19 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

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.

The hotel booked as many people as they had rooms and then contacted other local hotel to find bookings for the overflow. Not a lot more you can do. What the hotel did was respond and now its time for the online booking issue to be solve with some type of fail safe process. Of course the hotel will get the brunt of the anger

On 1/1/2026 at 1:03 PM, Patong2021 said:

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.

Most airlines will first offer compensation in terms of cash or free flight vouchers etc on a volunteer basis and keep raising the offer until enough people agree to give up their seat in return for the compensation. If in a rare case they can't get enough to voluntairly give up their seat then they will "bump" some confirmed passengers as not everyone can go. How they determine which pax to bump varies and may include factors such as ticket price paid, loyalty program level of frequent flyers, etc. Bumped passengers will generally also receive significant compensation in terms of cash, free flight, hotel room, meals etc.

On 1/1/2026 at 6:09 AM, LennyW said:

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

It was booking.com

3 hours ago, Wrwest said:

On 1/1/2026 at 11:23 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 ...

The main problem with "calling them direct" is that I don't get to compare deals and see who's even got rooms available that night.

On 1/1/2026 at 9:03 AM, Patong2021 said:

On 1/1/2026 at 6:16 AM, 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.

Yes and no... not 25% of the full eco airfare.. But, Airlines do, routinely overbook flights in anticipation of no-shows, a practice that is both common and for some unknown reason - lawful.

When overbooking materialises, airlines typically seek volunteers to take a later flight, offering cash compensation, vouchers, upgrades, or a combination of these. Only when insufficient volunteers come forward does involuntary denied boarding arise, at which point statutory compensation regimes may apply.

In some cases, however, overbooking is not entirely within the airline’s control and can be influenced by local regulations or airport authorities. I experienced this firsthand in Istanbul, where I was denied boarding despite holding a valid boarding pass (Immigration had taken up seats deporting non-nationals). The airline initially obfuscated and denied responsibility, but with the assistance of Alternative Dispute Resolution I was ultimately awarded €600 in compensation.

In this case of the hotel over-booking, the primary cause appears to be a technical failure on booking website side. As the booking intermediary, they bear ultimate responsibility for the integrity of the reservation. While the precise regulatory framework governing compensation in such circumstances is unclear, there should be some form of redress - Imagine waiting hours on NYE dealing with this - I'd want a good chunk of cash for ruining my evening.

That said, the hotel’s role cannot be dismissed as mere bad luck. As others have noted, it strains credibility to suggest they were unaware of the overbooking.

Someone within the reservations team must have recognised the issue well in advance and elected not to resolve it, instead deferring the problem until the guests arrived. Whether through incompetence or convenience, responsibility was quietly kicked down the road.

 

7 minutes ago, impulse said:

3 hours ago, Wrwest said:

On 1/1/2026 at 6:23 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 ...

The main problem with "calling them direct" is that I don't get to compare deals and see who's even got rooms available that night.

I travel a lot - nearly always using booking.com or Agoda.com etc... its just so much more convenient.

Using VPN's and clearing a cache makes a difference too.

I rarely see a cheaper deal calling direct - but I have found a room by calling direct when all booking sites showed a hotel (and other hotels in the area to be full due to an event).

Oh boy., very annoying for the guests.

Does anybody here – maybe with a background in the hotel industry – know for sure how hotel booking systems are actually organized nowadays?

Since you can normally book the same hotel through several different platforms, I assumed that hotel staff have to manually copy the bookings into the internal hotel system before sending confirmation to the booking site. In fact I know that small guest houses used to do it this way. Big hotels though, probably fully automated via plugins, or outsourced somehow and managed online in the cloud with a shared database?

I understand that one of the booking sites continued accepting bookings and sending confirmations to guests, but those bookings never appeared in the hotel's system.

Difficult to know who is at fault but my gut feeling goes into direction human error. Some new staff at the hotel perhaps checking the wrong box in the booking software...or maybe the database of the hotel was damaged, or the booking site a scam site? there are many possibilities.

Anyway - in a properly set-up system, the booking site shouldn't even be able to confirm a booking to the guest unless it successfully reaches the hotel's system.

2 hours ago, norsurin said:

It was booking.com

I booked into a Pattaya hotel New Year's Eve with Booking.com, not a problem with the booking, which would indicate more to do with the hotel and as only one hotel mentioned.

Unfortunately cannot say the same for reception staff, said I couldn't check in as I was on overstay. Looked at my entry stamp rather than the 30 day under consideration.

On 1/1/2026 at 1:06 PM, Patong2021 said:

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.

