I had a similar experience in India where the hotel couldn’t confirm my online reservation. I was almost stranded, but lucky that the hotel staff were so accommodating.

Eventually they found the reservation in their systems, but made me think that there is too much reliance and faith on online reservations.

Hotel staff assume that computers (or the people behind them) never make mistakes and travelers get lazy; neglecting to print confirmations and write down contact names and numbers.

@ Foxnomad

Interesting that you have a similar experience, and thankfully the hotel were accommodating, some may not be.

Also there’s a language barrier to think about when visiting foreign countries, which makes life even harder if you cannot speak the local lingo or the staff can’t speak good English.

Laterooms’ customer service is an absolute disaster.

When we arrived in Prague, we were told that our reservation was lost. No real alternative was available for the first 2 nights; result was that we had to stay in a private pension 10 km outside city centre for 2 out of 3 nights and the last night we had to move to another apartment in the city. Our original Lateroom reservation was for a very nice apartment in the heart of the Prague with short walking distance to all main locations.

The local agency was very friendly and tried really hard to help.

But, the back-up from Laterooms was an absolute disaster and a disgrace to customer service; Lateroom showed no sincere interest in making up for this mishap. Only “help” was an offer to stay at a hotel at 50% higher cost than our original rate (we had booked an apartment). Apparently no one in Laterooms have the authority to take responsibility to take actions to turn around a booking mistake

We succeeded in talking to 4 different people at Laterooms. One of which promised to find an alternative and call back, but when we called back to hear status, the person had left for the day and had not left a message for her colleagues. 3 other persons was involved from Laterooms. Last person we talked to was an individual from customer service, who greatest talent was to explain the disclaimer of Laterooms in any matters relating to booking security through Laterooms, “we take no responsibility that your booking cannot not be fulfilled”

@ Christian

Sorry to hear about your bad experiences. I wasn’t sure if to publish this comment as you have posted the same comment on a few hotel blog posts here (the others I have deleted)

I will contact Late Rooms tonight and ask them for their opinion.

Obviously without your full name it will be difficult to help your individual case, so if you could email me those details that would be great.

“The last thing I would want to do is be wandering around a unfamiliar city trying to find somewhere to stay”

That actually sounds like fun and takes me back to the old days, pre-internet, when traveling was spontaneous and exciting.

@ Garri

It depends on your situation I suppose. If you were travelling with kids then of course it wouldn’t be a pleasant experience.

Personally, when I arrive at the hotel I just want to get checked-in, put my luggage in the room and then off exploring the city/destination.

Darren
we had a similar experience with Expedia. booked three nights in Miami South Beach with them in 2003, two rooms, for 4 adults and a 6 month old. Arrived hotel in the early evening - no booking. Hotel were very good, but couldn’t find us any alternative rooms nearby. Time difference meant no-one in Expedia to help, finally got one large room in the same hotel, had to pay upfront, and sleep on mattress on floor. All sorted next morning - but not enjoyable at all

I have never been stranded but I will take your advice about checking the booking with the hotel prior to departing.

I never thought about that before so great tip.

@ Rohan

I don’t think you are the only person not to think of doing that. I certainly didn’t but I will be taking my own advice in future.

Thanks for this information. I would have never checked with the hotel before departing but I will now.

@ Luke

Glad you found the information useful. Spread the word