Originally Posted by
kpalle
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.
This sounds very strange. I haven't had this same experience, but I'm wondering if it's possible that things may not have happened exactly as you remember.
For instance, your description above does not describe the Hilton website booking process that I am familiar with. You describe the "radio button" to select the rate, and then your credit card information "at the bottom of the page." The page where the desired room/rate is selected (usually from a long list of options) is
not the same page where credit card information is entered. Once a room/rate button is selected, there is a "continue" button at the bottom of the page that must be clicked.
This opens a new "pending reservation details" page where the rate is displayed, along with the dates and full amount of the reservation, including all taxes. As a HHonors Gold, I'm assuming your CC information and guest info would already be entered/stored here (?). This is where the final button must be clicked to "book now." Do you remember getting to this page? I find it really doubtful that a rate change would occur between this "final" page and the actual booking, as you state. If it did, it would definitely have to be in error.
Is it possible that you selected a different room/rate "button" than you were originally intending? I don't mean to sound facetious, but it has happened to me! There are a lot of choices sometimes, and I go back and forth many times in deciding which to select. I've ended up with a totally different rate than what I wanted, by inadvertently selecting the wrong one.
Also, I believe that this property books in $CAD, and not $USD. Is it possible that there was some confusion there?
Just wondering if there might be some other explanations than "illegal" Hilton booking practices....