What is a guaranteed or non guaranteed reservation at a hotel?

Answer 1

A non-guaranteed reservation is a reservation that has no credit card or other form of payment attached to it as backup. Without properly guaranteeing a reservation, the reservation would be put on a "6 PM Hold".....and cancelled after 6pm. A guaranteed reservation typically means that the future guest's hotel reservation has a valid credit card attached to the reservation, or other form of payment. This simply "guarantees" that the hotel will not cancel the reservation at 6pm (usual cancellation time), and allows a guest to check in later, without having to call the hotel to alert that they will be arriving late, sich as after 9pm. **The guaranteed reservation does not usually "guarantee" a specific room type, such as double beds, or king bed. It simply guarantees the guest the reservation will be held for late arrival. Sometimes, even guaranteed reservations are not accommodated and the guest is relocated to a different hotel, due to the hotel being "over-sold". If this occurs, the hotel is typically responsible to pay for 1 night's room + tax at the alternate hotel.