Since 5:00 p.m. on November 10, Royal Hanoi Hotel on Quang Lai Street, Thanh Tri, Hanoi has been "miserable" because it has received a series of 1-star reviews, along with negative comments criticizing the "arbitrary cancellation of pre-booked and pre-paid rooms".

However, in reality, no such incident occurred at this hotel. Many internet users confused the Royal Hanoi Hotel in Thanh Tri with the hotel named Royal Hotel at 19 Hang Chao in O Cho Dua ward (Hanoi).

Recently, a tourist named NYQ shared a video of the incident that happened at the Royal Hotel, 19 Hang Chao.

According to Ms. Q. in the video, she booked a room at this hotel via the app for a stay from November 7 to November 9 and transferred 100% of the booking fee. Due to the weather, the flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi was delayed, she arrived at the hotel late, around 2am on November 9.

At the reception desk, the staff refused to let her check in because the guest arrived too late and did not notify. The hotel said that according to the regulations, if the guest does not arrive on time and does not contact, the hotel will automatically assume the guest has canceled the room.

Ms. Q. was upset because she thought that she had paid for the room in full, so the hotel had no right to sell the room to anyone else. Despite providing proof of payment, she was still not assisted. Unable to reach an agreement, the female tourist was forced to leave the hotel in the middle of a rainy night.

The female tourist's video sharing the incident received nearly 4 million views with 17,600 comments, most of whom expressed outrage at the hotel's unprofessional way of working.

Many internet users searched for the name Royal Hotel on Google Maps and other social media platforms to rate it 1 star (equivalent to very poor service) and left harsh comments.

The concern is that many people do not research information carefully and so give wrong reviews for hotels with similar names in Hanoi.

hotel refused guest
Many hotels named Royal in Hanoi received 1-star reviews. Photo: Screenshot

Anh Quoc Viet, representative of Royal Hanoi Hotel in Thanh Tri, said the hotel has been in operation for just over a month. Previously, they had a 4.9/5 star rating, but in the past 24 hours, the rating has dropped very quickly.

"When I discovered the incident, I thought there was unfair competition. After careful investigation, we found out that many people were confused because our hotel also had the name Royal. Many people thought that we and the hotel at 19 Hang Chao were in the same system.

But in fact, we have no connection with the above hotel, operating completely independently. Being misjudged is greatly affecting our reputation," said Mr. Viet.

Mr. Viet's hotel team went into the video of female tourist Q., proactively commenting to correct the information. They also went into posts related to the incident to explain to netizens about the confusion. In addition, the hotel team posted 2 videos on TikTok to correct the information, responding to each comment from viewers.

"We are on duty 24/7 to respond and correct information. If this situation continues, our address may be deleted from Google Maps. This will make it impossible for tourists to search for information about the hotel, affecting business," said Mr. Viet.

hotel refused guest
Mr. Viet provided photos to prove that the reception desk of his hotel is completely different from the image in the video of tourist Q. Photo: NVCC

Mr. Quyen, manager of the Royal Hotel in Sai Dong, Long Bien, Hanoi, is also having a "headache" dealing with the 1-star storm from the online community. Currently, the hotel only has 1.8/5 stars - a very low rating, seriously affecting its reputation.

"In the 3 years of operation, we have always maintained a rating of over 4 stars. I have never encountered a case of being mis-rated like this. Our hotel is not related to the place where the incident happened but has been heavily criticized," he said.

Mr. Viet's hotel or Mr. Quyen's hotel are both linked to online booking platforms (OTA).

Not long ago, Mr. Viet's hotel welcomed a foreign guest who booked a room through a linked application and paid 100%.

However, when they arrived, they did not have enough identification documents to check in even though the hotel had notified the regulations in advance. Mr. Viet's hotel contacted the linked application to notify, asking for support to cancel the room for free and refund the guests.

Both Mr. Viet and Mr. Quyen said that for customers who have paid 100% of the booking fee, the hotel must keep the room for the customer until the end of the booking time, even if the customer checks in late.

These two representatives also affirmed that the professional principle is not to arbitrarily resell rooms without official notice of guest cancellation or no-show.

Hotel refused to let her check in because she arrived late: The room is the guest's after paying The incident of a female tourist being refused to check in at 2am even though she had paid for a 3-day stay at a hotel in Hanoi is attracting attention on social media.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/loat-khach-san-royal-o-ha-noi-keu-oan-chung-toi-khong-lien-quan-2461773.html