Why does this happen?

[Shammy]

Oh, and regarding those Trip Advisor reports of overbooking......

Five bucks says the majority of the people that complained of being bumped booked themselves on:
A. Priceline
B. Orbitz
C. Expedia
D. Sky Auction
E. Travelocity
F. Any other web based discounter!

[Buns]

Originally Posted by Shammy

Oh, and regarding those Trip Advisor reports of overbooking......

Five bucks says the majority of the people that complained of being bumped booked themselves on:
A. Priceline
B. Orbitz
C. Expedia
D. Sky Auction
E. Travelocity
F. Any other web based discounter!

True...True. Let's not even TALK about wholesalers, tour operators, discount websites....that's a WHOLE 'NOTHER STORY!

[AbrahamSimpson]

Originally Posted by Shammy

Oh, and regarding those Trip Advisor reports of overbooking......

Five bucks says the majority of the people that complained of being bumped booked themselves on:
A. Priceline
B. Orbitz
C. Expedia
D. Sky Auction
E. Travelocity
F. Any other web based discounter!

This is my understanding as well. On that note, it seems that those who book through the discounters also get the wrong room category far more often than those who booked through big agencies or through the hotel directly. i.e. paying for an Oceanfront through Orbitz, and being downgraded to a Gardenview. Could be misconception on my part, but it seems much more frequent through the discounters.

[Shammy]

Not a misconception really. Hotel knows you booked yourself, paid a rock bottom price, have no in house representation and are going to complain to....???????????...while you are in Mexico. And then you go home, after it's all said and done and call the discounter? Trust me, they no longer give a rat's a** (but they'll listen to you and maybe send you a $50 gift card! ).

On a personal note - I book all trips with well know tour operators that have been in business for years. I have had one client bumped in 7 years, but it was immediately after Wilma when chaos was rampant! Most tour operators have iron clad contracts worth millions and the last thing a hotel wants to do is piss that tour operator off. They do not want guests to complain to the in house reps, nor do they want the guests to go home and complain to the travel agent - who in turn will complain to the tour operator - who will in turn will bring it right back to the hotel with a threat that if THIS is the way you're going to treat our clients, we'll pull our contract with your hotel!

As they say....you get what you pay for! While that book yourself price may look attractive, you are on your own!

[AbrahamSimpson]

Exactly why we always go through a TA...somebody to be held accountable for screw-ups and so forth

[Blondie1972]

Originally Posted by Shammy

Oh, and regarding those Trip Advisor reports of overbooking......

Five bucks says the majority of the people that complained of being bumped booked themselves on:
A. Priceline
B. Orbitz
C. Expedia
D. Sky Auction
E. Travelocity
F. Any other web based discounter!

How funny it is that you should say that (above). The time I mentioned (on the previous page) when we were about to be 'bumped', we had also booked through a Canadian web based, discount travel operator. Interesting!

Maybe someone can help with this question~ When I was booking my trip to Playa this morning, I was working with my travel agent trying to get some options for flights, etc. We did the plane ticket and then she explained that there were no consolidators that book Hotel Basico so I could either book the hotel myself~ or have my travel agency do so for me... but that they would basically be like a middleman~ adding a step so to speak. (Meaning they'd call Basico, book the room through the hotel direct and then I'd pay the TA and the TA would pay the hotel for my reservation) . She went on to say that it IS a good idea to have them, the travel agency, do the booking on my behalf as there would be less of a chance of my hotel reservation being 'bumped' or any other similar issues.

Is this true? When there is not a consolidator involved, is there a benefit to having the travel agency take care of the hotel reservation as opposed to booking it myself personally online/ via telephone?

[AbrahamSimpson]

I would guess the order of preference is:

1. booking directly through the hotel
2. Travel agent / website like FunJet, Apple, etc.
3. discount agencies

It seems that it boils down to price, and those who book directly through the hotel are usually paying the most. With the big hotels, I mean. I don't see what difference it would make with a smaller hotels as they don't usually presell large numbers of rooms at discounted rates.

shammy, etc. please correct me if I'm wrong on that

[sun seeker]

I have had an over-booking experience. Yes, I booked thru an on-line discounter (I don't want to say who because they did come thru in the end-just after the trip!!).
We were booked at the Bahia Principe during Easter week 2005. When we arrived we were told there was no room period. No amount of my bitching or our daughter's crying changed their position

They sent us to the Royal Porto Real, which was under construction and gave us vouchers for a free week. We loved the RPR, but had many irritating problems due to construction. We made the best of it, and actually had a great family week/vacation. We used our vouchers in April 2006. I contacted the BPA and Ms. Ritter made sure our booking happened and even placed us in Villa 47, beachfront, 3rd floor as we wanted.

Even after the semi-happy ending, I'm done booking for myself and Shammy is my agent now .

[btodd]

Moral of the story.................use a travel agent!!

[vacationbound]

All I can go by is my own experience...when I asked the person at the desk, whos fault is this, they said it was who I booked thru....but upon further review, there were others in the same boat as myself, and they booked directly thru the hotel.
On another note, this was in late June....is this not the slow season?

[Buns]

Originally Posted by Blondie1972

Maybe someone can help with this question~ When I was booking my trip to Playa this morning, I was working with my travel agent trying to get some options for flights, etc. We did the plane ticket and then she explained that there were no consolidators that book Hotel Basico so I could either book the hotel myself~ or have my travel agency do so for me... but that they would basically be like a middleman~ adding a step so to speak. (Meaning they'd call Basico, book the room through the hotel direct and then I'd pay the TA and the TA would pay the hotel for my reservation) . She went on to say that it IS a good idea to have them, the travel agency, do the booking on my behalf as there would be less of a chance of my hotel reservation being 'bumped' or any other similar issues.

