Front desk clerk refuses to waive cancellation fee after entitled guest books room through 3rd party website, despite being told the hotel is fully booked: ‘She stormed out’

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Oct 30, 2024 10:00 AM EDT

You know those videos/articles titled '10 Hacks [This Business] Doesn't Want You to Know About'? On rare occasions, trying out those tips will actually save you some time or money. But 9/10 times, these 'hacks' don't actually work, and all they achieve is anger the worker you have to deal with, which is not something many would recommend.

The woman in this Reddit story must have read or heard somewhere that even if a hotel clerk tells you that the hotel is fully booked, if you go ahead and book a room through a 3rd party website, they will have to make an arrangement and find you a room. Unfortunately, booking through a 3rd party website doesn't mean that a room will magically vacant itself, which is exactly what the front desk employee was trying to tell the entitled lady. Despite the employee's explanations, the lady went ahead and booked a room, which led to a whole dispute in the lobby when the clerk refused to waive the cancellation fee she had to pay because there was no room for her to stay in.

Keep scrolling to read the rest of the story. After you are done, click here for a story of a micromanager who demanded an employee cover a 13-hour shift.

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  • 01
    "I told you what would happen and you ignored me"
    via industrialphotograph

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02
    Guest booked a room after being told we were sold out
    via Plantcalendar
  • 03
    Around 10pm tonight a woman came in asking our rates, saying she wanted to check online to see if it was cheaper that way. Cool!
    via Plantcalendar
  • 04
    I let her know what rooms we have available + their rates, and let her know we are completely sold out of our studio-style suites.
    via Plantcalendar
  • 05
    She proceeds to hold her phone up to me showing me a 3rd party website that she's able to book a studio through. Sigh
    via Plantcalendar
  • 06
    I explain that yeah, it will let her book it because it's a 3rd party site, but we do NOT have an available room of that type to put her in. I show her the list of room types we have available and let
    via Plantcalendar
  • 07
    her know she'll need to pick one of those because I have no way to edit 3rd party reservations. She says okay and sits down in the lobby.
    via Plantcalendar
  • 08
    She comes back up 2 mins later saying she's booked it now and OF COURSE she booked a studio. Now I was at the very end of my shift so my patience was worn veerrrryyyy thin already. I audibly
    via Plantcalendar
  • 09
    sighed at this lady and said "You booked a studio. Like I said before we do not have any of these room types available and, because it's a 3rd party reservation, your only real option
    via Plantcalendar
  • 10
    is to cancel this and book one of our available rooms or to call [3rd party] and see if they can change the room type." I don't know if she thought I was bluffing or what but she's
    via Plantcalendar
  • 11
    somehow SHOCKED at this info and starts running through the usual "well you guys have done it for me before" spiel. Says she doesn't want it to be cancelled because she won't get her money
    via Plantcalendar
  • 12
    back for days. Interesting. Almost like someone gave you clear instructions on what NOT to do. She eventually asked for a manager and, it being after 10pm, of course there wasn't one
    via Plantcalendar
  • 13
    onsite. She then asked if we could call one and I told her, "With it being a 3rd party, even they wouldn't be able to edit it. And honestly ma'am, I'm not going to call and wake her up over this
    via Plantcalendar
  • 14
    when I literally told you not to book that room type. You're going to have to contact the 3rd party or just cancel this and book the correct room."
    via Plantcalendar
  • 15
    She eventually plops herself down back in a chair and calls the 3rd party but apparently there wasn't much they could do either. She stormed out while on the phone with them and a few
    via Plantcalendar
  • 16
    minutes later I get a call from the 3rd party asking if we would waive the cancellation fee if they went ahead and canceled. I explained the entire situation to them and said no, I would not
    via Plantcalendar
  • 17
    remove the fee because I blatantly told her what would happen if she did it the way she did and she ignored me thinking she would somehow get her way.
    via Plantcalendar
  • 18
    I left a very detailed explanation in my end of shift email just to make sure night audit knew the situation, and to cover my get a complaint for being r de Imao if I
    via Plantcalendar
  • 19
    By the time I left I saw her walking back up the sidewalk towards the hotel so big ups to the night audit guy who might have to deal with this moron
    via Plantcalendar
  • 20
    Crocodyl ungratefuld d88 • 1d ago • It's amazing how often guests will think this is some sort of "one trick hotels hate" to get a room when we're completely sold out. I tell them to their face I have no empty rooms and they
    via ungratefuld**d88
  • 21
    scroll through their phone to the least reputable possible third party site they can find and go "it says you have rooms online!" Sometimes I tell them those are online-only rooms, as in you can only stay in them online, not in the analog world.
    via ungratefuld**d88
  • 22
    SkwrlTail 1d ago • They're always so smug, so absolutely triumphant. They've figured their way around the mean person who clearly is envious of their good looks and amazing hair. Why else would they lie and say there's no rooms available? Sigh.
    via SkwrlTail
  • 23
    Wonderful-Wash6911 1d ago • After working in a hotel I never book third party. Book directly with the hotel, you may save a few bucks and I do mean a few but nothing to lose sleep over.
    via Wonderful-Wash6911
  • 24
    Frunnin 21h ago • . I stay in hotels alot and I was over the 3rd party booking a few years ago. I only book directly with the hotel. Not a single problem since! I'll pay a little more if I have to, it's worth it.
    via Frunnin
  • 25
    notPabst404 • 13h ago • Why are "third parties" allowed to advertise rooms that aren't available to begin with? The entire market needs much better regulations. This "third party" bulls causes unnecessary huge headaches for hotel staff.
    via notPabst404

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guests workplace-stories hotel guest employee hotel front desk work reservation tales from the front desk reddit story entitled Reddit funny weird entitled people
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