DealAddict

So what you are saying you tell them you agree to the rate they are offering you (don't you have to sign something when you check out?) instead of the mistake rate and then file a dispute? Also, is an email confirmation really going to be considered by CC company as proof?

chokdee

Who says you have to ''agree'' to the rate they are offering you at check in. You can actually still very strongly disagree with what they are doing , talk to the hotel manager, call the OTA ...whatever.. but if all that fails explain that after months or whatever of a confirmed booking you have very little choice but to complete your stay now you are on their doorstep.. then you protest all over again at checkout in the hope that the hotel will finally do the right thing...and if they don't you advise them that you will of course dispute their charges with your cc company. And besides if you haven't signed a written document consenting to a rate change at check in then who is to say that the hotel mentioned anything to you until check out?

If you booked with an OTA they will have a confirmed record of when the booking was made and also that this was the price still in place on your arrival. You already have one very important witness on your side in any dispute.

NB

I have assumed in this case that the hotel dropped the bombshell at check in about a rate hike. If they gave me a very nasty shock at checkout then I certainly would not sign anything...excepted that they will just charge your card anyway !

It hopefully will not come to this however ,I have heard of companies such as booking.com considering this treatment of customers on the day of arrival as ''over booking''. If they do not give you a room at the original contracted price then booking will move you to a similar class hotel in the area and invoice the offending hotel the difference in price. At this stage it is usually less expensive for the hotel to accept you after all and they will invariably change their minds.

DealAddict

That is my point... would they not make you sign one before allowing you to check in? Otherwise, they can just refuse to check you in.

chokdee

Well there really are too many ''if's and maybe's '' here and everything we are talking about is hypothetical since the occurrence of what we are talking about is not something that happens everyday.

But hypothetically I think that a hotel that has missed a mistake rate for months is just as likely to continue that form and miss it again on checking in.

But if they didn't and then wanted to charge you more then I don't personally think they would have the presence of mind to make you sign anything.

But just in case they did and you chose to sign anything you would kind of be doing this under duress with maybe little choice due to the dire circumstances that had been imposed on you and I'm sure the CC company would understand this.

As I have already said, if you have booked through an OTA, then first port of call should be to that OTA. Any OTA worth their salt should protect you from such an occurrence...if they don't...then it's the CC route and if you lose that one ...just accept it and move on to the next promotion.

Bottom line is ...if you cannot accept the very rare defeat then you should not be in the mistake game ! Better to be in though methinks ...after all winning 50 and maybe, just maybe losing one ...is still very good odds^

DealAddict

I wonder if anyone has had to file CC disputes in situation such as above and who the CC company sided with?

Adam1222

Not going to get too deep in responding to the armchair-lawyering here, but "duress" as a legal term isn't quite as broad as you'd suggest. Moreover, since this thread is about "mistakes", contractual rights aren't as good as suggested. If the hotel rate is a mistake, and you know it is a mistake and book it anyway, as a matter of contract, you generally can't insist on enforcing it. You may have other remedies, and generally large companies try to do something, but it's not an obligation to honor the mutual mistake.

chokdee

First of all nobody is trying to do ''armchair'' lawyering here, just merely trying to suggest what they think might happen in any given hypothetical situation.

I was not even referring to duress in any legal terms ,hence the words ''kind of'' ,and I have referred to absolutely nothing regarding the law over this matter.. only what IMO is mostly likely to happen under the circumstances, I have also said the CC route might fail so of course by implication I am acknowledging that ones case is probably not watertight in legal terms.

So I will reiterate, for those that think my post contained any legal advice, that my opinion is only based on my own personal experience and what I think might happen in such a scenario.

As far as knowing on arrival that a rate is a mistake we are in a very grey area, particularly whereby a hotel corrects a ''mistake'' rate, thereby confirming they know about it,but then does not contact the very people that booked that rate in maybe over 10 months. What sort of hotel is run like that?...answers on an e-card please.

Personally I think it is very reasonable to assume that either the rate had been an early promotion (if the rate had not been too ridiculous to be true) or the hotel had decided to honour the mistake rate due to its own principles.

HRS.COM did inform me with regard to such a situation in Europe that I had the right to claim on airfares and other incidental expenses based on my reliance on the hotel honouring my booking.

No advice intended...just what the OTA legal team told me I was entitled to.

chokdee

duplicate post

Adam1222

We will just have to agree to disagree.

chokdee

OK

Cana2013

Thanks for the information, but I probably do not take the risk like that. It might not worth the time to go through the dispute process.

chokdee

So I find what is IMO a cracking deal in S E Asia for 4 nights with one room(and a few bits bolted on) only available for one person and one room although space for another . I would love to book myself but nowadays with a young one at school my hands are tied.

So my dilemma ...I could just post as a one off and any tom, dick or harry would just book it on the free cancellation policy...and it may well never be utilised if honoured...and goes into the waste bin of good chance mistake rates.

Personally I would like to see someone genuinely benefit from this since although I say it myself I was rather pleased to have spotted it in the jungle of rates out there!

So can anybody suggest a good way of doing this to ensure this mistake rate goes to a good home?

Please ...no PM's...

JohnnyColombia

Oooh a new thread, Chokdee's opaque deals. You reveal what the deal is without saying the property, or the exact dates.

Whichever FTer then responds to confirm they

a) Are interested in the area/country,
b) Have rough plans and the means to travel then gets the details.

I think FTers would be fairly honest in this sense.

4 nights in SE Asia in November, I'd be interested. 4 nights in Jan 2014. I am obviously going to be in Chicago

hallenCH

Hmm, I'd be keen especially if it is in Malaysia in June

Daniel Smith

it's a nice information thanks for sharing :-p