The situation of Ms. Nguyen Y Quyen, a tourist from Dong Nai, who was not allowed to check in at 2am on November 9 despite having paid all the costs for 3 nights at the hotel, continued to attract attention and discussion over the past few days.
The question is "When the money is paid, can customers come to receive the room at any time?". The answer is related to an important regulation that few people pay attention to: the "full show" policy - applied to cases where customers have booked but do not come to receive rooms.
If you are not sure, visitors may lose their room or cancel their rooms without knowing it. Therefore, understanding how to "fill up" before booking a room is a necessary way to protect your own rights.
What is the "fulf show" policy?
The term "fill in show" is used to refer to customers who have booked a hotel room but do not check in on the scheduled day, without announcing the cancellation or change of booking before.
The hotel is only obliged to keep the room until the time specified in the policy.
The fact that guests do not come not only causes the hotel to lose revenue but also wastes the cost of preparing, clearing rooms, and personnel. This phenomenon can cause a series of consequences for finance, operations and reputation. Therefore, the "full show" fine policy helps the hotel cover operating costs.
In the world, regulations on "full shows" may vary depending on the country and policy of each hotel. The hotel has the right to collect fines in case guests do not come to receive their rooms.
However, in Vietnam, the fine or handling depends on the specific policy of each accommodation facility or booking platform. This concept is often less mentioned as the term "fill in the show" but is interpreted as a customer who does not come to receive a room, does not complete the room acceptance, does not come by schedule or does not call to cancel...
For example, the Vinpearl and Muong Thanh hotel systems both regulate "full show" which is a case where guests do not come to receive a room until23:59 on the day of receiving a room or at another time during the stay period as notified. The system will return the room to the empty room fund for sale after this deadline without having to notify if the customer is not present and complete the procedures to receive the room.
Some affordable accommodation facilities, small and medium-sized, can commit to keeping rooms until 6pm or 10pm on the same day of admission.
In fact, the "fill show" fee is also applied in aviation industry regulations, for customers who cancel flights. This is the fee applied when passengers do not fly or are not present at the airport to make a flight recorded on the ticket; or do not change/all tickets 3 hours before the departure time of the flight recorded on the ticket.
How is the "full show" fee calculated?
Different hotels have different regulations on how to collect fines when guests do not come to receive a room, do not notify in advance or cannot contact.
Normally, hotels according to international standards will cancel all booking requests and collect fees if guests do not appear. For example, Hilton's hotel system stipulates a fine equivalent to a one-night room rate with tax, and is deducted directly from a customer's credit card.
In Vietnam, Hanoi Hotel stipulates that tourists who cancel their rooms 15 days or earlier than the arrival date will be refunded their entire deposit. Cancelings from 14 days to 48 hours before the arrival date will receive a refund of 50% of the deposit.
If you cancel within 48 hours or do not come to receive the room on the booked date, the deposit will not be refunded and visitors will need to pay the full booking value.
In case the customer does not come or cannot come for any reason, the deposit will be retained according to regulations.
According to the booking policy of Muong Thanh hotel system, if canceled, changed or did not come, guests will return the full value of the booking.
If visitors do not come to use the service according to the time stated in the service request, all bookings will be considered "full show" and the hotel is not responsible for refunds.
On platforms, online booking applications also have regulations on the period of time allowed to cancel rooms for free. This information is often associated with the regulation on "full shows".
Accordingly, Agoda allows canceling rooms 48 hours to 3 days in advance. Traveloka has flexible regulations, from 1 to 7 days depending on the hotel.
Trip.com and Booking often give free cancellations 24 - 48 hours in advance, but some preferential rooms may not be able to cancel.
The clock clearly states that it is allowed to cancel for free 48 hours before the check-in date and calculates a 50% fine if the cancel is close to the time.
If you cancel or change the booking information after the room admission period, or do not complete the room admission (fill the show), you will have to pay a fine that can be up to 100% of the booking value according to the hotel's decision.
If the hotel collects a fee for "full shows", the platform will calculate a commission on this amount - in case the customer chooses the payment method by credit card.
If the platform cannot collect the fine via credit card when customers do not come (in case customers choose to pay directly), the hotel will still have to pay the commission for the "fill in the show" fee even if they do not collect the fine from customers.
Conversely, if there is a free cancel fee for customers, the commission will not be charged.
Why don't hotels sometimes contact customers to "fill shows"?
Some online booking platforms hide the phone number of guests for security reasons, the hotel can only contact them via application messages/website or email - it cannot guarantee that guests receive information in time.
This will rarely happen if customers book a room directly at a hotel, or through a travel agency or travel agency.
The hotel will always proactively check the list of non-coming guests to contact by calling, sending emails, sending faxs... to notify that the room reservation date has arrived, ask why guests are not coming and explain the fee regulations. This helps customers maintain maximum benefits without losing unfair money.
Mr. Bui Thanh Tu - Marketing Director of BestPrice Travel - shared: " booking rooms via the application is convenient, but when an incident occurs, the process of handling the application often takes time. If booking through a travel agency, just need a call from a customer, the unit will provide immediate support, including finding another hotel for temporary accommodation, negotiating to change days or getting a partial refund".
Carefully studying the policy of booking rooms, canceling rooms and proactively notifying when there is a change in plan not only helps customers avoid losing unfair money but also ensures their own legitimate rights.
When booking a room directly with a hotel or through any platform, visitors should carefully read the "Cancelement/cancellation" and "No-show policy" section displayed right on the booking page to avoid losing unfair fees.
Proactively ask about the refund/cancel policy if booking rooms via hotline, travel agency, travel company...
If tourists proactively announce their arrivals, most hotels will flexibly support room reservations or change days, keep prices to ensure the rights of guests
Tourists should buy travel insurance or consider canceling their rooms early if there are changes in plans.
On the hotel side, building and applying a transparent, reasonable and clearly announced "fill in show" policy right from the booking stage will help enhance brand reputation. At the same time, it creates a professional and reliable impression in the eyes of customers.