You are accusing others of not knowing how booking engines work, yet, it is you who is clueless!

Do you think a booking site "majically" knows how many rooms are available at any hotel, or is it entered into their inventory by the hotel managements/staff?

Any in many cases, hotels put in larger numbers, and on multiple sites, and lose track of how many rooms they have put as available, and as it so happened on this occasion, all these inflated rooms were booked (because of NYE I guess), and it was, 100% the hotels fault.

People will not remember if it's the hotel or system at fault. They will just remember "Thailand". Overall it's another, albeit very small, thumbs down to their reputation.

55 minutes ago, CanadaSam said:

You are accusing others of not knowing how booking engines work, yet, it is you who is clueless!

Do you think a booking site "majically" knows how many rooms are available at any hotel, or is it entered into their inventory by the hotel managements/staff?

Any in many cases, hotels put in larger numbers, and on multiple sites, and lose track of how many rooms they have put as available, and as it so happened on this occasion, all these inflated rooms were booked (because of NYE I guess), and it was, 100% the hotels fault.

Agreed...

When a guest books a room through an online travel agency (OTA), the hotel needs to know immediately so it doesn’t double-book. There are two main ways this happens:

1. Automatic via PMS or Channel Manager

... Most hotels use a Property Management System (PMS) or a channel manager.

... The OTA sends the booking directly to the PMS.

... The PMS marks the room as booked and updates availability across all other platforms.

... This is the easiest way to avoid mistakes or overbooking.

2. Manual Updates

... Smaller hotels sometimes handle bookings manually.

... Staff log into the OTA’s portal and mark rooms as booked or available.

... They must also update their own system for direct bookings.

... This method is more prone to errors and can lead to overbooking if not managed carefully.

 

Who’s Responsible?

... The hotel is ultimately responsible for ensuring the room is actually available.

... OTAs only provide the booking platform; they don’t control the hotel’s inventory.

 

How to Avoid Overbooking.

1.     Channel Managers - Connects the hotel’s system with all OTAs so availability updates in real time.

2.     PMS Integration - Modern PMS software often links directly to OTAs.

3.     Blocking Rooms - Hotels sometimes keep a few rooms aside for direct bookings to avoid conflicts.

4.     Manual Updates & Cut-offs - If automation isn’t available, staff update availability on OTAs whenever rooms are booked directly.

 

In short: When a guest books on Booking.com or Agoda, the hotel needs to mark the room as taken, either automatically through their PMS or manually. Keeping all systems in sync is the only way to avoid overbooking.

I'm guessing the hotels Property Management System failed - the hotel is responsible for that, and to save face they blamed the 'online travel agency'.... Someone at the hotel screwed up !!!... even if this was an automated PMS failure - the hotel is responsible for ensuring room availability and keeping track and performing a reconciliation at least daily (I'd imagine).

Fault - 100% the hotels.

 

 

On 1/1/2026 at 2:51 AM, Dan O said:

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

Please see the answer I have provided below. The circumstances suggest otherwise.

4 hours ago, CanadaSam said:

You are accusing others of not knowing how booking engines work, yet, it is you who is clueless!

Do you think a booking site "majically" knows how many rooms are available at any hotel, or is it entered into their inventory by the hotel managements/staff?

Any in many cases, hotels put in larger numbers, and on multiple sites, and lose track of how many rooms they have put as available, and as it so happened on this occasion, all these inflated rooms were booked (because of NYE I guess), and it was, 100% the hotels faul

I have not accused anyone of not knowing how booking engines work. And as for your claim that I am clueless, did you make any effort to look into the event, or what this hotel is? It appears that you did not. You and Richard Smith, who was in such a rush to offer another of his long winded lectures missed the pertinent facts.

The hotel primarily serves Asian package tour groups. Chinese package holiday firms typically purchase in bulk.

Elong Hotels are a hotel management unit of Tongcheng Elong. It has several hotels in China. Tongcheng also operates as Tongcheng travel. Are you familiar with them? Visit the corporate website and familiarize yourself with their operations. Familiarize yourself with what hotel management firms do.

Tongcheng-Elong is the result of the merger in 2017 between the travel platforms eLong and Tongcheng Network. Ring a bell yet? Its principal financial investors are Tencent and Trip.com Group. Tencent is the mega Chinese technology multinational. Trip.com Group owns the brands and OTAs Ctrip, Skyscanner, and Qunar, functioning as a one-stop travel platform. Originally founded as Ctrip in China, the company acquired the Trip.com brand in 2017 and rebranded itself to Trip.com Group to expand internationally, using Trip.com as its global brand.  Ever hear of elong travel? It is a major OTA in China. It is distinct from the elong hotels, but it has elong hotel rooms to book.

