Hotel now charging more than advertised rate- Eurovision!

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

DullGreyGuy said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:
I think even this is weak ground to base a unilateral mistake upon, a hotel may decide to keep their room rates low to ensure they are full and double the price of food and drink instead, for the mistake to void a contract the non-mistaken party ought to have known the mistake was present and given the figures are pretty small I think it would be difficult to demonstrate. 

The bit to focus on is, as the OP had until the 12th of May to cancel the terms need to be checked to see if the hotel also has the right to cancel, if they do then the reason doesn't matter (unless the terms limit the reasons for them cancelling and aren't met).

But as noted, if they had seen the same hotel elsewhere for over double the price not just that hotel -v- other hotels.

As already quoted, the Booking.com terms state there is a right of cancellation if there has been an "obvious" mistake... there may be additional rights under the agreement between the OP and the Hotel.

Who is going to prove this? 

"Obvious" is just referring unilateral  

Gavin83

Am I right to assume that the tickets won’t be sold until after the 23rd December? A cynic would say they’ve changed the dates to stop people cancelling when they don’t get tickets.

Did you book the room before the announcement in the expectation of this occurring?

Ultimately I agree with the others, it’ll depend on what T&Cs you agreed to.

nyermen

FYI We're staying in chester at the holiday in express next month at around £300 for 3 nights - 100 a night (although the individual days vary due to partial weekend).

If I look at IHG prices IN chester for your dates - 13th may i think?   The same hotel is £824 per night.  a week earlier is £130.

There's clearly some price stuff going on - i'd say it seems likely that (depending on your hotel) - £143 is normally a reasonable price (no obvious error).  imo They clearly didnt update their prices before you booked and now are trying to make up for it...

But as mentioned, what are the T&C?

trakky14

Thanks for comments, I can't actually find T&Cs on the booking, there is no small print etc, it just has the stated rate, cancellation options etc. 

No there were other hotels for a similar rate in the area when we booked, I liked this one as it had a pool! So it was not massively cheaper than any of the others. 

trakky14

Booking.com investigated, basically said the hotel made an error with their pricing and that nothing could be done other than we now pay £485 for the room within 24hrs or cancel. We cancelled, we don't actually need to stay there as we can drive we just fancied not driving back that night...but we cant justify that price...wont be using Macdonald hotels again!!

screech_78

It’s poor service as I doubt they’d be able to show it was an obvious error. However, as you hadn’t paid yet it’s usually a case of accept or cancel. 

Glasgow had also increased their prices for all hotels on the night of Eurovision before the announcement was even made. I wonder if people who booked will get a lower price now… doubtful. 

nyermen

Hotels in the area: Price a week early - £120.  Price a week later - £120. Price on that day - £400+.

Not an obvious error at all I'd say, unless you factor in "obvious error because hotels could charge a lot more".

HillStreetBlues

nyermen said:

Hotels in the area: Price a week early - £120.  Price a week later - £120. Price on that day - £400+.

Not an obvious error at all I'd say, unless you factor in "obvious error because hotels could charge a lot more".

Totally agree.
The when they listed the price it was correct, so no error.
If the hotel failed to update their prices quickly enough due to  the market changing, then that's should be their problem.