Originally Posted by
jenniparks
Thanks for the advice. Although, i note, that the advice here seems very different than that given to those who booked a $0 rate with Andaz a few months ago- they were advised to fight for the rate b/c it was booked and confirmed. I think i have a much stronger case. While a $0 rate is an obvious mistake, a $60/night rate is not- definitely falls within a reasonable discount rate for an average hotel. I am all about the bandwagon that says it's crap to hold passengers to non-refundable fares, even if they made a mistake in booking process, but let off the vendors who make similar mistakes. Especially if they don't acknowledge a mistake for 10+ days.
You are welcome to use my advice as you care to. Please note that I would not have advised anyone to claim a
legal right to a $0rate at the Andaz. Rather, Andaz (or anyone else who makes an honest mistake) only bears at most a moral obligation to honor such a rate. And you can evaluate the strength of your case, but please be aware that your original post identified the rate as a "mistake rate" at a "luxury hotel", not an "average hotel" as you just state. I promise I won't tell the hotel about your post, but if I were litigating this in court, I'd bang you over the head with it as an admission that you knew it to be a mistake. That could end any legal claim to the $60 rate right there. Simply, the rule is that if you knew it to be a mistake, they have the right to rescind.
And if I were the manager or owner, I might be merely unhappy that you exploited a mistake rate for your own purposes, but I'd really be disgusted with you for broadcasting it on a travel-oriented blog. And I don't know that I would particularly care to share my hospitality with you under the circumstances.
As such, if you
really want to be a skunk at the garden party, please put few eggs in the "legal entitlement" basket. The hotel may have done you a tactical favor by being so aggressive as to "correct" the mistake without consulting you and billing your credit card the unilaterally determined "fair" without your authorization. It really makes it easy to cast them as sleazy, and not merely someone who made a mistake.