The curse of overbooking is coming for your hotel room

Reports have started emerging of budget hotels bumping guests from their rooms, citing the fact they had been overbooked - Getty

Heard of airlines overbooking seats? Well, hotels are at it now too. Last month, three disgruntled customers contacted The Guardian complaining that Travelodges around the country had bumped them from their rooms, citing various excuses to cover up the fact they had been overbooked.

In September, a reader contacted Katie Morley in this paper, complaining a hotel booked in July (via the platform Booking.com) had cancelled their reservation because the hotel was full – when they had arrived for their granddaughter’s graduation ceremony.

And in June, comedian Jason Manford took to social media calling for an end to the practice of overbooking, after he arrived late at the Village Hotel in Bournemouth ahead of his show at the Pavilion Theatre to find the hotel fully booked and his room not available.

In June, Jason Manford arrived late at the Village Hotel in Bournemouth to find his room not available - Getty

Manford was able to share a room with a member of his team so he did at least find a bed in his chosen hotel, but others have not been so lucky, forced to travel to a new hotel (sometimes many miles away) or simply told “there is no room at the inn” and turned away.

“The worst thing is that this tends to happen at peak times, which makes it much more difficult to sort out,” says Sean Tipton, spokesman for ABTA, the Association of British Travel Agents.

“It’s far from ideal when it happens. You have a very disgruntled customer, and it’s not good for our tour operators or our members either because legally the onus is on them to sort it out.”

So, how – and why – do hotels overbook? As with airline seats, the practice involves a hotel with, for example, 100 rooms, selling 102 on a particular night, gambling on the fact that there will be a percentage of no-shows.

In big chain hotels – especially those dealing with large numbers of corporate bookings where plans change quickly – this can often work out successfully for them. But not always.

The repercussions for customers can be disastrous. If you’ve booked through a tour operator, they are legally bound to find you another hotel room, however if you’ve booked directly with a hotel, and they cannot accommodate you at a sister site, you’ll simply be given a refund and turned away – even if it’s late at night.

“The hotel should find you another room, but strictly speaking they are legally entitled to just give you your money back,” confirms Tiptoe.

Of course, not all hotels will apply the overbooking practice as a matter of course: in Jason Manford’s case, for example, there’s nothing to suggest that this was anything other than an isolated incident as regards the Village Group (which owns the Village Hotel).

The Village Group reserve the right to simply offer a guest a refund if their room is no longer available - Alamy Stock Photo

Nevertheless, the small print in their terms and conditions does helpfully illustrate how overbooking can end up being a win-win situation for any hotel. They state that guests who cancel or postpone a booking are charged a cancellation fee (ranging from £50 to the full room rate), meaning the hotel keeps the money.

But if in “the unlikely event” that Village Hotel has to change or cancel a reservation, which it reserves the right to do, guests can: “(a) accept the changed arrangements as notified; (b) make an alternative arrangement with The Village; or (c) cancel the reservation and receive a full refund of any monies paid.”

Manford said he arrived late during peak season when Bournemouth was full, so finding another hotel that night was impossible.

“It’s not on, this policy,” he said in a social media post calling for an end to the practice, warning followers to “beware if you’re booking a hotel in a busy season.”

In its terms and conditions, Travelodge says it operates a “relocation policy” if a room is “unavailable on arrival” and will provide a room unless “in our reasonable opinion there is no suitable accommodation available”. In that case, the booking will simply be cancelled, and any money paid in advance will be refunded. But this group, too, explains in its small print that it will not provide refunds for no-shows, regardless of the rate type.

“If your booking is a pay-on-arrival booking, we will charge the payment card details provided at the time of booking,” states the terms. And if the guest cancels giving good notice? Depending on the rate type, they “may be” entitled to a partial or full refund.

In a statement, Travelodge told The Telegraph: “We welcome millions of guests every year, and relocated bookings represent a tiny percentage of our overall bookings. When this rare occurrence does arise, it is usually due to an unforeseen issue, eg. a maintenance issue which has taken one or more rooms at a hotel out of service.

“We aim to handle any such move quickly, with the minimum impact on the customer, contacting them as soon as possible to arrange alternative accommodation, covering any travel expenses to get them there and where possible, a complimentary breakfast.”

Booking.com and The Village Hotel group were contacted for comment.

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