Overbooking, «invisible» booking and double payment: eight common problems when checking into a hotel

CrimeaPRESS reports:

Sometimes there are problems when checking into a hotel. For example, travelers are offered a room that is not specified in the booking, the reception cannot find a reservation or payment, or they cannot check in due to overbooking. Tutu tells how to behave in different situations and how the booking service can help.

Problem number 1: hotel overbooking

It happens that hotels allow you to book more rooms than they have. This is done consciously. Usually hotels have their own statistics on check-ins and cancellations, and if they know that out of 100 bookings they check in as a result of 98, they can sell rooms “with a margin”. But sometimes all the guests, despite the forecasts of the hotel, come — then overbooking occurs. On average, more than half of bookings are paid at check-in, and in such cases, the hotel is at risk of last-minute cancellation or no-show without warning.

Overbooking can also be accidental — due to problems with updating data in booking systems if the hotel is sold on several sites. For example, while one client is booking a room directly from the counter or by phone, the second can book it on the site.

If your reservation has not been paid, call the hotel and let them know that you will definitely arrive. If possible, indicate the time you plan to be. Sometimes hotels themselves contact travelers to clarify this information.

In case of overbooking, Tutu’s Settlement Guarantee will help. The service will take over negotiations with the hotel and either achieve the traveler’s check-in, or select an alternative at his own expense and compensate for the journey to the new hotel. More than 9,500 hotels in Russia are covered by the Settlement Guarantee on the website and in the Tutu app, they are marked with a special icon.

Problem number 2: the hotel does not see the reservation or payment

It happens that hotel staff do not see the reservation or payment for the room. The probability of such a problem is higher if the room is booked a couple of hours before arrival.

If your booking or payment is not seen at the hotel, immediately write or call the support service of the site where you booked the hotel. Probably, there was a failure in the data transfer, and the service staff will be able to quickly figure everything out — as a rule, it takes no more than an hour.

If you decide to pay for the room a second time on the spot, and then sort out the problem, you will need to leave a request for a refund. It can take up to thirty days if you paid for the room by card both times. We made a second payment in cash — you can get the money immediately if the situation is resolved during your stay at the hotel.

Just in case, check if you came to the right hotel. It happens that in one city there are hotels with similar names. There are also cases when guests of neighboring hotels were deliberately lured away by hanging incorrect signs.

Problem number 3: settled in the wrong room

If you are not accommodated in the room that you booked, first clarify why it happened and whether your rights have really been violated (this is not always the case).

The first case — you do not like the decor and interior. You booked a room with white walls and a table by the window, you arrived — the walls are blue, the table is in the corner, the bed and other furniture are not as beautiful as in the pictures. It happens that the hotel has been renovated or rearranged, but they forgot to update the photos, but the room is the same. In this case, if the characteristics of the room have not changed qualitatively, the situation is decided at the discretion of the hotel: you can be moved to another room, but are not required. Note that, in principle, the exact correspondence of the photo is not guaranteed: in rooms of the same category, the furnishings, color of the walls and the arrangement of furniture may differ.

The second case — indeed, the category of rooms is different: one category is booked, but settled in another. This problem may occur due to the fact that the hotel has passed the wrong category of rooms to the booking system or during overbooking. Tutu remembers one of such cases: a traveler booked a single room, but upon check-in it turned out that he had booked a bed in a shared quadruple room. The service support staff helped, and the guest was moved to a separate double room at no extra charge.

In case of overbooking, the hotel may offer relocation to another hotel or a lower category room, but with compensation. If there are no available rooms in the hotel, then you will either have to return the money and look for another option, or, unfortunately, agree to the terms of the hotel. If the hotel falls under the Tutu Settlement Guarantee, the service will try to find an equivalent alternative or a room in another hotel of a higher category.

Problem number 4: an empty reception, there is no one to check in a guest

“A traveler booked a hotel room with 24-hour check-in. I came to check in at one in the morning, and there was a lock on the gate. It turned out that this hotel had several buildings, and a 24-hour reception in the fifth building, and not the first one, where the guest arrived and where we called. As a result, they settled without any problems, ”they tell about one of the cases in Tutu.

Calling the support service of the service where you made the reservation is the right decision. If you booked a room directly with the hotel, call them. Or go to the website and social networks of the hotel — perhaps there is the necessary information about the opening hours of the reception desk or contacts in case of a late check-in.

Before booking a hotel, always look in the description for how the reception works. If the front desk is not open 24 hours and you arrive late, you will not be accommodated, and the hotel will not be at fault in this situation, and it will be almost impossible to obtain compensation.

Tutu travel service writes about what can go wrong on a trip and how to avoid common troubles in its telegram channel. Here you can find news about transport and travel, read about interesting sights, museums, excursions and other places and activities.

Issue #5: The voucher does not include the guest’s first and last name

Sometimes the client makes a reservation, but does not indicate the last name and first name of the guest: for example, in the “first name” field, write “Whose”, and in the “surname” field — “Whose”. In this case, the hotel will not let you into the room — it turns out that someone who has nothing to do with the reservation is trying to check in. It is useless to swear — it is better to correct the details of the reservation on the site, if possible, or call the place where you booked the hotel and get a new voucher.

Problem number 6: do not settle on a passport

Guests often complain that they are not checked into a hotel with a passport, and refer to the fact that this is an identity document. But in this case, the hotel is right: according to the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 11/18/2020 No. 1853, it is possible to settle a Russian citizen abroad only if he permanently resides outside the Russian Federation. If you live in Russia, you will be settled only with an internal passport.

Be sure to take your regular passport (and for children under 14, a birth certificate) with you when you travel around the country. Better yet, when flying abroad. If during the flight there is suddenly an emergency landing due to bad weather in one of the Russian cities, the airline may board take passengers to the hotel. The hotel can either make concessions, settling a guest on a foreign passport, or refuse — referring to the normative legal act mentioned above.

Problem number 7: something broke in the room

A breakdown that affects comfort or does not allow you to stay in the room at all is a reason to return the money or move to another room or hotel. In the event that, say, the toilet or air conditioner is broken, first contact the reception and ask to call the master. If the damage cannot be repaired quickly, the hotel staff can offer another room, or you can ask for it yourself. If there are no available rooms, you can request a refund and move to another hotel.

Problem number 8: there was a conflict with neighbors

In Tutu, they recall a case: a man checked into a hostel and ran into a problem — roommates drank alcohol all night, which violated the rules of the hostel and created inconvenience for other guests. The traveler refused to stay in this room, moved to another hostel and sent a check to Tutu’s staff. The service returned the money, but the first hostel did not agree with this decision at first, Tutu had to intervene to get compensation.

If your hostel neighbors are noisy, drink alcohol, or otherwise break the rules, contact the front desk immediately. It didn’t help — try to find another hostel, contact the support service of the site where you paid for the room, and leave a request for a refund. Even if you can’t get your money back, don’t stay where you feel uncomfortable or in danger. And don’t hesitate to call the police.

Tutu travel service is the most visited online travel service in Russia (according to Similar Web for May 2022 — April 2023), where you can buy tickets for trains, planes and buses, see suburban train schedules, find travel packages, book hotels, choose thematic tours, expeditions or excursions. The Tutu travel service has been operating since mid-2003 and has a monthly audience of 20 million unique users. According to SimilarWeb data for March 2023, the Tutu service website (tutu.ru) is in the top 20 most popular in the world in the Travel category.

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