Why booking a room could be an exercise in social cohesion
I’ve never witnessed the like. I would have recorded it on my phone, had it not been for the fact that my phone dates from 2007 and can barely tell the time, let alone run action movies. But I will tell you what I saw.
It all happened in the dining room of a hotel in which I was staying, part of that famous American chain called United Hotels. The room was packed, every table full. My grilled elk au vin was going down a treat.
Suddenly, a shemozzle. Four bouncers had pounced upon a guest and were proceeding to drag him from the building, insisting that his room and table were required. In vain did the hapless victim, his face battered and glasses askew, protest that he was a doctor, visiting the city to perform a critical operation. Onlookers gasped in horror: one woman uttered more OMGs than you would find in a teenage text.
Only later, while speaking to the on-duty manager, did I get to the bottom of the story. It seems that the hotel had overbooked; and, in accordance with the policy of the United chain, had selected this particular guest for eviction so as to make room for everyone else.
“Of course, we don’t usually do it this way,” explained the manager with a shrug. “Ideally, we like to sort things out in reception. If we’re going to ‘bump’ someone, they should never be allowed to unpack, let alone get as far as the restaurant. Assault and battery really are the very last resort.”
“But if you’ve overbooked,” I reasoned, “shouldn’t you be apologizing to the guests, rather than whacking them on the head? I mean, call me old-fashioned...”
“Well, as I say, violence is not our preferred option. We try bribing people with vouchers and videos and free off-peak stays, but if there are no takers, sometimes we have to get tough.”
“You mean this happens all the time?”
“Oh yeah! I mean, we can’t just book in the right number of people for the number of rooms in the hotel, can we? What if they don’t all show up? We’d be losing money like it was the Wall Street Crash.”
“So, how do you decide whom to bump?”
“Well, we do try to be reasonable. We don’t throw out frequent or disabled guests, honeymoon couples or North Korean generals trying to get a good night’s sleep before launching a nuclear strike. But if you pitch up for no good reason other than that you just want to stay here, watch out.”
In sum, therefore, the hotel was selling vacancies that it didn’t possess and then betting that the purchasers wouldn’t claim them. Was this not an ethical sham?
“Look mate, it’s all for your benefit. If we didn’t overbook, we’d have loads of empty rooms and then we’d have to put up the prices. And we wouldn’t want that, eh?”
Slowly the light dawned.
“You mean, this is really about fostering the common good? Not an expression of corporate greed at all? That when guests are thrown out, they are simply taking one for the team?”
The manager gave a slow, indulgent smile. At last I’d got it.
- You can have a look at another one of Richard Nye's columns by clicking here
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