Hotel advertised rate by mistake... Now asking us to pay the difference!

ShootForTheMoon

Hi Guys,

My partner and I recently booked a hotel in Bath, for a luxury spa romantic getaway... When we came across the deal (£50p/n in a £350+ hotel :eek:) we thought it was a bit too good to be true - turns out, it was!!
My OH had the below e-mail yesterday from the hotel:

"We are contacting you regards to a booking which you have made for the 19th January 2017.
Unfortunately it has only come to light that the rate published for January 2017 via our hotel website were in fact incorrect and we are therefore unable to honour the rate of £50.00 We are of course contacting you in order that we can rectify this situation quickly and efficiently, though we do apologise for the inconvenience this may cause you.
We would be grateful if you could contact the hotel as soon as conveniently possible in order that we can either amend or cancel your reservation.
We appreciate your cooperation and understanding on this matter and look forward to hearing from you soon.
Kind Regards"


We have already booked, paid for and had confirmation of the rate of £50p/n... Am I right in thinking that, as this is the advertised rate, I have entered into a contract with them and therefore am entitled to stay at the agreed rate?? I appreciate its a mistake somewhere along the line, but surely that isn't our problem?!

Any help would be much appreciated, I plan to contact them, as requested, later on today.

Thanks in anticipation,

Shoot x

glentoran99

No they don't have to honour the error, you knew it was a mistake as it was obvious

Caz3121

ShootForTheMoon wrote: »

Am I right in thinking that, as this is the advertised rate, I have entered into a contract with them and therefore am entitled to stay at the agreed rate?? I appreciate its a mistake somewhere along the line, but surely that isn't our problem?!

no they do not have to honour an error
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3073916
I expect if you read through their T&Cs there will be a section on website errors that will also confirm this
As per their mail, the options are to pay the correct price or cancel

ShootForTheMoon

I'm trying to find T&Cs on their website with no joy, but thanks for the prompt replies!

glentoran99

there is an option 3


See if you can negotiate a discount due to your disappointment and you were really looking forward to the stay

ShootForTheMoon

Good plan Glentoran... I will see how the phonecall goes!!

naedanger

ShootForTheMoon wrote: »

We have already booked, paid for and had confirmation of the rate of £50p/n... Am I right in thinking that, as this is the advertised rate, I have entered into a contract with them and therefore am entitled to stay at the agreed rate??

As others have said you need to check the terms and conditions to see at what point in the sales process a contract is formed. If the contract has not been formed then the company can withdraw the offer. (The obvious example is online retailers' terms and conditions usually say a contract is only formed on delivery or dispatch. So they can change their mind on whether or not to supply the item up to the point it is delivered or dispatched.)

If you have a contract then normally you can demand the other side honours it. However I believe if it contains a manifest error that they probably don't need to honour it.

But the threshold set for what constitutes a manifest error is very high. Personally I don't think £50 p/n in a hotel where it is normally £350 a night is a manifest error, as hotels can offer very steep discounts in certain circumstances. (It may be a probable or even a likely error but that is not the same as a manifest error.)

Manifest error is an error that is obvious and indisputable, that warrants reversal on appeal. It is an indisputable error of judgment in complete disregard of the facts of the case, the applicable rule or law and credible evidence. [I am not saying this is the legal UK definition.]

AJXX

From what looks to be a boiler plate email I suspect that they advertised the price wrong and became fully booked will people paying well below the standard rate = too much of a loss for them.

Perhaps if it was only one or two they would have let the mistake slide and keep the £50 rate offered, but I suspect they simply became booked up fully due to the discount.


Massively inconvenient for the OP but you can sort of see why they're doing it, they are running a business after all.

glentoran99

naedanger wrote: »

As others have said you need to check the terms and conditions to see at what point in the sales process a contract is formed. If the contract has not been formed then the company can withdraw the offer. (The obvious example is online retailers' terms and conditions usually say a contract is only formed on delivery or dispatch. So they can change their mind on whether or not to supply the item up to the point it is delivered or dispatched.)

If you have a contract then normally you can demand the other side honours it. However I believe if it contains a manifest error that they probably don't need to honour it.

But the threshold set for what constitutes a manifest error is very high. Personally I don't think £50 p/n in a hotel where it is normally £350 a night is a manifest error, as hotels can offer very steep discounts in certain circumstances. (It may be a probable or even a likely error but that is not the same as a manifest error.)

Manifest error is an error that is obvious and indisputable, that warrants reversal on appeal. It is an indisputable error of judgment in complete disregard of the facts of the case, the applicable rule or law and credible evidence. [I am not saying this is the legal UK definition.]

Not sure a "manifest error" is applicable here that applies were two parties disagree and cannot be what the two parties agreed

ShootForTheMoon

I totally understand why they are doing it and would hate for a member of their staff to have a hard time over a mistake...

I've had no joy finding T&C's, however, on 26th Jan, we received an email stating the following:

We are pleased to confirm your reservation for 1 Deluxe Room for the above dates departing 20 January 2017 at GBP 50.00 per night. Includes accommodation, breakfast, a 25 minute Spa treatment per person, £35pp towards dinner. Rooms are available from 2.30pm, but should you choose to arrive earlier you are welcome to enjoy other areas of the House and its grounds. Check out time is 11.00am on the day of your departure.
Your confirmation number for this reservation is: 12823SB001645

To me, this is where the contract is formed, although I am no expert on civil law... I haven't had chance to ring yet, but when I do maybe I will request they email me a copy of the T&C's and chance my arm!!

Thanks again for the replies!!

naedanger

glentoran99 wrote: »

Not sure a "manifest error" is applicable here that applies were two parties disagree and cannot be what the two parties agreed

I am not sure I understand your point.

The other party does not dispute the price advertised was £50. If the contract was formed using this price then I am saying the other party may argue that the price was a manifest error.