Is My Room Free???
 

I was hoping to get some advice here. Perhaps some of the legal experts could clarify this for me.

I just made a reservation for a hotel stay in Santa Barbara for 1 night. The hotel is named the Hotel Santa Barbara and it's run by the Utell chain. It's right on State St. in downtown SB and looks to be nice. I was very surprised to check the Utell site and, after entering all the required info, the room I was looking for was quoted as being available for $0.00 I figured that if I selected that rate the system might correct the error in the pricing and list the real rate. After going through 3 seperate pages, it continued to quote me the rate of $0.00.

I went ahead and booked the room for $0.00 and was sent a Confirmation e-mail which confirmed my rate of $0.00 (copy of that e-mail posted below.)

My question; Is this hotel required to honor this confirmed rate of ZERO? I seem to recall reading that when the airline sites mistakenly offer rates that are never meant to be posted, they are still required to honor that rate. I guess the difference here is that I haven't actually paid for the room yet, but it is being held with my credit card. I'm really not expecting to get it for free, but it does make me curious to know if the law is on my side or not?

Confirmation E-mail -

Chain: Axcess Hotels
Property Name: Hotel Santa Barbara
Property Address: 533 State Street, Santa Barbara, California, United States, 93101
Property Phone Number: (1 805) 9579300
Reservation Phone: Axcess on 1-800-207-6900 (US and Canada)
Arrival Date: Thursday, October 19, 2000
Departure Date: Friday, October 20, 2000
Room Description: Deluxe Room 2 Queen Beds
Rate Description: Corporate Rate

Number of Adults: 3
Number of Rooms/Suites: 1
Number of Beds: 2
Bed Type Preference: Double Bed
Quoted Rate: 0.00 United States Dollars
Confirmed Rate: 0.00 United States Dollars
Smoking Preference: Non-Smoking room requested

Thanks in advance


CA Platinum

Same thing happened to me this week at Utell for AMS. And boy are they giving me a hard time about it. Not that I expected to get a room for ZERO but they have no sense of honoring a rate. I have been told that confirmation is just letting me know I have a reservation NOT a guarantee of the rate. Now what if we were not talking about a $0.00 rate but maybe my confirmation states $100 and I check-in and they tell me $200. They are not required to honor the $100 rate? Does not seem right to me.

The problem is that Utell does not run hotels. It is a reservation agent for independent hotels. Obviously there are some serious flaws in their software, but I doubt the hotel would honor the error made by their agent. I would call Utell or the hotel to verify a rate and get it in writing.

[This message has been edited by TerryK (edited 09-28-2000).]

I got an automated reservation at 0.00DM for the Dusseldorf Do at the Nikko. I contemplated showing up with documentation in hand but chickened out and called the US reservations number. They said no way would the hotel honor a zero DM rate. I was told at the supervisor level that I risked showing up only to be told they had no room at all for me.

The problem with a zero rate as opposed to an incorrectly low rate is that logically the customer should realize a zero rate is a computer glitch and error.

under 'swiss' laws, if an error/mistake of an offer is obvious (and by error), the seller is not obliged to fullfill.

(I hope my english translation makes some sense)

I had a similar problem with a Marriott in Vail. I booked a room on the internet for $8.50 instead of $88.50. Marriott Customer Service refused to honor the rate.

Rudi, your English is correct as usual. An offer that is too good to be true should not be expected to be honored in the US either. I have used Utell before and have called their toll free number- they often have very good specials listed on their website and they do honor those if you call them to reserve. Check out their specials- I used them most recently for a hotel room in Paris,in winter, and their price was at least a third cheaper than any other web offerring or the hotel directly and their prices often include breakfast and taxes.

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Just another example of poor service and the airlines/hotels and the rest of the travel industry not accepting any responsibility.

If an item scans lower than the correct price at the supermarket, I get the low price. In many cases, I have seen supermarkets give you not one, but two of the items FREE! Same thing in department stores. Mis-marked merchandise is almost always honored.

this brings up an interesting point that frequent travellers often contend with: the difference between legal obligation and just plain good customer service. perhaps legally a vendor is not required to honor a 'misprint' (though usually they have to state somewhere that they are not responsible for misprints), but in the interest of good customer relations, IMHO they should make at least some significant adjustment. i do see a $0 rate as an exception, since anyone can figure that is an error. however, in many of these cases, sticking to the letter of the law costs the vendor more in good will and future business, than a good faith adjustment (perhaps a significantly lower rate or a significant upgrade) would. seems like common sense.

and i would definitely let the hotel know that there are errors on the website that may reflect badly on them, since utell is just their agent.

How about the opposite: Hotels that automatically tack-on extra charges that weren't included in the room rate and were never disclosed?

Examples:

Marriott hotel in Miami adding a $7.50 per night "resort service charge."

Red Lion in Eugene, Oregon adding a $5.00 per night "telephone access charge."

Salishan Resort on the Oregon Coast adding a $6.00 per night "resort service charge."

The resort service charges were explained to me as a automatic fee to cover things like towels and pool maintenence. The telephone access charge was assessed to cover the cost of having a telephone in the room.

I always refuse to pay these garbage fees. What's next -- "Hot Water Service Fee?"

Well, it shouldn't be surprising that I just looked up the Hotel Santa Barbara on the Travelocity website and find that there are no rooms available now. When you're offering them for $0.00 it tends to sell itself http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

I booked a hotel on travelweb.com for the SLC Sheraton, didnt say anything........ verified the rate with the front desk before arriving and got a clubfoor room for $1.

nice.....ya?

I booked two rooms through AMEX Platinum service for Munich during the Oktoberfest. Couldn't believe they actually confirmed the rooms through Utell, for a hotel in the city center for 250DM. Called the hotel directly and they said they wouldn't honor the reservation as they were overbooked already.

Called back to Utell and they said they had made a mistake. They weren't able to get me a room in Munich (luckily a friend was able to) and offered a two nite comp. stay at any hotel in their chain! They represent some really nice hotels around the world so I'm planning my next trip soon http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I'm no lawyer, but from my time in the insurance business (NOT a salesman - a computer nerd), there is a contract law principle called "scrivener's error" (I'm sure someone can correct the spelling if I'm off).

It is basically a way for common sense to prevail. For example, if someone is selling you an insurance policy for $100,000, but your policy comes through for $1,000,000 with no increase in premiums, the insurance company can correct this without your consent.

This is the same principle. A hotel can't back out on a quoted rate of $100 to charge you $120. It is reasonable of you to expect a hotel room for $100.

It is unreasonable of you to expect a hotel room for free. Therefore they can back out of this.


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