dlouise37

Two 3-day bookings for me(back-to-back). One pre-paid, one "confirmed" and no email on either.

.....and welcome to Flyertalk Walouigi

djohannw

Sorry for causing mass-emotions here...I myself have not gotten the eMail, just got that from someone posting on the board that was the original source of that special-rate. And from what I can judge I have no reason to believe that the person posting the eMail just made it up.

Over there that person claims he had booked a refundable rate and to my knowledge has been a very early booking in terms of when he booked yesterday. I myself booked later in the evening (also a fully refundable rate) and have not received anything yet.

So maybe the person at the hotel has just started sending out eMails and has not gotten much forward in his quest to eMail everyone, or he was stopped (by ICHotel's corporate?) once the eMail got published here...

Greetings - Dirk

Walouigi

THANK YOU ^

gemac

The above would be true if this were a standalone hotel. In fact, it is a Holiday Inn, part of the InterContinental Hotels Group. These bookings were made on Travelocity's web site, or the website of IHG. Both those websites have guarantees on their website, and the e-mail posted above is a violation of both guarantees. These are the organizations that have to think about losing repeat business.

The e-mail is obviously an attempt by someone, probably local, to bluff his way out of this error. IHG's website states that most hotels are independently owned. What will happen when Travelocity and IHG get involved? Does Travelocity think that the above response will leave a smile on its customers' faces? Will IHG honor their guarantee? Stay tuned.

robbob90210

All quiet on this front.

1 booking on ICH
1 booking on Travelcity
Brothers booking on Zuji.com.au

Nothing yet....
All booked for the last weeks of Roctober

wanaflyforless

No emails for me either. I did just email Travelocity though asking for confirmation from them. I think they are far more likely to honor this than IC.

Nicksterguy

Dirk -

NO REASON TO APOLOGIZE! This stuff happens here all the time. The email may be real BUT there have been some ones made up on here before - believe it or not.

Nick

wobbly wings

Perhaps the OP or a mod can stick a RATE GONE in front of the topic...

tinkybelle

I did 2 separate bookings in 2 seperate names very early on in the day and have recieved only confirmations immediately after the booking
and no other followup/
I can NOT imagine ICH not honoring these rates as they are from their official website. ^

bhatnasx

I don't believe the OP has the ability to do that, but I certainly do!

bhatnasx
Mileage Run Moderator

PS - I hope this gets honored, like tinkybelle, I haven't heard otherwise & booked a week to visit my old roommate who's a few hours away by bus.

demue

Okay guys so here is the scoop. Just got a call from the HI Phuket basically stating the facts as described in the email previously posted. Power outage while trying to update rates, no standard rooms available because to be renovated etc. Offer was to book at new rate of Baht 3,??? for the next higher room category or cancel.

So far so good (or bad). First of all I feel sorry for the people that have to call as they are left with nothing to offer and will have to take the heat from some upset customers. I told the lady that I'm not agreeing to either one of the offered choices, that I will hold on to my reservation for now, and requested some explanation in writting instead of over the phone (alas no proof otherwise). Secondly I told her that I do not intend to take this out on the property but that the GM and maybe the corporate folks at ICHG should think about this mistake and how they want to handle it.

If we as customers make an erroneous booking and want to change or cancel it later we will have to bear whatever charges (pay full stay or first night charge) are stated in the T&C's. Do we get a break? 99.9% of the cases - NO? We just have to suck it up and live with it.

While I personnally do not want to make this property suffer too much as the staff is very nice and was hit hard enough by the Tsunami, I still have to say that I'm a bit disappointed by the rather unimaginative way of trying to wiggle out of the situation. There is not even an attempt being made to offer something to the affected customers, be it a special rate or a free night with x paid nights at regular rate, ... etc. Be imaginative and think of something that creates a win-win in some way. Heck, might as well give PC points good for a nights stay at a HI property (alas 15K) whatever works for them.

Why was the rate error accepted at HI Anaheim? Because in the US the property and ICHG could get sued based on their own reservation confirmations send out and the T&C's due to U.S. consumer protection laws. In Thailand this scenario appears very unlikely as the courts wont really care a lot. (and I do not intend to find out as I have stated above that my issue does not lie with the property but the general policies applied)

To be continued.

Cheers ...

johnep1

You could always sue them in the US. Why bother going to Thailand to do so?

jpdx

I'm glad to see we're already talking about lawsuits.

johnep1

I believe it's in the FT T&C that all discussion of mistake rates must turn to lawsuits before the 200th post.

gemac

These rates were booked on Travelocity or ICH websites. Each website has a guarantee. If they are not going to fulfill the terms of their guarantee, I think that they should take the guarantee off the website, and put in its place what they will do. My problem is not with the hotel, it's with the website.