Third Party Trouble

For those of you not in the business, a third party website is a website such as Expedia, Travelocity, Hotels.com, etc that hotels use to help sell rooms.  Each website has different rules regarding booking rooms, such as non-refundable reservations and non-guaranteed room types.  I'd say about a quarter of our hotel is occupied by these guests on any given night.  Now on to the story...

I was working the morning shift a few days ago when a man walks in around 11:30am and asks if it's too early to check it.  I check the system to see if there's anything available and apologize, saying it is too early since we were sold out the night before.  I asked him for his name to confirm the reservation and a cell phone number so we can call him when a room becomes available.  He happily gives me the information and I confirm the number of nights and room type. 

Me: "Mr. Smith (not his real name), we have you here for two nights in a king bed on a high floor, correct?"
Mr. Smith: "Yes, but I requested a room with two beds.  My wife and kids are coming in later."
Me:  "I'm sorry Mr. Smith but we're sold out tonight.  Unfortunately we won't be able to change the room type for you.  Since we don't have a room ready for you now, would you like to leave your luggage with us?"
Mr. Smith:  "No thanks.  I'll come back later."

He walked out of the hotel and I went back to doing some work.  Around 2:30pm, I got a call from someone at a third party website asking me to help them cancel a reservation.  I get the confirmation number from her and it happens to be for Mr. Smith's reservation.

Third Party Website: "The guest is on the other line and he said he is sick and will be unable to make his trip to New York.  Can you cancel his reservation?"  
Me: "I was actually the agent at the front desk when Mr. Smith tried to check in earlier in the day.  He was unhappy with the fact that we couldn't change the reservation to a room with two beds in it.  Unfortunately we cannot cancel this reservation without penalty because it's a reservation for today."
TPW: "Well, we have the guest saying that he is sick and needs to cancel it."
Me: "Regardless of whether the guest is actually sick or not, the reservation is for today AND the guest already tried to check in.  You know our policy.  We already authorized the credit card. He is more than welcome to stay here, but either way, we will be charging Mr. Smith for the stay."
TPW: "Thanks for being helpful."  
Click.

And now for some friendly advice:  Unless there's a significant price difference, don't book hotels and flights through third party websites.  Desk agents generally treat them very differently than if you book through the hotel or airline.  We give preferential treatment to our own guests, so join the rewards club for whatever company you're going with.  Hilton and Marriott both have very good ones.  And lastly, don't try to play games with the front desk.  You will usually get caught and we'll treat you much worse when we do catch you.