The answer to this question is obvious, but also not…
Hotels can’t stick to their opening timelines
Let me start by acknowledging that opening a hotel is no small task. Construction projects are complicated to begin with, and often delayed. But hotels are among the most complex kinds of construction projects to get operational, given the complexity of the interiors, all the inspections that have to take place, the need to hire staff, etc.
Generally speaking, I completely understand how the opening timelines of new hotels can shift, and how delays can happen. When it’s announced in 2022 that a hotel will open in 2025, don’t be surprised if the timeline is delayed to 2026. Actually, assume it’ll be delayed by at least a year or two, and be pleasantly surprised if it opens as initially planned.
But what puzzles me is when hotels start accepting reservations just weeks or months before the intended opening, only to then push back the timeline considerably again (or in some cases multiple times). I would understand if this happened once in a while, but I’d say that it happens more often than not. I constantly write about new hotel openings I’m excited about, and a vast majority of the time, the timeline gets delayed even after the hotel starts accepting reservations.
Just to give one example, in late 2023, the St. Regis Belgrade was supposed to open as of February 1, 2024. Yes, the February 1 date was predicted just weeks before the planned opening. Then the opening was delayed to October 1, 2024, and now it’s delayed to November 2, 2024. How can you be so wrong just weeks before the planned opening?
Of course I understand why hotels are excited to start accepting reservations — they want to start generating revenue as soon as possible, and as much of it as possible as well. There’s the saying that airplanes don’t make money sitting on the ground, and in the case of hotels, they don’t make money when they’re closed.
I guess I’m just kind of confused about the thought process that leads to this, especially when we’re talking about hotels belonging to global hotel groups, where they have experience and knowledge about how common these delays are.
I suspect this comes down to the hotel owners pressuring management to open ASAP, even if the timeline is unrealistic, and them not getting too much pushback. And then when the timeline doesn’t work out, the mess of canceling reservations falls on the sales folks, I guess. Is there a more nuanced explanation than that, or…?
These delays often work out to the benefit of consumers
At least here in the United States, we don’t have great consumer protections for hotel stays, and technically in most situations, you’re not entitled to anything if a hotel cancels your confirmed reservation. That being said, I always like to keep an eye on the FlyerTalk threads for new hotel openings, and for the most part, hotels with delayed openings do offer guests something for stays that can’t be honored.
In some cases they offer to accommodate you at another hotel while refunding your stay, in some cases they’ll offer you bonus points for the cancelation, and in other cases they’ll offer you a suite upgrade when you do stay in the future, after the new opening.
Just to give some current and recent examples, the Thompson Palm Springs is offering people bonus points for canceling their reservations, Kennedy 89 Frankfurt is offering bonus points or a suite upgrade on a future stay, the Park Hyatt Marrakech (which finally opened) was offering to rebook people at the Kempinski while also offering a full refund, etc.
Heck, you could probably make a business of just booking new hotels when the openings are first announced, and then seeing what you’re offered when they’re canceled. Though I say that with a major asterisk, as it’s not something I do (I don’t remember the last time I booked a newly opened hotel).
This also comes with some risks. Back in the day, SPG would warn members who the company believed were making speculative bookings at hotels in order to get compensation:
Request compensation for delayed hotel opening
While our hotels will absolutely consider compensating any guest for genuine inconveniences or issues they determine they are responsible for, a pattern is developing which increases our concern as to the authenticity of some of these reservations.
Please understand we have placed your account on an alert list and are monitoring all pre-opening reservations at SPG participating hotels. Please reply acknowledging receipt and your understanding of this message so that we may reactivate your account.
It seems that could’ve most easily been addressed by, you know, opening hotels with the promised timeline, but I guess that was a bit too simple of a solution?
Bottom line
I get that opening hotels is super complicated, yet for whatever reason, hotels can’t seem to be realistic about the timeline with which they’ll accept their first guests. Based on the hotels I keep an eye on, even after opening up reservations, opening timelines are delayed even further more often than not.
I can’t wrap my head around why hotels consistently have this issue, since in most cases, they provide some sort of compensation to those who were impacted by the delay, and it’s also a headache to reach out to all guests who have been booked. But that doesn’t seem to actually lead to any change in behavior.
What has your experience been with delayed hotel openings? Have you ever dealt with this?
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