Pictures courtesy of Matichon

More than 100 tourists were left unable to check in at a hotel in Pattaya on New Year’s Eve after a major booking system failure caused widespread disruption at one of Thailand’s busiest travel periods. The incident occurred on the afternoon of 31 December 2025 at Elong Hotel, affecting both Thai and international guests who had pre-booked rooms.

According to reports from the scene, travellers arrived expecting to check in for their confirmed stays but were informed that no rooms were available. The immediate impact saw confusion and frustration as guests gathered inside the hotel lobby, with many unsure whether alternative accommodation or refunds would be provided.

Initial checks found that the problem stemmed from a malfunction in a well-known hotel booking website’s system. The platform reportedly failed to deduct confirmed reservations from the hotel’s inventory, allowing multiple guests to book the same rooms simultaneously. As a result, bookings significantly exceeded the hotel’s actual room capacity, leaving staff unable to honour all reservations.

The situation forced some tourists to cancel their bookings and search independently for new accommodation elsewhere in Pattaya. Others chose to remain at the hotel to await refunds, while hotel staff worked to manage the crowd and explain the issue. Elong Hotel began arranging rooms at nearby properties to accommodate affected guests, both Thai and foreign, as an interim solution.

Several tourists told reporters they were deeply disappointed by the incident, noting that they had specifically travelled to Pattaya to celebrate the New Year countdown. Instead of enjoying holiday festivities, they spent hours dealing with accommodation uncertainty, which disrupted the overall atmosphere of the year-end tourism period.

At the time reporters were present, some guests were still waiting inside the hotel for clarity on refunds or alternative lodging. The incident highlights the heavy reliance on digital booking platforms during peak travel seasons and the potential consequences when systems fail.

Matichon reported that the affected tourists are expected either to receive refunds through the booking platform or complete their stays at alternative hotels arranged by Elong Hotel. There was no immediate indication of compensation beyond refunds or relocation and no announcement of further action from the booking website involved.

Key Takeaways

• More than 100 Thai and foreign tourists could not check in at Elong Hotel, Pattaya, on 31 December 2025.

• A booking system failure allowed overbooking beyond the hotel’s actual room capacity.

• The hotel arranged nearby accommodation and refunds while some guests sought alternatives themselves.

 Adapted by Asean Now from Matichon 2026-01-01

 

2 minutes ago, Georgealbert said:

A booking system failure allowed overbooking beyond the hotel’s actual room capacity.

the heavy reliance on digital booking platforms.

I'd love to know which one as I've got a couple of upcoming trips.

Don't airlines do this on regular bases without consequence

6 minutes ago, mikebell said:

I'd love to know which one as I've got a couple of upcoming trips.

Call them and make reservation, save some money, haven't used on line booking ever.....

A gross level of irresponsibility on the part of the hotel they should have realized something was wrong, checked the rooms, realize they were empty and booked every single one of the guests into a hotel room immediately. It's a lot of egg on the face of the Elong Hotel now.

Elong. The land of inconveniences.

20 minutes ago, PoorSucker said:

Call them and make reservation, save some money, haven't used on line booking ever.....

Exactly, same thing happened to me a few years ago when I arrived at the lobby of the Amari Don Muang Hotel. It was heaving, as I had prebooked my room with them directly they asked me if I would give it up and move into one of their suites instead, on the house? "Ummm, alright then!" 5555

5 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

A gross level of irresponsibility on the part of the hotel they should have realized something was wrong, checked the rooms, realize they were empty and booked every single one of the guests into a hotel room immediately. It's a lot of egg on the face of the Elong Hotel now.

Elong. The land of inconveniences.

Sounds more like a problem with the online booking platform selling the same room over and over. Hotel probably just thought they had 100 people in one room😃

1 minute ago, Upnotover said:

Sounds more like a problem with the online booking platform selling the same room over and over. Hotel probably just thought they had 100 people in one room😃

Somebody should have had the presence of mind to have known that there was something wrong with the system, with 100 guests with reservations waiting in the lobby, and the room should have been checked, and double checked and triple checked. This was a nearly unforgivable lack of the presence of mind, we're talking about New Year's Eve for God's sake.

16 minutes ago, Upnotover said:

Sounds more like a problem with the online booking platform selling the same room over and over. Hotel probably just thought they had 100 people in one room😃

India tour group?

1 hour ago, mikebell said:

I'd love to know which one as I've got a couple of upcoming trips.

