Hotel bumped us to another hotel at midnight!!

[rabbitwoman]

This has never happened to us before, can anyone shed light on it?

Me and some pals went for a girls weekend away. We booked and paid for our rooms months ago.

four of us on Friday night, booked into our hotel, two per room. We were joined on Saturday by two pals, and tried to check them in when they arrived, around midday, but were told the extra room wasn't ready yet.

So we all went out for the day, came back around 11pm - to be told the hotel was overbooked, our third room was no longer available and two of our party was now being moved to another hotel.

The staff on duty seemed utterly bemused that we were furious. As if we were being unreasonable. We suggested at the very least they cover our bar bill while we waited for the taxi to take our friends off to another hotel, but no, not possible apparently.

Anyone had this happen to them before, anyone shed any light?

I cannot understand why they would overbook hotels like that, surely it doesn't matter anyway if someone doesn't turn up, they would have to pay anyway?

As with flights, in all likelihood the no-shows will have already paid, @rabbitwoman, but this way the providers get to keep both the original sum and the amount from re-selling it too

good grief, and I thought people fighting over sun loungers on holiday was bad 😂

It's amusing when hotels offer to charge more for early/ very early/ and late check-in, but fair enough. I do wonder how they manage their bookings when you can book a cheap room with flexible cancellation until midday that day.

It was travel lodge on my work trip above! Public sector so all a bit skin-flinty

I don’t use them any more either

I would at least write a review, I wouldn't book a hotel where I turn up (too early) and the room is not ready (that is fair) BUT the room is then given away when I come back later.

That's taking the piss.

Indeed. This should be banned when people have paid upfront. They knew they were coming, they saw them earlier in the day. Sounds like their systems are absolutely shocking.

Just seen a facebook video from Jason Manford about similar at Village hotels

It happened to Jason Manford and apparently a lot of hotels do it. They over book as they expect some people not to turn up.

Sounds more like they are trying to make as much money as possible.

If they didn't do stuff like this, everyone would probably have to pay more.

This happened to a relative at a well-known cheap chain of basic hotel accommodation.
He arrived later than expected to find they had bumped him to elsewhere.
However, when booking on line he was obliged to pay for the room in full, in advance, so they had no reason to bump him out. This relative had chosen this accommodation as it was next to the station by which he was arriving.
He was told that he should have rung explaining his expected arrival time, but as he pointed out, the individual hotels, do NOT have their telephone number on the website, so he had no means of contacting them. He also had no means of getting to the alternative hotel that was offered.
Obviously the relative has never stayed with this cheap hotel chain since.
I have since found out that this often happens especially if others are staying for longer. ie; bump off a single nighter in favour of someone staying a week.
This also happened to my DS who had booked an Airb&b, which was cancelled at the point they arrived.
I've only mentioned this last one in case others say that Airb&b is the way to go on future.

Haha, ya, and good for them, I guess.

However, if BOTH guests turn up and one of them ends up being displaced maybe you should forfeit your extra profit!!!

Did OP’s friends ask for this?

It's Kafkaesque. Sorry too early. Sorry, too late. I'd ask for a full refund for your inconvenience. And people wonder why some of the hospitality sector are struggling. Might it be because they are utterly rubbish?

Someone should have checked them in, this is what I did for my best friend. She would not have been able to have her room otherwise.

Yes, it's happened to me 4 or 5 times when travelling for work. Usually if you check in late. They often overbook rooms because of no shows so the last person to arrive gets bumped.

The most annoying one was when I was actually running a 3 day event at the hotel and was sent to another hotel miles away. I was checking in at 8pm so not massively late.

Is that actually a question...

So, it appears to be common?

That's pretty outrageous, but if there is a business reason to it and it's helping the hospitality sector to survive then I understand- what i do not understand is why there isn't an immediate compensation package in place. The hotel staff really treated us like we were trouble makers!!!

'Sorry we are having to place two of your party in an alternate hotel. Please accept these vouchers/ a refund for your inconvenience and of course a bottle of wine. Thank you for understanding. '

Vs

'Your room is not available, you are now in a hotel two miles away from your mates. Sorry, there's nothing we can do.'

You see the difference?!

They may not have left their details?

..... and especially as we had ALL been there earlier in the day ..... like someone up thread said. Kafkaesque!! Like, what more could we have done to avoid getting bumped?

Yes it's common

Please accept these vouchers/ a refund for your inconvenience and of course a bottle of wine.
no, of course they never do that 😂

The difference in your case is that people tried to check-in earlier, and were not "late arrival" ,that's where the mistake is, and where the hotel completely in the wrong.

You can’t physically check in at many hotels prior to 3pm. With the automated systems, they won’t allow a check in early.

It happens, more often than it should. Like some airlines, some hotels are bad at planning their occupancy levels.
However, they have legal obligations since you have a contract with them. So you're entitled to alternative accommodation at or better quality than booked (and it must be agreeable to you - if you don't like it or it's lower quality you are entitled to a full refund even if the rate is non refundable. And they must still pay for your alternative accommodation).
They must pay for any out of pocket expenses - so taxi fares to/from the new hotel as needed. If food is more expensive at the new hotel etc.
You can also claim compensation depending on how inconvenient they make it.
Honestly, they should offer these things but many are just chancers who think they can get away with it.
I've been bumped a few times where they've upgraded us to a better hotel/room, free drinks as an apology. That's how it should be done.
I suspect the ones who don't do this are the ones who do it so routinely it would cost them a fortune.

then whoever was working at reception should get sacked for being completely incompetent. It's not rocket science, and it's so very common, it's not an unreasonable request that would leave the staff flabbergasted.

They left their luggage!!! Not in reception, with us in our rooms because we had already booked in the night before.

I do getvwhat you are saying but at the same time, who knew there was a very precise, correct way to book into a hotel, and that turning up at midday, then hanging around with your friends in the hotel where they had already checked in for two hours was not it??!!

It doesn't even sound like the friends left any luggage.

Why do people need to be babied so much, why not just say please could you hold a room for us, we're out until late?

I meant leave luggage in the reception luggage room.