Section 75 Claim - Hotel Overcharged Me!

Zibby

Unless things have changed since I last worked at a hotel, booking.com don’t have control over pricing, they are acting as a portal for the hotels.

As a hotel, you log into to the portal, upload your rates and set the level of commission you’re going to pay. Minimum 15%, the higher you pay, the more prominent placing your hotel has. So

Zibby

Sorry, pressed post too soon!

So any rate quoted is solely controlled by the hotel, someone may have uploaded a rate error, but if that’s the case, they should have contacted the OP and cancelled the booking.

brianposter

Ben8282 wrote: »

The real problem here is the failure of the OP to notice that anything was wrong until they got home.
It almost defies belief that the subject of the room rate did not arise when checking in at the hotel. The OP did not think to confirm the room rate with the hotel reception even though they were aware that they were benefiting form a very heavily discounted rate. The hotel reception staff did not inform the OP what the room rate was. The hotel reception staff did not write the room rate anywhere such as on the card which accompanies the room key. Considering that the OP was paying his own bill, the accommodation was not prepaid, this strikes me as being very strange and unusual.
The time to question the room rate was at check in. The hotel would have said 'The room rate is X'. The OP would have replied 'No. I have booked the room through Booking.com who quoted a rate of Y. Here is my confirmation/'
At this point the matter could have been discussed and the OP could have contacted Booking.com to inform them that the hotel was refusing to honour the room rate quoted. Presumably, the hotel would have given a reason for refusing to honour the rate.
Things could then have been taken from there.
But this didn't happen. In addition, the OP checked out of the hotel apparently without checking the bill and (his wife) entered his PIN number (or signed a manual charge form) for the amount of the bill. We are apparently talking about a very substantial additional amount which should have been apparent at the time.
As I stated in my previous reply, the accommodation not being prepaid, I don't believe that the hotel was actually under any legal obligation to honour a rate quoted by a third party, especially if the rate was grossly erroneous (80% discount according to the OP's figures). The hotel may have chosen to honour the rate either as a goodwill gesture or as a matter of policy with regard to bookings originating from Booking.com had they been given the opportunity to do so, but the lack of any discussion of the subject at either check in or check out means that they were actually denied that opportunity.
We have no idea of what contractual agreement (if any) exists between the hotel and Booking.com with regard to disputes of this nature. However, as a general rule, a price is not agreed and a contract of sale is not established until at least a deposit has been paid.

Seems to me that all this is true but irrelevant.
Also seems to me that Amex have got this wrong. Booking.com clearly act as the hotels agent (they say so, and the hotel pays them), so how the booking is made is does not reduce the hotels liability.

Ben8282

brianposter wrote: »

Seems to me that all this is true but irrelevant.
Also seems to me that Amex have got this wrong. Booking.com clearly act as the hotels agent (they say so, and the hotel pays them), so how the booking is made is does not reduce the hotels liability.

I would disagree. It is very relevant. The rather strange failure of anybody to mention the subject of the room rate at check-in and the OP's failure to check the bill and ask about the rate charged at check-out means that NOBODY KNOWS what actually occurred. It is not even apparent that the hotel did actually refuse to honour the rate confirmed at the time of booking.
The e-mail from the hotel confirming that they would refund the OP and their subsequent failure to do so is also very strange as is the alleged responses of Amex which also don't quite add up.

Terry_Towelling

To be frank, everything is odd with this thread.

My main concerns were with the way the issue was presented (sorry, OP). Everything was in the 'first person' (I did this, that or the other) and then suddenly switched to the 'third person' (my wife did...). Even when asking OP to confirm they did stay at the hotel as part of the booking, the answer was equivocal (sorry again, OP) in that OP was there at check out with a suitcase but never actually said they were there as part of the stay - small point maybe, but it all sows seeds of doubt in this reader's mind.

Anyway, our opinions of the rights, wrongs and legalities don't really count for much but I feel we may have uncovered something that may offer OP a glimmer of hope - namely, that the hotel is responsible for all pricing on booking.com, booking.com T&Cs make a good case for saying that OP had entered into a contract with the hotel by making the booking, booking.com was not acting as an agent and that the price quoted at that stage was a misrepresentation that acted as an inducement to stay.

The question of whether a contract truly did exist at the point of reservation is still up for debate and I have asked OP to confirm that he did provide a credit card number at the reservation stage. This would surely be seen as offering 'consideration' to the agreement and, as such, a contract might well have existed. It is highly likely that OP would have been open to a 'No Show' charge on his card account if he hadn't turned up and this, to me, hints that a contract did exist.

It is now down to OP to get his evidence together and push back at Amex (and the hotel) because we can't really offer anything more except to say we hope OP has learned from the experience.

