Last Saturday we offered our second batch of hotel rooms up for sale at 2 o’clock in the afternoon. Unfortunately this did not go as planned, and while access to the system was blocked, several users had found a way around that, either purposely or accidentally, and had used this opportunity to already book rooms before the official opening time. Even though we had spent several hours discussing potential next steps, in the end we chose the most extreme one: shutting down our ticket registration and cancelling all registrations.
With several difficult options ahead, we felt this was the best course to take. Understandably, this was met by a fierce response by a fair share of our visitors, both on Facebook and through e-mail as well. We’ve spent the last few days analyzing what happened exactly and have reviewed the information available to us.
Even though we’re still in the process of analyzing and ordering all information, it’s already clear at this point that we can accurately say what steps were taken by whom at what time, and thus the need for a complete cancellation is (fortunately) no longer needed, and therefore no longer an option. We will however still cancel the registrations of any user who accessed the system and made a registration before 2 o’clock. Even though we do not fully favor this action, we find it to be the most fair step to take; we clearly announced a start-up time for this round of hotel room sales, so accessing and using the system before that time can be seen as an unfair advantage even if it was not intended to be possible. Some, hopefully most, used this advantage either unknowingly or with normal intentions, but others knowingly abused it ruining chances for others in favor of their own benefit. As it is impossible for us to determine the intentions of everyone involved in this, we have no choice but to draw a single line in this.
All users who registered a hotel room last Saturday will be contacted and will be informed within a week by e-mail about the status of their registration.
Finally, there is another situation that came to our attention while investigating the registration data of Saturday which primary concerns people who have booked a room at NH Geldrop. After the enormous rush on the first batch of hotel rooms on Thursday May 14th we contacted NH Hoteles and managed to secure additional rooms at an additional venue in Geldrop. These rooms were added on short notice, and unfortunately, in this rushed enthusiasm, with a wrong maximum limit. As a result we have sold more hotel rooms than we can offer. That means some rooms will have to be cancelled here as well. We’re still making an overview of the names involved, but we will contact all users who registered a room at NH Geldrop by e-mail within a week to inform you of your registration status. If your NH Geldrop room gets cancelled we’ll also contact you in regards to compensation.
We again deeply apologize for the inconvenience and uncertainty this has caused. This whole situation has troubled us as much as it has you, our guests. Our main goal is and will always be to provide you with a great and meaningful weekend, and a place to sleep for those who require this should be an integral part of this. This has been a lengthy and meaningful lesson for all of us and despite this situation we hope we can still welcome you at Abunai! 2015 and provide you with an amazing weekend full of sugar, spice and all other things nice.