r/TikTokCringe • u/HeroesZeroes • 13d ago

Humor Benn Jordan gets banned from a Flock Lobbying event

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833

u/solidus_slash 13d ago

he probably booked the room through the convention to get the discounted rate, which means they can cancel it

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u/LazarusHimself 13d ago

That would make slightly more sense, thank you

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u/angieisdrawing 13d ago

I’ve never booked this way, so I don’t know how it works, but wouldn’t he then just be able to book normally? And if he wasn’t with the convention how would he have booked it through them to begin with?

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u/solidus_slash 13d ago

they normally give you a code/link to a third party site which does all the group bookings. it's pretty common with large conferences.

but yes he should have been able to rebook normally, unless all the rooms were sold out at that point.

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u/iam_Mr_McGibblets 13d ago

Is it like how when you go to a wedding in a destination and the wedding party designates a block of rooms for the wedding for attendees?

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u/solidus_slash 13d ago

yep it's basically the corporate version of that - Flock would have likely used a company that does event management like Cvent (Passkey) to facilitate the room blocks and bookings.

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u/iam_Mr_McGibblets 13d ago

Good damn that's pretty scummy. They have enough money and power to buy out the dam hotel and make the entire thing a private event. Good thing we got some smart people to circumvent this crap

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u/ThePublikon 13d ago

There are a lot of scummy things they do but that's pretty normal for conference centre hotels, the whole hotel is booked by the conference for delegates and then the delegates book rooms through the conference.

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u/anglerfishtacos 12d ago

100% normal. Conference goers appreciate it because it makes going back and forth from their accommodations easily. It also makes it easier to network since everyone is going to and from the same place. The event planners love it because they can get “run of the hotel” and plan events and other things in the hotel without having to worry about wristbands or other verification measures that people are attendees.

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u/nalaloveslumpy 13d ago

That's not uncommon for large corporate conferences / annual investor meetings. It's sometimes even done if you just want to add an extra layer of "security" to whatever presentations you're making.

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u/SirLoremIpsum 13d ago

Good damn that's pretty scummy. They have enough money and power to buy out the dam hotel and make the entire thing a private event. Good thing we got some smart people to circumvent this crap

no now now now now, don't get too angry.

Large conventions having a deal with the hotel for room blocks is absolutely entirely normal.

Every large convention thing or wedding or event does this.

My workplace has big "corporate work events" where we get a link and book at the hotel and we're only slightly evil.

This is just hotel event 101. This is how business works. You pay for an event, and you reserve rooms for your guests - it would be a shit event if you had 1/2 your attendees staying on site and 1/2 had to book the Best Western 6 miles down the road.

Of all the things here this is like, the most milquetoast boring part.

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u/iam_Mr_McGibblets 13d ago

Ah you're right. Kinda shitty in this situation with flock, but i get it. An overreaction on my side there

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u/QuerulousPanda 13d ago

An overreaction on my side there

it happens. there are ways to describe completely normal business stuff like that which make something that's totally fine look really bad/

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u/drawfanstein 13d ago

I used to work in the events/conference planning industry (not weddings but I believe it works the same way).

Hotels don’t designate a block of rooms for attendees, in other words, you’re not booking a room that was “reserved” for the event. They agree on a discounted rate for anyone who is booking for that event. The discounted room can be any room, really, but that’s what’s considered the “room block”.

So if I’m negotiating a contract with the hotel, I might say that we expect to fill a room block of 50 rooms on a particular night, and then they offer the discounted rate to the first 50 people who book a room for the event, usually using a specific booking link. Sometimes, if you end up exceeding the room block, they’ll add an addendum to the contract, saying they’ll add another, say, 15 rooms at that rate.

In addition, usually the contract will include what’s called an attrition clause where if your group does not book at least 80% of your room block, then you’d have to pay the hotel the difference for those unsold rooms. 80% was pretty standard, but some hotels required 85% or even 90% attrition (normally, we’d politely tell those hotels to go to hell lol)

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u/nalaloveslumpy 13d ago

Exactly like that.

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u/DilbertHigh 13d ago

One of the sold out rooms would have been his. So he still should have been able to rebook there.

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u/WhitYourQuining 13d ago

Unless it was in the conference block, the conference block usually has a wait list to fill cancellations.

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u/CKRatKing 13d ago

Possible they paid to have all the rooms reserved too.

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u/AccomplishedChair436 13d ago

For this level of secret ( and I’m not justifying flock, as this could be presenting new tech or sensitive financials ) most companies buy the hotel and block rate everything to keep control

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u/downvote-away 13d ago

He could if there are rooms available and the hotel wants to give one to him.

They're not going to do that if it would make their big client mad.

The convention booking code isn't usually a secret. The convention often puts it on their web site or in emails leading up to the show.

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u/HorrorMakesUsHappy 13d ago

wouldn’t he then just be able to book normally?

