Confirm Your Travel Reservation:
Be sure your reservation is confirmed, otherwise you may not have a reservation
at all. Especially now
that everything is so instant with the Internet, it's very possible that you
could call or email an
establishment about availability, send in your information, dates, etc. only to
check back to find your
room, or suite was booked to someone else. If you don't make up your mind on the
spot, the lodging
establishment is NOT obligated to book the reservation with you. Just because
you called or sent an
email indicating you want to place a reservation does not mean you HAVE a
reservation. Someone else
could call or email 10 seconds later and book the vacancy with a CONFIRMATION
(while you're still on the
fence, or just delayed in your response).
The Better Business Bureau acknowledges that lodging establishments are within
their right to book a
room or suite to someone else, if in the meantime you are undecided or have not
yet responded with all
the appropriate information. If the lodging establishment did not transact a
payment (cash or credit)
with you, then there is no binding agreement.
This position by lodging owners is understandable, since there are thousands of
non-returned calls and
'blow-offs' where people never bother to follow through on a tentative
reservation. Therefore lodging
establishments have developed the "confirmation" as a way of verifying to you
that your reservation
cannot be booked to someone else, and if for some reason it is, then they are
obligated to provide you
with alternate arrangements. Many lodging establishments will not hold a room or
a suite for the same
reasons: Many times people just never call back. Meanwhile the lodging owner
would be sitting with a
vacancy on an empty promise. So do yourself a favor and don't insult the lodging
owner by asking them to
'hold' a room for you.
If part of the reason you are undecided is because of timing with other people's
plans, or because you
are still 'comparison' shopping, then it's best to hold off on actually placing
a reservation until you
have the those planning details ironed out. Place your reservation when you've
made up your mind, and
when everyone can agree on the time and place. The reservation process will go
much more quickly, and
you will have a CONFIRMATION that secures your getaway spot. |
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