2 hours ago, Patong2021 said:

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?

Where or when did i say the travel agent is not responsible? I didnt say that.

Go back and read slowly.

The hotel did the right thing in trying to find other accommodations for the excess guests.

Then its up to the hotel and booking agent to find the problem and fix It and the booking agent should be held responsible to the guest and the hotel for damages if any

On 1/1/2026 at 10:39 AM, spidermike007 said:

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.

You seem to be misreading the article. The hotel did not end up with 100 empty rooms. They ended up with all their rooms fully booked (and occupied) and another 100 guests who thought they had valid reservations, but who had been double-booked into rooms that had already been allocated to others.

On 1/2/2026 at 3:26 AM, Travel Dude said:

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.

The problem here is that (as the article makes clear) the booking website's software did not deduct the number of sold rooms each time it sold one. Instead, it failed to deduct them, and then kept re-booking them.

A rule of a thumb is to never...I mean never travel few days before Christmas day or New Year's eve. The world just seems to go mad and there are glitches in most of the service industries from anything to airlines, to hotels to restaurants ....Of course, this may seem difficult on wanting to visit family and stuff for Christmas but better to plan beforehand as to avoid all the crazy dynamics of these periods.

19 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.

Thought that was a bit of a long winded lecture full of self righteousness !!!.. 🤌🏻 😅

Stupid for going to Pattaya

12 minutes ago, Harrisfan said:

Stupid for going to Pattaya

Why? It's one of the most popular resorts in Thailand. You should go!

8 minutes ago, brewsterbudgen said:

Why? It's one of the most popular resorts in Thailand. You should go!

Im not a sex tourist.

2 minutes ago, Harrisfan said:

Im not a sex tourist.

https://media2.giphy.com/media/744CjyuaFUBgg78r9j/200.gif?cid=d9f52f32e8k8pcs84zxzsdvhdyyhm432ai8dok35zophr7p7&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=200.gif&ct=g

Well the ladyboys and prostitutes will have to wait until the newcommer tourists are settled and checked in, I guess...?

18 hours ago, Real Name Hidden said:

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

Can't even put up tent on the beach though.

21 hours ago, Harrisfan said:

Im not a sex tourist.

If you are in Thailand, yes, you are. 🙂

1 hour ago, KhunHeineken said:

If you are in Thailand, yes, you are. 🙂

Im there for temples

19 hours ago, Harrisfan said:

Im there for temples

We all are. 😂