Gents, anyone clued up on legalities of online hotel booking and rate honouring?

Was hunting for a last minute summer holiday ideas a couple of days ago and found what looked like a glitch on a major European hotels website (their own, not a 3rd party booking.com or similar) where they were showing the same rate for a 1 bed hotel room as a luxury 3 bedroom suite with hot tub on balcony blah blah blah. Anyway, to cut a long story short, i reserved a week's stay in the 3 bed suite and have received the booking confirmation showing the rate and credit card it was guaranteed with etc. However, going back on the website today they have obviously fixed the issue and the rate for a new booking over those dates is now 5 times higher than showing on my confirmation email and even the 1 bed standard room is higher than my rate confirmation

The room wasn't prepaid, just guaranteed but there are no obvious T&C's on the website with any disclaimers about inaccuracies not being honoured...the booking was direct with the hotel chain website and my online account still shows the low rate showing under the reservation. before I book flights I want to be sure there are no nasty surprises when me, the wife and kids turn up at the reception desk to check in and get hit with a £5k bill...

Its been a couple of days since i made the reservation and I have deliberately left flights in case they sent an email cancelling the reservation blaming internet gremlins or similar, but i think if they have had time to recognise their mistake, correct the issue then they would have been in touch by now if they were going to do anything.

Does anyone know if they have a legal obligation to honour the rates agreed and sent by email, or am i kidding myself that its too good to be true? I have their top level loyalty card and stay in their hotels every week so i guess i could try using that in my favour if they do come back, but it would be good to know my legal rights as well... '08 Audi S6 Avant 5.2 V10 with Milltek non-resonated. Vrrrrrrmmmmmph
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ring or email them and confirm the cost... ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
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^+1

Better check with them before than lose an argument at the check-in desk and ruin a good holiday....

If its too good to be true then it normally is....

As above but dont let on, i'd ring up to pay the outstanding balance and if it comes back as stupid you'll have to ask for your deposit back

99% of the time they will wriggle out of it by saying the room isn't really available or such balls but it depends on the manager at the time and what they are like. If they are chocka then you have no chance, but if its a quieter week then you could get away with it some money is better than no money! FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
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I've been in the same situation. Although booked and paid for on credit card, the terms stated that booking only confirmed on their receipt and acceptance of completed booking form. I called them up explained I had already booked and paid for holiday and even though they did not have to the honoured the original price (about 2k) less. I would give them a call, be polite asked to be passed up the management chain and see how you get on. It will come down to their booking t&c's as to at what point a contract is made - you could call them up and ask for the booking term and conditions.

Thanks guys. All good feedback!

Calling them was my first option, but then I thought why the hell should I? their mistake - up to them to bring it to my attention...

The thing is that I have the confirmed booking form (called "reservation confirmation") sent from the hotel themselves and it specifically states the room type, nightly rate and the total reservation cost. Had I not checked the website again, I would have been none the wiser about the issue and just turned up at the hotel (with the printed email evidence obviously) expecting to pay the agreed rate .

If they were seriously considering cancelling or ammending the reservation, I think they would have been in touch by now. They have both my email and mobile numbers and am currently staying in one of their hotels so have 3 ways to get hold of me....My online account shows the live reservation and still shows the lower rate, which tells me that they have not cancelled or adjusted anything at their end....yet...

Flights for me and the family are only £1k and there is no penalty for cancelling the room right up to day of arrival (perk of my loyalty card status) so I'm only really risking a £1k outlay against a £4k+ payoff. Not bad odds in my mind....worst case is they get in touch after I book the flights and we have to some kind of compromise on the price or perhaps downgrade the room type (which would still be acceptable for the price I paid..).

I have a feeling though that because they have had almost £100k from me in room and restaurant sales over the last 4 years and this will continue for at least another 12 months, they may take this one on the chin....

Think I'll leave it till next week and if i hear nothing and online account doesnt show any changes then I'll book the flights and hope for the best. Knowing my luck though, flight cost will have doubled by then and then I'll get the call from the hotel the next day

p.s. I actually booked a second week as well as I wasn't sure of dates, so am tempted to try and sell the 2nd week off and make a healthy profit!! '08 Audi S6 Avant 5.2 V10 with Milltek non-resonated. Vrrrrrrmmmmmph
'59 Ford Kuga Diesel (boring but AWD and 40mpg...)
2007 (07) Subaru Forester XTen 2.5 Turbo. (Roundabouts are fun again!)
2007 (07) 4.4 V8 Vogue (gone)

My experiences accross the world is that they will charge you according to what you have booked and the costs as indicated on the confirmation. So you should be fine...

Regarding selling off the second week, think you can forget that since who ever is going to buy it from you he/she will need to identify by passport these days when they check in. If it's someone else then the person on who's name the booking is confirmed they are not obligated to let the person in or against different charges. They may even charge you for not cancelling your booking on time as well.

I will cancel the second week and enjoy the first week!!  Mike.

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But I can change the name on the reservation online......

Only thing I can't do is change the number of people on the booking as that results in a £4k charge (reassess rates based on new information)...  '08 Audi S6 Avant 5.2 V10 with Milltek non-resonated. Vrrrrrrmmmmmph
'59 Ford Kuga Diesel (boring but AWD and 40mpg...)
2007 (07) Subaru Forester XTen 2.5 Turbo. (Roundabouts are fun again!)
2007 (07) 4.4 V8 Vogue (gone)

Hotel room prices are up and down all the time - theres nothing to say it wasn't an offer and just because the price has changed now means nothing - prices increase as availability reduces

I've had some very good rates over the years and never had a hotel try to back out.

The bigger the chain the better as well - the local staff won't care and they won't want the potential negative publicity either.

Sounds like the rate was 'reasonable' - not like it was £1 a night.

If the second week is a completely separate booking, then you should be OK as long as you can edit in advance - and also probably need to explain the risk to the purchaser......