NYC Hotel Now Wanting More Money

RandomlySet

RandomlySet

Suspended / Banned
Messages
747
Name
Mat
Edit My Images
Yes
Bit of a strange one here, but here goes.

Last week we booked a hotel in NYC for 10 nights, costing us about £750. This was booked through Expedia which we always do. Since we booked, the same hotel for the same period has gone to well over £3,750.

This morning, SMWBO has woken up to find a message (via Expedia) from the hotel saying that due to a system error, they cannot honour our booking. However, if we emailed them direct, they would offer us a reduced rate of around £270/night (so £2,700~ total).

We have been to NYC several times, so know what to look for, and have had equally good deals in the past (2016 we paid about £750 for a better hotel for 5 nights, which later was going for close to £3k!)

Is this hotel simply trying their luck?

Don't get me wrong, we had budgeted more than double what we paid, but now that we have booked at the price we have, we have both mentally spent the money we have "saved" :lol:

Oh, and the reservation hasn't actually been cancelled by them yet.
 
What do Expedia's terms and conditions say?
 
It's hard to tell..... I've been reading through them, and can't see anything specifically relating to this type of situation.

Article 4. General

4.2. Prices

The price of the Services will be as quoted on the Website from time to time, except in cases of obvious error. Prices are liable to change at any time, but changes will not affect bookings already accepted except as stated in section 3.6.2 above. Expedia may in some cases levy a booking fee in relation to some flight transactions made on the Customer's behalf. The Customer will be notified of all applicable charges at the time of booking. Despite Expedia, Inc's best efforts, some of the Services listed on the Website may be incorrectly priced. EXPEDIA, INC. EXPRESSLY RESERVES THE RIGHT TO CORRECT ANY PRICING ERRORS ON OUR WEBSITE AND/OR ON RESERVATIONS MADE UNDER AN INCORRECT PRICE. IN SUCH EVENT, IF AVAILABLE, WE WILL OFFER YOU THE OPPORTUNITY TO KEEP YOUR RESERVATION AT THE CORRECT PRICE OR WE WILL CANCEL YOUR RESERVATION WITHOUT PENALTY. Expedia, Inc. is under no obligation to provide Services to a Customer at an incorrect (lower) price, even after Customers have been sent confirmation of their booking.
Click to expand...

Section 3.6.2 as mentioned above refers to Package Holidays

What is "obvious error"? After we booked, SWMBO checked the hotel's website, and the same room for the same time was £99/night.

My only thinking is that most hotels upload their prices to one place, and then via an API, those prices are replicated over to Expedia/Booking.com etc.
 
Last edited:
Well, if they get you to cancel they can sell the room for $3750, $3000 profit.

Hotels normally sell a room at a loss to get on various websites - cheap advertising, it doesn't really cost them anything.

I'd get in touch with xpedia and get the hotel to honour the offer.
 
Yes, we are gonna get on to them this afternoon.

Funny thing is, when we booked last week, we kind of booked with the intention of looking for somewhere in more of a location we wanted (Greenwich Village) as this hotel offers free cancellation. Like I say, this is well within budget, but the £1,000+ we saved I had mentally spent on a few other things already to do whilst over there :lol:
 
Have yo actually paid for the booking?
Have they taken the money?

It needs a call to the hotel directly and a chat with the manager maybe.
 
I found New York so expensive, especially when you add on the expected 20% tip now.
 
BBR said:
I won't be using booking.com, Expedia etc in future then. Looks to me like you are just inviting them to help themselves to your wallet.
Click to expand...

How many times does this happen though?

These companies no fee cancellation is very handy, recently booked a hotel then found another we preferred, cancelled with no fuss.
One or two reports of hotels getting greedy wouldn't put me off using these websites.

In the OP's shoes I would look elsewhere, at the very least it doesn't sound like a reputably run establishment.
Also he has said its not in their chosen location, if you kick up a stink and win can't see the stay being particularly pleasant
 
Yeah, we have paid.

SWMBO will be calling Expedia later. Unfortunately it does look like we'll cancel. Wouldn't surprise me if we turned up and they "lost" our reservation .
 
I have twice had Expedia change hotels on me because the hotel 'was closed' during the period we were due to be there, though in those cases they found us other hotels. I wonder if that was the same thing, but a bit less brutal?
 
That just does not seem right at all. I would be making a big fuss about this. The only thing driving the hotel’s problem is greed. Which hotel is it?

As you have paid already I would be standing firm, printing everything out now whilst you have it and making some stink at the front desk when you get there.

*double check those terms and conditions again. Maybe contact Martin Lewis or similar.
 
Last edited:
That sounds very unfair. For the start I would call Expedia and they have been helpful to me in the past.

I normally book a day or two in advance, so I guess this reduces the risk of such price swings and offers some last minute prices but also sometimes very poor availability.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top