I'm a seasoned traveller who is used to mixups happening all the time, and it doesn't get me bent out of shape. This situation is a little bit different. It isn't a rant about the quality of the hotel, or the treatment I received there--rather, it is a rant about an unfair (illegal?) booking practice that nobody at Hilton seems empowered to change or amend.

Here is the situation:

On this past Friday I made a hilton.com reservation for a room for Saturday night at the Hilton Niagara Falls Fallsview. Using my AAA discount, I received a rate of $227 per night. I proceeded to click on the radio button to select the rate, added my credit card information at the bottom of the page, and clicked the "Book Now" button.

The next page detailed my confirmation, albeit at a rate of $275 per night. Given the short timeline between booking and the stay (1 day) I was unable to cancel online. There was never a "the rate has changed" or "that rate is unavailable" page. It just booked me into a higher rate without any notice, and I wasn't able to get out of it.

I immediately called Hilton.com Internet Support, and they were powerless to do anything, giving me the "You must call the hotel to make any changes to the reservation" line. So I called the hotel, and they told me "we can't touch the reservation and you have to call Hilton Central Reservations". I called Hilton Central Reservations and they said "Only the hotel can do anything". I had enough by this point and asked for the situation to be escalated. They put me in touch with a customer complaint department who forwarded my complaint to the hotel GM. I stayed at the hotel on Saturday night as I had planned a night out, and expected this to be resolved promptly and without incident.

The hotel GM (Paul Ford) called me yesterday and in his message indicated that "our rates are subject to change and the rate you had booked at $275 is the rate you have been charged for". That's it. I called back and tried to explain my position to him, and haven't heard back from him yet.

I'd like to escalate this but am not sure who to contact--can anyone help?

My beef isn't about the increase, as it's fairly small, but it's about the way the increase came about.

To me, this is a classic "bait and switch". Advertise a price at $x and then lock in the purchaser (with no right of recission) at $x + $y. It isn't fair. In addition, in my jurisdiction (where the Hilton in question is located, btw) this is illegal.

Hilton should have allowed me to change/cancel the reservation process because the rate increased from what I had been quoted. This is standard business practice in the travel industry, and puts the onus on the traveller to say "yes, I am ok with the higher price" in order to continue (think expedia). I was never given this choice.

The rate difference is small--$48--but what if the rate had jumped to $2000? I would have been stuck paying $2000 for the room without ever intending to book a room at that price.

The response from Internet Support and other customer service personnel was lacking at best, and has put me off using Hilton again in the future.

Any help fellow FTers?