I'm posting this to the Europe section, because I'm now making reservations to go there this summer, but I think this is really a global issue. On traveller review websites, almost every popular hotel seems to have at least one post from someone who made hotel reservations, confirmed the reservations, brought the written confirmation to check-in and was told that the hotel didn't have it. The only time this happened to me personally was in NYC, and that hotel worked it out, but I know that doesn't almost happen: worst case scenario is the traveller is out on the street. The posts always say that the hotel "lost" the reservation, and I'm sure that happens sometimes, but the way the circumstances are described, it doesn't sound like mistakes, but overbooking or cancelling the reservation because they got another for a higher price, or longer stay, or what? So now, I'm making a reservation for the Hotel Jeanne D'Arc in Paris, and a post on trip advisor describes a particularly egregious example. I know this can't be avoided entirely, but does anyone know any way that a traveller can reduce the chances of this happening?

If you book online, print out every step of the way what's on your screen, not just the last page, and take them all with you. But that's not good enough if all rooms are full by the time you show up, so fax (good ol' fax still works!) a couple of weeks before, and again a couple of days before, and ask for a fax back. Then make a phone call the day before, and even the morning of your expected arrival. Ask for the operator's opr clerk's names each time - in the face of such overwhelming evidence even the most harried clerk has to do something to help you out, rather than simply leaving you stranded.

WK

After numerous hotel stays, I had an incident this summer where we arrived very late, we were told there was a problem with the room, and they sent us by taxi at their expense to a better, more central hotel, at the same cheap rate. (This was Best Western in Amsterdam.)

I think if you are particularly worried about this, I would choose a chain hotel and book online. Then you'll have a paper and electronic trail, and in the worst case scenario, the hotel will send you to one of its sisters. You can always phone the day before and reconfirm your reservation.

I don't know anything personally about "Hotel Jeanne D'Arc" but there are at least two hotels in Paris with that name, and I've heard of people making a reservation for one, meaning the other. I don't know if that relates to the incident described, but it's possible.

Thanks so much for the responses--this forum is great. Re the last response, I do know there are two hotels, so I double check each communication I have with them to make sure it's the one in the Marais!

I agree with WallyKringen. There really isn't much you else you can do besides print out all of the information, reconfirm several times and hope for the best. If you have all information with you and they still fail to have a room available, most should make the effort to find a room for you elsewhere.

Tracy

If you are worried, I suggest re-confirming your reservation a few days before arrival.

Personally, I think this is a situation in which e-mail or a fax FROm the hotel can work on your behalf: when i have used e-mail to reserve rooms I almost inevitably get a return e-mail and a person's name at the bottom. <b>That</b> in my opinion is very difficult for a hotel to dispute..they can always say their computer system &quot;lost&quot; the reservation and, I suppose they could say &quot;that person doesn't work here&quot; etc., but it seems unlikely.

I don't think there's really anything you can do about this but avoid hotels you have heard may do this. I've never had it happen to me with a hotel. I have had it happen with a car rental and I learned a lesson from that one (never assume an online car rental is booked correctly without calling to verify, especially in foreign countries from a US national website).

I'm sure a hotel can make mistakes in all the booking they do and lose reservations somehow. I'll bet very large hotels in big cities do probably overbook, just like airlines. I think you can print out anything you want (and I always do, of course), but if they don't have a room, they can't give you one.

I've heard about that happening frequently at a couple Paris hotels -- I think the Hotel Luxembourg and maybe Hotel Clement. That is just some history I've read in the past on some forums, maybe Tripadvisor.

I read that report on Tripadvisor and wouldn't say it was particularly egregious, it just sounds like a mistake and kind of what you'd expect. The author seems incensed that a hotel would cancel a reservation by a phonecall, and yet that's what most people want hotels to do (ie, call on the road and cancel a room without penalty if you aren't going to make it). I have heard recently of a few hotels instituting policies that they will only accept cancellations by FAX and then you get a whole bunch of other people incensed at that due to the inconvenience and cost.

