Comfort Inn doesn't honor confirmed reservation.
 

Last week on June 14, I made an on-line reservation for 6 nights at the Comfort Suite in Aiken, SC beginning 3/31/01. On Friday, I received a "confirmed reservation" stating we had the room at a rate of $319.49 (senior citizens' rate) for the 6 nights. On Monday, June 19, I received a call from the manager of the hotel advising me the rates change on April 1 to $180 a night!!( I subsequently found out this is the beginning of the Masters.) He said he could, as a personal favor, take $40 off the price of the room and that he'd keep the reservation open for 2 days. <BR> <BR>I then called the general telephone number for Comfort Suites and confirmed the information they had corresponded with the e-mail confirmation I received. When I explained my dilemma to the person with whom I was speaking, she said she was not aware of any rate changes and wanted to know if I wanted to file a complaint, which I did. At this point, I printed off another copy of the confirmation and no where did it state that management retains the right to change prices. <BR> <BR>The manager of the hotel called me back yesterday to enquire if I still wanted the reservation (at the higher rate) and I told him, in fairness, that I had filed a complaint and would like to wait until its disposition. He said there was no way that he would ever rent the room during Masters week for $50 when he could get $180 and the confirmed reservation didn't mean anything.I called the general number for Comfort Suites and was transferred to a woman in the corporate office who said there is no way they are going to honor the confirmed reservation because individual managers have the right to change any reservation, at any time, especially one that is so far in advance. <BR> <BR>I don't know what to do - do I contact an attorney or chalk it up to greed? I do know that I will never step foot in any Choice Hotel - and I still can't believe they don't/won't honor this reservation. <BR> <BR> <BR>

Keep in mind that these hotels are franchises, and they reserve the right to participate or not in corporate promotions or rate scales, just like the McDonald's franchise on the corner. Given all your lead time, I'd just make your choice about whether you want to patronize the chain again, write a polite but firm letter expressing your diappointment/disapproval with copies to corporate and the individual hotel, and look for alternate accomodations, keeping in mind the likely price hikes everywhere due to the Masters. Businesses are no more required to do business with you on your terms than you are to do business with them on their terms, and in the future keep in mind that franchises often don't have to answer much to the corporate licenser of the name (and this is especially true with hotel chains). caveat emptor.

From the facts you present, they are legally obligated to honor the first quoted price. Problem you have is enforcing it. If you stayed there and at the end of your stay paid by credit card you will probably be able to successfully avoid paying the extorted amount, except it would be a close call if when you register you signed a form with the new rate on it. If the registration has no rate then you should be ok. <BR> <BR>Good luck. It would be a shame to let them get away with it. <BR>

I won't give you an official opinion about this, and I certainly don't know the law of the place where you live or where you were going. But I'm not so sure you have any rights here, and I'll explain why. <BR> <BR>To have a contract, you must have an offer and an acceptance of that offer. On those points, you are OK. But you must also have something called "consideration." This is a mushy concept, but think of it as both parties being required to suffer some detriment from the contract. So if you reserve the room and pay for it, and they give you the room, you have both suffered a detriment: You are out the money, and they are out the room. Another example is if I promise in writing to give you my car for free. There is a detriment to me, but there is no detriment to you, so the contract isn't valid (setting aside certain exceptions that don't appear to apply in your dispute with Comfort Suite). <BR> <BR>Here, I question whether there is consideration that would establish a binding contract. In other words, you could certainly have backed out of the reservation and suffered no detriment. Put differently, until you put up some money, I think the contract might be subject to change or cancellation by either party. That is the way airline reservations work -- until you have paid up, they can raise the price on you. Once you have paid, they can't. <BR> <BR>Again, I am really taking a shot in the dark here, and someone might respond with a better analysis. But given the kind of effort it might require to get them to honor the arrangement using the legal system, it may not be worth it, so your best recourse might be to play the role of the ticked off consumer and hassel them relentlessly. <BR> <BR>Good luck. <BR>

I think this is a customer satisfaction issue. If they want to keep you as a satisfied customer, they will honor your "confirmed" reservation. If they don't care about you, they will refuse to honor it. If you hadn't heard from the manager and showed up expecting to pay the confirmed price, you would have a better case for damages. But they did inform you of the situation well in advance of arrival. I agree with the above post. You need to contact as many people as you can at Comfort Suites until you obtain satisfaction.

This is a perfect example of why it's always wise to contact the hotel where you intend to stay directly if at all possible, rather than use the central res number. All too often, unfortunately, the right hand doesn't know what the left is doing. <BR> <BR>I recall years ago arriving at a Holiday Inn in Provincetown in July, having made reservations through their central # the night before. Traffic was miserable, it was 6 PM, we were traveling with our 1 and 3 year olds and we were all tired and hungry. They laughed at us, "Oh our reservation system has been down for a week, that was central res and they have no idea what our status is". We drove back down the Cape as far as Hyannis before finding a vacancy! <BR> <BR>The rooms for miles around Augusta sell out well in advance of the Masters. They can name their rate and get it, usually with a minimum stay of a few days. Residents even move out of their homes to make a little hay while the sun shines. <BR> <BR>As someone else mentioned, they write the rules for this time slot and I doubt it's a winnable battle, and probably not worth the aggravation it'd cause anyway. Are you locked into that time slot and into Aiken in particular? If your dates are inflexible, I'd start looking now for alternatives further out. It's a busy time all over that area as it's also peak azalea season which draws hordes. (It'll be beautiful though!)