If you haven't figured it out yet, look up the concept called vertical integration and profit centers.

Considering the nature of the operation, it is quite reasonable to not "blame" the hotel itself. The hotel is is a stand alone profit center relying on a hotel reservation system and blocks of rooms managed by the travel agency and booking group. I doubt very much that the hotel had full control over the room inventory.

Were you aware of all these details and the relationship between the travel and booking group and the hotel? Why do you think that the hotel is named, but not the "booking" system? Hotels in Thailand are almost never named when there is a problem like this, yet an exception was made here.

If you still can't connect the dots after this detailed explanation, then think some more. Maybe Richard Smith can use some of his abundant righteousness to motivate you.

10 hours ago, sandyf said:

I booked into a Pattaya hotel New Year's Eve with Booking.com, not a problem with the booking, which would indicate more to do with the hotel and as only one hotel mentioned.

Unfortunately cannot say the same for reception staff, said I couldn't check in as I was on overstay. Looked at my entry stamp rather than the 30 day under consideration.

I read on the net that booking.com had problems. My exgf checked in before i arrived Bangkok some years ago.When we arrived the apartment everything seems ok.But about 1 hour later someone knocked the door.My exgf had gone for work.When i open the door the manager and a officer from immigration asked for my passport.I gave it and they left with my passport.I waited about 30 minutes and the officer came back and smiled and said everything ok about my visa.I asked why they checked my passport and he said that the manager thought i migth be on overstay and that's the reason my exgf had checked in on her name.Anyway it was ok because i understand why.When i went to immigration to get 30 days extension i had to fill out the form where i stayed..the room number and some other things.They actually called the manager to get confirmation that i stayed there.The officer told me that many foreigners lie on the application form.When i left Bangkok even the check in counter checked my passport if i was on overstay.

On 1/1/2026 at 1:55 PM, 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😃

Well , if the booking came from India you couldn't blame the hotel for thinking that could you ??

Troll post removed

@ChipButty

On 1/1/2026 at 2:51 PM, Dan O said:

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

I agree and I think most definitely somebody was sleep at the wheel here. It is not as simple as the booking platform making a mistake. I think there's a lot more to it and I think there are multiple ways that could have been addressed.

14 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Agreed...

When a guest books a room through an online travel agency (OTA), the hotel needs to know immediately so it doesn’t double-book. There are two main ways this happens:

1. Automatic via PMS or Channel Manager

... Most hotels use a Property Management System (PMS) or a channel manager.

... The OTA sends the booking directly to the PMS.

... The PMS marks the room as booked and updates availability across all other platforms.

... This is the easiest way to avoid mistakes or overbooking.

2. Manual Updates

... Smaller hotels sometimes handle bookings manually.

... Staff log into the OTA’s portal and mark rooms as booked or available.

... They must also update their own system for direct bookings.

... This method is more prone to errors and can lead to overbooking if not managed carefully.

 

Who’s Responsible?

... The hotel is ultimately responsible for ensuring the room is actually available.

... OTAs only provide the booking platform; they don’t control the hotel’s inventory.

 

How to Avoid Overbooking.

1.     Channel Managers - Connects the hotel’s system with all OTAs so availability updates in real time.

2.     PMS Integration - Modern PMS software often links directly to OTAs.

3.     Blocking Rooms - Hotels sometimes keep a few rooms aside for direct bookings to avoid conflicts.

4.     Manual Updates & Cut-offs - If automation isn’t available, staff update availability on OTAs whenever rooms are booked directly.

 

In short: When a guest books on Booking.com or Agoda, the hotel needs to mark the room as taken, either automatically through their PMS or manually. Keeping all systems in sync is the only way to avoid overbooking.

I'm guessing the hotels Property Management System failed - the hotel is responsible for that, and to save face they blamed the 'online travel agency'.... Someone at the hotel screwed up !!!... even if this was an automated PMS failure - the hotel is responsible for ensuring room availability and keeping track and performing a reconciliation at least daily (I'd imagine).

Fault - 100% the hotels.

 

 

Yeah. But as TiT it couldn't be the hotel's fault.

10 hours ago, Patong2021 said:

I have not accused anyone of not knowing how booking engines work. And as for your claim that I am clueless, did you make any effort to look into the event, or what this hotel is? It appears that you did not. You and Richard Smith, who was in such a rush to offer another of his long winded lectures missed the pertinent facts.

The hotel primarily serves Asian package tour groups. Chinese package holiday firms typically purchase in bulk.

