Hotel says they don't have my third-party booking
Third-party booking platforms and hotels frequently fail to sync reservations, leaving travelers stranded at the desk with sold-out rooms and no immediate place to sleep. Platforms often compound the issue by refusing to rebook alternative lodging, offering only a delayed refund while sticking to strict cancellation policies.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Calling or emailing the hotel directly to confirm the reservation beforehandDid this help you?
- 2Checking back by phone occasionally to ensure the reservation is activeDid this help you?
- 3Checking email immediately after a booking appears to fail to see if a confirmation was actually sent before trying againDid this help you?
- 4Calling customer service and putting the hotel front desk on the phone to confirm cancellationsDid this help you?
- 5Obtaining a cancellation letter from the hotel, scanning it, and emailing it to the booking platformDid this help you?
- 6scrambling to find alternative accommodation at the last minuteDid this help you?
- 7Checking reservations directly on the airline websiteDid this help you?
- 8Verifying that a 13-digit e-ticket number has been issued rather than just a PNRDid this help you?
- 9Regularly checking back on the reservation statusDid this help you?
- 10Checking reservations directly with the airline or hotel website using the PNRDid this help you?
- 11Requesting price matches and booking directly with airlines or hotels to avoid middlemenDid this help you?
- 12Filing chargebacks or disputing charges through banking appsDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Booked it through a banking app IDFC. Did not know that it is tripstacc behind it.”source ↗
“They left my family stranded by sending me a confirmed booking but the hotel did not have anything.”source ↗
“When we arrived to the hotel we opened the Super app and showed the clerk. Clerk stated the hotel was sold out, no rooms available and that our reservation was not found.”source ↗
“3 hours later, Super informed me the reservation had been cancelled and nothing they could do. They could not find us another hotel and would only refund our money at the last second.”source ↗
“Checked my email, and I was shocked to find 2 separate confirmations for both bookings.”source ↗
“Next day, Agoda sent me an email saying after checking with the hotel partner (I suspect there is a middleman between Agoda and hotel), they would stick to the no-cancellation policy and not able to cancel one of the bookings.”source ↗
“Then, on September 12, essentially as my client was arriving to check in, the hostel cancelled the reservation.”source ↗
“We refused that option and had to scramble to find alternative accommodation ourselves at the last minute.”source ↗
“Anyone have a way to get in touch with Expedia, phone bots won’t put me in touch with a person”source ↗
“Got presented with an error page but my card was charged an hour later. Then I got a flight confirmation from my airline with tickets but nothing from the car rental place or Expedia”source ↗
“They wil deduct money from your account, not book anything and then make you run around for the refund.”source ↗
Where this came up
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