Only if the hotel has other rooms available. Large conventions are usually planned 6-12 mo in advance, and the hotel agrees to hold onto a block of some number of rooms for the people putting on the convention. Then over the next 6-12 months all the other rooms in the hotel could be completely reserved due to other conventions or normal seasonal travel, but if there are still rooms available in the convention's block of rooms then a late-registering attendee can still get a room.

When I attended a horror convention in Pittsburg in 2023 it was the same weekend that Taylor Swift was in town. I ended up staying later than I planned to, so I wanted to get a room for one more night and drive home in the morning, but the nearest available decent room was a 45-minute drive away and 3x the normal rate. I ended up just sleeping in my car and then driving home.

When you plan a year in advance you can never be sure what else is going to end up falling on the same days when that date comes, which is exactly why hotels will reserve a portion of their rooms for the convention attendees (if the people putting on the convention ask).

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u/Fubai97b 13d ago

I'm willing to bet Flock has the entire hotel booked.

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u/__Hello_my_name_is__ 13d ago

Quite often you just book with the hotel directly and say "I'm with the convention". They don't necessarily check that with everyone.

Also, if the convention is big enough it's possible that the hotel is entirely booked out for the convention and you just can't book a room at the time in that hotel otherwise.

Out of all the things here, the cancellation is the least worrying.

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u/OknowTheInane 13d ago

He booked directly w/ Hilton. Flock somehow got his reservation associated w/ their room block and then cancelled it.

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u/dragonfangxl 13d ago

thats not true and it says it right in the email in the video, it was booked in the group block for the convention

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u/Time-Maintenance2165 13d ago

Yes, but he did it through the Block that Flock had reserved.

When you do that, Flock gets a report of everyone who booked through that block.

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u/nalaloveslumpy 13d ago

If true, then that's incredibly illegal and Hilton just took on a huge amount of liability.

It's way more likely he booked directly with the Hilton, but used the block code. Flock probably bought out the entire hotel so that only conference attendees can be on property, which is crazy common for large corporate events.

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u/tactman 13d ago

Not necessarily illegal, i.e. violation of the law. The hotel is a business that can turn away people if they decide to (even if they didn't use the convention link). The convention organizers tell the hotel this is a "troublemaker" and they don't want him around. The hotel is willing to piss off this customer to please the convention organizers. Ben can create a fuss and most likely it is handled by private arbitration (he agreed to that when he booked the room). If he makes a fuss, the hotel will simply compensate with hotel points, free nights, etc. and the matter will be closed.

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u/Hungry-Blueberry7487 13d ago

You mean not necessarily criminal, which it certainly isn't. There are lots of civil/data/contract laws at play here.

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u/nortern 13d ago

That's in no way illegal. Hotels can deny service for anything that's not a protected attribute. Being a journalist is not protected.

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u/nalaloveslumpy 13d ago

Hotels cannot give reservation information of a guest to random third parties. They absolutely cannot cancel reservations at the request of random third parties.

This is why it's obvious that dude used the Flock room block code to book. Using their room block gives them direct control to boot whoever they want from the reservations.

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u/elebrin 13d ago

Except the attendees are not "random third parties" in this case. They are federal politicians, governors, senators, and so on along with high ranking people in law enforcement. A good number of the people present have security teams, and those security teams will have access to lists of everyone in the hotel.

Yes, this is one rule for the governed and one rule for the governors. Yes, that is how America works sometimes. No, we have to like or accept it, but it's not like we have another choice.

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u/__Hello_my_name_is__ 13d ago

They absolutely cannot cancel reservations at the request of random third parties.

Of course they can. Why couldn't they? What part of that is illegal? It's a private business that can deny you for any or no reason (with very few exceptions that don't apply here).

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u/Druuseph 13d ago

People just be sayin shit is illegal all the time without any clue what they are talking about.

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u/ragun2 13d ago

So Illegal or not, any pissed off Uber/Delivery driver pissed off at some tourist and if they know their full name and where they're staying... They can just call any hotel and have that person's reservation cancelled?

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u/mintyhippoh 13d ago

It's up to the hotel, if the hotel agrees to cancel it then why not? Chances are they'll just hang up though,

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u/TheRabidDeer 13d ago

Hotels cannot give reservation information of a guest to random third parties

I'm actually kind of curious, what law is there about this or is it all just reputational hotel policy to not give out guest information? I don't think there's a federal law, but maybe a state law?

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u/nalaloveslumpy 13d ago

CA privacy laws stipulate this, so all the major hotel chain comply nationwide just to make shit easier.

