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Hotel cancelled my reservation

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sarus75

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

Do I have any recourse against a hotel that just cancelled my reservation for no apparent reason? I got an email stating that my reservation (made 6 months ago) was cancelled. After calling customer service, nobody knows why it happened, and they say they cannot reinstate the reservation because that room has now been reserved to someone else. There are no more available rooms in the city for those dates due to a large convention, so I now have no other place to stay. The nearest available room is 8 miles away and $400 per night, which is double what I had reserved the first room for. Is there any legal recourse that I have, or can hotels just do that to people?

Thank you for your advice.
 


What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

Do I have any recourse against a hotel that just cancelled my reservation for no apparent reason? I got an email stating that my reservation (made 6 months ago) was cancelled. After calling customer service, nobody knows why it happened, and they say they cannot reinstate the reservation because that room has now been reserved to someone else. There are no more available rooms in the city for those dates due to a large convention, so I now have no other place to stay. The nearest available room is 8 miles away and $400 per night, which is double what I had reserved the first room for. Is there any legal recourse that I have, or can hotels just do that to people?

Thank you for your advice.
I would think there is an argument that you have contract with the hotel. I'm assuming you had already paid for the room if you booked it in advance? If there is a contract, they are in breach. You might be entitled to the difference in what the new hotel versus the cost of the hotel that canceled your reservations. However, to take legal action would cost far more than your damages, and probably would not be worth your time. Long story short, I would call the hotel and I would push them to rectify their mistake. They might be able to get you a room somewhere for a reduced rate, or your original rate.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
I worked for a hotel for several years, and I can tell you that hotels do not generally cancel reservations unless they have some reason to do so or to believe that you wished it cancelled. I very much doubt that it was done deliberately to inconvenience you or that it was done at random. My best guess is that they received a message of some sort to cancel a reservation and they either honestly believed that it came from you, or there was a clerical error and yours was cancelled by mistake instead of the one that should have been cancelled. If they cannot find the source of the error the latter reason is more likely. If so, that means that they're going to have a no-show when the guy whose reservation should have been cancelled doesn't arrive. (I'm also willing to bet that he has a similar name to yours, had a reservation confirmation number very close to yours, or had some other similarity to you.) You might want to check with them that day about cancellations or no-shows. And yes, under the circumstances, they should be the ones to find you other accomodations and to eat the difference in charges.
 

dmcc10880

Member
Call the front desk manager and ask to have your reservation reinstated. Explain what happened and if need be, email a copy of your confirmation. If that doesn't work, speak to the GM. Hotels are rarely totally sold out. They typically keep a room or two open for unexpected situations.

If that doesn't work, ask to be placed at another hotel of equal or better quality at the rate you paid initially.

I've only been walked once due to a conference and bad weather where a lot of the attendees couldn't get out from the airport. So, instead of staying at the Westin, they put me up at the Ritz Carlton.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
Hotels are rarely totally sold out. They typically keep a room or two open for unexpected situations.

That depends on the hotel and is not always true, especially as you get closer to the specific event or date.
 

cosine

Senior Member
Hotels are rarely totally sold out. They typically keep a room or two open for unexpected situations.

That depends on the hotel and is not always true, especially as you get closer to the specific event or date.
I suspect, in this situation, the hotel arranged to "lose" the lower paying reservation when they had the opportunity to book a higher paying reservation. When local events happen that increases the demand, they will use those held-off rooms. Usually they are held off from reservations. But on those special event days, not always so.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
And, as someone who worked behind the desk at a hotel for a number of years, I suspect that a clerical error occurred.

But neither you nor I will ever know which is the case; nor will the OP. Nor does it matter. The best he is entitled to is to have the difference between what he has already paid, and what he will have to pay for alternate accomodations, comped, possibly including transportation costs between the new hotel and the event.
 

cosine

Senior Member
And, as someone who worked behind the desk at a hotel for a number of years, I suspect that a clerical error occurred.
These days, computers are used. Even if someone made the mistake of canceling the wrong entry, there should be a record of this. E.g. they should know who canceled it. Possible exceptions include sleazy mom & pop motels.

There should also be a requirement to authenticate before canceling. OTOH, general failure of big businesses to deal with authentication correctly has led to so much of the ID theft problem we have these days. If this kind of thing happened to me, I would ask the hotel if they verify CC when canceling. If they say yes, then I would be filing a police report and trigger an investigation to find the source of the cancellation. If they say no, that will be used against them in the law suit.

But neither you nor I will ever know which is the case; nor will the OP. Nor does it matter. The best he is entitled to is to have the difference between what he has already paid, and what he will have to pay for alternate accomodations, comped, possibly including transportation costs between the new hotel and the event.
No "possibility" about the other costs. I would be sure they are liable for all of it, plus all costs in making sure they cover those costs if they resist (e.g. legal fees if they force me to sue).

The general public expects a hotel reservation to be solid, especially if reserved with a means of payment. Clerical errors are not acceptable.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
Yes, I am well aware that computers are used, since I've actually used them. That will say when the cancellation was done and generally even by whom - it will not say why.

But since it's clear that you will accept no answer other than that the cancellation was done deliberately by the hotel knowing that the OP had not done so, I'm not going to waste any more time on you.

Oh, except to say that the police would laugh at you for filing a report that the hotel cancelled your reservation without permission. Even if done deliberately, which really is not a widespread practice no matter what you may think, that would be a civil matter, not criminal.
 

cosine

Senior Member
Yes, I am well aware that computers are used, since I've actually used them. That will say when the cancellation was done and generally even by whom - it will not say why.

But since it's clear that you will accept no answer other than that the cancellation was done deliberately by the hotel knowing that the OP had not done so, I'm not going to waste any more time on you.

Oh, except to say that the police would laugh at you for filing a report that the hotel cancelled your reservation without permission. Even if done deliberately, which really is not a widespread practice no matter what you may think, that would be a civil matter, not criminal.
Go back and re-read what I actually wrote. And stop making up stuff.

I said to file the report only if the hotel actually checks CC numbers. This would be an ID theft report, specifically about someone having the OP's CC number. This should have been obvious. Maybe the OP might not have figured that out, but I expect better of a Senior Member with 27k+ posts.

The investigation might involve the hotel to get more information about how the cancellation happened. If it was a phone call, the investigation should find out what info they have about it. if it was done online, they should have server logs. A police report is needed to get things moving as the hotel is unlikely to cooperate if none is filed. It might even have to go to a judge to get an order to release the info.

If someone uses YOUR CC number to cancel a reservation where the hotel does ask for the CC number as a validation check, then a crime has taken place by whoever made that call.

The hotel may well be innocent of any wrongdoing if they apply the proper checks and someone is defeating those checks. It seems to me that verifying the CC number to do a cancel of a reservation made with a CC is a very reasonable safe harbor.

If the hotel does NOT check CC numbers, then it's a bad hotel, at least in terms of their handling if reservations, and it is their fault because they would be allowing anyone to cancel anyone else's reservation. There are a variety of means to deal with such an improperly run business, and I recommend that all of those means be carried out (blog, complain to BBB, sue, tell al your friends to never use them, etc).

If their computer does the CC verification, then a cancellation handled by a staff member would require them to get the CC numbers and type them in or swipe the card. Such a check would be due diligence to prevent accidents by staff.
 

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