Hotel Terraza overbooked itself!

[cavydad]

I booked the Hotel Terraza in March on Expedia. Today I was contacted by Expedia and was told the Hotel Terraza overbooked itself.

 

I was told the reservation was cancelled, nothing could be done, and I would need to find a new hotel.

 

The reservation was for January 30, 2015, which seems a long way off to be removed from the hotel. After all cancellations often occur.

 

Expedia offered hotels outside Old San Juan and was not sympathetic to the concept of location, location, location.

 

Just be wary if you book a room with Hotel La Terraza, there is no guarantee that they will honor the reservation.

[slidergirl]

Sorry to hear about your issues with the hotel and Expedia. Is Expedia refusing to refund your money or not allowing your choice of hotel?

 

Things like this are a reason I won't book with 3rd party sites. If you booked yourself, you'd at least have your money and a chance to find a place that you like in a location you like…

 

At my hotel, we have issues all the time with reservations made with Expedia, Booking.com, and others. Wrong room type, wrong dates. We can't do anything right there for the guest - they have to deal directly with the 3rd party unless they want to book new with us right there and fight for their refund later. Not easy some times when we are fully committed and have no rooms to give :(

[cavydad]

Expedia is willing to rebook me if I can find a hotel. They offered Holiday Inn Express and several others that are not located in Old San Juan. There were several in Old San Juan that had terrible ratings on Tripadvisor.

 

I always consider the location when I book a hotel. The Expedia person could not understand why location was important when there were rooms available elsewhere.

 

It is just disappointing to be told the reservation has been cancelled because someone overbooked the hotel.

 

Lesson learned, do not use Experia anymore. They have been very helpful in the past.

 

I am still searching for a new hotel in Old San Juan.

[wrp96]

How sad. I'm staying there next week on an Expedia booking.

[cavydad]

Say hello to Hotel Terraza. I hope your stay is wonderful. Please tell them that someone posted on Cruise Critic about their experience with the hotel.

 

I did email the hotel. However no one has contacted me to explain the overbooking.

[slidergirl]

Curious about something: how long from when you made the reservations on Expedia did Expedia tell you the hotel was overbooked? Based on my experience, sometimes Expedia does not instantly process your reservation. It could very well be that the hotel booked that last room itself before Expedia put in your request. Expedia doesn't have instant access to a hotel's reservation system.

Edited September 4, 2014 by slidergirl

[cavydad]

I booked the room on March 18, 2014. Expedia on their confirmation told me the "reservation is booked. No need to call us to reconfirm this reservation".

 

Today, September 3 Expedia emailed and told me "the hotel is unable to accept the reservation for your upcoming stay".

 

I do not know why it took the hotel so long to realize they were overbooked.

[Ocean_Waves]

Call the hotel and have them put you on their waitlist. Mean while find a hotel you prefer and look for one that will allow you to cancel a day or so out if needed.

[slidergirl]

I booked the room on March 18, 2014. Expedia on their confirmation told me the "reservation is booked. No need to call us to reconfirm this reservation".

 

Today, September 3 Expedia emailed and told me "the hotel is unable to accept the reservation for your upcoming stay".

 

I do not know why it took the hotel so long to realize they were overbooked.

 

I don't think it was the hotel that botched this. The only way this may be possible is if a large group wanted to book the entire hotel. I've see this happen at some hotels in LA that are in Pasadena for the Rose Parade/Rose Bowl.

 

If you had booked directly with the hotel, you probably would have been told the entire story if it indeed happened and you would have received your money back. Going through Expedia, it could have taken their sweet time letting you know. The wording of both of their correspondence is very strange. If the reservation was made, then why is the hotel unable to ACCEPT the reservation???

 

I had a similar "conversation" with an Expedia agent 2 weeks ago. Two guests show up to check-in. Unfortunately, we had them checking in the night before, so they were no-showed. They called Expedia from our desk - Expedia had for some reason, changed the dates by a day back instead of a day ahead that the guest wanted. They showed us their paper with the correct dates. But, without payment from Expedia, we couldn't do anything. Called back Expedia - Expedia said they had no idea why we were calling, that they had not heard from the guests about this. This while we were standing with the guests who had called Expedia!!!!! This whole thing took about an hour to straighten out between us, the guest and the Expedia staff which was offshore in India…

[cavydad]

After posting on Cruise Critic and Tripadvisor along with contacting the hotel, it appears we will be staying at the Hotel Terraza.

 

Franklin the manager called and went out of his way to make sure we would have a terrific time at the hotel.

 

Expedia had screwed up our reservation. They indicated we wanted only one night, though we had paid for two, while the hotel had a two night minimum.

 

The manager told us he was calling every one who had an Expedia reservation and was trying to correct the mess that Expedia had created.

 

The manager has called us more than three times today to insure that we were happy and has worked with us in selecting a room.

 

Kudos to the hotel for going out of their way to correct what had been a problem.

[girlscruise2011]

After posting on Cruise Critic and Tripadvisor along with contacting the hotel, it appears we will be staying at the Hotel Terraza.

 

Franklin the manager called and went out of his way to make sure we would have a terrific time at the hotel.

 

Expedia had screwed up our reservation. They indicated we wanted only one night, though we had paid for two, while the hotel had a two night minimum.

 

The manager told us he was calling every one who had an Expedia reservation and was trying to correct the mess that Expedia had created.

 

The manager has called us more than three times today to insure that we were happy and has worked with us in selecting a room.

 

Kudos to the hotel for going out of their way to correct what had been a problem.

 

That sounds like great customer service. Please come back and let us know how it goes. I'm staying at the Sheraton this year but its pricey. For my cruise next year, I was thinking of staying somewhere in the area a little less costly since I may be coming in 2-3 nights precruise.

[sail7seas]

After posting on Cruise Critic and Tripadvisor along with contacting the hotel, it appears we will be staying at the Hotel Terraza.

 

Franklin the manager called and went out of his way to make sure we would have a terrific time at the hotel.

 

Expedia had screwed up our reservation. They indicated we wanted only one night, though we had paid for two, while the hotel had a two night minimum.

 

The manager told us he was calling every one who had an Expedia reservation and was trying to correct the mess that Expedia had created.

 

The manager has called us more than three times today to insure that we were happy and has worked with us in selecting a room.

 

Kudos to the hotel for going out of their way to correct what had been a problem.

 

 

 

This is great to share and says a lot about this hotel's management. Thank you for sharing with us.

 

It puts people who use Expedia on alert to pay close attention. For the Expedia person to question the importance of a hotel location is absurd. That is not worthy of anyone who works in travel in any capacity.