If You Use Online Services to Book Hotels, You Should Read This

Breakfast in the hotel the morning after the reservation problem

We learned an important lesson on our recent trip, and I wanted to pass it on so that you won't have to go through the mess we went through. 


We made reservations through an online service (Expedia, this time) for our hotel rooms in Houston the night before we were to board the ship for the cruise. I reserved four rooms, three of them of the same type, the fourth one was different and required a separate transaction on the website. I printed out all the confirmation pages for all the rooms, and took them with me (it's a VERY good thing, too). 


After traveling about 400 miles that day, we were so happy to find the hotel. We piled out of the vehicles and innocently entered the lobby, expecting no problems.


They had the reservations for 3 of the rooms, but the fourth was NOT in their system. Because we had already paid Expedia for it, we couldn't just book another room. And, this is a scary thought, if they had been full, we would have been out of luck--even with a paid reservation from Expedia. The poor lady who was working the front desk began trying to convince Expedia that they had messed up. It ended up taking more than 3 HOURS!!!! She was so frustrated, and so were we. After more than an hour, she finally gave us the keys to the fourth room and told us to go on up and she would continue working on it for us. She's my hero!


The problem was this: 
When you make an online reservation, you receive an itinerary number from Expedia. But on that reservation/confirmation page, there MUST also be a confirmation number from the hotel. If there isn't one, you probably don't have a room. Somehow, every once in a while, the reservation is booked, but not forwarded on to the hotel. 


Much older and wiser now:
The poor lady from the front desk informed us that we should always call the hotel, after making an online reservation, and confirm that they actually received the booking.


One little phone call is all it takes! And, believe us, it is well worth your time to avoid a problem like we experienced. Most of the time, it will work without a hitch. But just in case . . .


I made another reservation tonight. 


The email confirming my itinerary arrived.


It doesn't have a hotel confirmation number!!! EEEEEKKKK!


I've already called, and it should be worked out soon


I just thought you should know. :)