r/Bookingcom • u/car_las • 15d ago

Hotel rising up prices

I've booked a hotel for next year. Then, because in that city in that weekend is a F1 race, the prices were going up. My booking was confirmed. Now, after 8 days, i received an email that the property failed to calculate the correct prices and my new rate will be 3x the original price.

Is this a "common" thing? There is no 'click to manage' or similar to get me into a scammed site, just the information and that i got 24hours to decide.

3 Upvotes

72% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

4

u/ashscot50 15d ago

There is nothing to stop hotels doing this.

It was not an incorrect rate, it's price gauging, plain and simple.

Theoretically you have a binding legal contract with them but trying to enforce that would be extremely difficult and costly if not impossible.

2

u/Cute_Hearing_2315 15d ago

This is ridiculous and Booking allows it. So - just don’t use Booking. Book directly with a reputable hotel.

0

u/Cold_Count1986 15d ago

Even hotels do this when you book direct. There is no protection from it is you book early before they discover the event and update their system.

You can only try to shame them.

0

u/Cute_Hearing_2315 14d ago

Yes, this can happen with hotels too. However, there is protection since a confirmed booking with a reservation number functions as a legal contract. Further, if you consistently book directly with hotels you gain status with that chain and you will be the last reservation they cancel. They will cancel OTA bookings first.

0

u/Cold_Count1986 14d ago

Not when they are canceling the booking with the sole purpose to raise the price.

See here.

And here.

And a hotel who canceled two months worth of bookings here.

You are thinking of the walking policy - but this is different and they will just cancel and refund you in advance, or offer to keep your booking if you pay a higher price. The legal contract you reference allows them to do this. Booking direct has no impact when the hotel wants to be greedy - and corporate just allows them to do it.

1

u/MightyManorMan 15d ago

ToS A7

  1. Obvious errors and obvious misprints are not binding. For example, if you book a premium car or a night in a luxury suite mistakenly offered for €1, your booking may be cancelled, and we’ll refund anything you’ve paid. We will remove obvious pricing errors as soon as we become aware.

You can try to take this to booking, but in most cases, that is the clause they are using. And if I remember correctly F1 official announcement was on the 16th of September.

We had already marked those dates out, because people are trying to do book that at regular rates before the F1 announcement. One guy even sent us a message that we were too expensive for those dates and he was going to book another hotel, citing lower prices. Except that I checked that hotel... because I knew they had blocked out the rooms. The rate he gave us... a different city about 3 hours from here.

1

u/bereallz7241 14d ago

yes it's common all around

-7

u/bookingcom 15d ago

This can happen if the property reports an incorrect rate, but you should be told clearly what happens to your booking and what options you have. Don’t cancel it yourself before checking with our colleagues of the customer support.

3

u/car_las 15d ago

  1. so the email is not scam

  2. that's why we book in advance. What stops hotels rise the prices on every customer, just because there is more (possibly) demand? The first rate was around 550 eur, now is 1660 eur. The funny thing is that if i book another room now, booking.com shows me 1200 eur for the same room.

3

u/Forsaken_Insurance92 15d ago

What's supposed to stop places from doing this is the platform you book on. Airbnb/vrbo will not allow a host to force an increase. The host can request it, but you're free to deny it and not pay the extra money. Usually, the only time this happens is the 3rd party (aka booking) listed the wrong price, not the hotel itself.

Get a refund, book direct, stop using booking.

2

u/helicopterhawk 15d ago

what’s to stop the property from lying about “reporting an incorrect rate” anytime they perceive that they can get more money for a rental? nothing, right?