I doubt very much that the booking site was at fault

at some point the hotel should have realised they only had 80 rooms and not 180, I will write this one off as willful incompetence - see if they refund

A lot of mentions about the name of the hotel, but no mention of the booking site name that caused the problem.

1 minute ago, LennyW said:

A lot of mentions about the name of the hotel, but no mention of the booking site name that caused the problem.

Chinesescammy.com

2 hours ago, PoorSucker said:

Don't airlines do this on regular bases without consequence

No, not without consequence.

It happens and the airlines will put the passenger on the next available flight and will offer compensation. This is most likely to occur with the lowest fare group and these passengers are aware of the potential. It is why the airfare is usually 25% of a full fare economy airfare.

2 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

A gross level of irresponsibility on the part of the hotel they should have realized something was wrong, checked the rooms, realize they were empty and booked every single one of the guests into a hotel room immediately. It's a lot of egg on the face of the Elong Hotel now.

Elong. The land of inconveniences.

How is it irresponsible for the hotel? The hotel did not process the reservation and nor was it been paid for the reservation. The OTA processed from its own inventory and failed to adjust that inventory.

You are blaming the hotel for something it did not do. Because you do not understand how the booking engines work you point an accusatory finger at the hotel which was also a victim. Brilliant.

1 hour ago, smedly said:

I doubt very much that the booking site was at fault

at some point the hotel should have realised they only had 80 rooms and not 180, I will write this one off as willful incompetence - see if they refund

How so? If the booking platform is taking the reservations and not forwarding them and adjusting the inventory?

Very similar thing happened at the high-end CK Resort, also in Pattaya, also over New Year, a couple of years ago. The lobby full of guests with an online booking that the hotel could not fulfil.

1 hour ago, Patong2021 said:

How so? If the booking platform is taking the reservations and not forwarding them and adjusting the inventory?

Most booking platforms are only allocated a limited number of rooms to sell and are responsible for that number of rooms including billing the customer and capturing custimer data.

If they were not allocating the reserved rooms or transmitting the reservations to the hotel until that date\arrival time the hotel got caught with their pants down.

Also most hotels use multiple booking sites. They definitely should have started to see a problem mid day at turnover and room preps

1 hour ago, Patong2021 said:

How is it irresponsible for the hotel? The hotel did not process the reservation and nor was it been paid for the reservation. The OTA processed from its own inventory and failed to adjust that inventory.

You are blaming the hotel for something it did not do. Because you do not understand how the booking engines work you point an accusatory finger at the hotel which was also a victim. Brilliant.

Most booking platforms have 24/7 numbers that a hotel can call in the event of an emergency like this. Before jumping the conclusions are you absolutely certain they made every effort to contact the booking platform?

Obviously a breakdown in communications here, I would say all hotels use a Channel Manager and Vacation Rental Software, The hotel should have received a booking conformation via Channel Manager, the multi booking platform has failed to function, even so the hotel admin will have received an email for every booking from the OTA, (ONLINE TRAVEL AGENTS)

My experience Thai's are not good at answering emails, I have had a few experiences where my request have not been answered,

11 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

Obviously a breakdown in communications here, I would say all hotels use a Channel Manager and Vacation Rental Software, The hotel should have received a booking conformation via Channel Manager, the multi booking platform has failed to function, even so the hotel admin will have received an email for every booking from the OTA, (ONLINE TRAVEL AGENTS)

My experience Thai's are not good at answering emails, I have had a few experiences where my request have not been answered,

And not only in regard to hotel etc., bookings.

In basic business scenarios and within the same company it's common there is no reply necessitating the original senderr to make a telephone call to get an answer.

When I worked for an international management conculancy (Bkk office, had 20+ staff, many times I had to get / confirm an answer by visiting the desk on the person I wanted an answer from.

At times it came to light that our Thai admin. manager had instructed new staff that it's rude to reply without first asking if they have permision to reply (higher status / lower status stuff). Frustrating to say the least.

Just now, scorecard said:

And not only in regard to hotel etc., bookings.

In basic business scenarios and within the same company it's common there is no reply necessitating the original sender to make a telephone call to get an answer.

When I worked for an international management consultancy (Bkk office, had 20+ staff), many times I had to get / confirm an answer by visiting the desk on the person I wanted an answer from.

At times it came to light that our Thai admin. manager had instructed new staff that it's rude to reply without first asking if they have permision to reply (higher status / lower status stuff). Frustrating to say the least.

