Hotel overbooking compensation

On Mar 28, 6:56 am, b...@nyx.net (Barry Gold) wrote:
> Hotels routinely "overbook" rooms - they take
> resevations for more rooms than they have, expecting that some
> percentage of people will not show up -- even after "guaranteeing" the
> reservation with a credit card, so they will be charged for one night
> if they "no show".

If the guest doesn't show up and gets charged, he got what he paid for, even though he chose not to use it.   If we compare that to OP's parking lot question, that would be like paying a flat fee for reserved monthly parking and then not showing up during a month when you are away from your office.   What you paid for is to keep your reserved slot open, presumably because you are in an area where high demand would make it difficult for you to gat a reserved monthly space again after you get back from vacation (if not, a sensible parker would cancel for his vacation month, then renew the following month).   Ditto for season ticket holders at the football stadium or the opera; you got what you paid for even if you don't go there on a particular night.

If the guest _does_ show up and the hotel can't provide him a room because they overbooked, the worst that can happen (for the guest) is he _won't_ get what he expected, but at least he won't have to pay for it.   I don't know whether hotels can cancel reservations that way with impunity or whether some law makes them find a comparable room for the bumped guest; the guest would still be expected to pay for that first night at the going rate if they do find him a room.

> I keep an Amex card solely because the Amex
> contract requires the hotel to find you a room or pay for your first
> night at a nearby comparable hotel, plus cab fare to and from.  I
> don't use it for anything else.

A nice perk, but not required by law AFAIK.   OTOH in the airline bumping example which someone else mentioned in this thread, the airlines _are_ required to compensate any passenger they involuntarily bump due to overbooking, as the result of being sued by Ralph Nader years ago when one of the less heads-up airlines didn't realize it was him they were bumping.

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