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Does a hotel have the right to downgrade me in the middle of my stay?

March 26, 2008

Here’s an odd scenario that appears to be taking place more often in hotels. Guests are getting themselves involuntarily upgraded into a better room, only to find themselves involuntarily downgraded the following night. There’s something wrong with that.

After hearing Mark Raphaelson’s story about a recent hotel stay in Las Vegas, I would add, very wrong.

When we checked in at the Flamingo Hilton, we were asked if we wanted to ‘upgrade’ to a larger room. We declined, since we planned on spending no time in the room anyway. We were than told that they had overbooked our room type, and we were getting an upgrade — for the first night only. After this time, they told me we HAD to move after one night.

Now Raphaelson is no tourist. He’s been in the hospitality business for 15 years, “and I’ve never heard of making a guest move mid-stay due to an overbooking situation on the part of the resort,” he told me.

So he protested.

When I told them that this was unacceptable, they had the gall to ask me if I’d ever been to Vegas before and that this was standard practice. I got no satisfaction speaking to every level of management and even wrote a letter to the president, who responded with a form letter with no apology or realization that this was an unacceptable way to treat a guest.

Raphaelson wants to know who is right — the Hilton or him?

Both are, to a certain extent. Hilton is free to do whatever it wants to with its rooms and guests.

But while I can certainly understand the resort’s perspective, I find the way they dealt with Raphaelson to be shortsighted and counterproductive. Imagine being upgraded on a flight, only to be asked to switch seats in mid-flight because someone in the back of the plane ponied up the cash to pay for a better seat? What if you had to return your upgraded rental car to the agency because they needed it for a better-paying driver?

That policy is not in the best interests of the customer, and not Hilton, which will just alienate its guests by forcibly evicting them.

Hilton really dropped the ball when it sent Raphaelson a form letter. If it had just apologized (those are free) and included a room voucher (those are nearly impossible to redeem, anyway) he would have never bothered to contact me with this question.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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12 comments

  • http://www.wynnlasvegas.com Hotels in Veags

    Hotels are not supposed to downgrade you in the middle of your stay. Most of the time they ask if you want an upgrade for an additional fee but if you decline you get the room you asked for. Sorry about your stay in Vegas and I’m glad you blogged about it, now they can listen and possibly do something about it.

  • Trista B

    Wow. I’m stunned that a chain like Hilton would behave this way. I would be very upset if I was asked to move rooms mid-stay and would expect some sort of compensation for the inconvenience. The way this man was strong-armed is amazing. I am looking forward to hearing Hilton’s response to your inquiry Elliott. I use Marriott properties 99% of the time, but have been known to use Hilton properties as I enjoy their comfortable beds, but I am wondering if I want to use them after reading this.

  • Bob B

    I don’t think the Flamingo is a Hilton anymore – I believe it is a Harrah’s property.
    I’m not sure when it changed over from Hilton to Harrahs.
    Whoever manages it now, it’s a very shortsighted policy.

  • JARaphs

    There also seems to be a hint of another nasty industry practice: offering an upgrade for a charge, and then, when the customer declines, providing it for free. I’ve experienced this with rental cars before – probably since many agents get commissions based on upgrades sold.

  • http://twitter.com/pyyhkala Mika Pyyhkala

    I’ve had the same Las Vegas experience staying at The Riviera. They were very vague about why I needed to move, and making up some maintenance reason that I couldn’t see or that they could not ellaborate on when pressed on it.

    In most other cities, if they give you a complimentary upgrade for whatever reason, they let you keep that upgrade for the duration of the stay.

    LAS is also a difficult city because most of the hotels do not participate in the traditional guest loyalty programs so it can be harder to upgrade using hotel status, etc.

  • Joe Farrell

    Like everything else, you hold the money, they’ve got the room.

    When they tell you you have to move – ask to speak with a manager- and then have a conversation along these lines:

    “You know that I’ve been asked to move my room?”

