Well....THAT was askward

[Morticia]

We have two rooms. One was booked weeks ago for Friday and Saturday, the other was booked by a one nighter - also several weeks ago.
I get a phone call Friday from a woman who said she made a two day reservation for the Friday and Saturday. When I get to the reservation system, the two-day is there, but the name does not match.
"I booked online with my credit card number" she says. This happens periodically, but this is the first instance of the guest not phoning to say a confirmation email was not received. There was no room for her Friday, but she said she would come by and book for Saturday. I phoned around for a solution for her Friday.
When she gets to the inn to book for Saturday, she has a 4 year old in tow. I ask "for how many?" She said "for me and my guy". I said that may have been what happened to your effort to reserve online as we don't take children in the inn rooms. She insisted there was a box to tick for children, she ticked it, and assumed I'd phone her if there was a problem.
At this point I'm a bit flummoxed, but I told her she could go ahead and book for Saturday as the other room was occupied by her aunt, who would not be put out by the related child in residence.
She did end up finding a place for Friday night, and I thought to myself "It's only one day, I'll cope"
Turns out she was correct - there WAS a box to tick for number of children for that room, an artifact from when we started and sometimes took kids with advance notice. Now kids are welcome in the vacation rental apartment - but not in inn rooms. The check box has now been fixed. The disturbing problem of people thinking they've made a reservation that hasn't actually gone through is still a worrisome mystery. I have contacted John. I have tried a test rez myself. I have asked people on this forum to make tests. No one has a problem, except the guests who do, so I reluctantly will be looking for a new system.
But back to the kid story. Turned out although he was a handful, the fam was scrupulous about looking out after him, their friends staying at the nearby park gave him his breakfast there, the mom got a rest, and the aunt booked another night's stay plus an extra breakfast yesterday morning.
They turned out to be most enjoyable guests..

I use reservation key, too. At one point, there was a malfunction in my reservation system and a guest showed up with a kid, too. My solution to avoid any future malfunctions: under "Rate Plans" --> "Adjustments" --> "Price per additional CHILD" I made the rate adjustment $1000.
I had someone call me because somehow the "number of children" checkbox reappeared even though I'd deleted it. Their rate was exorbitant because the additional $1000 fee was added. I told them it was a system malfunction, that the checkbox shouldn't be visible because we can't accommodate children, and I referred them to a different B&B that does accept kids.
I've been using Res Key for years and have only had 1 problem. It was a guest booking from Australia who didn't receive a confirmation email. John & I couldn't figure out what went wrong. Sometimes international credit cards are rejected by my cc processor, but that's not a malfunction of ResKey. I had a guest who insisted she filled out everything and never received a confirmation. Her res wasn't in our system. Turns out she attempted to use an Amex and my online system isn't set up to process Amex. What sort of problems have your guests experienced?
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Always the same. Phone call (except from the mom) stating the guest filled out all information including cc info, but didn't get a confirmation email. I take their information by phone and enter it myself then send them the confirmation through Reskey. It doesn't happen often, but often enough. Sigh.
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Always the same. Phone call (except from the mom) stating the guest filled out all information including cc info, but didn't get a confirmation email. I take their information by phone and enter it myself then send them the confirmation through Reskey. It doesn't happen often, but often enough. Sigh.

I've had this a few times - guest calls because they didn't get a confirmation, no charges on their card for deposit, and there is no record of the reservation coming thru. I ask if they got their confirmation number. 'Well, no, I didn't get a confirmation!' The system sends out an automatic email with the guest details in it. If they don't get that, they didn't finish the process.
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The problem is: they think they h a v e finished the process, and then could turn up at your door for their stay, but their room is already booked. This is what happened with the mom. Could easily have turned to trash us on reviews, but luckily - did not.
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This can and does happen with all systems. Pilot error. If they don't get a confirmation from either the system or us, they don't have a reservation. If they can't show any kind of confirmation or their credit card being charged, how can we or RK take responsibility?
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Maybe I am just losing at the odds game. When I used N*x*s it never happened.
The best solution for now is the notation that if they do not get a confirmation - then the reservation did not go through. Now if we could make sure our instructions get read
(edited to add: I just got one of those calls)
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Maybe I am just losing at the odds game. When I used N*x*s it never happened.
The best solution for now is the notation that if they do not get a confirmation - then the reservation did not go through. Now if we could make sure our instructions get read
(edited to add: I just got one of those calls)

It could be the sheer volume of online reservations now. And the vast array of devices guests are using could be an issue as well. They swear they hit that button on their phone, but I've been butt dialed enough times to know not everyone uses their phone properly.