(WXYZ) — The NFL Draft is about a month away, and folks can't wait for the mammoth three-day event to open in Downtown Detroit.
Last year, over 300,000 people attended the event in Kansas City. This year, our city is expected to receive nearly 500,000 people from around the country.
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So, with a limited number of hotel rooms in downtown Detroit, this may prove to be a challenge as some people are already reporting their reservations canceled due to hotels being overbooked.
Jason Coryell's man cave in Rochester Hills shows his love for sports.
"I've been collecting for a long time," he says.
From baseball to football, one can find all kinds of memorabilia in his basement. A die-head Lions fan and a proud Detroiter, the 44-year-old can't wait for the NFL Draft in April.
"There is a lot of excitement for me, and just telling people about 'hey I'm going to the draft, I got a room downtown,'" he said.
But that was short-lived. Last April, Jason booked a room at the Hollywood Casino at Greektown, only to find out six months later that his reservation had been canceled.
"At first, I was surprised and thought it must be a mistake. And when I called in to speak to a manager, and they said there is nothing they can do. Sounded like an overbooked situation. But the most frustrating thing about it is 6 months later in October, surely there will be no rooms available," he said.
According to Visit Detroit, Downtown Detroit has around 5,000 hotel rooms. And as per hotels.com, all are sold out for the NFL Draft weekend. But Jason isn't the only one suffering.
"Right now, I don't know if we have a place to stay," said Stacy Silk.
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Stacy Silk lives in Grand Rapids, and for the draft, she booked a house through Airbnb a year in advance. However, her first reservation was canceled by Airbnb because the property was delisted. While the second reservation was doubtful, because Stacy says the host wasn't replying to queries.
"It's incredibly frustrating and disappointing because, I think my biggest concern is, I obviously love Detroit, there are going to be people coming from all over the country to attend this event and, they are going to end up without a place to stay," she said.
It was time to get answers for Jason and Stacy. I contacted Hollywood Casino at Greektown and Airbnb, and what happened next will surprise you. But first, I connected with Melanie Duquesnel from the Better Business Bureau to learn more about customers' rights in such situations.
"We are starting to see and be made aware of patterns," said Melanie.
To be clear, the BBB isn't saying that's exactly what happened in Jason and Stacy's case.
But what can people do to better protect themselves?
"One, always pay with a credit card rather than a debit card. If you are so set on getting here and getting that room for sure, pay in full or get what's called a guaranteed reservation," she said.
Melanie also recommends reviewing the reservation terms and conditions and inquiring about the cancellation policy. Also, when using vacation rental sites like Airbnb, let the host cancel the reservation if they can no longer accommodate you, as this will put the liability on the host.
As for the surprise. Well, after I reached out to Hollywood Casino at Greektown, they called Jason the next day.
"We didn't really get into much of how it went down, but I gave them some opportunities to learn what had happened. And in the end, I'm really happy to get the room back, that's all I really wanted and go down there at fair price and have a good time," he said.
And Airbnb also came through for Stacy.
"Honestly now I can sleep better. I was just so happy. And I know we couldn't have done this without your help. Because now we are able to have a place to stay for the draft in the same neighborhood at the same rate," she said.
