Hotel warns bookings through third-party platforms may be lost
A Japanese hotel chain posted a notice on its official website warning travelers to be cautious when booking through third-party platforms. Recently, there have been multiple cases in which bookings were confirmed, but the hotel had no record of the reservation. The notice named a well-known third-party platform as the source of the issue. Travel experts think the problem may stem from reselling rooms, and reminded people to double-check their reservations after booking.
Meng Chia-mei
FTV reporter
Excited to travel abroad, some people searched on a third-party platform to find this Japanese chain hotel and successfully booked it online. But when they got to the desk to check in, there was no record of the reservation.
How did this happen? Similar incidents have occurred multiple times, prompting the hotel to publish a notice on its official website.
The hotel warned of several major problems that can occur when rooms they allocate to partner websites are sold through third-party overseas platforms such as Agoda: The room cannot be guaranteed, the room type and date may be incorrect, the hotel cannot confirm the reservation, or the customer may book the room at a higher price and be unable cancel it. Travelers should contact the platform to confirm their booking, as the hotel cannot confirm, adjust, or cancel it.
Voice of Japan travel advisor
It’s the first time the hotel has released a public statement, so maybe it’s really fed up. If the situation weren’t so serious, it wouldn’t publicly call out the platform. People have also started coming to me saying they were suddenly without a room. This has happened many times in the past few years.
It’s convenient to compare hotel prices on third-party platforms, and they often have lots of deals. But they sometimes resell rooms, or rooms the hotel offers to one platform will also end up on another. After a booking is placed, the information needs to be passed through multiple layers, which takes time. At peak season when everyone is booking stays, some reservations get lost in the process.
Uncle Jessy
Travel expert
It has to pass through a lot of hands, which means that the process of going back to confirm the reservation takes a while. When confirming the reservation, there’s an information gap and time lag which, under those circumstances, if room availability is tight and you need a certain type of room or have specific requirements, they may not be fulfilled in time.
When booking rooms on third-party platforms, it’s important to double-check the booking with the platform or the hotel. This will make sure your travel goes smoothly, and you have a nice place to stay.
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2025-06-24
