Hotel Rate Search             Hotels-in-Miami-Beach Home

(From MSNBC, July 10, 2002 - Gael Fashingbauer Cooper - Travel Editor)
http://www.msnbc.com

July 10 - I understand that passengers on the same plane may have paid very different airfares. I even understand that guests in the same hotel may have paid very different rates. But what I don’t understand is how the rate at a hotel can change between the time it’s booked and the time it’s paid for. 

BEFORE A RECENT San Francisco trip, I saw a decent rate for a centrally located hotel. I called to check if there were rooms available; there were, and a clerk confirmed the price. 
When I later booked the room, I did so via the hotel chain’s 800 number. The friendly woman I spoke to quoted me the same rate I’d heard earlier - or so I thought. Once the room was booked, she transferred me to another extension, and a computerized voice repeated the arrival and departure dates, number of guests, confirmation number, and last but not least, the rate.

Which was $20 a night higher than the rate I thought we’d discussed. I pressed various buttons on the phone to get back to an operator, who confirmed the higher price.
I kept the reservation, but hung up wondering if I’d been a bait-and-switch victim, or if I’d just heard the first woman incorrectly. We went on the trip, the hotel was fine, and then on our last day there, a bill was pushed under our door.
I’m sure people nestled away in other hotels heard my shriek. We’d been charged even a higher rate than the one I was already mad about.

The desk clerk argued with me at first, and really, I felt for her. She neither set the rate nor rejiggered it, she just had to listen to the crazy lady whom, for all she knew, was just trying to rip off her employer. But she smartly fell back on the last line of defense of all good Advertisement 
clerks everywhere: “Let me talk to my manager.” And while I ended up with the rate I was expecting, I learned a valuable lesson.

I’m not suggesting the hotel intentionally tried to rip me off, but from now on, I’m going to try to get quoted rates in writing. If that’s not possible, I’m going to double-check it at every turn.