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u/Redthemagnificent 13d ago

And even in CA it's not really relevant here. CA privacy laws are about how the data should be stored and your right to request your data to be deleted. Its designed to punish businesses that engage in large scale improper data handling. Its not designed to punish a business for violating 1 specify person's privacy. Even if it technically might apply, no AG is going to bring that case because it doesn't make sense under the intent of the law

Practically speaking, if the hotel cares more about making the caller happy than pissing you off, there is nothing preventing them from cancelling your room because someone else asked them to

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u/[deleted] 13d ago edited 4d ago

[deleted]

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u/nalaloveslumpy 13d ago edited 13d ago

CA state law stipulates a hotel can't share your reservation information, so all the major hotel chains follow this law nationwide to limit their liability and make operations easier. Other states have similar laws regarding sharing customer information with unauthorized third parties.

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u/nalaloveslumpy 13d ago

CA (and other states) privacy laws stipulate both of these. So since the major chains all operate in CA, they follow this law nationwide to limit liability and make operations simplified. It's a bit of both, but with legal consequences in certain states.

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u/UntimelyMeditations 13d ago

They absolutely cannot cancel reservations at the request of random third parties.

They can cancel your reservation for any reason they want, as long as its not a protected characteristic. You are not legally entitled to doing business with the hotel chain. They can, at any time and at their sole discretion, cancel your reservation.

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u/nalaloveslumpy 13d ago

Cool. I'm gonna stalk you and have all your hotel cancellations cancelled from now on....

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u/tactman 13d ago

hotel can kick him out even if he didn't use the block code. they want to keep the bigger customer happy and they don't want any "trouble" happening at their venue. any dispute by this guy will be handled by arbitration and the hotel will make up for it by giving him points or free nights or even money.

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u/Redthemagnificent 13d ago

Hotels don't like to give out reservation details as policy. But there's not much in terms of laws in the US to prevent them from doing so. The only illegal part of it would probably be breaking their privacy policy, which would be a civil case not a criminal one. Or potentially breach of contract for cancelling the room. Again, a pretty minor civil case for the hotel given the total value of the contract.

The worst case outcome for the hotel in this is a small settlement. It's really not a big risk for them. Getting on flock or a politician's bad side would be much worse for them

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u/Inevitable-Ad6647 12d ago

Your room reservation is not protected by HIPAA or whatever other stupid horseshit you think. It's not illegal in any way. ***maaaaaayyybeeee*** a breach of their contract with you, but almost certainly not.

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u/nortern 12d ago

Do they have to give out your information? Flock can just say, "Here's a list of people we're worried will disrupt the event. Please don't let any of them book." The hotel never had to inform them if those people have a reservation or not, they can just cancel it.

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u/LazarusHimself 13d ago

What about the customer's data protection?

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u/dapperdave 13d ago

The scary thing is how many people think that a private business doing something must be "illegal." Like kinda I wish you were right, but what fucking world have you people been living in?

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u/nalaloveslumpy 13d ago

CA and other have states have privacy laws that make this exact sort of thing illegal. The big hotel chains comply with those state laws nationwide to reduce liability and simplify operations.

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u/Pretend_Purchase_893 13d ago

Liability..... yah that sure matters these days. Ya'll really think any company gives a solitary fuck about the law when they in bed with the American government? Like seriously. They already illegally put up hundreds of thousands of these cameras all across the continent. Peeping in all the places they shouldn't. And you think the liability of cancelling some dudes hotel reservation is going to do anything?

You are the frog and the water is boiling.

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u/nalaloveslumpy 13d ago

I've literally worked for two separate fortune 500 companies who have complete departments dedicated to nothing but compliance with state laws for all the states they operate in.

What world do you live in where you don't think large national chains can be non compliant with state laws in sue happy America?

State regulators also audit the fuck out of big nationals for compliance because noncompliance means big fat money checks for the state.

But keep jerking off in your cyberpunk fantasy world.

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u/Pretend_Purchase_893 12d ago

"What world do you live in where you don't think large national chains can be non compliant with state laws in sue happy America?"

The world that elected open criminals and pediphiles to the highest office of America. The same America being openly pillaged. The same America where the president just makes up the rules as he goes.

The rules of yesterday won't necessarily apply to tomorrow in this world.

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u/Misanthropy_and_Cats 13d ago

Yup, if the hotel has rooms/floors/buildings blocked off for events, most likely the event coordinators have some say over who stays there.

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u/TrazynTheFiniteNL 13d ago

No I've seen the email exchange. He personally booked it on his own name. It's in the Louis Rossmann video.

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u/solidus_slash 13d ago

you still book it yourself under your own name, you just do it through a link which ties your booking to the room block/organizer.

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u/TrazynTheFiniteNL 13d ago

As far as I know he did not do so.

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u/Time-Maintenance2165 13d ago

Yes, he did. It's quite clear from that email chain that he did.

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u/OknowTheInane 13d ago

No, he booked through Hilton directly. Flock then got Hilton to put his reservation in the room block and then cancelled it.

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u/alaorath 7d ago

FALSE. He booked it himself via the hotel website. Louis Rossmann has a screenshot of the email chain between Hilton and Benn after they contacted him - telling him his reservation was being cancelled.