Will pre-paid mispriced hotel room be honoured?

Welshdebtor

JamieT1977 wrote: »

Had you pre-paid though?

My arguement is that TR and OP have a legally binding contract as money has changed hands at a agreed amount.
Yes TR have clauses in their T&C's

After reading online reviews I now doubt they even stick to them lol.

I think the above is correct, will look into it with a friend of mine and post back. Common sense says if I had bought a TV from Currys at £99, a few days later they can not come knocking at my door asking for another £200 because they made a mistake????????????? Like I said will ask my friend Ben and post back.

Welshdebtor

Ben says:

Hi

There have been several high-profile cases where retailers have mispriced their goods or services and a lucky few have managed to purchase them at the reduced rates.

If this is the case and it wasn't simply a promotional offer, then you may find that the retailer can try and claim it was a mistake and refuse your purchase. This can depend on its terms and conditions so it is worth checking what they say.

You will be in a stronger position if you have had your money debited then you can claim that a legally binding contract was formed. (so original poster, check the money has been taken off your card).However the hotel may claim that you took unfair advantage of the mispriced item.( If so argue that other agencies had prices in the same range)


If they do not say anything until you get there then it will be much harder for them to turn you away once you are there. If, however, they inform you beforehand you should maintain that a legally binding contract was formed, especially as your account has been debited and threaten to take them to a small claims court to have your claim heard.

The red are my personal additions (not legally qualified).
Ben is a practising solicitor, regulated by the SRA.


So it seems JamieT1977 had a correct point, which you all doubted
I only came here after hunting after reading his leaving post. I so hope this did not play a part in anything behind his reasons.

robstersgirl

I think sometimes hotels just like to book rooms I stayed in Bournemouth last Wednesday ,booked on last minute .com and paid £29 for a twin room ,the hotel tarriff was actually £135 a night and they gave us a free upgrade to a £155 room.
I would be suspicious if it were a popular night Fri/Sat eg but if it is a midweek booking it may well just be a case of them filling rooms so they sell more dinners?

Mark_Hewitt

sittinpretty wrote: »

My god, if the voucher did state that I had paid only £20 for a £320 room there is no way I would turn up, no way, I would be totally embarrassed. I can just imagine the seething look of hatred I would get from the receptionist, rightly thinking "how dare this scruffy scum turn up to a 5 star hotel at this price, lowering the tone"!

No way! I'd make doubly sure the receptionist knew just how good a deal I was getting!

robstersgirl

Mark_Hewitt wrote: »

No way! I'd make doubly sure the receptionist knew just how good a deal I was getting!

Me too!! :rotfl:

triggerhappy_2

You missed a bit

Welshdebtor wrote: »

You will be in a stronger position if you have had your money debited then you can claim that a legally binding contract was formed...

...with the travel agent, not the hotel.

If I started a website where I said I could sell you a new MacBook for £200 and that buying through me was "effectively" making a live and direct purchase with Apple, but no such agreement existed between my company and Apple allowing me to sell at that price, who would your grievance be with? I'm pretty sure most people wouldn't march up to an Apple store demanding a MacBook for £200 in that situation.

Welshdebtor

triggerhappy wrote: »

You missed a bit



...with the travel agent, not the hotel.

If I started a website where I said I could sell you a new MacBook for £200 and that buying through me was "effectively" making a live and direct purchase with Apple, but no such agreement existed between my company and Apple allowing me to sell at that price, who would your grievance be with? I'm pretty sure most people wouldn't march up to an Apple store demanding a MacBook for £200 in that situation.

But Travel Republic are not travel agents, they act as travel providers/agents for Hotels (among other things such as flights).
So it would be them you took to court (small claims) not the hotel. And I am sure the 5* hotel concerned would also take them to court if mis-selling their rooms or indeed impersonating bying an agent of theirs.

Will use some contacts to dig in Travel Republic for you, but to be fair can you see all 4 agencies trying to con you???? Maybe...but unlikely!!!

Welshdebtor

triggerhappy wrote: »

You missed a bit



...with the travel agent, not the hotel.

If I started a website where I said I could sell you a new MacBook for £200 and that buying through me was "effectively" making a live and direct purchase with Apple, but no such agreement existed between my company and Apple allowing me to sell at that price, who would your grievance be with? I'm pretty sure most people wouldn't march up to an Apple store demanding a MacBook for £200 in that situation.

Re-read your qoute now or should that be my quote followed by your comment??? lol

If payment is debited then a more secure legally binding agreement has taken place, (if Ben is correct). Regardless of who debited it, Travel Republic or the hotel, though would guess it's TR. If my guess is correct, then any disagreement is between TR and the hotel. If the price TR sold to you at is wrong, then it's up to TR to pay the difference to the hotel. However if what I have read here is right TR mention something about misquote of prices in their T+C?Is that right? If they ring before taking payment/debiting it from your account then they could use this to refuse the offer, ask for more money, offer a refund, providing it is in their T+C. If they try and say it was a mistake, then ask how come others had the rooms at a low price (asking my contact at present if all 4 use the same middleman, if indeed they do).

I can understand your worry, because your booking is with Travel Republic and not the hotel direct. But I explained the story to Ben and the above was his response.

If I find out more I will post back.

Welshdebtor

Also have you checked if the money has been taken from your account?
And what is the hotel?

triggerhappy_2

Welshdebtor wrote: »

Will use some contacts to dig in Travel Republic for you, but to be fair can you see all 4 agencies trying to con you???? Maybe...but unlikely!!!

Not entirely sure who TR are, but given 4 agencies made the same mistake, my guess would be that they're buying through another singular agent, and definitely not dealing directly with the hotel.

If there is a deal between the four agents and the hotel directly, then the fault would likely be with the hotel, but like I said earlier in this thread, it's unlikely as these agencies state that they don't have a direct live link to the hotel's booking systems, which is the only place the mistake could have occurred. The more likely situation is that a mistake has been made by a travel wholesaler and these agencies have subsequently 'bought' these rooms at this price. If the latter, it isn't really the hotel's problem, as the OP hasn't entered into a contract with the hotel, but rather have a contract with the agency, who has a contract with a wholesaler (who will be a travel agent), who has (presumably) broken their deal with the hotel by selling at less than cost price. At no point has the hotel offered the room at that price, so the OP will likely get nowhere if they try to go down that route.

The other possibility is that the wholesaler has marked their prices down to get rid of a block booking they can't shift, but it sounds unlikely and would get them into a heap of trouble with the hotel for devaluing their product. Still, in this case, the contract stops with the agent until the hotel confirms acceptance of the booking.

There's a bit of educated guesswork in the above, but if I was the OP I'd be looking for clarification from TR, not the hotel.