Well, it's never happened to me in all the years I've been traveling, maybe 30, and I never reconfirm and just think it is rare for such a thing to happen if you avoid hotels you know do this and you are sure you have a clear reservation, in writing, with correct details on it, including date. I generally book directly with hotels, of course, I do call to reconfirm a reservation made through some third party, but I never contact a hotel repeatedly to reconfirm things.

For one thing, if such a thing happened to me, I think there would be some alternatives and rarely would it be impossible to find a room, and I think I could adapt. The only time I'd be more anxious would be any place where I know there is a special event and rooms very scarce. I don't often travel in such situations, however. When I do, I make sure I have a few alternative hotel listings with me, just in case I have to call around -- although hotels usually will try to help. Often these are the hotels I was considering before my final choice, and I make sure there is one fairly close to the one I booked.

Hi T,

Do keep in mind that of the tens of millions of people who make hotel reservations every year, very few are left in the lurch.

Having a hotel lose your reservation is no more likely than having your pocket picked.

Reserving an airline seat, a hotel room or a rental car is not like selling a pair of knickers. If the former accept a reservation and it is cancelled at the last minute or a day ahead it may be revenue that is lost forever. Someone else may step into the knickers days later.

If you are running a business, you have a pretty good history of what kinds of cancellations you get and overbook to compensate. Sometimes you will be wrong and when it happens a good provider will have alternatives to satisfy the customer.

The alternatives for the provider is to institute onerous penalties or charge more. Which would you rather have?

Something like this happened to me several years ago in a budget hotel in Rome (which is a well-known budget hotel, makes it into many guidebooks). I had a fax confirmation. I called the day before to confirm my arrival (via train from Florence) and was told all was fine. Showed up on time, 2 in the afternoon. &quot;I'm sorry, we do not have a reservation for you.&quot; Scusi??!! I not only produced the fax, but pointed out that the gentleman at the desk was the exact person I had spoken to on the phone the day before. I made it clear--firmly without being nasty--I was getting a room as I was promised. He kept track of all the reservations--in pencil!!--in a big ledger, so what did he do? Erase somebody else and put me in! So some other poor soul showed up later that day to find no room. That's probably what happened to my original reservation!

Two other times I had a reservation disappear under slightly different circumstances, on two different trips. Again, I had written confirmations. One was in London, one in Rome, and again both I had confirmed before arrival. The situations were the same: I was staying about a week, then going away for a few days, then coming back for one night before flying out the next morning. The week reservation was there but the one-night one was not. I was younger then so didn't make the fuss I should have. In neither case did they find another room for me at another place: I did it myself. Nowadays I wouldn't let that slide.

And then there was the time in Florence that I had a written fax confirmation, had called the day before to confirm, but my plane and then my train were late, getting me into town at 6:30 pm with no opportunity to phone. Room had been given away! I was so tired, and the night manager didn't speak English, and I was so upset I couldn't think in Italian, so I did the only thing I could--I cried. (I was traveling alone.) Sympathetic night manager fixed up the night manager's &quot;room&quot; (a closet with a bed, really) with clean sheets and let me have it for five bucks for the night, gave me a proper room the next morning. (He slept on the couch in the lobby, in case you're wondering!!!)

I'm a little paranoid now after all these incidents. I still hold my breath when I arrive to check in. These were all budget places by the way (my grad student days). Now I stay in slightly nicer places and haven't had any problems. (Yet.)

Having stayed at the Hotel Clement in Dec 2004, I want to defend them. We made our reservations 6 months in advance for a triple room and re-confirmed via fax about 2 weeks before arrival. We had absolutely NO problem with them, very accommodating, hotel clerks were gracious tour directors and helped us figure out how best to see the sights we planned. They assisted with making restaurant reservations, etc. Big tip - always, always confirm your reservation and try to arrive early enough in the day that you will be assured of your room. In all my traveling, the only time we were &quot;overbooked&quot; was at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel where we ended up with a huge suite instead.