yyzlhr

There are actually hotel chains that do do this.... I wont say which ones in the UK, as I had the misfortune to work at one.

dhoward

well i think thats disgusting - if they offer a rate they should honour it no matter what. thats the risk they take by offering it.

GUWonder

Yes, and it probably happens in some places; and in some cases it probably has a legal remedy.

What would be interesting is if people who book through certain sites fail to abide by the terms of the confirmed reservations, get charged for such failure and then decide to use situations such as the Bora Bora fiasco to back out unilaterally too. I can hear it now:

CT-UK

All,

I am trying to get an example list of other companies who ahve honored such mistakes in the lat few years. If anybody has any CONFIRMED info please could they let me know.

I have got the BMI LV fare already [B]apdune and the Treavelcity Fiji mistake from Premex[B]

Cheers

billycwhatup

What all of you would-be leagal eagles are neglecting is the absurdity of the originial rate. Any court would begin by determining whether both parties were coming at it from a position of commercial reason. The very nature of this thread, combined with common sense, shows that all of you knew you had found an error.

I'm not playing holier than thou, but stop pretending that you thought it was "just a great rate." I have yet to see a thread that stretches to 11 pages about "$139 Weekends at the Westin Philadelphia!!."

Presumably, Starwood will make some kind of goodwill gesture in the interest of customer loyalty. But, the concept that any legal entity in the US or UK would find that an automated reservation confirmation constitutes contractual acceptance when the person making the reservation knows full well that the rate is an error is absurd.

And before you start piling on William - I challenge you to find a "William" in any other forum on this board or any other. I think Starwood is very smart for understanding that a cult-like group of loyal guests hang out here and that William is a great ambassador. That said, he's helped me with legit problems, answer questions and has done so with an e-smile. Don't start jumping on this guy because you're trying to get away with something that you know is wrong.

peter42

German courts have ruled many times in favour of the customer in similiar cases, if a confirmation was sent and not just an order receipt. According to German (and as some people stated, obviously UK) law a confirmation by the seller constitutes the conclusion of a binding contract.

dhoward

i'll tell you what really got my back up was the tone of the message from the lady at the lanesborough...as if i had hacked in to the computers and put the rate in myself. it was their mistake!

if she had sounded as if she was actually sorry, but she wanted to ask me if i would be so kind as to cancel the res. i probably would have. thank you mr d, we'll still send out that bottle of champagne that was included in the rate. we really appreciate it.

i'm happy and they are happy and all its cost them is a case or two of champagne.

but that moment has passed me thinks.

wobbly wings

I would respectfully suggest you try bidding 80$ for the Meridien 5* in central London (hotwire, pcln, ...) for a few monday nights in the middle of the summer on Priceline and if your CC gets charged, call them up and argue with them you never intended to book the room because it was clearly not possible they would honour it because of the "absurdity of the rate" given that their standard rate is about 400$.

Alternatively, try booking any non-changable rate for a different date and argue it was a date entry error therefore your offer is clearly invalid.

As a further alternative you can write a small script linking up to a browser that automatically confirms a counteroffer on priceline to save time and money of the secretary processing the travel arrangements for staff. Once that is accepted one can then try and argue that it was an automatic process, and therefore it could not be honoured.

I would be interested to hear if you are succesful.

If this is the line the hotel takes, at the end of the day this is a confirmed reservation. Customers and the hotel may just have to accept not to be able to resolve the dispute. A small claims court filing costs 10Pounds and will provide the answer to both parties.

billycwhatup

Are you really arguing that the Meridien is roughly comparable with the Lanesborough?

rgm18

I think everyone just needs to chill out till we get the official SPG response....William???

anonplz

That's exactly how I see it.

LH738

Then take the Marriott County Hall. They sold many rooms for 81GBP or 85GBP. This was an official rate in the past for Marriott Rewards members booking on marriott.com.

dhoward

to be fair, le meridien and lanesborough are both rated 5* hotels, both operated by a worldwide chain and are both in the same area of london. for someone unfamiliar with the lanesborough, nothing would distinguish the two on paper? are we saying that it's alright for the le meridien to offer a low rate but because the lanesborough is seen by people who know it to be better, they obviously can not offer a low rate?

wobbly wings

All I am saying is that they are classified as "Luxurious 5*" in most travel literature I am aware of... It would seem to me to be beyond the reasonable expectation of customers to have been at both properties and be able to be aware of the difference given their classification. As was mentioned earlier on, if not even an SPG CSR can spot it as a mistake it would seem unnatural to pretend customers can.

But this is only what I think, others may disagree.

GUWonder

I agree with you completely. But it's probably useless making the point to certain parties. Some of us might actually prefer LeMeridien Picadilly or Grosvenor House to Lanesborough (for different reasons) and would have taken that at 40 pounds but settled for Lanesborough at 35 pounds.

At least with LeMeridien, there would be no ambiguity and they recognize their loyalty program (generally).