Reconfirming reservations
 

We are leaving on Sept 4th for a month long trip to Italy and France. I have read on these boards that I should re-confirm my hotel/B&B reservations. I am about to to that with all the reservations that I have made directly. Do I also need to reconfirm for those that I made through Booking.com? if so, is it best to do that with Booking.com or with the actual hotel?
Thanks

Hi J,

I have never reconfirmed a booking dot com reservation.

Enjoy your visit.

((I))

I make the reservation, print out the confirmation and take it with me. Never reconfirmed. No problems either.

Thank you both...that cuts down my workload!!~

I have never "reconfirmed", either, does that mean you make it, then confirm it and then confirm it again.

I do check to see if a reservation was made when I go through a third party site, though -- usually. I never reconfirm when I make it directly with the hotel. The whole point of that is to make sure the third party site actually made the reservation so I think it would be pointless to reconfirm with that site and not the hotel. What good will that do you.

Good point Christina. I just printed the confirmation from Booking.com. I hadn't confirmed directly with the hotel.

I always reconfirm about a week before I leave. As hard as it would be to find out a week before that there was an issue, it's better than finding out when you arrive. If made through a 3rd party booking I would definitely confirm with actual hotel/b&b that they have your reservation. Always better safe than sorry.

I usually reconfirm via email. It's not a lot of effort and it gives me some peace of mind. Besides, I'm waiting to go so I'm generally looking for something (anything) to obsess over :)

We've made about 20 reservations with bookings.com & we've never confirmed, and never had a problem. Actually, we've never had a problem with any place we've reserved. We spend 2 months in Europe every year.

Stu Dudley

This is a probabilistic event.
There is a chance that your first booking may be fouled up.
There is also chance that none of the 20 or 100 or 200 bookings get fouled up.
You don't get to control the odds of third party booking going through, but you can control the consequences.
One step is to contact the hotels directly. Unlike train reservations, it only takes you time to write emails. If you have acceptable alternatives even if there is foul up, there is no need to confirm.

Of perhaps 80+ bookings I have made through various channels, I have had one fouled using a third party. The booking site claimed it had the reservation, yet the target hotel had no such record. I caught the problem months ahead by contacting hotels directly and was able to book the room I wanted at the same price.

I never reconfirm hotel reservations made thru a .com site. I have had issues but not in recent years, once in Rio de Janeiro at a Meridien who could not find my reservation & then told us they were full (this was made via central reservations at the Meridien so the booking was not passed to the property), but they found a room in the end, and another time in Paris, can't recall the name of the hotel. And another time I reconfirmed a Holiday Inn somewhere in the UK telling them I would be very late ie past midnight arrival and not to give my room away, which they did anyway, despite it being guaranteed and my reconfirming the reservation and calling on the day of arrival. And that was a big issue as they were full and had to find another hotel for me.

Ii usually write directly to the hotel about a week prior to departure and make sure the booking company reserv transferred over and request very politely an early check in. (this works 9 times out of 10 - the early check in part)

I also send an email directly to the hotels about a week ahead, regardless of how I booked. Peace of mind for me, and the ability to work out an issue if one arises. Unlike some here, I HAVE arrived at hotels to find that the reservation got messed up. Just the luck of the draw, I guess. if there is an issue, I'd rather find out earlier than later.

Recently some family members were on a trip in Europe (mom, 2 kids, grandma) and one of their hotel reservations got screwed up. It was supposed to be pre-paid, they sent the payment, someone didn't process the payment correctly on the hotel's end, and the room reservation was cancelled due to non-payment. Fun. They had arrived on a late evening train, it was middle of summer, hotels were full...they ended up at a hostal that was less-than-satisfactory. Had they reconfirmed the reservation, they would have learned of the problem earlier had time to make alternate arrangements.

I'm with you november_moon. It takes very little time to reconfirm by email, and peace of mind is a good thing. I screw up enough on my own without having to worry about a hotel messing up my reservations. Actually, on this next trip, a couple of places asked that I email before we leave since we had to put nothing down.

((H))

i know that there really isn't any need to confirm a reservation, but i usually do it, and confirm an ETA, check parking arrangements at the same time.

it's probably illusory, but it makes me feel that perhaps when i arrive, not only will i not have any worries about the room being available, but they might remember me, if only as that idiot who confirmed a perfectly simple booking!

Years ago before email, my husband and I arrived by boat at a hotel (I had booked directly by phone) in a small town on Lake Lugano at dark only to find out they had no record of our reservation. There was nowhere else to stay in this town. So we had to hike to the next town with all our luggage looking for available accommodations. I had a cold and felt miserable. It is a night I will not forget. It's so easy to confirm by email now. Why not?