A recent article on the Atlantic named “How ‘Cancel Culture’ Has Impacted Luxurious Hotels” discusses how the airline cancel culture leads to the loudest gun that has impacted luxurious hotels around the world. The article goes into detail about how with so many cancellations, some hotels are open to staying empty for a short time before filling back up with customers again. However, this only works if people are willing to make reservations earlier which is something that is sometimes difficult due to busy schedules and perpetual traveler anxiety.
1. Guilt trips
With so many cancellations, hotels are opening up more rooms than they actually have reservations for in order to avoid empty rooms. However, the fact that they always have lots of empty rooms makes people feel guilty about canceling their reservation. For example, if someone pays a lot of money and comes to a hotel that is half-full at best when they had wanted it fully booked, they may feel as though they are being wasteful which some believe is not good for the environment.
2. New cancellations
On top of this, new cancellations can replace older ones. The Atlantic states that “getting rid of old cancellations doesn’t mean you don’t have any more empty rooms to fill—you still have the same number of empty rooms, and now the hotel is back in a position to fill them with a new batch of cancellations.”
3. Constant monitoring
Hotels are filled with people who constantly monitor their reservations and demand new information. As stated in the Atlantic article, “the hotels found themselves being bombarded by demands for updates about things like hotel renovations and restaurant openings.” This constant monitoring can make it difficult for hotels to keep up with their operations because they are so busy catering to all their guests’ needs.
4. Extra staff
Hotels are also spending money on extra staff to accommodate the cancellations, which they believe they need in order to make sure that their guests always have things to do while they are there.
5. Additional services
Hotels are also spending additional money on services like valet parking, spa treatments/massages etc., in order for guests to make up for the control that is constantly being exerted over them by the hotel personnel.
On top of all this, some hotels may even be closing off rooms and turning other rooms into “ghost” rooms so that no one can cancel their reservations for those rooms either. This is because otherwise someone will stop by the hotel, without a reservation, and try to book that room. As the Atlantic mentions, “if someone comes in and tries to book a ‘ghost room,’ you can simply tell them that it’s not available.”
6. Cancellation fees
Of course, if people keep canceling their reservations and re-booking new ones, some hotels may take a page out of airlines’ books and start charging cancellation fees. For example, “if you cancel your reservation within 24 hours of making it—or do not show up at all—you could end up losing your deposit.”
7. Uncertainty
This uncertainty concerning what the next day could bring has made it hard for people to plan ahead. Activities that used to be regular and fixed in many people’s lives are now uncertain and perishable, which is a terrifying thing.
8. On call staff
The reservation staff are now on call 24/7, like flight attendants, because they never know when someone will try to cancel their reservation so they have to be ready at all times. In fact, some hotels even have their staff come in during the middle of the night (like pilots do) in order to deal with any emergency cancellations that may come up during that time.
9. More staff
Finally, some hotels are also having to hire more staff to deal with all of the cancellations and bookings. At first this was probably not a big deal since more people meant a more profitable hotel. However, now that the hotel has to expand its staff in order to accommodate all of the cancellations and bookings, it is no longer profitable which means that the hotel may have trouble paying its employees and perhaps even go broke.
10. Strike!
Some hotels have become so economically depressed from the constant cancellations that they have decided that they need a full-blown strike in order to get their point across. This is because they have come to realize that the constant booking and canceling is destroying their livelihoods and ruining their accounts.
According to the Atlantic, some hotels are so fed up with this situation that they have started a “strike at three luxury hotels in Paris,” which has spread across France.
11. Starved for customers
The constant cancellations have left some hotels starved for customers, which can make it difficult if they are located in a popular tourist destination like Paris or New York City. This can lead to desperation measures like offering “coupons for a free stay” in order to get more customers during these times of shaky finances.
