Bizarre: Aegon Mykonos Stops Accepting Reservations

I stayed at Marriott's Aegon Mykonos for four hours last year at the time a new hotel was being built. I got an email from a reader with an upcoming stay who pointed out something odd with the hotel's reservations system.

Aegon Mykonos stops taking reservations

Mykonos has become one of the biggest summer hot spots in the world, because it has gotten too wild at this point, and it makes Saint-Tropez look quaint.

The hotel stopped taking reservations a week ago. You will see that there is no availability when you go to Marriott's website. Even the last days of the season are sold out even though some dates could be sold out. It seems like that doesn't make sense.

This is a strange time to stop accepting reservations, since the busy summer travel season is just about to start.

I came up with a few possibilities.

• Did the hotel suddenly have to shut down for some reason?
• Did the hotel decide to end its affiliation with Marriott, or did Marriott decide to end its affiliation with the hotel?
• Was it just a temporary tech glitch?
• Were they celebrating the one year anniversary of my stay at the hotel with a moment of silence? 😉

What the hotel claims…

I called the property several days ago to inquire if they were taking reservations by phone. The person who answered the phone didn't seem to know what he was talking about. He asked for my information so that he could send me a quote.

He said the reservations department was in a meeting. I said I would return the call. I think I spoke to the same guy again after I phoned up. He told me that the reservations department was in a meeting and that he would take down my information. I said I would return the call.

I was told that the reservations department was in a meeting after I tried again. I said that I had called before and that the reservations department was in a meeting. I wanted to know if there was more going on.

He said that the system was malfunctioning and that they were trying to fix it.

One of the benefits of being a member of a major hotel group is access to Marriott's technology, and that's why you won't usually see individual hotel reservations systems go down for a week.

The hotel seems to be working. A FlyerTalk member asked on-property why the hotel wasn't accepting reservations and was told that they had problems with a Greek bank and couldn't take Amex until they signed with a new bank.

This is a weird explanation.

• Is this the only hotel in Greece that’s suddenly taking down its reservations system because it’s having problems with a Greek bank?
• Even if the hotel can’t accept Amex, couldn’t it just put up a notice saying that Amex cards temporarily aren’t being accepted, and that payment will need to be made with another product?
• Not accepting reservations while continuing to be operational is a mighty strange approach to take, and suggests there may be more to this story

Bottom line

Even though the hotel is open, Marriott has stopped taking reservations through the end of the schedule. The start of the busiest summer travel season ever for Mykonos is strange, given that this is the time of year.

We know that the hotel is having issues with its system, but we don't know anything else. I am curious to see what comes of this, because it seems a bit odd.

I hope they send a lot of snacks and drinks to the meeting.

For now, mark this as developing.