Starwood Preferred Guest - Prom night price gouging???

I was trying to get 4 rooms for prom night (May 20) at a hotel close to Hershey park, PA. The Four Points by Sheraton Harrisburg, which we've stayed at before, normally charges $99 per night but was fully booked. I first checked this in Feb and ended up booking four rooms in York, 1 hour away. Today I checked online and saw about a dozen rooms available with rates from $235 - $295. I called the hotel to try to book the four rooms and before I could finish speaking the agent said they are fully booked for May 20. After hanging up I was able to book two rooms online using points. I had to call Customer service to cancel the rooms in York and use the points for the rooms in Harrisburg. The agent was able to book one room before the hotel was fully booked again. The website now also shows nothing available. I know they could not have sold a dozen rooms that quickly, and since I was able to book 3 rooms even when the hotel said they were fully booked tells me they are lying.

Prom night is a big event for Hershey Park and the hotels in the area. I don't know if this hotel does not want any prom kids staying and so took all of the rooms out of the system. If that is the case I don't agree with the practice but can fully sympathize. The rates I saw for that brief period when they were in the system tells me they are price gouging and taking advantage of the kids that want to stay there.

Anyone have any thoughts? Should I keep checking until someone makes another mistake and I can book the 4th room? Or was it a legitimate mistake and I totally screwed them by booking 3 rooms that really were not available?

Hotel availability changes all the time based on cancellations and what the hotel believes it can sell / how many guests it believes will not show up.

The price of rooms is also generally based on how booked up the hotel expects to be. You say that it's a high demand weekend. Hotels have a fixed number of rooms, so they charge more for those rooms.

Where's the gouging? Do high school students have an inalienable right to a hotel room, and a right to a room at a specific property? If demand is high, price will be high. If price is too high, don't get a room or get one somewhere else.

Call the general manager of the property directly and ask her/him. Doesn't hurt to try, and it may at least get you honest answers.

Hotel availability changes all the time based on cancellations and what the hotel believes it can sell / how many guests it believes will not show up.

The price of rooms is also generally based on how booked up the hotel expects to be. You say that it's a high demand weekend. Hotels have a fixed number of rooms, so they charge more for those rooms.

Where's the gouging? Do high school students have an inalienable right to a hotel room, and a right to a room at a specific property? If demand is high, price will be high. If price is too high, don't get a room or get one somewhere else.

My mistake. I was not aware that hotels kept changing rates depending on avialability. Since the rack rate on these rooms for the next day went as high as $160, I guess they can adjust the rack rate as they please. Wow. Thanks for educating me.
I already got the rooms that I wanted but needed one more. I did not think that charging other kids $200+ for rooms that at any other time only sell for $99 was fair.

I lived in central PA for several years before escaping to a nice place to live .....

and can add that the Four Points in either Harrisburg or York are not necessarily prime locations for persons visiting Hershey. Both are 20 minutes or more away. Both Harrisburg and York are chock full of all the usual suspects: Hampton Inns, Holiday Inns, etc, etc. Has the OP considered all of the available options?

This is not a case of price gouging at all. It's a simple matter of what the industry (incl airlines) calls yield management. Essentially striking a balance b/t maximizing your sales at the most profitable rate while retaining customers. That's not altogether different from what the hot dog salesman at the ball park is doing. Sure, he could make money selling them 2 for a dollar. But since a vast number of guests are willing to pay $5 for beer and $5 for a hot dog, he sells them for that.

Lastly, I would hate like heck to be in a hotel with scads of prom night kids running around, TVs blaring, doors slamming, etc. I'll steer clear of 4 Points hotels until after May 1 in PA ! ! !

My mistake. I was not aware that hotels kept changing rates depending on avialability. Since the rack rate on these rooms for the next day went as high as $160, I guess they can adjust the rack rate as they please. Wow. Thanks for educating me.
I already got the rooms that I wanted but needed one more. I did not think that charging other kids $200+ for rooms that at any other time only sell for $99 was fair.

DO you know how many kids bills for prom night's is paid by their parents? The hotels operators certainly know!

Without addressing why I think it is ridiculous that you are booking rooms for high school kids on prom night. . . .
Call the general manager of the property directly and ask her/him. Doesn't hurt to try, and it may at least get you honest answers.

I'll address it. A lot of parents would rather have their kids in a safe hotel room than scattered around a freeway after DUI.

As earlier addressed, hotel room pricing is based on supply and demand. It's only price gouging, if that, when there is a natural disaster. Basically, no one has a right to a below-market room rental.

Here in Florida, hotels are required to post, usually in the room, the maximum rate they can charge for a room. In locations such as Key West or Daytona where special events take place, that rate is far above the typical rack rate the hotel charges. But what they charge can NEVER go above that rate.
Not sure if they have something similar in PA, but if they do and it is that $235-295 rate, then it is fair. Maybe a question worth asking if you call.

This is the beauty of the SPG program. You're catching a room going for $250.00 plus tax for 3,000 starpoints. Congratulations!

High school kids on prom night + lots of beer and maybe even drugs + no adult supervision = trouble.

High school kids on prom night + lots of beer and maybe even drugs + no adult supervision = trouble.

I'm in agreement, but others will differ. As stated earlier, you won't catch me in a Four Points Hotel in Central PA for the next 6 weeks (or ever, for that matter!!!!) ;)

This has been asked and answered now. I'm closing this thread for housekeeping purposes.

ldsant
*wood Moderator