Wedding Crashers Sequel? - Sofitel Legend Leaks Blocked Room Rate Allowing Anyone Join the Party

While searching for rates for a stay at the Sofitel Legend Casco Viejo in Panama City, which I'm planning for later this year, I came across a curious result. After logging into my All Accor account and clicking the 'Deals and/or package rates" tab, I found a special rate for a private wedding party.

As you can click through this rate and successfully book a room, I can see this causing some chaos (at the minimum, some confusion). (I did not book a room under the blocked rate, but I did go as far as the final submission page to confirm that I could, in fact, book this rate without using any special rate or code.) Yikes. The bride and groom might have to have an extra diner at the reception. 

I'm polishing off my speech that I plan to give as a toast to the newlyweds. Oh, surely you remember me? I'm your big uncle Blackbeard - 'Big Unc Double B' as the youngins like to call me. I'm the brother of the ex-husband who was married to the bride's cousin twice removed. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. 

If you're getting married at the Sofitel (or any hotel) and have bargained for blocked rooms and reduced rates as part of your package, you don't want randos being able to snap up available rooms at those rates, potentially leaving your wedding guests out in the cold (or in this case, humidity). Typically, hotel sales and event departments provide unique links or special codes that would-be wedding attendees need to click through or input to pull up the special blocked rate for the wedding dates. I'm surprised at this oversight here, particularly at a hotel of this caliber. Since its opening in 2023, the Sofitel Legend Casco Viejo has been written up numerous times, was named to Travel and Leisures top 100 Hotels of the World list in just it's second year, and is well-reviewed by guests. 

Now, I don't typically write articles like this, and while it can be fun to imagine a comedic string of what-ifs playing out here, this mistake can be easily rectified once caught. First off, I'd imagine that there might be a wedding planner involved for a wedding taking place at this type of hotel, so perhaps there's some due diligence they can/do/will perform (maybe in conjunction with their counterparts at the hotel's sales and events team) to periodically check on who's booked which rooms. If a name doesn't match the guest list, the hotel can easily reach out to that guest to have them rebook or honor the reservation in a different room category. Easy enough.

The bigger concern (albeit another easy remedy) is on the technical side. I noticed a little bug in the site, which may be a good place to start an investigation. When I searched for rates on the hotel's site before logging into my Accor account, I couldn't see the special wedding rate.

However, after I logged into my Accor account, I noticed the wedding rate is visible (and accessible) in the Deals and Packages tab. After the rate becomes visible, I can still click on it and proceed with booking it, even if I log out and remain on the room select page as an anonymous user. 

As mentioned above, the fix is simple. Sofitel and its sales department/tech team need only enable special codes or unique booking links for guests of weddings or other events with special rates. 

I imagine this will get sorted shortly, and maybe I'll even do a solid by ringing up the Sofitel to let them know about this slip. Anyway, here's hoping this couple's wedding goes off as planned!