What a way to run a business. It just confirms my general impression of their operations.

I don't understand Catilin's observation. Who cares about franchises? Should't the public assume that the hotel will abide by their reservation system?

My point was simply that franchised properties can and will make rates and policies as they see fit, and it is not unusual for them to bypass or ignore what a central reservation system does. I agree that Deb was treated shabbily, but I also agree with the poster who said that you should always deal with the individual property rather than the corporate parent's reservation system. In my own experience, these central systems often have wrong information about individual hotels, and the communication between the two is lousy. <BR> <BR>If you read consumer-interest columns or publications, such as the Condé Nast Traveler Ombudsman column (which you can access at www.concierge.com), you will see that franchised hotels are a frequent subject of complaint; when people have problems and find the hotel management unresponsive, they complain to corporate headquarters, and are told that since the property is owned by a franchisee, corporate can't do anything. And they're unlikely to do anything unless complaints are so common and so bad that having their name on the property is giving them a bad name. <BR> <BR>The great majority of budget hotel chains (such as the Choice group) are franchises, not owned by the corporation. Only the high-end chains tend to be wholly corporate-owned. I think the lack of accountability and the problems that can occur under this arrangement are lousy, and they're not unusual. But, as the manager of the hotel said to Deb, why would he sell a room for $50 when he could get $180? One lost customer--or a few--won't bother him when he'll fill his hotel at the higher rate anyway. So caveat emptor, and call all hotels directly to be on the safe side.

Some of these comments are silly. I don't think Deb is comtemplating legal action. She never asked for legal advise. Who other than a lawyer with too much time on his hands is going to sue of a few dollars? <BR>She's telling us that Comfore Inn is running a sleezy, crummy operation. <BR>As far as this franchise thing is concerned. What makes you think that they would be any more scrupulous in honoring a committment merely because you call them directly? When you lie with a dog, don't be surprised when you come up with fleas. <BR> <BR>

<BR>Thank you all who responded. I have, thanks to you, learned <BR> that the majority of the chains were franchises, and as Caitlin so aptly reminded us, caveat emptor. <BR> <BR>After I calmed down I was able to locate a much better "deal" - a cabin in one of SC's beautiful state parks - so, barring any further complications, we can continue with our vacation plans. <BR> <BR>Again, thank you.

Vosaki, <BR> <BR>I don't think the responses for Deb were "silly." Deb did mention "talking to an attorney", after all. I have found that many people (not talking about you, Deb) think that the legal system will provide a remedy if someone does them wrong. Well, sometimes it does and sometimes it does not, and that is why I took a few minutes to explain the legal issue as I see it. And even though the amount in dispute is relatively small, there would be nothing to prevent Deb from going to small claims court if the claim were meritorious. <BR> <BR>As for what kind of lawyer would take on such a case, it wouldn't necessarily be one with too much time on her hands. In the U.S., many silly lawsuits get filed, often as class actions. So I could see a lawyer taking a class action on behalf of all consumers who had reservations dishonored, and collecting a hefty legal fee for her/himself. Now, I didn't say such a suit would be a winner, but lawsuits have been filed over far less. <BR> <BR>Lastly, please don't denounce responses just because you don't understand them. Just ask for a clarification. No one was trying to be silly; only helpful.

I agree with 'Lawyer'. Vosaki's comments were gratuitously insulting.

A Comfort Inn rep debited money from my debit card without my authorization and without my even having made a reservation. I wrote the president of Comfort Inn, they sent a form card saying they'd be in touch in 10 days. Two months later I'm still waiting. In my opinion, based on MY experience with them, they should be put out of business. They are deplorable.

Maryanne, <BR> <BR>Now *that* warrants a lawsuit. :)

Maryann, <BR> <BR>I know debit cards don't come with the same fraud protections as credit cards, but I hope you've spoken to your bank about this. And no one should ever give out their card number before making an actual reservation. Good luck, and keep bothering them.

Maryann, as a regular user of debit cards, and not wanting the same thing happening to me, I would be interested in your perception of how you think this hotel was able to access your bank account without you entering, or you giving them, your PIN?

I had a similar problem with New Years at the Holiday Inn in Burlington VT. I made the reservation in Feb 1999 and was quoted a price of $89 per night for 5 nights through the central reservation 1-800 number. I gave them my credit card # and was told it was a guaranteed rate. So, I called in November directly to the hotel to confirm the reservation and was told that the rate was now $200 per night and they would not honor the $89 quote. OK, maybe the $89 rate sounded too good to be true, but I was told it was a guaranteed rate. The clerk at the hotel laughed at me and told me the rates for New Year's weren't set when I made the reservation in February. So, long story short, I raised hell with the corporate office and won. Corporate sided with me and forced to hotel to honor the rate. What a great deal I ended up with!!!