Elong Hotels are a hotel management unit of Tongcheng Elong. It has several hotels in China. Tongcheng also operates as Tongcheng travel. Are you familiar with them? Visit the corporate website and familiarize yourself with their operations. Familiarize yourself with what hotel management firms do.

Tongcheng-Elong is the result of the merger in 2017 between the travel platforms eLong and Tongcheng Network. Ring a bell yet? Its principal financial investors are Tencent and Trip.com Group. Tencent is the mega Chinese technology multinational. Trip.com Group owns the brands and OTAs Ctrip, Skyscanner, and Qunar, functioning as a one-stop travel platform. Originally founded as Ctrip in China, the company acquired the Trip.com brand in 2017 and rebranded itself to Trip.com Group to expand internationally, using Trip.com as its global brand.  Ever hear of elong travel? It is a major OTA in China. It is distinct from the elong hotels, but it has elong hotel rooms to book.

If you haven't figured it out yet, look up the concept called vertical integration and profit centers.

Considering the nature of the operation, it is quite reasonable to not "blame" the hotel itself. The hotel is is a stand alone profit center relying on a hotel reservation system and blocks of rooms managed by the travel agency and booking group. I doubt very much that the hotel had full control over the room inventory.

Were you aware of all these details and the relationship between the travel and booking group and the hotel? Why do you think that the hotel is named, but not the "booking" system? Hotels in Thailand are almost never named when there is a problem like this, yet an exception was made here.

If you still can't connect the dots after this detailed explanation, then think some more. Maybe Richard Smith can use some of his abundant righteousness to motivate you.

Heaps of corporate trivia, zero proof.

‘Vertical integration’ doesn’t magically absolve the property.
Whether inventory is loaded by the hotel, a channel manager, or a wholesaler, the result is the same: rooms were sold that didn’t exist.

Your key line is ‘I doubt’ — that’s not evidence, it’s a hunch.

If the hotel takes bookings under its name, it owns the outcome.
Blaming the plumbing doesn’t change who left the guest stranded.

People have to understand you rely on those electric robots you in a world of hurt.

AI is here for your ultimate destruction. Nothing more.

💯0%

My sympathy to the guests, imagine trying to get Pattaya accommodation as a walk-in on NYE.

I never use a booking platform.. I do business directly with the hotels.. Booking platforms are mostly not cheaper than direct booking.

1 hour ago, LosLobo said:

Heaps of corporate trivia, zero proof.

‘Vertical integration’ doesn’t magically absolve the property.
Whether inventory is loaded by the hotel, a channel manager, or a wholesaler, the result is the same: rooms were sold that didn’t exist.

Your key line is ‘I doubt’ — that’s not evidence, it’s a hunch.

If the hotel takes bookings under its name, it owns the outcome.
Blaming the plumbing doesn’t change who left the guest stranded.

Your forgetting the variable that if there is a breakdown in communications coming from the On Line Booking Agent the hotel may not have had that reservation info which would leave them unknowlegable and showing open rooms until guests showed up with a reservation from on line that the hotel didnt have. The information in the article is sparce

12 hours ago, Patong2021 said:

I have not accused anyone of not knowing how booking engines work. And as for your claim that I am clueless, did you make any effort to look into the event, or what this hotel is? It appears that you did not. You and Richard Smith, who was in such a rush to offer another of his long winded lectures missed the pertinent facts.

The hotel primarily serves Asian package tour groups. Chinese package holiday firms typically purchase in bulk.

Elong Hotels are a hotel management unit of Tongcheng Elong. It has several hotels in China. Tongcheng also operates as Tongcheng travel. Are you familiar with them? Visit the corporate website and familiarize yourself with their operations. Familiarize yourself with what hotel management firms do.

Tongcheng-Elong is the result of the merger in 2017 between the travel platforms eLong and Tongcheng Network. Ring a bell yet? Its principal financial investors are Tencent and Trip.com Group. Tencent is the mega Chinese technology multinational. Trip.com Group owns the brands and OTAs Ctrip, Skyscanner, and Qunar, functioning as a one-stop travel platform. Originally founded as Ctrip in China, the company acquired the Trip.com brand in 2017 and rebranded itself to Trip.com Group to expand internationally, using Trip.com as its global brand.  Ever hear of elong travel? It is a major OTA in China. It is distinct from the elong hotels, but it has elong hotel rooms to book.

If you haven't figured it out yet, look up the concept called vertical integration and profit centers.

Considering the nature of the operation, it is quite reasonable to not "blame" the hotel itself. The hotel is is a stand alone profit center relying on a hotel reservation system and blocks of rooms managed by the travel agency and booking group. I doubt very much that the hotel had full control over the room inventory.

