Hotel Booking

dollydishmop

I booked a hotel as a surprise for my husband's birthday.

Booked through Booking.com and got a great room rate. Delighted with myself.

Received the confirmation email, and all looked good.

Then today, the hotel emailed me, said the room rate was an error and my only option was to pay full room rate, (significantly more than I'd booked it for :eek::eek::eek: ) or to cancel the booking.

Gutted is an understatement. Do I have any rights here?

Have contacted Booking.com and awaiting their reply.

Some snippets from Booking.com's T&Cs:
By making a reservation through Booking.com, you enter into a direct (legally binding) contractual relationship with the accommodation provider at which you book.

the information that we disclose is based on the information provided to us by accommodation providers. As such, the accommodation providers are given access to an extranet through which they are fully responsible for updating all rates, availability and other information which is displayed on our website.

The hotel have told me that I have to cancel my original booking, and make a new booking at the full room rate (or cancel completely). I'm guessing that's because they'll be in a mire of legal issues if they cancel the booking?

I'd rather they honoured the original booking, which I made in good faith!!

dudara

Was the price difference between the original booking and the new rate significantly different? In other words, could the original price have been a mistake?

Putting that aside though, I'd do a little investigating to see what prices they are currently charging now (on their own website and through affiliates) for those dates? Is there an event on in town that they can charge more for? Based on that, I might think about pressurising them, saying that it was booked for a special occasion.

dollydishmop

I did think the price was possibly too good to be true. The price they want me to pay now is the same number, with a zero added. :eek:

However, in my defence, not being one to get stung too often and having a fairly cautious nature with this kind of thing, I checked the offer numerous times, over several days before I finally made the booking**...more than enough time passed for the error to have been picked up and corrected by the hotel IMHO....and the price stayed the same.

**Each time I checked, the system would tell you how many rooms were left on this offer, and if the website software is to be believed, the number reduced by a couple over the few days, so presumably others made the same booking...which would surely let the hotel know that there was an issue with the quoted price, and allow them to amend it?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Sounds like a fair and honest mistake on the price ticket to me.

sparksfly

My advice would be to try the hotel on Trivago who compare the price on a number of booking sites including Booking.com.
You can judge then better whether the original quote was a mistake.

Mistake or not, I would try to persuade them to honour the original contract.

Miaireland

Might be worth checking if there is going to be something on in the area the same day as you booked. I had something similar happen to me when an extra day was added to a concert near my hotel. They told me that the price I paid was an error, I argued that they had a number of weeks they could have contacted me to sort it out but they waited until a major concert was announced. They let me have the room at the rate I booked under,

However if there was a short space of time between the booking and them contacting you probably was just a listing error.

Melendez

This post has been deleted.

ScottSF

If it was indeed a typo on the part of the hotel, they should have handled it more gracefully. They could have told you there was a mistake and they are very sorry instead of assuming you took advantage of it knowingly. Then they could have offered you a great discount off the intended rate to keep you as a customer and (hopefully) make everyone happy.

Anyway, do you really want to stay at a hotel that is demanding that you cancel and rebook at a much higher rate without at least some compensation for your time, frustration, and what is an obvious or not mistake? Hopefully Booking.com will step in personally as they should since they are the seller (you did not book direct) and resolve it in the correct way whatever the result. Curious to hear what happens...

dollydishmop

Thanks all for taking the time to reply.

I contacted Booking.com, and they have said they will investigate, with a view to resolving the issue within 7 days.

I tried to book the same room on the same night earlier today, and whilst it wasn't as cheap as my original booking it still came nowhere near the huge price the hotel stated I should pay in their email! I'd hate to think it was a 'deliberate' error...

I'll keep you all up to date.