Guests Booked More Rooms than they need

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cgl

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Hi everyone,
Iv'e been looking everywhere to the answer for this question but I can't seem to find it and I'm sure its a problem everyone here has encountered.
My mother runs a B&B and we recently got a booking for 4 rooms for 4 nights with 8 adults and 2 children from Spanish guests but when they arrived today it was just 2 adults and 3 children. My mother emailed them before their arrival with the breakdown of the rooms and there was no response so when they arrived they just denied what they had booked and when they were shown their booking they just shrugged their shoulders as if to say what can you do. It's extremely frustrating so I just wanted to see how others handle this situation and is there any way to protect yourself from getting ripped off like this as we turned down bookings because of them.
Thanks.
 
If you sent them confirmations of the bookings, they owe you the rates in full.
Especially if you turned down other bookings because you had confirmed reservations.
They can shrug all they want, but when they get their bill, they will have paid in full.
 
They can fight it out with their credit card company. We require payment in full on arrival. If they don't want to pay they can leave.
Your mother can charge them for the reservation they made and they can dispute it later. If she has the documentation to show they were told what they booked she's got a fighting chance of keeping the money.
Personally, she's lost 8 nights as it is. I'd be peeved enough at their attitude to lose the other 8 and tell them to leave.
 
cgl said:
Hi everyone,
...I'm sure its a problem everyone here has encountered.
No, luckily I have never had anything approaching this level of disaster! You're basically facing multiple no-shows here.
It sounds like you're dealing with some really clueless people here, who think they can just arrive and say, oh by the way...
You must have a policy in place, and clearly spelled out on your website. My own policy with no-shows is that, unless I get a week's notice of the cancellation, they owe 2 nights full rate (or 1 night if they only booked one night). Many other innkeepers charge the whole stay if they don't show.
I also have a checkbox on my website saying "I have read and agree to the cancellation policy". The reservation will not go through unless they check that box.
With all this in place, you MIGHT win if you charge their card for the balance due and they dispute it to the credit card company.
Also, in some states something like this is legally treated like theft of property, because you held the rooms for them, losing other potential guests, so they have cost you a lot of money. So you might threaten to bring in law enforcement. That at least will get across the point that they have cost you money and this is a serious situation!
 
Let me add that this has happened to us several times. We charged the guests for all the rooms they had booked as we tried to get more guests to fill those empty slots in order to refund the overbookers.
Yes, trying to be honest and fair.
The guests who said they didn't need the rooms came to breakfast in the morning with a very 'we showed you' attitude. They used the extra rooms. Took the keys from where we used to store them (used to, don't any longer), opened the rooms and slept in them.
We had the payment so it was no big deal other than getting a glimpse at how snarky people can be. Luckily, we had not refilled those rooms that night.
We have let guests off the hook, but not with the 'shoulder shrug, hey it's your tough luck' attitude.
Good luck with the guests.
 
cgl said:
Hi everyone,
...I'm sure its a problem everyone here has encountered.
No, luckily I have never had anything approaching this level of disaster! You're basically facing multiple no-shows here.
It sounds like you're dealing with some really clueless people here, who think they can just arrive and say, oh by the way...
You must have a policy in place, and clearly spelled out on your website. My own policy with no-shows is that, unless I get a week's notice of the cancellation, they owe 2 nights full rate (or 1 night if they only booked one night). Many other innkeepers charge the whole stay if they don't show.
I also have a checkbox on my website saying "I have read and agree to the cancellation policy". The reservation will not go through unless they check that box.
With all this in place, you MIGHT win if you charge their card for the balance due and they dispute it to the credit card company.
Also, in some states something like this is legally treated like theft of property, because you held the rooms for them, losing other potential guests, so they have cost you a lot of money. So you might threaten to bring in law enforcement. That at least will get across the point that they have cost you money and this is a serious situation!.
In other news - an ongoing convention here has so ticked off the hotels they patronize that the hotels have new rules for them. They cannot hold more than 2 rooms on a single credit card or in the same name.
The hotels were getting the 'shoulder shrug, oh well we don't need all 6 rooms after all' attitude.
 
First of all, hugs to your Mom. So sorry she has to deal with this!
She has to decide if the battle is worth it, or not. That is my advice, it does happen on occasion to all of us. Mostly when there is an event or wedding in town, and someone reacts by booking everything, then dropping them last minute or slimming them down to just one room! We personally have lost thousands of $ from this.
If someone books more than 2 rooms make a different cancellation policy, or prepayment with hefty deposit. When it hits them in the pocket book they pay attention.
 
Let me add that this has happened to us several times. We charged the guests for all the rooms they had booked as we tried to get more guests to fill those empty slots in order to refund the overbookers.
Yes, trying to be honest and fair.
The guests who said they didn't need the rooms came to breakfast in the morning with a very 'we showed you' attitude. They used the extra rooms. Took the keys from where we used to store them (used to, don't any longer), opened the rooms and slept in them.
We had the payment so it was no big deal other than getting a glimpse at how snarky people can be. Luckily, we had not refilled those rooms that night.
We have let guests off the hook, but not with the 'shoulder shrug, hey it's your tough luck' attitude.
Good luck with the guests..
Morticia said:
Took the keys from where we used to store them (used to, don't any longer), opened the rooms and slept in them.
Lesson learned there alright! Anthony Melchiorri would definitely not have approved!
His latest Hotel Impossible episode was a motel that had room doors with no locks, other than the kind you can open with any credit card, and the cleaning staff were leaving the master keys on the cleaning carts in the hallway where anybody could steal them and go in any room.
Anthony had a fit (he's good at it, too).
Also, the cleaning staff didn't lock the room doors when they were in a room cleaning. I am always careful to make sure the door is closed and locked when I'm cleaning. I'd have a heart attack if I was cleaning away and looked up and somebody was standing there!
 
