Consumer Alert: Overbooked hotels are becoming a huge problem

You can fight back when a hotel tries to "walk" you. Here's how.

Elvie Mahoney got some bad news before she left for her spring break trip to Jamaica. The hotel she'd reserved four months ago, the Hotel Riu Montego Bay, was overbooked because of a "system error." The hotel chain planned to send her to another hotel an hour away. 

But Mahoney didn't want to move. "I chose this hotel because it's adults-only, and I have a bunch of friends staying there as well," she says. "It's my daughter's birthday, and we're celebrating with family and friends at the resort."

Too bad, said Riu. The company offered a 10 percent discount — take it or leave it.

Mahoney decided to leave it — with my advocacy team.

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