My roommate works front desk at a hotel, a common problem is that a third party site books things incorrectly or promises things that don't exist, then the customer is in the hotel lobby mad at the hotel over something they had nothing to do with
This happened twice on two vacations and stopped me from ever using third party booking sites. I go to them, find a deal, then go directly to the hotels site and book. It was eye opening to know the discount from the third party was not that much more than booking directly with the hotel/resort.
I don't think that's only the third party problem. The way the inventory and availability is managed is not only delayed, but often done manually through a terrible interface. I suspect large chains get better automation, but I've seen how it works in smaller places. The mistakes can be either fat fingering something or just a concurrency issue where the booking happens at a third party while someone else books the same room on the phone. The responsibility there is somewhere in between.
The responsibility is completely with the hotel owner. Professional hotel management software that syncs instantly with third parties is very cheap and accessible.
You're really assuming the third party is reasonable and honest. For the record it's a holiday inn, a major hotel chain. I doubt the issue is a lack of them working with third parties
I'm not assuming. I've worked in hotel management and big third parties don't manipulate their reservations. However it's very convenient for a hotel to blame them when they've messed up themselves, since guests eat it up.
I've had this happen when booking directly with an IHG hotel. My reservation in their system said I had a 2x queen room, but the hotel's end showed 1x king.
