MGM Grand? Won’t Hooters suffice?

Question: I booked two midweek nights at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and even received an e-mail confirming my reservation. Imagine my surprise when I arrived and was told that there was no room for me and that they were moving me across the street to Hooters. I told the desk clerk and her supervisor I would not stay there. After much arguing, they found me a room at New York New York. Is this a common occurrence?

— Jack Dietz, Los Angeles

Answer: Overbooking is not unusual, especially in Las Vegas, where hotel occupancy rates hover around 90%. But MGM’s solution could hardly be called common.

When a hotel has to “walk” a customer — the jargon for moving someone to a different hotel — the goal must be to find a comparable (or better) accommodation, said Al Anolik, a travel lawyer who is co-author of “The Frequent Traveler’s Guide.”

Are these hotels comparable? For guidance, I turned to the hotels’ websites.

Here’s what MGM’s online brochure says: “Our standard rooms are really deluxe rooms adorned with marble-laden bathrooms and luxury linens.”

Here’s what Hooters’ website says: “Imagine yourself in a beach house in the middle of the desert, having a party with the Hooters Girls and you’ve got a vision of what we’ve created here for you. Our rooms are comfortable, casual and cool to hang out in.... “ (This spiel, by the way, is on a page that shows a Hooters Girl wearing a come-hither look and giving a little electronic wink every five seconds.)

OK, I think we know the answer to the comparability question.

Now for the real question: Because Dietz argued his way out of Hooters into NYNY, which MGM paid for, what’s the big deal?

MGM answered this question nicely, if unwittingly setting a trap for itself.

In an e-mail to me, Yvette Monet, a spokeswoman for MGM Mirage, apologized for Dietz’s inconvenience and added, “Our objective in accommodating guests is to be empathetic and understanding to the guest’s needs.”

And that, travelers, is the big deal. Sending a 62-year-old man and his wife to Hooters, described in a December Los Angeles Times Travel section article as “the sort of post-collegiate playpen where the Owen Wilsons of the world come to play, flirt and make frat-boy fools of themselves,” sends the message that we’re cattle, not customers.

All those in favor of reminding the travel industry that one solution does not fit all, say moo.

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