Have you ever encountered overbooking in hotels upon check-in? In this article, we will tell you what to do if you are not accommodated in the booked room and what actions should be taken in order to avoid an unpleasant situation, especially if you have arrived on a long-awaited vacation. So how do you get compensation and where to claim payment?
What is overbooking?
Overbooking is a definite strategy that is beneficial when running a business, but can come as an unpleasant surprise for the individual traveler. The situation when your rights are violated by service providers occurs and you need to be prepared for it. There may be different options, for example, you are not accommodated in a hotel or you are denied boarding a plane. At the height of the tourist season, this situation occurs more often than in the off-season, because the demand for services increases. The situation with tickets and the purchase of tours changes within hours, if not minutes. It is important to understand why this is happening and what options you have. Overbooking is a rather rare phenomenon, but if this happens, then you can and should fight it. Consider overbooking in a hotel; in a situation with air travel, you can do the same, with the exception of small nuances.
Proven experience! When booking air tickets, especially if you do not trust the airline, we definitely recommend using the service Compensair, he provides legal assistance in case of flight cancellation or delay. The company operates within the framework of EU and Turkish legislation.
Why is there overbooking at the hotel?
There are several main reasons:
- The hotelier sold more rooms than the declared hotel. Sometimes this is done in case the hotel wants to avoid losses due to insufficient occupancy.
- The operator is trying to make money by checking into his hotels. As a rule, this applies to network operators.
- If the hotel was booked through the website on the Internet on its own, then the human factor is possible, for example, they did not remove the room from the reservation and sold it twice.
In addition, force majeure may occur in a hotel or country that is not related to overbooking, but may outwardly look like it.
At what stage can you defend your rights?
As soon as you are offered to stay in a hotel other than the declared one, you should start to act. For example, contact a tour operator. If you are offered another hotel and they say that it is of a higher class, then you should look at the offer. Perhaps the hotelier is actually offering you a better option as an excuse.
What to do if you don't check into the booked hotel?
- Ask the hotelier to explain the reason, you can record the answer to a dictaphone or mobile phone.
- Call the tour operator, voice the situation and the hotelier's answer.
- Do not check into a hotel if its level does not correspond to the specified one. You can wait on the bus, you can at the reception. Do not check into the room until the situation is clarified or until you are offered an acceptable option.
- If the situation is not resolved, and you see that the staff is not making attempts to change it, then it is worth starting a row. You have the right to loudly voice your claims, invite superior hotel employees, say that you will sue the hotel or travel agency. Scandals at the hotel are not welcome and may be enough.
- If, in this case, you are not offered an alternative replacement, then you need to call the tourist police of this place. The number can be found in a google search engine or ask the hotelier. Sometimes it is enough to voice this to the receiving party for the situation to change. The tourist police are respected by hoteliers all over the world, if not afraid.
- If you have not been able to defend your rights at the hotel, it is possible to sue for compensation upon arrival home. To do this, you need to submit to the court the maximum possible documents for the situation: a photo of the room, guest card, video, recordings of conversations at the hotel. Testimony is welcome. It's good if you can write a claim to the tour operator about the replacement of the hotel (two copies) and sign it by the host. Keep one copy for yourself.
Self-booking through the website
In the event that you booked the hotel yourself, you will have to find out the reasons for the overbooking and the options for resolving the situation on the spot or through the same website. In Europe, it is highly likely that by calling the site's support service, you will quickly resolve the issue and even get the best hotel or room. In Europe, overbooking is severely punished. In other countries - as luck would have it. Otherwise, you need to look for a hotel nearby and settle there. Perhaps you will win in price and terms. Otherwise, you will need to immediately photograph the receipts of payment and other hotel documents and send them to the site's support service to receive compensation.
Advice! Be sure to use only proven services, from personal many years of experience we recommend using Booking.com, the company is very active in this area, especially options with private housing are being tested.
- What to do if they do not check into a hotel purchased with an early booking?
This situation is even less common because operators are interested in early booking. Nevertheless, this also happens. Early booking tours are purchased several months before travel. The price situation in the hotel can change a lot during this time. In this case, it is hardly possible to change anything even if your operator and the local police intervene. You can try to defend your rights, but the chances are much less. Although, in this case, hoteliers are trying to offer options that are not worse than those stated.
- If they do not check into the booked room?
The situation is similar to the replacement of the hotel. If you paid for a room of a certain category, but they provide a room of worse quality, then most likely you have met with a hotel overbooking. Perhaps you were offered instead of a room with a sea view, a room with a view of the city or a blank wall, the room does not have the amenities specified in the description, or its area is smaller than the declared one. In any case, you have the right to declare your disagreement with the hotel's policy and ask to correct the situation. In most cases, the hotel will provide you with a different room. In some cases, it can be of even better quality than the one announced on the tour. Then you only benefit from overbooking.
What can a tourist do without knowing the language?
Tours to large chain hotels are usually accompanied by a Russian-speaking guide and you can try to solve something with him. In case you are faced with room overbooking, and the guide has already left, then you can look for an interpreter among the hotel guests or find out if there is a Russian-speaking staff at the hotel. As a last resort, try to explain "on the fingers" that the number does not correspond to that indicated on the tour. The more emotionally this is done, the more chances of success. You can also call the tour operator and try to solve the problem through him.
General remarks
Before concluding a purchase agreement, it is worth reading reviews about the tour operator and the hotel. It is better to book hotels on your own on large sites such as booking, where there is good legal support and a system of real reviews. After self-booking the hotel, you need to contact the owner of the hotel, clarify the details and time of check-in.