    “Yes, sir” – most are trained to offer no explanation

    “That is extremely inconvenient for me – I am required to pack my belongings, secure my personal items of value, and lose valuable business or relaxation time dealing with the transfer. Have you ever had to move while in the middle of a trip?”

    This forces the manager to make it personal, either say yes or no and acknoweldge it is disruptive – note that you are not being nasty or abusive or angry here – The next part is crucial – think about in advance what you want –

    “Well, I am doing this for the hotel’s convenience, it is certainly not my convenience. I do have an idea for compensation for my inconvenience, I’d appreciate [this is Vegas right? I'll get to other locations in a moment] would comp my meal and drinks this evening at [name restaurant] and provide me tickets to [name the show - MUST BE IN THAT HOTEL]. If you need valet parking comp’d – ask for that too. You’ll get it – you asked nicely and the comps are essentially without a cost to the hotel.

    In cities other than Vegas – ask for the nights you are being relocated to be comped. Or, ask for free meals and parking the balance of your stay. If there is a resort or spa element, ask for the equivalent of a night’s stay in comp’d treatments.

    There is no reason to get angry since they obviously do not care about your inconvenience or they would not move you in the first place – but there is no reason why you should not get something for it. If traveling on business and the free nights are not really helping you personally, ask for a voucher for 2 nights free at any hotel in the chain, or points equivalent to that. You are more likely to get the points than the voucher.

  • http://ElliottBlog Kathy W.

    Wow! I’m glad to hear that this has happened to others. The worst hotel fiascos I have witnessed have been in Las Vegas. I really found it annoying when it happened to me but they did make it clear ahead of time that we would receive the room we had paid for the next day. I should have been more insistent that they give me the room I had reserved and paid for ahead of time or insisted on the upgrade for the whole stay of only 3 days. I would much rather had stayed in my reserved and paid for room than to move. But, boy, what a difference, especially the bathroom which I really enjoyed, it was the size of my home bedroom (well, it seemed like it).

  • Jean

    The Flamingo has not been a Hilton for at least 5 years. It is now owned by Harrah’s, as are Bally’s, Paris, Caesars Palace, Rio, Imperial Palace, Bill’s Gambling Hall and Saloon, and, of course, Harrah’s (those are their Vegas locations – they have many more throughout the country). I doubt very seriously that Hilton would put its customers through such an experience.

  • Amy

    That was a stupid move on the Flamingo’s part. Always upgrade the guest who’s only there for one night! Don’t start off in a higher level room, then downgrade — do it the other way around. Making a guest move becuase of your overbooking mistakes should be avoided at all costs.

    Compensation should be awarded, and Harrah’s is usually pretty good about that. In fact, they empower all employees to provide certain levels of compensation for guest issues. But compensation should be in line with the issue. Having to move rooms once is not worthy of multiple free nights, multiple free meals, etc. A one-off meal at a mid-price restaurant, a percentage off your room rate, etc. make more sense. The agent should have offered Mr. Raphaelson one of these compensations immediately without his having to ask.

  • http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr Allan J.

    Reasonable compensation is still in order when I choose the time to check out and check back in.

    Additional compensation is in order if I have to abide by the published check out and check in hours and store things with the bellhop.

    In both cases the desk clerk should be happy to hand over cash from the till to tip the bellhop.

  • gnat

    Ha! This happened to me at the 47 Hotel in Rome. My husband and I got a free upgrade for using our American Express and we were actually double upgraded to a suite. However, the next night we got kicked out of the suite because they said that a paying guest had booked that room. They apologized for downgrading us and gave us a bottle of proseco. It was strange but at least they apologized.

  • Beeper

    @ Joe Farrell: If, as you say “….. they obviously do not care about your inconvenience or they would not move you in the first place ….” Then why would they give you any kind of compensation at all? If you don’t come back, so what? They don’t care.

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