Underbooking people for hotels
 

Hello expert travelers:

How many of you have made reservations online and underbook the number of people? Asking because most hotels I am looking in Prague and Budapest supposedly don't have single rooms for 3 but those who do charge a big "extra person" fee.

Any advice??

A single room will have one single bed (possibly shorter and narrower than a US twin size). Why would you think you could fit 3 people in a single?

oops, sorry for not being clear. I meant to say that I want to book one room w/ 2 twin beds which in some hotels could easily accommodate 3.

You book a triple if you want to sleep three.

You don't squeeze 3 people into a double or twin room.

<i>Some</i> hotels will allow an extra bed being placed in a double/twin for an extra fee. But the vast majority of rooms just don't have the space. And WHY shouldn't they charge extra since it takes extra bed and bath linen???

Sorry but to me it's still not clear. 2 twins beds = 2 single beds so total for 2 persons. How can you &quot;easily&quot; accomodate 3 ?

Consider the follwoing hotel. Its standard rooms &quot;junior suite&quot; are with 2 twin beds and 1 couch convertible bed. A very good budget hotel. And it doesn't charge a &quot;big&quot; 3rd person extra.

http://www.hotelresidence-mala-strana.com/

This sounds very similar to the thread (also started today) about three people in a double room in Paris.

WillTravel: The person who started that other thread was &quot;fingered&quot; as a poster who last year posted all sorts of nutty things about not getting free drinks refills in Paris, rude French people (in Belguim) and the <i>nerve</i> of some Parisians who <u>spoke FRENCH</u> to them even though they knew English. Oh, the Horrors! :O

This thread is from a brand new member asking about Prague and Budapest - So I think it is legit. But it is awfully similar . . . . :?

Two twin beds which in some hotels could easily accommodate 3? Which hotels are those pray tell?
I don't envy the two people that will have to sleep in one European twin bed, lol.

If you want to do so please give us a trip report afterwards, lol.

Besides, smuggling an extra person in who doesn't pay is a fraud. Full stop.

Advice: fuggedaboutit

There are many issues here:

(1) fire regs -- most buildings and rooms are certified for a maximum number of occupants. You are violating the law, not just hotel policy, when you exceed the maximum number.
(2)passport control -- in some countries you must submit the passports of everyone staying in a room to the hotel desk so they can inform the police of your presence. A third, undocumented person spells trouble for the hotel -- and you!
(3)as mentioned,bed and room size -- you might possibly, just possibly, get one adult and two children into many European two-bed rooms. You will have a hard time getting even two adults and one child in many unless someone sleeps on the floor, not a happy prospect.
(4) entering and leaving -- how are you going to get three people in and out of the hotel, when you will almost certainly have to leave your key at the desk when you leave the building?
(5) it's wrong -- maybe I could find your keys in your car in the driveway of your house and borrow it for the night after you have gone to sleep. I'll bring it back about 4 AM, so I am not using it when you need it, and there's no cost to you except maybe a little gas, which won't hurt someone who can afford to fly to Europe, and it will save me some money. Sound okay to you?

Hi H,

If you book a room for 2 and show up with 3, you are likely to be without a room that night.

((I))

Sorry -

That is not &quot;underbooking&quot; it is theft of services. And what will probably happen if 3 people show up to register for a room for 2 (and you have to sign in and show passports) is:

You will have to pay the triple supplement if the room is large enough for an extra person

If the room is too small for 3 (and many in europe are) the third person will have to pay for a separate room (if available) or go and search for one at another hotel

Not only is this illegal - you are asking for all sorts of complications and problems - not to mention embarassament.

Janis, I just saw the Paris post you mentioned. I think someone is just bored today and seeing what kind of responses this rather &quot;unusual&quot; query might elicit. I must (sadly) say that I have no choice but to doubt homer's sincerity. Doh! :)

This is the one and only post from homersimp, dear fellow posters.

Not to say it might not possibly be legit but it sure is curious with the Paris thread running today also.

I don't know how 3 people are going to fit into a room with &quot;two twin beds&quot; regardless.

I think the OP doesn't know the difference between a single bed and a double bed.

And, obviously, if he isn;t a troll - has extremely flexible ethics - and a desire to find out how strictly hotels and police take passport regulations.

I have overbooked hotels, but never underbooked them. That is, I've said there will be two people there when I knew there would only be me, because I wanted assurance I would get the same size double room as folks who did have two people. I was perfectly willing to pay for that room, also, but some hotels I've encountered when booking a double room for single use will give the single traveler a smaller and more inferior room, even was the price was the same. Also, some hotels will automatically give you the smaller and inferior room even when you've told them you want the larger double room and are perfectly willing to pay for it. Luckily, it doesn't happen all the time, but it has happened to me enough that I sometimes tell them two people when I know there will be one. I had one clerk in London get in a snit about that even when I told her I was not asking for a refund, I just wanted the same room I was paying for. Usually if they question it, I just say, oh there were going to be two people but one cancelled.

Anyway, I don't know all these hotel rooms in Prague and Budapest where you can easily sleep 3 people in a double room. Some suite with a pullout sofa is different, and most hotel rooms sure don't have that.

Most hotels that have triple rooms or allow a third person in a double room, when booked properly do not charge a BIG extra person fee in a double room, either, that I've ever seen. I don't think I've ever seen one that was over 30 euro, and sometimes only 10-20 euro.

Don't you think you are better off to know what you'll be paying up front in that extra person fee?
I love to save money but let me tell you that that might end up costing you more. And with good reason.

My advice is; don't be a cheat. There are hotels in Prague that have triple rooms.

Like the other person planning to do this in Paris... do you and your other two travel companions split up every time you walk thru the hotel lobby, so not to be spotted as 3 people, how do you handle the hotel room key, etc. Just doesn't seem like it would work out very well even if you could get away with it.