When people book a room in a hotel, especially Guests way in advance, they reasonably expect to get one upon arriving at said hotel. But that’s not always what happens.
Take this mildly infuriated couple, for instance. They came to the hotel only to learn that it had no room for the guests, despite the fact that they made a reservation weeks ago. They were offered an alternative, however – a sofa bed in a room where you would least expect one to be. Scroll down to find pictures of the couple’s home-away-from-home, as well as more details in the OP’s own words, which she shared with fellow members of the ‘Mildly Infuriating’ community.
Guests Overbooking is a common practice in the world of hospitality
According to the hotel commerce platform SiteMinder, in addition to ‘walking’ its clients, the hotel might provide compensation of some sorts, be it free transportation to the alternative hotel, a free meal, or a free night’s stay. If you’re wondering if it’s legal for hotels to ‘walk’ their clients, offering a dinner voucher as compensation, SiteMinder reports that overbooking is generally legal (though laws and regulations may vary by country or by state or region within a country).
The aforementioned source suggests that hotels have two big reasons to overbook: avoiding losing revenue and achieving 100% occupancy. Since cancellations are inevitable, overbooking allows establishments to use every room they have and not lose revenue even if the cancellations are made last-minute. As for the occupancy, such last-minute cancellations and no-shows mean that the hotel will not reach the expected 100% occupancy, despite being fully booked initially, which is not a favorable situation either.
Judging from the fact that the hotel could not provide a room for the OP and her husband, despite them having booked one in advance, it’s safe to assume that the hotel they stayed at was overbooked. Consequently, the couple had to stay in a conference room, but some redditors suggested that it came with a silver lining – “so much room for activities!” Fellow netizens shared this and other thoughts in the comments, where the OP provided more details about their conference room stay.
In case of overbooking, the hotel might ‘walk’ its guests and provide some sort of compensation
According to the hotel commerce platform SiteMinder, in addition to ‘walking’ its clients, the hotel might provide compensation of some sorts, be it free transportation to the alternative hotel, a free meal, or a free night’s stay. If you’re wondering if it’s legal for hotels to ‘walk’ their clients, offering a dinner voucher as compensation, SiteMinder reports that overbooking is generally legal (though laws and regulations may vary by country or by state or region within a country).
The aforementioned source suggests that hotels have two big reasons to overbook: avoiding losing revenue and achieving 100% occupancy. Since cancellations are inevitable, overbooking allows establishments to use every room they have and not lose revenue even if the cancellations are made last-minute. As for the occupancy, such last-minute cancellations and no-shows mean that the hotel will not reach the expected 100% occupancy, despite being fully booked initially, which is not a favorable situation either.
Judging from the fact that the hotel could not provide a room for the OP and her husband, despite them having booked one in advance, it’s safe to assume that the hotel they stayed at was overbooked. Consequently, the couple had to stay in a conference room, but some redditors suggested that it came with a silver lining – “so much room for activities!” Fellow netizens shared this and other thoughts in the comments, where the OP provided more details about their conference room stay.
