[Anonymous]

[RussShaw6]

I have just travelled from London to Silicon Valley and was booked for four nights at the Hyatt Regency in Santa Clara for board meeting. My company pre-paid for the room and a week before I added my Hyatt Gold Passport number so that all of my details were included with the reservation.

My flight was four hours late from London, and I didn’t arrive at the hotel until midnight. Knowing that the room had been paid in advance and being a Gold Passport holder, I thought I was fine.

Well, how wrong I was! Upon check-in, I was told that the hotel was oversold and that my room had been given away! They were in the process of re-booking me at the San Jose Airport Garden Hotel around 6 miles away (all other hotels in the immediate area were sold out as well–an indication of the ‘boom’ underway in Silicon Valley). Hyatt said that they would pay for the hotel room that night.

I was pretty astonished (not to mention angry) at the whole episode. I had my company re-book me out of the hotel and put me in the Hilton Santa Clara next door for the remaining three nights. I went back to Hyatt to speak to the manager. They were preparing to upgrade me and give me more points, but I basically told them (nicely) where to go and that I wouldn’t come back. I have already written to Hyatt HQ and put a review on Trip Advisor.

This happened to me once before with a Marriott Courtyard in Hannover (with a prepaid booking and being a frequent guest card holder). I wrote to Alex McWhirter about that episode as well.

My questions to all of you are this: Has this happened to you? It’s one thing to show up with just a booking…it’s another to have a room pre-paid and be a frequent guest customer. How would you handle a situation like this? Is this becoming a common occurrence with hotels? Thanks!

[continentalclub]

Most chains and indeed many independents have an official policy on this, and overbooking is as much a part of hotel revenue management as it is of airline revenue management.

Some companies actually publish how they deal with it, including Marriott, who link it to Rewards membership and call it the Ultimate Reservation Guarantee:

http://tidd.ly/a0ff771e

I’ve been bumped by Hilton, Marriott, Accor and the Eton Collection, and it seems to happen more when a chain has multiple properties in a particular area – and perhaps unsurprisingly when it’s particularly busy.

Having been on the receiving end of a bump in circumstances not dissimilar to yours RussShaw6, I certainly don’t like the practice of overbooking when it causes significant inconvenience (especially on business stays).

Having said that, I’ve also had more than a few free and heavily-compensated leisure stays at perfectly good hotels, so I’m guessing that some guests can end up doing rather well out of it – just like those taking IDB compensation for flights that they can afford to delay a little.

As with anything, I suppose that it at least partially comes down to how the bad news is delivered, how pro-active the staff have been in securing alternative arrangements, now acceptable those arrangements are and how much compensation is offered.

[Irons80]

I have had it happen the opposite way – at on of the Radisson Blu hotels in Antwerp, I had booked a Business Class room. I arrived at the hotel at about midnight and was informed that they’d sold out of all of the business class rooms… so they upgraded me to the presidential suite! It had 2 bathrooms, a lounge with a grand piano, a study, a kitchen and storage room as well as an exercise room!

[ZKSmith]

I’ve been ‘bumped’ from Marriott and Hyatt hotels in the past too. In all cases I arrived late having pre-booked (or had my work pre-book) a room during a promotion. Upon arrival each time I was informed they were fully booked, although information screens at reception showed rooms were available, just at 4 or 5 times times the cost of what I paid. I get the impression loyalty or early reservations count for less than the amount you are prepared to pay during their busiest times.

I was also recently downgraded while staying at an Accor Novotel. Had reserved an Executive room but due to how busy they were they could only offer a Standard Room. While an apology was offered it was a nightmare to try and get a partial refund afterwards, and no compensation was given at the time like a free / discounted dinner.

Equally I have been upgraded for no reason on several occasions, particularly in privately owned hotels. However, on a recent stay in a Accor Mercure Hotel I was upgraded for free and given a full explanation of they required all their Standard rooms for several coach parties currently staying so the few guests who had been booked in these rooms were all upgraded to Superior or Deluxe rooms.

If you stay at hotels enough, you are bound to be upgraded, downgraded, and moved to other hotels. And loyalty doesn’t always count for much in these cases.

[RussShaw6]

Thanks everyone for the comments and context around this…It all makes sense. Yes, I have been upgraded, too. I guess what surprised me was the fact that I was ‘bumped’ even though I had prepaid (for four nights!). It is hugely busy here in Silicon Valley…most of the hotels are booked out. I was also surprised that as a loyal customer, I was ‘involuntarily bumped’…In comparison with the airline sector, BA and UA have never involuntarily bumped me, no matter what class or fare. Perhaps the hotel sector doesn’t value the loyalty as much as they say they do.

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