booking more than a month or so in advance, I like to play it safe and also reconfirm (again, directly with the hotel) about a week before my arrival.<BR><BR>Lastly, I print a copy of the e-mail or fax confiming my reservation and bring it with me. I've never run into a lost reservation, but have sometimes used the printed confirmation to clarify my rate, room type or inclusion of breakfast.
Mar 5th, 2003, 08:55 AM
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More than once
and always ask for and carry the confirmation in writing.We usually call to make our initial reservation,then use email afterwards)<BR>We stay at the same hotel in Paris each time so they just email the ok. In Italy, the hotel would just tell me each time I asked that the room was confirmed. Could not get it in writing.
and always ask for and carry the confirmation in writing.We usually call to make our initial reservation,then use email afterwards)<BR>We stay at the same hotel in Paris each time so they just email the ok. In Italy, the hotel would just tell me each time I asked that the room was confirmed. Could not get it in writing.
Mar 5th, 2003, 09:32 AM
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No, but I make reservations either online or via email so I have written confirmation that I take with me.<BR>But, maybe I should. I once had reservations for 5 days in Oxford, ending on a Friday night. The landlady heard me talking to another couple at breakfast, and said her records had me checking out Fri a.m. Since I had written proof, she made arrangements for me to stay elsewhere and assumed the expense herself. I wondered why I had to be the one to move, but the new arrangements were wonderful so I got the better deal.<BR>Last summer I intended to make a reservation in London for 2 June, but I was so used to making May reservations, that I got the wrong month. It clearly was my mistake and I had the paperwork to prove it ; if I had reconfirmed I probably would have caught it.
; if I had reconfirmed I probably would have caught it.
Mar 5th, 2003, 10:04 AM
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Jamison: Use whatever booking process, direct call, email, fax, booking agent gets you the rate and room you want. If by phone, ask for an email or fax confimation. If by email, print the email confirmation. If by fax, ask for a fax confirmation. Take your confirmation copies with you and present the appropriate one when you arrive at each facility. We arrange them chronologically in a plastic envelope adding local directions to the facility and put each one to the back as we use it. We tend to take month long trips and find ourselves by midway saying "where are we staying tonight?" The envelope helps. <BR>After many years of travel, we have learned that reservations do go astray from time to time and the printed confirmation has always gotten us our room. Have a great trip.
Mar 5th, 2003, 10:18 AM
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Hi<BR>yes, I always reconfirm, and in the case of booking through a third party (booking agency, travel agent, whatever) I especially want to reconfirm. I want the hotel to know me directly as their customer.<BR>These days, email is cheapest and easiest. Fax is second choice, more expensive for you and for the hotel.<BR>Be sure to request a return message for the confirmation; sometimes they receive it and don't realize that you are expecting a further reply.<BR>Either way, bring a hard copy with you.
Mar 7th, 2003, 06:32 AM
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Talk about a small world. <BR><BR>I had booked at Cullinans in Doolin for the first night of our trip to Ireland, way back in December. Faxed over my CC to confirm , the whole bit. <BR><BR>I just sent an email to confirm check in. They LOST my reservation and had no record of my CC ! Luckily the room I was supposed to have was still available - would I have been peeved if it wasn't! Doolin can book up very quickly, which is why I booked so early. <BR><BR>ALWAYS reconfirm 3 - 4 weeks before leaving. That way you give yourself time to find a replacement if need be. <BR><BR>Debbie
Mar 7th, 2003, 06:45 AM
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I suppose another thumbs up for reconfirming is somewhat redundant, but here goes anyway. We too always e-mail our hotel(s) a month or so before departure. Last year the hotel in Florence requested that we do this. It, of course, works both ways. The hotel wants assurance you will be there, just as you wish to ensure your room will be.<BR><BR>In making plans for our upcoming trip I became aware that we needed another night at the hotel in Vienna (since we weren't taking a night train after all) and e-mailed immediately requesting confirmation of the additional night which promptly arrived.<BR><BR>All hotel confirmations are printed and taken with us. I also take print copies of reservations for museums (some require that, Uffizi for example), airport shuttles, etc. <BR><BR>Better safe than sorry!
Mar 7th, 2003, 09:52 AM
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I never reconfirm and have never had any problem with a hotel not honoring my reservation. I always carry a copy of my original confirmation with me, of course. <BR><BR>The only exception is when through a booking service/web site and not directly with the hotel; then I do reconfirm to make sure they got the reservation correctly and the rate. I do this within a few days of making the original booking, however.
Mar 7th, 2003, 11:21 AM
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We had the most disturbing thing happen to us on our trip to Paris just last week. <BR> I made our hotel reservation through our hotel directly (Le Clos Medicis). I reconfirmed by email Feb 10, and got an email back reconfirming. I kept this copy with me. When we got to our hotel on Feb 27, they had no record of our reservation. After more investigation, the front desk clerk presented me with a hardcopy of an email supposedly from me cancelling my reservation, all it said was "we wouldn't be travelling to Europe!"<BR>After I looked at the email closely, it wasn't my exact email address, but it was my actual formal [email protected]. It was sent to the hotel the day after I had reconfirmed!!!! This still haunts me! Did somebody try to sabotage our trip? Was it a hacker? Anti-american? Sooo bizarre, it still makes me crazy thinking about it. The hotel was very gracious, and luckily had a room.<BR>Curious if anyone else had anything like this ever happen.
Mar 8th, 2003, 05:02 AM
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Just a minor but perhaps significant observation: when I was emailing hotels requesting their availability, if I wrote "...need a room for April 20 through the night of April 27..." the hotel invariably wrote back with information on a room for 7 nights when in fact we would need 8 nights, so I would write back and request the extra night. I've seen so many posts on this site about the last night being cut off of reservations, I thought I'd mention this. Now I always write the exact number of nights and the day we will depart.
Mar 8th, 2003, 07:16 AM
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As of now I will be more vigilent about reconfirming. For no particular reason I recently checked up on a hotel booking I made 22 months ago for a trip two months from now. They have no record of it and are fully booked (just like all the good alternatives...that's why I booked 2 years ahead). I have the reservation in writing from the hotel and am still persuing it.
Mar 8th, 2003, 06:42 PM
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Betha - the way to avoid that snag is to give your arrival date and your departure date, which will of course be the morning after your last night. So it would be "arriving April 20, departing April 28". This way you'll get your 8 nights.
Mar 8th, 2003, 07:36 PM
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Gavin, I sympathize. I once booked the "coveted room" in a hotel in Amboise that had a great balcony terrace facing the river. I did it nearly a year ahead to guarantee that I'd get that room, and indeed I did. When we arrived with confirmation in hand, they insisted that they had no reservation. When they looked at my confirmation, the reply was, "oh, we don't keep our records that long". They were surprised and upset that when they came up with some back room with no windows that we wouldn't stay there at all. We found another hotel, much better with a great room.
Mar 9th, 2003, 05:23 AM
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Better safe than sorry, I tipically call the hotel directly 2-3 days prior. That way there is still time to do other arrangements, if need be. I get the name of the person I talked to also. <BR><BR>By the way, I screwed up hotel reservations in Assisi this last November when I made the arrangements with Hotel Dei Priori in FLORENCE. Not a bad idea to also confirm address! Hotel Dei Priori in Assisi were superb (they were also full!), though, they arranged for me and Mon to stay at nearby Hotel Alexander; great room, clean, quiet, loved it!
