Sorry Sir, your hotel booking has been cancelled. This experience goes back a few years in time. But perhaps this still has value.
I was working at Indore/Pithampur and had to travel to Delhi for a week of Solaris training. It was going to be my first visit to the capital. I would be in the company of my boss but he was going to reach Delhi ahead of me. So I was traveling alone. And my Hindi was just tolerable at that time. Mobiles were a new technology then and very pricey and very few people had them.
I had heard stories of how some of my colleagues who had traveled to Delhi for the Auto Expo that year had been conned by autowallahs into believing that their hotel bookings had been cancelled. They were then taken to some dingy hotels by the autowallahs. They had to pay through their noses for those cheap hotels.
I reach New Delhi railway station and walk out. "Where is the pre-paid booth?" I look around but somehow could not locate it.
I am approached by a couple of auto guys, all offering to take me to my destination and enquiring if I had a hotel accommodation. I avoid all of them.
Then an autowallah comes and offers to take me to my destination. I breathe a sigh of relief. There had been no question about my hotel booking. We start on our journey. A little ahead the auto stops in front of a travel agent's office.
Autowallah "Sir, Do you have any hotel booking"
Me "Yes, let's go"
Autowallah "Sir you have to confirm the booking again. Come inside and talk to the hotel. Many hotels have cancelled bookings"
Now that didn't seem so tricky. So I said OK.
We enter the office. Travel agent asks for the phone number of the hotel. He dials and hands over the receiver to me.
Me "Hello, my name is Biju. Is this Hotel ....?"
Telephone voice "Yes."
Me "I have a room booked in the hotel. In fact my boss, Mr. ...., must already be there"
Telephone voice "Sorry sir, we cancelled your booking since you did not come in the morning"
I am a little confused and then suddenly my brain starts functioning.
Me "Oh... OK. So you have my booking confirmed. Room number 201? Alright, I will be there in 30 minutes. Thank you" I could hear "No.. No..no booking" from the other end.
I hang up.
I tell the agent and the auto guy "See my booking is there, the guy just confirmed it again. No problems. Let us go"
Now it was their turn to get confused. So the auto guy was left with no option but to take me to my hotel.
I knew the hotel booking could not have been cancelled since an entire floor in that hotel was always booked by our company, sort of like a guest house. And the travel agent had dialed to one of his buddies in crime. A lot of naive people had fallen for their tricks, especially those that had booked normal hotels.
Last edited by pjbiju : 28th March 2008 at 22:40.
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