Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with booking

Legalfilter: I need advice if we should sue or not!

freddymetz — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:59:02 -0800

Legalfilter: I need advice if we should sue or not! We booked a hotel online, received our booking/reservation confirmation and arrived at the hotel in DC.
They then told us that we didnt have a reservation and they were sold out.

We then called the central office and the woman there could only give us a generic excuse to do with the credit card (but if we have received the confirmation, they have received the money..right?).
What i suspect, is that they made a mistake and dont feel they can admit it and now blame it on a generic credit card error.

They also said that they cancelled the booking an hour after we booked it but we received NO information of the cancellation what so ever.

We drove 300 miles to get to the hotel where we had a reserved room and they just left us standing there in the middle of the night.
I dont think this is acceptable behaviour from a top class hotel, so what do you guys think?

If you need any more information, feel free to ask!

Book 'em Danno

Iteki — Sat, 17 May 2008 05:18:01 -0800

Suggest an offline booking system, no wait... Suggest a one-click WAMP solution, no wait... Flash and flat files mebbe? Scroll right down to skip the rambling details and answer the short version of this question.

Situation:
I have 25 computers each handed out for up to an hour twice per am and twice per pm.
I have 500 users competing for these resources on a first come first served basis.
I am required to know who was using what computer when for legal purposes.

Present solution::
At present the doors open and people come and queue for a "ticket", we hand them the ticket for their computer and then choose their name from a dropdown in this excel file(screendump).
This was fine when there was 50 of them, but the list is getting a little nuts now, and we sometimes get a ticket back in less than an hour and so pass it out again, so there is a lot of farting around in the file basically. The only actual problem with this system (apart from it being insane!) is that it takes too much time.

Suggested solution?
We are looking at various long-term solutions, but in the meantime I need a better short-term one than the one we patched together above. I like the aspect of the physical tickets as people don't forget they have booked, and also it gives me a physical notification that they are done at their machine when they hand it back (I am not, nor want to be, deskbound). Giving each person a user-id and password is probably what the long-term solution will be, and installing some sort of internet-café/library software, but that's outside my perogative. I also like the aspect of having the userlist as I learn each persons name, and I also would like to use that to tie to some other aspects of the users account, for example "needs help" or whatever.

What I ideally want is to have a user-database with a few fields, and then drop it into a similar setup as we have, but where I can just start typing their name to get the list (as opposed to having to click in excel), and where I can see a clear visual representation of the entire fleet of puters and their status. I rekon I can do this myself easily as a web-based solution, but I absolutly cannot have this online, the userbase is confidential, and yet myself and my colleauge both need to be able to access it from our own computers at work. We have a common folder on the server where the excel file presently sits. Is that something I can do with xampp or easyphp or wamp5 or what? WITSuite looks like the smallest all-in-one solution, but is it safe to run like this and can it be run in the way I am describing?

I am also open to the thought of doing it in Flash as a standalone, and am also happy for suggestions of actual software to deal with this in a simple way, I don't want the bells and whistles that I have seen on some cafe/library/resourse management progs.

EXTREMELY SHORT VERSION
What is the smallest, best, lightest, oneclickiest version of a local WAMP solution that I can keep offline and run from a shared folder on our server for a simple ajax based site. Xampp, easyphp, WITSuite?

Are fully booked hotels holding back?

andraste — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 02:30:56 -0800

Do hotels keep rooms in reserve even when they claim to be fully booked? I arrived at midnight in a strange city and went to my hotel only to be told that I'd been booked in as arriving the next evening (this is what happens when you don't book your own travel!) The people in front of me had been told the hotel was fully booked and had no rooms available. However, the guy on the desk said to me "Ahh, you've got a function with us, don't you? OK, we can work around it." Hey presto, a room was found in the fully booked hotel, for which I was profoundly grateful. But now I'm curious; Mefites who've worked in hotels; is this a common thing? Do hotels keep a room or two in reserve as a matter of course?

Booking international travel...how?

ilikecookies — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 11:07:45 -0800

Is there an international version of sidestep? I'm trying to price several flights that neither originate or terminate in the United States. Unfortunately this knocks out several of my favorite flight searching sites. Kayak and Expedia seem to be able to find some flights but the prices they bring back are super super high. Any suggestions for international bargain hunting? I'm particularly interested in finding flights in and out of Bangladesh, China, Italy, and the Czech Republic.

