Hotel reservations
 

I have made reservations at a hotel for June but I have heard stories about people who had to move to a different hotel after they arrived cause their room was taken. Has anyone had this experience and how do I avoid it?

You can take a confirmation along-either a faxed confirmation or an email confirmation. However, that doesn't always guarantee anything. But it should not happen or if it does it should happen infrequently.

Perhaps I've been lucky, but this has never happened to me. Besides having a copy of the confirmation, re-confirm about 4 weeks before your arrival.I do it a month ahead because if something did go wrong, I figure I'd probably be able to re-book somewhere else, though again, this has never happened.

I've had this happen several times and trust me it's not the fault of the person behind the desk. My experience is that they will help (if only to get another hotel). I have no idea why it happens but s*** happens. Luggage, hotel rooms, missed flights, etc. No predicting the future.

I've never had this happen and I never re-confirm. You should always take a copy of your confirmation, though, whether by FAX or email or whatever. That's one reason I prefer those methods to phoning, actually (although usually there is a language difference, I agree). If I only phone I want them to send me a confirmation in writing. Other than that, I don't think there's anything you can do other than deal with reputable hotels and do a little research on them. Other than things just going wrong sometimes, I think there are some legal issues in that if a person is resident in a hotel and decides not to leave, I'm not sure legally a hotel can put someone on the street. Also, if someone decides to stay who is a big-spender, long-time client or whatever (more likely in high-end hotels), I imagine they won't get thrown out for you, either.<BR><BR>I think this event is really rare. I'm surprised Alan has had it happen to him several times, I'm just curious what kind of hotels and where did that to him. I've never had it happen any where in the world in 30 years of traveling.

<BR>I work in the hotel industry, and belive me, it happens more than you know... Generally due to human error, wether it is an olfashioned hotel -when somebody just writes the wrong date on the reservation form or simply misunderstands a date or a name over the phone- or a modernized hotel with a computer system or a chain with a central reservations system -the interface malfunctioned, the room inventory had an error, etc.-, you name it, it happens.<BR><BR>Sometimes the guest never finds out there ever was a problem because the hotel is not fully booked and the front desk person just puts on a poker face and acts like nothing has happened. The problem arises when the hotel is booked up, but even then , sometimes the hotel takes a gamble that the last guest on the list is not going to show up, which happens all the time... unfortunately for us, lots of people do not bother to call to cancel if they have nothing to lose.<BR> <BR>Other hotels just decide to overbook on purpose to protect themselves from those same no-shows. Although this practice is highly unethical in my opinion, lots of hotels do it, just like the airlines,and simply provide alternative accommodation should the guest finally arrive.<BR><BR>All the posters were right in saying you should bring written confirmation, but I agree even more with calling directly to reconfirm, even if you booked through a travel agency<BR>-mistakes can happen from every end-.<BR><BR><BR>