5 hours ago, Georgealbert said:

Initial checks found that the problem stemmed from a malfunction in a well-known hotel booking website’s system.

I can't help but wonder if it may be a spoof site, run out of one of the scam centers in Myanmar or Cambodia (or even home grown...)

5 hours ago, PoorSucker said:

Don't airlines do this on regular bases without consequence

it's built into their business model on the basis of predictable numbers of no shows and a procedure in place if everyone turn up. an airline would never double book a flight, that would be crazy.

5 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

A gross level of irresponsibility on the part of the hotel they should have realized something was wrong, checked the rooms, realize they were empty and booked every single one of the guests into a hotel room immediately. It's a lot of egg on the face of the Elong Hotel now.

Elong. The land of inconveniences.

It wasn't that the bookings hadn't gone through or were showing false full occupancy. Rather that as rooms were booked via the online agency they were not removed from the availability register. Therefore those rooms continued to be booked out, by that agency and probably other agencies where they are also listed.

So essentially rooms were double booked and possibly even triple booked.

My sympathies go to the expectant guests who arrived after no doubt some long journeys to discover on one of the busiest peak days of the year that they had nowhere to sleep despite having paid in full.

There really should be some kind of legal recompense obligation for these online bookers as there is with airlines.

They really have become increasingly shoddy because it's no knock to their profit when they mess people up like this.

It's not the hotels fault either. Yet they had to deal with it all, facing a lot of tired and no doubt angry people cluttering up their lobby and trying to help get some of them places elsewhere. Bearing in mind the hotel makes no money out of this either.

Online booking agencies need to be made to take responsibility. It used to be a pretty good service up until about 10 years ago but now they really are taking the piss big time.

47 minutes ago, Chutney said:

It wasn't that the bookings hadn't gone through or were showing false full occupancy. Rather that as rooms were booked via the online agency they were not removed from the availability register. Therefore those rooms continued to be booked out, by that agency and probably other agencies where they are also listed.

So essentially rooms were double booked and possibly even triple booked.

My sympathies go to the expectant guests who arrived after no doubt some long journeys to discover on one of the busiest peak days of the year that they had nowhere to sleep despite having paid in full.

There really should be some kind of legal recompense obligation for these online bookers as there is with airlines.

They really have become increasingly shoddy because it's no knock to their profit when they mess people up like this.

It's not the hotels fault either. Yet they had to deal with it all, facing a lot of tired and no doubt angry people cluttering up their lobby and trying to help get some of them places elsewhere. Bearing in mind the hotel makes no money out of this either.

Online booking agencies need to be made to take responsibility. It used to be a pretty good service up until about 10 years ago but now they really are taking the piss big time.

While I agree with you that it wasn't ultimately the hotel's fault, the hotel is the front man for this transaction, so they have to make good to the paying customer regardless. I own a retail business and I would do absolutely anything in my power to keep a customer happy and avoid bad publicity.

So I do think something could have been done to get to the bottom of this issue prior to turning the guests away, and ending up with 100 empty rooms, and 100 potential guests scrambling to find a room at the last minute on the busiest night of the year.

19 hours ago, PoorSucker said:

Don't airlines do this on regular bases without consequence

Not to this extent, they do overbook to try and make up for expected no-shows. They try to recover by offering quite lucrative compensation deals like free flight vouchers or cash.

Ouch. What a frustrating experience.

A seasoned traveler will know to expect that anything that can go wrong, good chance that it will, specially in times such as theses ones.

I am 99% sure the mistake originates from the hotel, and not the booking website. It is not the booking website that adjusts the inventory.

2 options:

1) the hotel gives out an allocation (number of saleable rooms) for a specific date. Beyond that no more rooms will be sold

Or

2) the hotel uses a channel manager which is a connection in between the hotel and the booking website. This deducts the number of sold rooms each time and booking website sells a room.

My take is that probably the hotel has not properly set the allocation, or had the sales open and forgot to close it. Or possibly did not have a channel manager, making that each booking has to be keyed into the hotel system manually, day and night, real time, 24/7. If you don't do that bookings keep coming, even in the middle of the night.

I am 99% sure the mistake originates from the hotel.

On 1/1/2026 at 10:23 AM, PoorSucker said:

Call them and make reservation, save some money, haven't used on line booking ever.....

Different folks, different strokes. I have traveled 31 countries now, never had any issue and consistently use a booking app.. Lucky? Could be ...