Online reservation refused?
 

How common is a printed online reservation refused? I was told "we are trying to change our online reservation to not accept same day, I checked availability twice and the same queen suite for $395 a night opened so I booked, drove to location and was told above quote. Has this happened to you?

I would imagine that a printed reservation would only be refused if the hotel was full and there was nothing they could do for you. If there is no room, there is no room.

With ANY reservation, it is always a good idea to re-confirm a couple of days before your arrival, noting the name of the phone clerk who tells you "yes you're all set! See you soon!"

Obviously, that particular hotel has problems with their online booking system and availability.

Even when booking online and having a printed confirmation in hand, I ALWAYS phone and double check.

A printed "confirmation" should be just that, a confirmation.

Trying to change something is obviously an issue but if a confirmation is issued, it has been issued.

Refusing a confirmation makes the entire place suspect IMO and "if they have no room" then they shouldn't have confirmed one as being available.

Always ask that they send you an email confirmation.This way you know they recieved your reservation and are accepting and actually processing it.

Hotels, expecially small ones, are often using outside reservation services they may not have much, or any control of. I can imagine that some hotels COULD have problems with same-day reservations, since any lag in delivery to the hotel of reservations accepted on-line could conflict with walk-ins, resulting in an over-book condition.

A hotel COULD easily state in the web text that they DO have some control over that "Same day reservations not accepted." -- and if the user decides to try to put one thru anyway, receiving a confirmation, the hotel might deny it.

Calling directly to a hotel to confirm is the best way to insure the reservations was processed. Many smaller hotels have no link from their own PMS to outside services. Some receive bookings by email or fax. And the re-keying of the resv data is prone to error. Your 9/16 arrival might be onfile as 9/19.

If rooms were available, I cannot imagine any hotel refusing to honor the same day resveration.

Hey rb_traveler... what's your professional background?
Your explaination tells me you have spent time in the hotel or CRS business.
You may have mentioned it in the past... but will you tell me again?

My first f/t job in HS & college was at a hotel, starting as a "pearl diver" in the kitchen, and eventually doing every non-managerial job (except b/o accounting) before going into USN for 6 yr. I moonlighted as a night auditor in several locations while in USN. Upon discharge I was assistant manager of a 130 rm single property (chain) while returning to college f/t for degrees in both accounting and business computer programming. While trying to get into ab IS job I skipped around to several more hotel jobs, usually f/d or n/a, but b/o jobs & restaurant supervision too.

I finally got into I.S. and out of hospitality years ago, but did p/t night audit in 1991 for 4 months to help pay for 2 month leave to bicycle across the US for my 2nd time - had depleted all benefits when I bicycled x/c in 1990.

I enjoy IS but spend too much time with machines instead of people. About 2 yr ago I took a p/t (1-2 shifts/wk) "modified" night audit job (9pm-5am) at a Choice hotel "for the fun of it" (hard for some to understand). While I donate my earnings to charity, I LOVE my employee rate when I travel! I love "clerking" and doing what I can to make guests stay pleasurable. I also enjoy thinking of ways technology could further help in hospitality, but my IS work is primarily a niche industry not hotel related.

Now it's YOUR turn. I know that you're closely tied to hospitality too, mayby similar to me.

Remember a "4200"? or a Sweda Dataregister? The industry has sure changed over the years.

I started in the industry as a agency ticket delivery person, eventually becoming a travel agent. After a few years I decided to specialize in hotel reservations, then moved into negotiating hotel contracts and implementing negotiated hotel programs for corporations. THEN, I was recruited by a major GDS to work in the hotel automation group. After 6 years the GDS company bought a large lodging CRS technology provider... and I transferred. So now I work for this young (but large) hotel technology company who is owned by the large GDS.
Yikes!
For the last 8 years I have been working in hotel technology, specializing in GDS optimization.
Possibly you should consider combining your interests and moving into the hotel technology side of the industry!
Lord knows we could use people with actual experience!

Yes, I couple of times I had... well.. discrepancies with on-line reservations. Last time in Chicago (will go there in September) - the Quikbook reservation number didn't work. Took a couple of phone calls to sort it out- Quikbook gave me a letter in front of the number, didn't work with the hotel.

That's why I call or e-mail the hotel directly 2-3 days after I made the reservation, and maybe a week prior to arrival.

My first IS job was for a small company (I was the first f/t employee) designing sytems for clubs (eg: country club, city club, other mamber-based services) and I was hired more because of hospitality & accounting experience then programming skills. I have considered changing my focus. If you wish to chat off-board, you'll figure my eddress if you remove the x from my screen name and add the dot com

My apologies to all for hi-jacking this thread -- let's get back to "Online reservation refused."

Faina - that's a good idea. Also some booking sites won't let you specify preferances like smoking/non-smoking Calling in advance can make the liklihood of getting your preference ALMOST guaranteed - the best we can do anyways. If you wait until arrival, you'll have to hope we still have your preferences available.