Can a hotel change its prices?

Sunny Dayz

Hi guys, bit peeved off at the min.


We have a family occasion/get together coming up. We booked the hotel rooms and made a reservation for dinner months ago. Yesterday we were just finalising things, dinner time, plans, etc etc. We went onto the hotel's website to have a nosey at the menus (really just cos we were looking forward to the occasion and to the meal!). However we noticed special offers on the website, clicked out of curiosity. Turns out they were offering the same package we had agreed (for multiple nights) for less (about €50 less).


So himself rang the hotel out of curiosity and it's the hotel's response that got to us. They claimed there were no special offers on at the moment, asked where did we see the offers, kept saying they didn't have any offers, they couldn't find the part of the site we were looking at (eh the homepage!), and then said oh the website must be out of date, we must get onto the people who maintain it. When himself got off the phone a few mins later, we noticed that the special offers were still there, but the rates had been increased!!


Himself has been left with a very sour taste in his mouth! This is a family occasion, people are travelling for this, even in from abroad. We selected this hotel as it was a local hotel and trying to support local and all that. He checked out another hotel nearby and naturally they are fully booked so we can't move it all to another location.


I'm wondering if you agree a rate with a hotel months in advance and then you find out they are offering the same deal at a much lower rate, can you demand the lower rate? Or is it like booking an airline ticket, it's the price when you are booking it?

goodlad

Of course you cant demand the lower rate. Prices can change all the time depending on a number of factors. Only real option is to see what te cancelation charge is and maybe cancel the booking and rebook at the current price if its cheaper.

P. Breathnach

Just wondering: had you found that prices had risen since you booked, would you be here to discuss whether you should pay the higher price?

Sunny Dayz

goodlad wrote: »

Of course you cant demand the lower rate. Prices can change all the time depending on a number of factors. Only real option is to see what te cancelation charge is and maybe cancel the booking and rebook at the current price if its cheaper.

Yeah I just wasn't sure what was the story in relation to hotels. Especially when we haven't stayed there yet and normally you aren't presented with your bill until check out.
There was no cancellation fee and we are raging now that we didn't book online when we seen the lower rate, would save saved at least €200 between us! Now that they increased the rate (after lying to us that there were no special offers) the saving would be less than €100 between us all so not sure if we will go through the hassle of it now!

Sunny Dayz

P. Breathnach wrote: »

Just wondering: had you found that prices had risen since you booked, would you be here to discuss whether you should pay the higher price?

Ha!! Course not!!

haveringchick

goodlad wrote: »

Of course you cant demand the lower rate. Prices can change all the time depending on a number of factors. Only real option is to see what te cancelation charge is and maybe cancel the booking and rebook at the current price if its cheaper.

It's amazing how folks brains operate
They don't go running into Dunnes when the Sale is on demanding to be refunded the difference in the coat and boots they bought on Christmas Eve that's now 50% off, but somehow think they can hold a hotel over a barrel on what amounts to the same
This entire party will allow this "disappointment " to semi spoil this family occasion and I can garantee they will complain about food and service in an effort to get a reduction.

coylemj

haveringchick wrote: »

It's amazing how folks brains operate
They don't go running into Dunnes when the Sale is on demanding to be refunded the difference in the coat and boots they bought on Christmas Eve that's now 50% off....

+1 OP, if you had a chicken in the fridge that you bought on a Friday and then spotted them being cleared out for 50c late on Saturday afternoon, would you be demanding they refund the difference?

There is a saying in the travel trade - never ask the guy beside you on the flight how much he paid because he will always have paid less than you. You knew the prices when you booked and you accepted them, what the hotel charges people afterwards (even for a identical package) has nothing to do with you.

Nobody sells goods or services on the understanding that they will never be sold at a lower price afterwards, that's basically your beef and you have neither a legal or a moral case against that hotel.

Miaireland

As others said when you booked you agreed your price. You would not demand Debenhams to give you the difference if they put the bed clothes you bought a few weeks ago on sale today.

I would be forgetting about the special offer etc and focusing on enjoying the event and the people who are travelling from far away than worry about special offers that you never requested/existed when you booked.

Sunny Dayz

Thanks all. I'm well aware of prices changing and there's been times where I have bought something to see it reduced a few days/weeks later, that's life I know for sure!
But what's getting our goat is that we were told we were getting a special rate on account of booking a number of rooms and having a get together, bar sales would be up etc, but it then turns out that the rate ain't so special at all! Then when it was queried, we were lied to when it was there infront of us!


Look we will certainly enjoy our get-together, really looking forward to it!!

P. Breathnach

Sunny Dayz wrote: »

Thanks all. I'm well aware of prices changing and there's been times where I have bought something to see it reduced a few days/weeks later, that's life I know for sure!
But what's getting our goat is that we were told we were getting a special rate on account of booking a number of rooms and having a get together, bar sales would be up etc, but it then turns out that the rate ain't so special at all!

Perhaps they felt that they had to cut rates for other guests because there was a group in that might be a bit wild!

Then when it was queried, we were lied to when it was there infront of us!

It's quite often the case that staff - even those who handle bookings - are not tuned in on what is on the website. I had an experience where, when checking out, a hotel invoiced me for more than the special rate that I had booked. I questioned it, and the receptionist told me I was mistaken, that the offer had expired the previous weekend. I asked her to check, and she said that she should know, as she managed the website. She then called it up to show me. Then red-faced apologies and an amended invoice.

Look we will certainly enjoy our get-together, really looking forward to it!!

That's the right spirit!

slimjimmc

Sunny Dayz wrote: »

Thanks all. I'm well aware of prices changing and there's been times where I have bought something to see it reduced a few days/weeks later, that's life I know for sure!
But what's getting our goat is that we were told we were getting a special rate on account of booking a number of rooms and having a get together, bar sales would be up etc, but it then turns out that the rate ain't so special at all! Then when it was queried, we were lied to when it was there infront of us!


Look we will certainly enjoy our get-together, really looking forward to it!!

You were offered a rate that was specially reduced from what was normally available at the time of purchase and you were content with it. Unless you were told that you were getting a rock-bottom rate that was guaranteed to never be bettered before the event you have no right to expect the venue to not offer an even lower rate as is their commercial prerogative.

PS. A lie requires an intent to deceive, a mistake or lack of knowledge doesn't. Many people incorrectly conflate the two.

Put it out of your mind and enjoy the event and don't hold any grievance against the venue, they've done nothing wrong.