在線旅游網站不可告人的小秘密

????大家萬圣節那個周末是怎么過的？我家過得出乎意料又苦不堪言：美國東北部經歷了一場反復無常的冬季暴風雪，許多業主家中因電線倒塌而停電。我家住在紐約郊區，我們靠著毛毯度過了第一夜。但是第二天晚上，室外溫度下降到了零下3.8攝氏度，而室內也只勉強達到了10攝氏度。

????于是，我們登錄最大的網上旅行社Expedia，幸運地預訂上了8英里外一家名為哈普頓的酒店。但當我們趕到那里，酒店卻根本沒有聽說過我們。我拿出Expedia的預定號也不管用——這家連鎖酒店本身并沒有給我任何憑證。酒店經理說：“你是今晚第二個碰到這種情況的人?！?/p>

????這就是在線旅行社界不可告人的小秘密。不管通過什么方式預訂，總是存在這種風險：你達到酒店后，發現它已經超額預定了——就如同航空公司可能并沒有它事先承諾的座位。但假如通過Expedia或Travelocity以及其他第三方供應商，則還存在一個額外的風險。如果這些供應商的軟件沒能正確連接上酒店的電子預訂系統，那么就算這些供應商的網站聲稱你已經成功預訂，你最終也住不上那個房間。

????這就是發生在我身上的事。事實上，漢普頓旅店自當天早上起，就沒收到任何預定請求，雖然Expedia已經接受了下單。

????Expedia的一位高管告訴我，因為周末發生暴風雪，突如其來巨大的訪問量導致網站幾近癱瘓。Expedia客戶服務部高級總監托馬斯?思博特稱：“我們確實做好了技術上的安排，防止發生這種情況?？隙ㄊ牵ㄎ覀兒途频辏﹥蓚€庫存系統中的某一個出現過載?！彼疾┨胤Q這種情形出現的幾率“非常非常低”，不過從“技術層面上說”，“颶風、停電或火山爆發”都可能會導致這種情況。當然，出現這種情形的時候，也正是用戶衷心希望這些大型在線預定系統能保證正常工作的時候。

????拿我們來說，酒店打電話給Expedia，然后Expedia又打電話給我，它們表示無能為力，除了能把我的預付款退還給我（要知道，我根本沒有入住酒店）。思博特稱Expedia的系統一錯再錯，因為它本應該幫我們找到另一家能入住的酒店，即使距離很遠。多虧上帝保佑，等了一段時間后，有一家人因為家里電力恢復退掉了房間，我們終于住進了這家酒店。

????值得表揚的是，Expedia承認自己出了問題——并提醒以后仍可能發生，而且思博特還強調Expedia無法找出“問題根源”。（一位發言人表示，酒店方面也找不到原因。）無獨有偶，去年預訂總收入達260億美元的Expedia并不是唯一一家存在這個問題的公司。Hotels.com和Expedia屬于同一家母公司，據思博特稱，前者也使用了同樣的計算機系統。

????Travelocity的一位代表稱：“整體預訂中的一小部分”可能被漏掉。類似的，Orbitz的一位發言人說：“在特殊情況下，空房數變化過快，以致酒店的預訂系統來不及更新?！倍鳳riceline的一位發言人則表示，這種問題不可能發生，因為客戶收到的是酒店自身提供的實際預定號；因此，Priceline的客戶不用承擔額外的風險，他們被Priceline電腦系統欺騙的幾率與他們直接在酒店網站上進行預定時沒什么不同。

????這段經歷告訴我們的教訓是不要迷信技術。如果使用的是第三方預訂系統——數百萬人都是如此——那不妨直接與預訂的酒店確認。特別是在風雪交加的夜晚。

????譯者：項航

????So, what nightmare did you celebrate on Halloween Weekend? My family's was neither imagined nor fun: There had been a freakish winter snowstorm in the Northeast and many homeowners lost electricity in their homes due to downed power lines. At our house in the New York suburbs, we did fine the first night with blankets. But the next night, it was 26 degrees outside and barely 50 indoors.

????We logged on to Expedia -- the largest online travel agency -- and were lucky to find a reservation at a Hampton Inn eight miles away. But when we got there, the hotel had never heard of us. It didn't matter that I had an Expedia reservation number -- I didn't have anything from the hotel chain itself. "You're the second person tonight this happened to," said the hotel manager.

????It's the dirty little secret in the world of the online travel agencies. No matter how you make your reservation, you always run a tiny risk of arriving at your hotel and finding it overbooked -- just like an airline may not have that seat it promised. But there's an additional risk when you use a third-party provider like Expedia or Travelocity or a range of other companies. If its software doesn't properly hook up to the hotel's electronic booking system, you don't have the room the site claims you reserved.

????That's what happened to me. In fact, that Hampton Inn hadn't been taking reservations since that morning, yet Expedia was accepting reservations for it.

????An Expedia executive told me its website was hit with extraordinary demand that weekend because of the storm. "We have technology set up to ensure that what happened doesn't happen," says Thomas Siebert, senior director of customer service at Expedia. "It has to be that either of the two inventory systems -- ours or the hotel's -- became overwhelmed." He says such occurrences are "very, very rare," but can happen in a "technology environment" when there are "hurricanes, blackouts, or volcanoes." Which of course is precisely when customers would hope that a large online booking system would work properly.

????In our situation, the hotel called Expedia and then Expedia (EXPE) called me, only to say there was nothing to be done but that Expedia would be willing to refund my deposit (you know, for the room we never got). Siebert said the Expedia system failed doubly because the company should have figured out how to find us another hotel property, even if it were many miles away. Only through luck did we wind up getting into the hotel some time later, after another family canceled their stay because their power had returned.

????To its credit, Expedia acknowledged it messed up -- and noted it could happen again, all the more since Seibert says Expedia can't identify the "root cause." (Nor could the hotel chain, according to a spokesperson.) And Expedia, with $26 billion in gross bookings last year, isn't alone. Hotels.com, owned by the same parent as Expedia, has the same computer system, according to Siebert.

????A representative for Travelocity says "a fraction of overall bookings" get dropped. Similarly, at Orbitz (ORBT), says a spokesperson, "there may be special circumstances when availability is changing so rapidly that the hotel's reservation system is not updated fast enough." By contrast, a Priceline (PCLN) spokesman says the problem couldn't occur because customers receive the actual confirmation number provided by hotels; Priceline customers would then have no more chance of being victimized by a computer system than if they just reserved directly at the web site of a hotel.

????The lesson here is not to have blind faith in technology. If you use third-party reservation systems -- and millions do -- it never hurts to check directly with the hotel you booked. Especially if it's on the night of a big snowstorm.?