Exodi

Ben8282 wrote: »

The real problem here is the failure of the OP to notice that anything was wrong until they got home.
It almost defies belief that the subject of the room rate did not arise when checking in at the hotel. The OP did not think to confirm the room rate with the hotel reception even though they were aware that they were benefiting form a very heavily discounted rate. The hotel reception staff did not inform the OP what the room rate was. The hotel reception staff did not write the room rate anywhere such as on the card which accompanies the room key. Considering that the OP was paying his own bill, the accommodation was not prepaid, this strikes me as being very strange and unusual.
The time to question the room rate was at check in. The hotel would have said 'The room rate is X'. The OP would have replied 'No. I have booked the room through Booking.com who quoted a rate of Y. Here is my confirmation/'
At this point the matter could have been discussed and the OP could have contacted Booking.com to inform them that the hotel was refusing to honour the room rate quoted. Presumably, the hotel would have given a reason for refusing to honour the rate.
Things could then have been taken from there.
But this didn't happen. In addition, the OP checked out of the hotel apparently without checking the bill and (his wife) entered his PIN number (or signed a manual charge form) for the amount of the bill. We are apparently talking about a very substantial additional amount which should have been apparent at the time.
As I stated in my previous reply, the accommodation not being prepaid, I don't believe that the hotel was actually under any legal obligation to honour a rate quoted by a third party, especially if the rate was grossly erroneous (80% discount according to the OP's figures). The hotel may have chosen to honour the rate either as a goodwill gesture or as a matter of policy with regard to bookings originating from Booking.com had they been given the opportunity to do so, but the lack of any discussion of the subject at either check in or check out means that they were actually denied that opportunity.
We have no idea of what contractual agreement (if any) exists between the hotel and Booking.com with regard to disputes of this nature. However, as a general rule, a price is not agreed and a contract of sale is not established until at least a deposit has been paid.

Sorry but I have to stop you there Ben.

As a business user, I frequently book different hotels (maybe twice a week) and I've likely stayed at over 100 different hotels through booking.com

It isn't common for the room rate to be discussed at check in, most of the time I just show my confirmation email to the reception (or if I'm particularly tired just mumble my name), they ask me whether I want to pay now or when I leave, skim through the breakfast arrangements and tell me what room I'm in.

I also don't 'confirm' the hotel room rate with the receptionist, I think this would be quite a strange thing to do considering that they'll already be aware of your booking in advance automatically. I do take on board your point of confirming it if the OP was aware of the substantial discount.

You then say about the receptionist writing the room rate on the back of the room key wallet? To date, I have never had this occur to me, what a truly bizarre thing to do? You say the receptionist not doing this is unusual because the OP is paying their own bill and the accommodation is not pre-paid? I really don't understand, even if the OP's company was paying for this trip, most of the time he'd still use a credit card like everyone else.

We do agree on one thing though; the OP is unquestionably a bit of a wally for not checking his hotel bill (and likewise, I can not fathom someone letting someone else pay £600+ for them without checking the receipt).

Maybe our experiences vary but as the hotels evidently have access to the booking.com booking information, re-re-reconfirming your booking details is a pointless exercise.

EDIT:

Ben8282 wrote: »

I would disagree. It is very relevant. The rather strange failure of anybody to mention the subject of the room rate at check-in and the OP's failure to check the bill and ask about the rate charged at check-out means that NOBODY KNOWS what actually occurred. It is not even apparent that the hotel did actually refuse to honour the rate confirmed at the time of booking.
The e-mail from the hotel confirming that they would refund the OP and their subsequent failure to do so is also very strange as is the alleged responses of Amex which also don't quite add up.

Strange but plausible. Me thinks the likely scenario is the hotel accidentally uploaded the wrong room rate.

brianposter

Terry_Towelling wrote: »

I feel we may have uncovered something that may offer OP a glimmer of hope ........

The OP says that he has evidence for the price he booked.
I would suggest therefore that the only defence available to the hotel/Amex would be to convince a court that the prices displayed on Booking.com were "obviously incorrect".

hunte78

I'm sure you have done this OP, but double check all details on your confirmation from booking.com, could it be that you screenshot the nightly rate rather than full trip? It's such a massive difference.

HHarry

brianposter wrote: »

The OP says that he has evidence for the price he booked.
I would suggest therefore that the only defence available to the hotel/Amex would be to convince a court that the prices displayed on Booking.com were "obviously incorrect".

I'd have to say that £600 for a weeks accomodation in a hotel where the standard rate is £3000 looks very like an obvious mistake, particulary as the OP knew it was cheaper than everywhere else.

fifeken

Exodi wrote: »

Sorry but I have to stop you there Ben.
<snip>

I'm glad you posted this as Ben8282's description of hotel procedures was nothing like I've experienced either.