What to Do When Reservations Go Wrong

Story time.

My cousin Arrow and I had planned a trip to Paris. It was supposed to be an awesome time of travel and fun, and an excellent chance for Arrow to visit, as not only did I speak French, but I had already been. She could take advantage of having me as a sort of personal guide, and I got a fun travel partner out of it.

We had booked a hotel and flight through Expedia, we’d saved a ton of money, and we had lots of plans for tours and excellent French culture and cuisine. It was going to be awesome!

Until it wasn’t.

The whole situation started when Arrow and I sat down to a pre-flight dinner in Wagamama at the Gatwick airport. We still had a little over an hour left until our flight departed, and so while we waited for our food I decided to check my email. It took a while to download, and I had to read it three times over to be sure that I had, in fact, read it correctly.

Our hotel reservations had been cancelled.

STEP 1! Don’t panic!

Easier said than done.

This happened because I had used Expedia to book our trip. I had gotten a fabulous discount but that’s the cost which comes with using websites like Expedia, Travelocity, etc. I hadn’t known that this was the case at the time, though even now that I do I would still use them for the discount. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

STEP 2! Get your wallet, your wits, and get within cell range.

The airports I’ve been in are notorious for having poor signals when it comes to regular calls. If you can make the call on something like What’sapp then do it, but I couldn’t. This is one of the many reasons I recommend getting a local sim card from Three when you travel, so that you are able to make these calls and have some data to spare if your wifi won’t connect.

I called the hotel and informed them of the situation. They told me that my card I had used to make the reservation was not in accordance. I gave it to them again, as well as other cards, but the purchase would not go through. It didn’t occur to me at the time but they were probably just using this as an excuse for having overbooked their rooms and for cancelling my reservation, because the rest of my trip, including the flight, went through just fine.

They offered to transfer me to another hotel within the same chain which might have rooms available. I agreed to this and was transferred to them.

Meanwhile I was keeping an eye on the time, hoping my phone battery wouldn’t run out, and trying my best to keep Arrow both calm and apprised of the situation.

I told her “If it comes down to it, we’ll just take the train home and fight Expedia in the morning.”

Again, this is easier said than done. I’m the type of person who will gladly spend a few hours on the phone to express my concerns and get this sort of thing fixed. If you are not like this, find a friend who is.

Luckily we were able to get another room in a different hotel for roughly the same price. Had we not been able to at that hotel, I would have kept calling until likely the very last minute to board the plane. I really wanted Arrow to have a good trip, and I wasn’t about to let it go that easily!

STEP 3! Adjust as needed.

We had always planned to take the Metro the first night, and our second hotel wasn’t far from our first. I think the difference only ended up being one stop, an easy fix thanks to apple maps. If we had thought it too complex we would have hailed a cab.

STEP 4! Breath.

This is all part of the adventure!

These steps will help you fix most if not all problems when these reservations go awry. Just remember that when they do, you will need to be flexible and probably willing to spend a touch more money than you otherwise would have. Just stay calm and remember that a call to your third party booking agent will do you exactly no good. Call the people who you will be physically interacting with; the hotel, restaurant, or tour agency who your reservations are with. They will be your problem solvers.

Wear a mask, wash your hands, and stay safe gentle readers.