Interested in going to Hanoi since the beginning of November to watch the G-Dragon concert, Ms. Nguyen Y Quyen (Dong Nai) has booked a room for 4 days and 3 nights from November 7 - 10, 2025 through a famous travel application.
The female tourist chose to rent a popular hotel on Hang Chao Street and paid more than 1.5 million VND in advance for the entire 3 nights.
However, the female tourist encountered a difficult situation that she did not expect.
Ms. Quyen has postponed her flight schedule by 2 days due to the impact of storm No. 13 Kalmaegi. She landed in Hanoi quite late, and arrived at the hotel at around 2am on November 9. After getting off the taxi, the female tourist was surprised when the receptionist informed that the hotel had run out of rooms.
Sharing with Lao Dong, Ms. Quyen said: "Before I arrived, the hotel had never called me once. I simply thought that because I had paid the full room fee, I could come and get the room at any time. Although I gave the payment invoice to the male receptionist to see, my wish was still not granted.
The female tourist added: "Hanoi had a very heavy rain that night, I expressed to the receptionist at the counter if I could arrange a room to stay all night. From Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi alone, the weather was not favorable, so I was extremely worried. I even accepted that I would not get back the money I had paid, as long as I had a place to rest that night and would take it back the next day.
In addition, the female tourist felt disrespected because of the unprofessional attitude of the male receptionist, "continuously giving up" when talking to customers. A moment later, knowing that her wishes were not accepted, Ms. Quyen decided to ask her friend to find another empty room in a hotel to move.
Ms. Quyen shared the incident on her personal page and the story quickly spread on social networks. The video attracted more than 3 million views and more than 70,000 interactions.
At 5:00 p.m. on November 10, the female tourist received a call from the hotel. This person apologized and suggested returning the entire amount that the customer had paid.
The representative of the hotel on Hang Chao Street told Lao Dong: "Because the hotel owner had a day off that day, we did not fully understand the situation. However, after learning about the incident, we have apologized to the female tourist and will especially rectify the working attitude of the staff. We also want to send the money back but it seems like she's still very angry."
Regarding the reselling of rooms to other guests, the hotel representative explained: Normally, when tourists book rooms at our hotels before they arrive, we will proactively contact them. For this female tenant, because she thought she had left the room and the hotel owner had retired, no one would do this. This is the first time we have encountered such a big problem in 30 years of business.
Currently, the case has not yet come to an end. Ms. Y Quyen said she did not accept the apology and compensation. To date, the hotel has continuously received 1-star reviews on social networks and map applications.
In fact, according to the regulations of many hotels, room cancellation and deposit refunds are applied at each specific time frame to ensure the rights of both parties. Customers who cancel a room 15 days or earlier will be refunded the entire deposit.
Cases of cancellation from 14 days to 48 hours before the date of receipt will only receive a refund of 50% of the deposit.
Cancellations within 48 hours before the time of booking will not be refunded and guests will have to pay the entire cost of booking according to the initial confirmation.
A representative of a travel company in Thanh Xuan (Hanoi) explained: "Customers may not know because they do not look at the terms carefully. If we consider the policy, the hotel is not wrong. In terms of service, this hotel's service is unprofessional - considering the attitude of the receptionist when welcoming guests without appropriate behavior".
In case the room is not full, if the customer is not present on the room reception day without notice, or cannot come for any reason, the entire deposit will be retained and the customer still has to pay the full booking value. This is also clearly stated in the reservation policy of online platforms (OTAs).
In the case of the female tourist from Dong Nai, the "full show" policy was applied to all three nights of bookings, because it was not until the last night that guests were present at the hotel. The check-in time also exceeds the usual regulation at 2:00 p.m.
