A Perfect Storm

[Roxanne Trees]

For twelve years I have dreaded the inevitable, a double booking.
Last evening, as I was in the middle of canning a huge load of green tomato marmalade (it is going to snow tonight so I picked all the remaining tomatoes in my garden), I get a call from the guard gate that there is a Mr & Mrs. A for me but that the gate had no record of me calling in their name. Having just called in the next two days names in just a couple hours before I knew that name was not on the list. Panic starts to creep in. I tell the gate to send them up. In the meantime I am frantically flipping through my reservations. Nope. No record of Mr. & Mrs. A anywhere. Not in my book, not in my emails, nothing. Oh crap!
I get on B&B.com reservations and sure enough, there they are, due to check in and paid in full. The booking date was August 16!

I quickly scroll through my past emails from around that date. Nothing from B & B.com
My air was starting to turn blue as I am booked full this weekend and there are no other B&B's nearby. It is peak leaf weekend up here in the mountains and nobody has anything.
"Ding Dong!" Mr. & Mrs. A have made it up the mountain without my special printed directions. They have just flown in from Florida to celebrate their wedding anniversary.

I put on my calm demeanor and explain the situation. They have a confirmation number, of course, so I have them sit down and call B & B.com. I sit on hold for an eternity squirming at the thought of the whole situation. What do I do? Give them MY bedroom? EEP!
Finally they answer and confess that yes, they booked the room but neglected to send me notification! "So sorry. We will refund their money." Really? And what are Mr. & Mrs. A supposed to do, sleep under the stars?
I told B&B.com they need to find these people another two night stay. The guy puts me on hold for another eternity and comes back and tells me that the Motel 6 and the Best Western in the next state have vacancy! Argh!
Meanwhile, another couple shows up and checks in.
I told him that was not acceptable. "Sorry, that is all we can find, but we will refund their money." You betcha!
After 30 minutes of searching they find a hotel an hour away that was twice my room rates. They were very gracious and understood it was not my fault or negligence. I still felt sick about it all.
I think B & B.com should pay the difference between my room rate and the one they ended up with.
After they left I called a supervisor and although she claimed that this "never happens", I have my doubts. They refunded Mr. & Mrs. A's money but what about their inconvenience and my time and aggravation? I did have one room open last night but nothing for the second night, so this really cost me a one night booking too.
Has this kind of thing happened to anyone else and what did you do?
I am not finished with B&B.com. We are going to have a pow wow early next week.
P.S. Mr. & Mrs. A did take a little hike on the Appalachian Trail while they were still inside the resort, so their trip up here was not a total waste.

 

[TheBeachHouse]

I probably would have given them the one night empty and worked it out for the next night.
Either way, they landed with the right innkeeper - you worked hard to help them out!

 

[Morticia]

Generally speaking, if there is a double booking the guest should not have to pay extra for another room. Who makes up that difference is the entity that made the error.
We've always paid the difference when we've had to move guests to another property. Those have been our mistakes tho.
But, now that the horse is out of the barn so to speak, it's probably a good idea to check every reservation source everyday. Especially the ones that send the guest a confirmation immediately after booking.

 

[TheBeachHouse]

Generally speaking, if there is a double booking the guest should not have to pay extra for another room. Who makes up that difference is the entity that made the error.
We've always paid the difference when we've had to move guests to another property. Those have been our mistakes tho.
But, now that the horse is out of the barn so to speak, it's probably a good idea to check every reservation source everyday. Especially the ones that send the guest a confirmation immediately after booking..

Another fix - we pay for siteminder. It closes the room automatically when a booking comes from any outside source. Life saver!
And good point on who pays the difference. We have paid the difference for our double booked guests in the past. It shouldn't be their problem.

 

[Aussie Innkeeper]

there is some responsibility on the guests, I think. I mean, they book two months ago and never receive anything from you (because you didn't know they had booked with you), and they don't think maybe to call or email to confirm?
Kudos to you, though, trying to help them out.

 

[Jcam]

this is partly why we go through and email every guest the night before - ie go through boo, ex and so on - so would pick up at that point - did give myself a stroke the other day mind as there was one I didn't have but it was because he had booked the wrong dates about a year in advance and I rang him just out of curiosity of what he was coming for and when he told me Bridal fair I said but that's not the dates for that and moved him with his consent and joy that I had noticed it was wrong and sorted it out for him - however 9 months later I had totally forgotten and just saw the booking on book and nearly had a brain aneurysm!

 

[Morticia]

there is some responsibility on the guests, I think. I mean, they book two months ago and never receive anything from you (because you didn't know they had booked with you), and they don't think maybe to call or email to confirm?
Kudos to you, though, trying to help them out..

there is some responsibility on the guests, I think. I mean, they book two months ago and never receive anything from you (because you didn't know they had booked with you), and they don't think maybe to call or email to confirm?
Kudos to you, though, trying to help them out.

They might have gotten an auto confirmation from the booking site. They had a confirmation number.

 

[Copperhead]

there is some responsibility on the guests, I think. I mean, they book two months ago and never receive anything from you (because you didn't know they had booked with you), and they don't think maybe to call or email to confirm?
Kudos to you, though, trying to help them out..

there is some responsibility on the guests, I think. I mean, they book two months ago and never receive anything from you (because you didn't know they had booked with you), and they don't think maybe to call or email to confirm?
Kudos to you, though, trying to help them out.

They might have gotten an auto confirmation from the booking site. They had a confirmation number.
.

there is some responsibility on the guests, I think. I mean, they book two months ago and never receive anything from you (because you didn't know they had booked with you), and they don't think maybe to call or email to confirm?
Kudos to you, though, trying to help them out.

They might have gotten an auto confirmation from the booking site. They had a confirmation number.

Agree. Some properties don't send anything personal, so it is not the guests problem here. B&B.com should pick up the difference, when it is my error I pay for their stay elsewhere no matter what the cost.

 

[Silverspoon]

there is some responsibility on the guests, I think. I mean, they book two months ago and never receive anything from you (because you didn't know they had booked with you), and they don't think maybe to call or email to confirm?
Kudos to you, though, trying to help them out..

I have been on the guest end of this scenario and it ain't a pretty sight! I recounted the episode here. Never got a dime from them but after several hours at least ended up with a bed.

 

[Roxanne Trees]

I probably would have given them the one night empty and worked it out for the next night.
Either way, they landed with the right innkeeper - you worked hard to help them out!.

I did offer the guests the one night but they wanted to settle in one place for two nights.