Were you aware of all these details and the relationship between the travel and booking group and the hotel? Why do you think that the hotel is named, but not the "booking" system? Hotels in Thailand are almost never named when there is a problem like this, yet an exception was made here.

If you still can't connect the dots after this detailed explanation, then think some more. Maybe Richard Smith can use some of his abundant righteousness to motivate you.

Long winded post that says a lot but doesnt really explain what happened or have any connection to my post.

Any number of IT glicthes could have caused this or it could have been initiated intenonally. Info is too sparse and speculative

2 hours ago, LosLobo said:

Heaps of corporate trivia, zero proof.

‘Vertical integration’ doesn’t magically absolve the property.
Whether inventory is loaded by the hotel, a channel manager, or a wholesaler, the result is the same: rooms were sold that didn’t exist.

Your key line is ‘I doubt’ — that’s not evidence, it’s a hunch.

If the hotel takes bookings under its name, it owns the outcome.
Blaming the plumbing doesn’t change who left the guest stranded.

It is not a question of blaming. Rather, it is one of understanding where the breakdown occurred. I am of the view that it is a result of the entity which reserved inventory and that sold its inventory repeatedly without updating that inventory.

You assume the hotel took a booking under its name. The story does not say that. Travel agencies can book hotels and not confirm or pay for the rooms. You have seen the stories before on this website, typically involving Thais on package tours to Japan.

I previously offered the example of the recent debacle of Sonder and Marriott. Marriott was a reservations provider for Sonder. When Sonder suspended operations, Marriott said sorry, no responibility for stranded guests with reservations. The point is that you are making assumptions about the bookings of the Pattaya hotel and there is nothing in the story that says the hotel actually was the entity that was taking the bookings. And before you start saying that the hotel is always responsible, look at the situation with airlines and OTAs. In the event of preflight disruptions such as delays, cancelations, refunds, and rebookings, the airline tells the ticket holder to contact the OTA. The airline does not get involved. This is why frequent flyers never purchase through OTAs and instead purchase through the airline. The same holds for hotels. A hotel reservation through Hotels.com, Booking.com etc. must be managed through that booking agency.

14 minutes ago, Dan O said:

Long winded post that says a lot but doesnt really explain what happened or have any connection to my post.

Any number of IT glicthes could have caused this or it could have been initiated intenonally. Info is too sparse and speculative

It most certainly does. If you do not understand the contractual relationships between the OTAs and the hospitality sector, that's your issue, not mine. The OTA retains responsibility for the reservation if made through the OTA. Hotels and airlines refer the customer back to the OTA/travel agent who made the reservation or who sold the airticket. It is the travel agent's responsibility to manage the reservation up until the service is delivered. You obviously do not know that or wish to consider that reality.

20 minutes ago, Patong2021 said:

It most certainly does. If you do not understand the contractual relationships between the OTAs and the hospitality sector, that's your issue, not mine. The OTA retains responsibility for the reservation if made through the OTA. Hotels and airlines refer the customer back to the OTA/travel agent who made the reservation or who sold the airticket. It is the travel agent's responsibility to manage the reservation up until the service is delivered. You obviously do not know that or wish to consider that reality.

I worked in the industry for 16 years so understand the mechanics well.

You seem to be the one with tunnel vision. Read what i wrote as its accurate. If the on lines agent booked the reservations but never forwarded the booking the hotel wouldn't know.

Its not easy to say to the customer, go back to the agent who f'd up and have them fixit when the customers are standing in your hotel with a valid reservation, at least on paper, demanding their room

The hotel appears to have done the right thing in finding other accommodations. The issue with the agent can and should be dealt with after you take care of the customer

2 minutes ago, Dan O said:

I worked in the industry for 16 years so understand the mechanics well.

You seem to be the one with tunnel vision. Read what i wrote as its accurate.

I already acknowledged that this was most likely an inventory management issue, which would be IT related.

Ok, you worked in the industry for 16 years. The fact that you reject outright that the the OTA/Travel Agency is responsible for the reservation it makes and not the hotel says it all. In Thailand, the Travel agent is contractually responsible for the delivery of the service.

When did you last work in the industry specific to this type of operation?

What has been your experience with Chinese tour consolidators who purchase rooms in blocks and this specific relationship?

How long did you work with the inventory control software that is used by Trip.com Group?

Multiple book-ins eh?

TAT will be jumping all over the fake numbers.🙃🙃

On 1/1/2026 at 10:47 AM, spidermike007 said:

Elong. The land of inconveniences.

Bloody Musk causing problems again!