Is this true? When there is not a consolidator involved, is there a benefit to having the travel agency take care of the hotel reservation as opposed to booking it myself personally online/ via telephone?

Well...here's my little story. I visited PDC in August 2004 for the first time and fell in love with it there. We had booked through a Travel Agent and had stayed at OFGX. A few months later, decided that we wanted to go back. Went back to our TA. This time, we wanted to stay in December 2005 at Shangri La Caribe. Well...our TA could book our flights for us, but she could not find SLC available through any packages or websites or whatever...the only way to book would be through the hotel itself (this is before I knew of Turquoise Reef or this website ). So, I thought about it and decided to book everything on my own. Same price for the airfare, too! So, I did. *No Trip Insurance*
A few months down the road and here comes Little Miss Hurricane Wilma. Suddenly, SLC and PDC is in ruins and I can't go there for my trip in December! So, I called Turquoise Reef (the Management Company) and they confirmed that there was no way SLC would be up and running by December for me to stay there. Since I had already paid them 3 nights revenue as my deposit, they offered to give me a FULL REFUND! So...then I called my airline and explained the situation and they actually...believe it or not...gave me a FULL REFUND on my ticket! FULL REFUND! No hassle whatsoever! I certainly didn't expect that...but that's what I got! All this...without using a Travel Agent...and with no trip insurance!
So...we rebooked and went to Aruba instead during that week...hated it...came home and booked our September 2006 trip back to PDC and stayed at SLC and LOVED IT!

So...I guess my point is just that while I would never ADVISE anyone to NOT use a Travel Agent...I didn't and my situation turned out fine! I know CHOOSE not to use an agent for my trips. I'm sure I will again in the future...but if I feel comfortable doing this on my own, I don't feel presurred into using an agent.

[ryberg]

Originally Posted by Shammy

Oh thank you for typing this all out! I also know how and why this happens and agree with everything you said...just happy you got to it first! Before I read your response I was biting my lip at some of the incorrect assumptions (that it happens at AI's and not smaller hotels - just to start with)!

Well as I typed my response I also was thinking that I'm sure it does happen at small hotels, as well, and I've done it a couple of times here, in fact. However my guess is that it's for very different reasons if/when it does happen at a small hotel. For example, we have no such idea, nor have we ever had any such idea, of thinking "well, 5-10% of guests are going to cancel, and we don't want a room to go empty because of that, so we'll allow overbooking by that percentage."

In the couple of cases we've had, it's because I simply screwed up and didn't get everything down properly and logged in completely in the midst of everything going on all the time, possibly in conjunction with properly input data not being saved properly even after it was logged in (like if I am hurrying along and making lots of changes and auto-save happens to be off and the program suddenly quits for some reason or whatever).

Of course it may also be that there are also small hotels with just really careless reservation systems, as well, and that could account for overbooking at some such places. But then that would be the same root cause in a case where a big operation was being run by careless reservationists, and I don't know if that's what you're talking about.

Or what are you talking about, anyway, Shammy?

But yes, thanks for the explanation!

Steve

[Buns]

Originally Posted by ryberg

Well as I typed my response I also was thinking that I'm sure it does happen at small hotels, as well, and I've done it a couple of times here, in fact. However my guess is that it's for very different reasons if/when it does happen at a small hotel. For example, we have no such idea, nor have we ever had any such idea, of thinking "well, 5-10% of guests are going to cancel, and we don't want a room to go empty because of that, so we'll allow overbooking by that percentage."

In the couple of cases we've had, it's because I simply screwed up and didn't get everything down properly and logged in completely in the midst of everything going on all the time, possibly in conjunction with properly input data not being saved properly even after it was logged in (like if I am hurrying along and making lots of changes and auto-save happens to be off and the program suddenly quits for some reason or whatever).

Of course it may also be that there are also small hotels with just really careless reservation systems, as well, and that could account for overbooking at some such places. But then that would be the same root cause in a case where a big operation was being run by careless reservationists, and I don't know if that's what you're talking about.

Or what are you talking about, anyway, Shammy?

But yes, thanks for the explanation!

Steve

I guess I would just like to say that all of my *opinions* are just that...my opinions formed based on my experiences. I in NO WAY wish to insinuate that ALL hotels and/or resorts follow the same practice of "overbooking". Many do...many do not. Each hotel has to make those decisions based on that particular hotel.

[ryberg]

Originally Posted by Buns

I guess I would just like to say that all of my *opinions* are just that...my opinions formed based on my experiences. I in NO WAY wish to insinuate that ALL hotels and/or resorts follow the same practice of "overbooking". Many do...many do not. Each hotel has to make those decisions based on that particular hotel.

No problem! I understood that and, like Shammy, I appreciated you posting it! I was really referring to Shammy's comment about small hotels, the one I quoted back and bolded in my post, but maybe that wasn't clear.

Whatever! It's all good. OUr beach here is nice and big and I took pics this morning to post soon.

Steve

[ADOLFO SOTO]

Its legal to overbook hotel rooms and flights too to some extent,depending on the season. In this way the hotels or airlines get their rooms and planes full for sure.