So, a colleague ran into issues booking the Santa Clara Hyatt Regency Hotel—apparently there were no rooms with 2 double beds left for the MySQL 2009 Conference and Expo.
I could not imagine that the conference hotel would sell out so quickly!
The conference’s travel/hotel web page links directly to the online reservations page at http://santaclara.hyatt.com/groupbooking/clara2009orea.
I went there and did a little detective work. What I found was:
- When I chose Mon Apr 20 – Thu Apr 23, there were rooms with 2 double beds available.
- When I chose Sun Apr 19 – Thu Apr 23, there were rooms with 2 double beds available.
- When I chose Sat Apr 18 – Thu Apr 23, there were rooms with 2 double beds available.
- When I chose Mon Apr 20 – Fri Apr 24, there were NO rooms with 2 double beds available.
Aha! The problem is that there are no rooms with 2 double beds available for Thursday night.
Most likely the problem is that there are no rooms with 2 double beds at the conference rate for Thursday night, and the booking system can’t handle two different room rates as part of one reservation—most people don’t do that anyway (i.e., have a AAA discount one night but not the next).
I left voice mail for someone at the Hyatt Santa Clara and am waiting for a callback to make sure that I can add Thursday night (even if it’s a different price!) to my stay.
However, if you are having problems trying to book a room with two beds (in other words, to share with a co-worker or colleague), you may be having the same issue I had at first—if you end your stay on Thursday, you may be able to make a successful reservation, but you should either change your flight arrangements, or do your own followup with the hotel regarding room availability/price for Thursday night.