I am so sorry this happened to your Mom. I have not had this happen (but I only have 3 rooms) but I have had no-shows. Only one fought me - and he won because I did not open my bank statements in a timely manner when the chargeback came months later to know to fight it. I used to do dinners so have a cancel less than 48 hours or no-show a FULL reservation charge plus tax will be charged. The extra rooms are just no-shows - charge for them. Especially if they give you the TS attitude. (Considering where they are from, it may be a cultural difference attitude - but when in Rome....) IF the reservation includes stabling, the policy states plus stabling fees.
I hope she charges them. Print off ALL communications and keep a file (do not trust it to remain in the computer).
 
Let me add that this has happened to us several times. We charged the guests for all the rooms they had booked as we tried to get more guests to fill those empty slots in order to refund the overbookers.
Yes, trying to be honest and fair.
The guests who said they didn't need the rooms came to breakfast in the morning with a very 'we showed you' attitude. They used the extra rooms. Took the keys from where we used to store them (used to, don't any longer), opened the rooms and slept in them.
We had the payment so it was no big deal other than getting a glimpse at how snarky people can be. Luckily, we had not refilled those rooms that night.
We have let guests off the hook, but not with the 'shoulder shrug, hey it's your tough luck' attitude.
Good luck with the guests..
Morticia said:
Took the keys from where we used to store them (used to, don't any longer), opened the rooms and slept in them.
Lesson learned there alright! Anthony Melchiorri would definitely not have approved!
His latest Hotel Impossible episode was a motel that had room doors with no locks, other than the kind you can open with any credit card, and the cleaning staff were leaving the master keys on the cleaning carts in the hallway where anybody could steal them and go in any room.
Anthony had a fit (he's good at it, too).
Also, the cleaning staff didn't lock the room doors when they were in a room cleaning. I am always careful to make sure the door is closed and locked when I'm cleaning. I'd have a heart attack if I was cleaning away and looked up and somebody was standing there!
.
OTOH, our rule is room doors are always left open when cleaning is going on. Locked if you need to run to get something.
What we don't want is the guest returning to the room, finding it locked, then entering to find someone in there.
Then again, rooms are very small so easy to see someone coming in while we're cleaning. We've scared the bejeepers out of guests when the door is closed and we're inside their room.
 
Let me add that this has happened to us several times. We charged the guests for all the rooms they had booked as we tried to get more guests to fill those empty slots in order to refund the overbookers.
Yes, trying to be honest and fair.
The guests who said they didn't need the rooms came to breakfast in the morning with a very 'we showed you' attitude. They used the extra rooms. Took the keys from where we used to store them (used to, don't any longer), opened the rooms and slept in them.
We had the payment so it was no big deal other than getting a glimpse at how snarky people can be. Luckily, we had not refilled those rooms that night.
We have let guests off the hook, but not with the 'shoulder shrug, hey it's your tough luck' attitude.
Good luck with the guests..
Morticia said:
Took the keys from where we used to store them (used to, don't any longer), opened the rooms and slept in them.
Lesson learned there alright! Anthony Melchiorri would definitely not have approved!
His latest Hotel Impossible episode was a motel that had room doors with no locks, other than the kind you can open with any credit card, and the cleaning staff were leaving the master keys on the cleaning carts in the hallway where anybody could steal them and go in any room.
Anthony had a fit (he's good at it, too).
Also, the cleaning staff didn't lock the room doors when they were in a room cleaning. I am always careful to make sure the door is closed and locked when I'm cleaning. I'd have a heart attack if I was cleaning away and looked up and somebody was standing there!
.
Arks said:
Morticia said:
Took the keys from where we used to store them (used to, don't any longer), opened the rooms and slept in them.
Lesson learned there alright! Anthony Melchiorri would definitely not have approved!
His latest Hotel Impossible episode was a motel that had room doors with no locks, other than the kind you can open with any credit card, and the cleaning staff were leaving the master keys on the cleaning carts in the hallway where anybody could steal them and go in any room.
Anthony had a fit (he's good at it, too).
Also, the cleaning staff didn't lock the room doors when they were in a room cleaning. I am always careful to make sure the door is closed and locked when I'm cleaning. I'd have a heart attack if I was cleaning away and looked up and somebody was standing there!
I want to be his intern. I will do it for free, it has to be fun. Has to be!
Re cleaning, I had my head almost in a toilet cleaning it one day when some dude was standing right near me. I will NEVER EVER do that again, ever. it was innocent enough, of course, but if I had a gun he would have been bleeding, and then I would have had to clean THAT up too! See why I don't carry a gun. (re the episode of H.I. you mentioned)
 
i'm really sorry this happened
it doesn't help to say 'should have' ... but in future i strongly recommend a deposit and payment of the balance due at check in. if you charge a deposit for four rooms for four nights, that's a big chunk of change and i'm sure you'd hear about it right quick if there was a misunderstanding. for me, that would have been a booking that required 1/2 up front 1/2 at check in. you could, i suppose, still have a small group show up and say 'we've paid in full because of that big deposit and we don't want all those rooms.'
 
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