Where to (indie) rock on the west coast?

ludwig_van — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 11:51:02 -0800

My east coast tour is ending. That means it's time to start booking the west coast tour. Please suggest cities and venues for a touring indie rock band to hit in NV, CA, OR, WA, and AZ. We're looking to plan way ahead for this one, so I'm thinking we'll hit the road in late September or early October. The tentative plan is to begin in Las Vegas, head to the CA coast, go north up to Seattle, then do something in eastern WA and work our way back down through northern CA, NV, possibly hit AZ, and then end up back in Vegas.

We're looking for small to medium sized indie rock clubs. We'd like to avoid really tiny places, no-name bars, places not known for music, and anywhere we aren't likely to find a receptive audience and make money - but we'd also like to keep travel distances in the 300 miles or less range.

Of specific interest - places between LA and San Francisco? Places in northern CA? Places in eastern OR and WA? Anywhere in NV besides Las Vegas?

I'm looking for venues to book, not general advice on how to tour, but lay it on me if you think it's really good. If you know someone who books at a venue, that'd be double-plus good. Link to music is in my profile, but the live show falls closer to the rock side of the spectrum than the album.

Help me be a better DJ!

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 05:30:46 -0800

Help me be a better DJ. I've been doing college and pirate shows for years now, but over the last year I've started playing at bars and parties. I've been asked to do all the live shows that I've done so far. My first question is...

HOW DO I BOOK MY OWN SHOWS?

I've always been really shy about that sort of thing, and it's kept me from trying before being asked. I figure that, with a few tips, I might go in with some more confidence.

Also, over the last year, I've switched the format of my show from a regular, freeform, whatever-I-feel-like set to a Funk and Soul show. My question here is...

HOW DO I GET FREE MUSIC FROM RECORD COMPANIES?

I know that if I start reporting to CMJ, I will be reporting my existence to the world, but how do I do that? And how do I (how do you) contact record companies directly. I don't wanna look like a beggar, but it'd be nice to have some music sent my way before I stumble upon it.

Where do you go to see the rock action? (BYOFL)

safetyfork — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 10:21:08 -0800

What are your favorite venues to go see a rock, indie, or punk show? Why? For those who can answer, the flipside is appreciated as well: What venues are your favorite places to play a show? Why? I'm trying to get a sense of some of the places people like to go see (and/or play) these kinds of shows, particularly in the US (but not exclusively so). I've included some hastily written examples...

Example: Northsix. The room is big enough to book bands with a decent draw, but small enough that it still has a close-to-intimate feel. I always manage to get a good spot to see the band play, and the sound is usually well done. However, I don't like the bathroom set-up and paying for bottled water.

Example: It's not really at one place, but the shows that Todd P books are often in smaller venues. There's nothing I enjoy more than seeing up-and-coming bands playing their hearts out in a small venue.

Example: I like to play Southpaw in Brooklyn. Good sound, nice room, friendly staff, and there's a curtain. It's all about the curtain.

Most closely related thread I could find from the archive.

Thanks.

H2G2 in London

gentle — Sat, 23 Apr 2005 20:51:08 -0800

I'm planning on hopping on a plane to London to see the new Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy film next weekend, either Friday or Saturday. Not being familiar with the city's cinemas, I need to know a couple of things. First of all, I want to see it on the best possible screen/sound system; I am willing to pay extra for "first class" features like adjustable comfy chairs, extra legroom and so forth. What are London's finest offerings?

Secondly, I want to book a ticket as far in advance as possible, to ensure that I do get a seat, and if possible that I get the best possible seat. In my country (Norway) I can book tickets online, three days in advance. I can also choose the exact seating arrangement. Do any such services exist in the UK?

Those are the essentials. For bonus points:

I'm trying to find the cheapest flight (I'm traveling from Oslo, round trip); using a generic search engine, probably hooked up to Amadeus, the cheapest I found was a British Airways flight at £150 (€207), which seems a mite expensive. Where else might I look?

I'm also trying to find a cheap, clean, modern hostel that provides online booking. Recommendations would be welcome.