What's the book corporate America doesn't want you to read? Find out now -- or you could get scammed.

It may be useful to remember the name on your hotel reservation

January 27, 2009

Jerry Stannard booked a room at the St. Gregory Luxury Hotel & Suites in Washington through Expedia recently. But when he tried to confirm the reservation by phone, no one had heard of him. He had to pay for another room, even though Expedia already had his money.

Did the hotel lose Stannard’s reservation? Did Expedia forget to tell the St. Gregory he was coming?

No — and no.

Stannard phoned my friends at KCRA when he couldn’t get a $499 refund for the first pre-paid reservation from Expedia. KCRA contacted me for help. Why was was the online agency holding on to his money?

The answer: Stannard had booked a reservation at the St. Gregory. Under a different name.

I asked Expedia to look into this case, and its records show that he failed to remember the correct name he’d booked the room under.

Since they could not find a booking under his name, he and the hotel assumed it had been mistakenly canceled, and he booked another room and was therefore charged twice. I’ve been advised that the record on Mr. Stannard’s itinerary does not contain significant detail from that point, so as a measure of goodwill, Expedia has refunded Mr. Stannard in the amount of $499.

Lesson learned? Try to remember the name on your reservation. Otherwise you might have to pay for your hotel room again.

It was generous of Expedia to give Stannard the benefit of the doubt. But it didn’t have to.

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.

Tagged as: , ,

17 comments

  • Carver

    I don’t get it. Does Jerry have an alias? Whose name did he give? Is he an international man of mystery? Perhap’s he’s really Austin Powers? Didn’t he have a confirmation e-mail?

    And who is KCRA?

  • Monica

    Wrong name?? How does one manage that? I’m curious to know what name he did put on the reservation. Instinct tells me to use my own name, especially since most hotels check your ID at check-in.

    And if he booked through Expedia, it should have sent him a confirmation indicating the name used.

    Kudos to Mr. Stannard for taking the initiative to call ahead. Most stories we here on this site are from people who don’t take the extra step to confirm.

  • Jess

    Didn’t the Expedia reservation have a confirmation number? Before Mr. Stannard booked the second room at the hotel, he should have gotten in touch with Expedia to try and fix the situation. Isn’t that why you use a travel agency instead of booking directly with the hotel? I know that the online travel agencies do sometimes drop the ball when it comes to hotel reservations, but I would exhaust all of my options before I forked over more money to the hotel.

    I think it was very generous of Expedia to to refund his money, but in this case I wouldn’t have blamed them at all if they hadn’t. In this instance, the mix up definitely wasn’t their fault.

  • Anonymous

    KCRA is the NBC affiliate for Sacramento, CA

  • Lianne

    Slow news day Chris? ;-)

  • Brian

    Something like this happened to my dad about 6 years ago. He booked a room at some major motel chain in San Diego using its website, but booked it under the wrong name than the one he intended. When he arrived at the motel in San Diego, he was told that they have no reservation under his name. From what my dad told me, the front desk was kind enough to call the reservation number of the motel chain and found that he booked a motel in a different city. As a courtesy, the motel, that he stayed in, charged him the same rate as the one he accidentally booked which they didn’t have to. They could very well have charged him full price. Now my dad knows the importance of remembering the name of the hotel, and to double check to see if it is correct before leaving the house.

  • Passing Through

    I can understand a maiden name, or a misspelling… but this is just smells like a fraud.

  • Larry

    I’ve booked hotels often this way. Expedia has a drop down box for what name to put the room under. It includes names you’ve used in the past – in my case my wife’s and my son’s in addition to my own. And I’ve noticed when you book more than one room, it insists on using a unique name for each room – thus growing the drop-down list for later.

    It isn’t hard to select the wrong name from the list.

    That said, I’d have confirmed the email receipt and/or the confirmation number or I’d have called Expedia long before booking another room.

  • Steve

    Is he pulling an Elliott Spitzer, or what?

  • David Z

    And who is KCRA?

    He he, KCRA’s a news outfit (kcra.com) as Chris hyperlinked to. ;)

    And if he booked through Expedia, it should have sent him a confirmation indicating the name used.

    Maybe they did. But that’s assuming the correct email address was previously given and if the email wasn’t filtered (knock on wood), as not all emails get through due to certain ISPs’ desire to control spam or so.

    Should others not believe the emails-get-filtered thing, just search in Google for various stories on the subject.

    In any case, it’s good of Expedia to refund him despite not really having to. And Mr. Stannard apparently (and hopefully?) learned to double-check and re-confirm his reservation.

    All’s well that ends well. :)

  • Joe Farrell

    Wrong name? Would one not think of other names they could use? Spouse wth a different last name – parents – others you may have booked tickets for?

    Geesh, how about a CREDIT CARD NUMBER? You need to give a credit card to hold a room these days and most every software system in the travel industry allows you to search that way.

    Chris -are we down to the bottom of the genetic pool now with these stories? People who forget their name? Bereavement fares for people not yet dead? Whats next, guys who do not actually make reservations and pay for tickets who expect to fly?

  • Sevenseat

    I have had this happen with a certain airline, where they have combined my first name and middle initial in to one word and given me a hard time with my reservation. I have also mistakenly booked a ticket for my wife in my name, but that airline was very helpful in fixing the error. Since many of us spend all day in front of a computer, we navigate these web sites with ease. I can see how this can happen to anyone.

  • Denise

    If he tried to confirm the reservation by phone that means he did so before arriving at the hotel for his room. As soon as the hotel claimed to have no record of his impending visit, why didn’t he get on the phone with Expedia and have *them* track down the reservation? I have never used them before, but couldn’t they have looked up the charge information, at the very least? There’s no way the credit card could have been charged for the room without the correct cardholder information, including the name, so in the interest of fraud protection Expedia should have been able to give Stannard the reservation information just to make sure that he had actually authorized the charge.

    Well, that would have been the line I used if I needed them to refresh my memory! :)

  • Mark

    i had a similar issue with Priceline transposing 2 letters in my name but i had the conformation email so when i got to the hotel it worked out fine that is after my blood presure went back down

  • http://www.anandsystems.com/online_reservation_software/internet_reservation_software.htm Hotel Reservation Software

    Hi All!!! This blog is absolutely fantastic! Lots of great information and inspiration, both of which we all need! Thanks for providing such useful information. Your thought process is wonderful. The way you express yourself is awesome. I really appreciate your professional approach.

  • Sri Grace

    yes the content seems to be good, I agree with you 

  • Sri Grace

    The hospitality software is capable of accomplish all reservation formalities at the reservation desk in a minute or so. Now, you won’t find guests standing in queues to complete the paper-works while getting an accommodation.

    Reservation
    Software

Previous post:

Next post: