I’d like to award the Fairmont Udaipur Palace the prize for the worst handling of canceling a guest reservation that I’ve ever heard of. And that’s quite an accomplishment, because there are a lot of hotels out there that don’t actually care about hospitality.
In this post:
Fairmont hotel brazenly cancels bookings due to wedding
A couple of months ago, OMAAT reader Karl made a booking (directly via Accor) at the Fairmont Udaipur Palace, for a stay in under two months from now. Just yesterday, he received the following email from the hotel, letting him know that they won’t honor the reservation, because there’s a wedding party at the hotel:
Greetings from Fairmont Udaipur Palace,
This email is in regards to your reservation at Fairmont Udaipur Palace, arriving on 12.02.2026 for 2 nights of stay, for 1 room received via online channels, via reference number as [redacted]
We request you to amend your room reservation to another date in February 2026, as we are completely booked to a wedding ceremony during your current stay dates (12.02.2026).
We can offer you the alternative dates in February as 16th , 17th , 24th , 25th , 26th , 27th , 28th.
We look forward to your response in order to move your booking dates so that you have a comfortable stay at the Palace.
Should you require any further assistance, please feel free to connect with us.
The first thing that shocked me was that the hotel offered no form of apology. Like, the word “sorry” is in there zero times. Canceling a legitimately made reservation and not even apologizing? I’m in disbelief at that level of customer service, especially since this email came from the reservations manager.
Then the second issue is that they didn’t offer an alternative accommodation. Like, most foreigners booking hotels in India plan an itinerary, and can’t simply move a stay forward or backward a week. Since Karl’s trip is fully planned in terms of the dates he’s visiting, I suggested he ask the hotel if they’re offering any alternative accommodations. The response was as follows:
Greetings from Fairmont Udaipur Palace,
We regret to inform that we will not be not be in a situation to book another property at this time.
Kindly advise us on the alternate stay date of yours to amend your stay.
We look forward to your response.
What’s a hotel’s obligation in situations like this?
I’ve written in the past about the obligations that hotels have when they cancel reservations. The short answer is that there’s not necessarily all that much legal protection, so what’s offered typically comes down to a hotel’s desire to offer half decent service. Furthermore, for larger hotel groups, they often have published policies when it comes to these situations.
Let’s be clear, the hotel is making a business decision to accept a wedding block, presumably because it’s more lucrative. However, the decision to enter into this contract should also take into account the need to make the guests whole who already have a reservation booked.
After all, think of the practical logistics here. If a hotel can just cancel a reservation for any reason without any sort of offer, how far could that go? If a hotel is booked out a day before arrival, should it offer to book someone else for $50 more, and then cancel an existing reservation? “Tough luck,” right?
For what it’s worth, I had a look at Accor’s terms & conditions, and here’s the part that would potentially apply:
In the case of a force majeure event, an exceptional event or impossibility to carry out the Service and, in particular, making the room of the Establishment available to the Customer, the Establishment may reserve the option of providing accommodation to the Customer, in whole or in part, at an Establishment in the equivalent category or perform a Service of the same nature, subject to the prior agreement of the Customer. The reasonable expenses relating to the transfer (additional cost of the rooms, transportation and a phone call) between the two Establishment shall be payable by the concerned Establishment in accordance with the existing standard procedure of the said Establishment.
So it seems to me like this hotel is just choosing to ignore Accor’s policy, which requires (at a minimum) accommodating a guest at another property, and covering reasonable expenses associated with the move.
Bottom line
A lot of hotels don’t do a great job with customer service when they cancel reservations. However, I’d argue that the Fairmont Udaipur Palace is in a league of its own when it comes to how poorly it handled it. The hotel didn’t even apologize when telling a guest it wouldn’t honor the reservation. The only thing it offered is a rebooking on another date, with no option to be rebooked at another property, and no offer of compensation.
I’ve seen hotels offer so little, but I’ve never seen a hotel not even apologize for something like this.
What do you make of how the Fairmont is handling this canceled reservation?
On the other side of the spectrum, Aman Kyoto cancelled my three night reservation a few years ago because a prominent family bought out the property for the week I was there. The GM paid for our two bedroom suite at the Four Seasons Kyoto and gave us a $9K Aman gift certificate, together with a private driver for the duration of our stay in Kyoto. He also personally met us at the train station to apologize. Legendary service still exists some places.
It’s India. Customer Service is dead and you can read it in the response that probably came from a 20-something who hasn’t been trained properly or can’t go off script and use words like “Sorry”
And recommending a competitor hotel? Ludicrously bad business practice for Accor apparently…..
I've had consistently bad experiences with nearly every Fairmont I've ever stayed at. Like, what is Accord trying to do with this brand, disappoint people? Avoid the one in San Juan. Just awful. The one in Barbados is better, but not really worth it either. The one in Monte Carlo is just alright.
Why would anyone want to visit India and breathe the poisonous air. Just say no.
Oh, no, Gene (if it is you from VFTW), it's not all bad. Do avoid October-February, especially in the north (like Delhi), because the cooler air and the surrounding mountains really trap it all in then. Still, there are reasons to visit regardless, and I've enjoyed my trips there. (Have flown AA, UA, and EK, there and back, and was not disappointed.)
Was this a non refundable reservation or something that hotel is refusing to refund? With 2 months to go before the stay, if your made whole with refund, dont see why Fairmont has to re-accomodate to another hotel that you may not want.
I would be wary if I paid for instance a Ritz Carlton price and then the hotel pre-emptively rebooks me to a Hilton Garden Inn!
I had worse experience at ITC Royal...
Was this a non refundable reservation or something that hotel is refusing to refund? With 2 months to go before the stay, if your made whole with refund, dont see why Fairmont has to re-accomodate to another hotel that you may not want.
I would be wary if I paid for instance a Ritz Carlton price and then the hotel pre-emptively rebooks me to a Hilton Garden Inn!
I had worse experience at ITC Royal Bengal in Kolkata, India where had booked a 2 bedroom suite for multiple nights specifically to stay with in laws and on check in, was told that room was given to someone else and only thing offered was 2 small standard rooms in exchange for the suite that was supposed to be about 1200 square feet and costs 4 times the rate of standard room. After lot of arguing and nearly a shouting match, the manager agreed to make one of the 2 standard rooms free and that was it.
"If a hotel is booked out a day before arrival, should it offer to book someone else for $50 more, and then cancel an existing reservation?" - that's exactly what Marriott has done in my case without any notification - https://www.reddit.com/r/marriott/comments/1h85w87/marriotts_loyalty_care_or_we_dont_actually_care/
Agree that it is a crappy way to do business but the T&C quoted says "may reserve" not will reserve
That's not "walking" the guest. Walking is when a guest with a reservation shows up and doesn't have a room. Yes, they should apologize for canceling the reservation. But "walking" it is not.
The difference isn't just semantic, as 'walking' usually happens to late arriving guests who end up feeling somewhat stranded without a room. This might be a bummer for Karl, but with two months notice, there is time to plan alternatives. (And bitch about it to bloggers, apparently.)
@ Scudder -- You're absolutely right, I shouldn't have used that term. I updated the post to reflect that. That being said, you think this is just totally fine? At what point do you think it's no longer acceptable? And don't you think Accor's terms are supposed to provide some protection here, as quoted above?
No, it's clearly shitty. But despite marketing platitudes almost no hotel (or hotel brand) actually gives AF about individual guests, and expecting otherwise is naive.
@ Scudder -- I guess we've had very different experiences, because among hotels that voluntarily cancel reservations in advance (aside from mistake fares), I've almost always found they go above and beyond to offer the guest some reasonable alternative or compensation.
That level of care was dying a slow death well before covid. Now hoteliers in the old tradition of hospitality may still exist, but they're a nearly extinct breed.
@Ben: I've had different experiences too... but then again at hotel chains where I'm at least mid tier to top tier elite. The only really bad experience I had was with a Sheraton (that has since closed) where I pre-paid 20 rooms for employees in a winter event, and the snow was much worse and guests wouldn't check out... and in that state as long as they agreed to keep paying they had squatters rights....
@Ben: I've had different experiences too... but then again at hotel chains where I'm at least mid tier to top tier elite. The only really bad experience I had was with a Sheraton (that has since closed) where I pre-paid 20 rooms for employees in a winter event, and the snow was much worse and guests wouldn't check out... and in that state as long as they agreed to keep paying they had squatters rights. So the hotel had no room, refunded my card, and said "good luck." Not like they had another hotel to send people to under circumstances. I ended up sleeping in my office for 4 nights. But that I understand (somewhat, though at the time when I called back and canceled a $30k event the company was having two months in the future, I wasn't feeling it....).
Does the person who wrote in have any sort of Accor status or much revenue history with the company?
I'm assuming someone who can book out an entire Fairmont for a wedding is someone of at least moderate local importance, and hate to say it but in India there's a pecking order. The terms and conditions say the hotel "may reserve the option" and I think they aren't reserving it for this unfortunate guest. If they see him as a one-and-done customer, I really don't think they care he's unhappy.
Escalating via Accor is probably the only way to get any resolution... if they have any other acceptable properties and they honor the rate. Doubtful though.
I had a boss once who used to be in sales/marketing for Kingfisher. He never had to worry about making flight reservations for work travel in advance - if the flight was full, they'd just pull someone off and put him on.... there are certain privileges.
And one more thing— Accor's use of "may": "the Establishment may reserve the option"
That means the statement is not a policy at all. It's just, kind of a polite suggestion.