This thread is absolutely fascinating, especially since the "300-room man" came forward and gave an account of what he did.

Over a year ago, while searching on an internet travel site, I stumbled across a $0 rate for a hotel room (don't remember which hotel or chain) in Paris. I assumed it was a mistake and didn't dream of trying to reserve it to see what would happen. Similarly, if I were to encounter an insanely cheap but non-zero rate, like less than one dollar for a flight that normally costs over $2,000 (which has not yet happened to me), I would dismiss it as an error. Maybe it's not so much my ethical nature, but a fear that not only would the rate NOT be honored, but I would be without a reservation or flight!

So I'm pretty amazed at the chutzpah that some people have. But then, it turns out that the "300-room man" is not necessarily COUNTING on these reservations to materialize. They are more in the nature of a speculation.

Also, although I do occasionally report bugs or erroneous information on websites, the response I get is usually less than reinforcing. Either no response, a useless canned response, and/or a message that they were "unable to reproduce the problem." So I would NOT have high hopes of any kind of reward for reporting a $0 (or insanely low) hotel rate or airfare.

Kathy