Can a hotel increase it's rates AFTER a confirmed booking email?
 

Hello kind people, can you help me?

I booked a hotel in canada and got a confirmed reservation email. The hotel and the hotel range both advertised the same rates on 2 sites. I thought fantastic! What a bargain. A day later they emailed to say their had been an error online with their rates and that the rate was much higher, by a 1000 dollars. They have asked me if I want to go ahead with the new rate or cancel. They have not taken any money. Can I force them to sell me the room at the previous price?

many thanks, Ted

I doubt you can force them to charge you less-you could make a copy of your email and send it in a Registered Letter to the Hotel Manager but Canadian consumer laws being as weak as they are it would probably all amount to nothing.

IMO it's best to cancel and use hotwire or expedia to look for another deal.

You would think a hotel would honour a rate in a confirmed reservation (if it was the hotel itself that confirmed), but as Sam mentioned, I don't know if you will have much luck in pursuing it. I don't know what the legalities are. Certainly we have laws in Canada in regards to truth in advertising etc. but laying a complaint and following it through is probably not an easy process. Before pursuing it, you would also have to review the terms and conditions of the booking very carefully, since there may be something in those that mentions "errors and omissions" and covers the hotel doing this.

If you have no luck working it out with the hotel, you can always "name and shame" them ... having had a reservations experience with them is enough criteria to review them on tripadvisor.com and probably also other review sites.

Did you book directly with the hotel, or through a third party? I would think that if you have booked through a third party, there is probably something in the "small print". Personally, I generally prefer booking directly with a hotel, and tend to avoid booking through expedia in particular, having had a couple of experiences with "confirmed reservations" in peak periods where we turned up, did not have a room, and were left to our own devices to find an alternate. In both cases, the hotels claimed the error was on expedia's side and had nothing to do with them.

I have booked with hotwire quite a few times and have gotten some really good deals on their "blind" hotels, but you have to be aware that reservations are non-cancellable and non-refundable... the room is bought and paid for as soon as you book it, so you have to be absolutely sure of your itineary. I usually only book these for quick overnight "just passing through" stays.

On a recent holiday, I used booking.com a few times, with excellent results, but these were for vacation rental/apartment type of accommodations that didn't directly accept credit cards, rather than hotels.