Rooms for $58 a night at the Ritz Carlton Chicago? No way!

August 10, 2010

When Jack Whalen found an unbelievable room rate of $58 a night at the Ritz-Carlton Chicago — and on a holiday weekend, no less — he was thrilled. “This was to have been an anniversary trip, and my wife would love to stay at a high end hotel at a great price,” he says.

But the price, which he found through Travelocity, was unbelievable. Turns out it was a fat finger rate. A Ritz-Carlton employee had misplaced a decimal point, turning $580 rooms into $58 rooms. Oops.

Although Ritz-Carlton tried to make it up to him by offering a discounted, but significantly more expensive rate, Whalen is unhappy.

I decided to take Whalen’s case, and here’s why: From what I can tell, he wasn’t trolling the online discussion groups, waiting for an obvious rate error (in my book, that’s stealing). He found the price by searching Travelocity, fair and square. He also believed the rate to be legitimate, and I’m buying it.

You can get a hotel in Chicago for $58 a night. Just not at the Ritz-Carlton.

Finally, Whalen wasn’t trying to play the media card to get Travelocity or Ritz-Carlton to cave. He just had a question:

I am writing to get your opinion on something. Two weeks ago I was browsing Travelocity and found an outstanding price of $58 a night for a room at the Ritz-Carlton in Chicago Memorial Day weekend 2011.

Yesterday I got a call from Travelocity saying the price was an error, and the Ritz was not going to honor it. Travelocity was not willing to do anything to assist me, other than offer the same reservation for $290 a night.

I was surprised that Travelocity was distancing themselves from this and blaming the Ritz, since I booked the trip through Travelocity and was charged by Travelocity. I called the Ritz directly, and was told the price should have been $580 a night, and not $58. The associate was unsympathetic and also only able to offer the room at $290 a night.

Do you think I have any recourse other than to take my business elsewhere? How can I ever feel safe booking a reservation through Travelocity if they go ahead and cancel my reservation? I do understand the price is very low, but a company like the Ritz, which prides themselves on service, is not willing to honor a price that they themselves input, and it seems very unfair that I suffer from their mistake.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

I put the question to Ritz-Carlton. I had a conversation with a representative by phone and she later followed up with this explanation:

This was an unintentional human rate loading error by our hotel and Travelocity cancelled the reservation at our request.

In acknowledgement of the error and inconvenience, we did extend a generous offer but I cannot comment further on the contents of the letter.

We have provided the name of a senior contact at the hotel who is happy to speak further with Mr. Whalen about the reservation.

Well, let’s go right to that letter then, which Whalen was kind enough to forward to me.

As a result of a rate-loading error, an incorrect rate appeared for the room type you reserved. It was not our intention to offer the room for the rate of $58, which is substantially lower than any other rate offered at our hotel or at any comparable hotel in Chicago.

We regret that we did not catch the error sooner. In recognition of the inconvenience our error has caused you, we wanted to offer another option of 50% off any of our available room categories below the Executive Suite level that you requested. So, if the moderate room is listed for $375, you would receive it at $187.

If you would like to take advantage of this offer, I would be happy to confirm your booking at the new rate.

That’s not a bad offer.

I’d take it. Ritz made an honest mistake, and has offered a discounted rate to make up for it. If the tables were turned — if they’d put a decimal point in the wrong place when they charged Whalen’s credit card — I’m sure they’d be quick to fix it. (After all, we’re not talking about an airline, here.)

But fat-finger rates, as regular readers of this site know, are an endless source of controversy. If you think Ritz and Travelocity should have given Whalen the room at $58 a night, please speak up. The comments are open.

(Photo: OZ in OH/Flickr Creative Commons)

Meredith Putvin

Honestly, The Ritz was trying to do what they though was best in offering the 50% discount on the stay.

Do I think a gesture of goodwill and offer One Room at that rate would have hurt the property? No, it would probably have gained the property a lifetime customer.

I don’t think that the customer is entitled to it, but I think, from a customer service point of view… Going that extra mile in these tough times will go a long way to shoring up customer loyalty when the economy improves. Chicago has no shortage of hotels and the Ritz may have lost a customer to one of it’s competitors.
Amy Anstey

Ritz should honor the rate. It’s a small loss for them to eat their mistake for one customer. As it is, they just have controversy over their decision, when they could have made a customer the happiest guy in the world with a fantastic story he would tell over and over again–a story that would underscore Ritz’s above-and-beyond customer service. I think they really missed the boat on this.
Arizona Road Warrior

We are talking about the Ritz Carlton not Bubba’s Bed & Breakfast. If I see a price from a very old, established, well-known company such as Ritz Carlton, I expect that the prices that I seen in the media to be correct. I expect these companies to double and triple check their prices. I expect these companies to have the technology in their software to prevent these pricing mistakes from happening. If there is a pricing error, I expect these companies to honor them.

When did it become the responsibility of the traveler to double and triple check the rates before they purchase an airline ticket or book a hotel room? When you walk into a retail store like Best Buy to buy a TV with a price sticker of $ 1,995 attached to it, do you ask a few sales clerks for the price of the TV?
Cindy H

As a software professional, I know that a company like the Ritz certainly has the resources to purchase software with the appropriate guards in place to prevent a “fat finger” rate. I have no sympathy for them in the least. It is easy to have a data base that says that for X class of room, the minimum rate is X and the maximum Y. You can even add to the database for time of year, etc. It is easy to add in a “second set of eyes” to do a final inspection prior to submitting the rate. Remember, this was all done through a software reservation system, not calling someone up on the phone.

Ritz owes them the rate quoted for the class of room they reserved. If they are unwilling to honor that, then Travelocity, as the agent, needs to step up and pay the difference.
Arizona Road Warrior

@ Charles – “4. It’s a holiday weekend. This is when the hotel is likely to fill, so it’s more of an issue for the hotel than other times. They only lose money on the room if they would have sold every room in that class. And the customer should have been more suspicious of a holiday rate this low.”
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I somewhat disagree…it depends upon the hotel and the market. I have stayed at hotels (that catered mostly to business travelers) where the weekend rates were $ 50 to $ 200 lower than the Monday to Thursday night rates. Last summer when we went to San Diego, the weekend rate at the hotel that we stayed at was $ 84 per night and the rate on Monday was $ 187.

I have stayed at hotels during Thanksgiving and Christmas where the hotels were nearly empty. For example, last Thanksgiving, the hotel that we stayed at was at only 20% vacancy.

If a found a super low rate for a hotel in a city that was hosting the Super Bowl, NCAA Final Four, a NASCAR race, the Kentucky Derby, Indianapolis 500, etc. during my stay, I would question the rate unless there were reports in the media that predicting that attendance will be well down for the event.
Walter Blackadar

I’m all for forgiving mistakes, but not in this case. But beyond all of the other comments posted that Ritz should honor the rate, here’s one more reason.

Travel plans are rarely made in a vacuum. Supposing the OP has purchased flights, entertainment expenses, etc. based on a budget which included the $58 rate? Now should he be forced to blow his budget because the Ritz made a mistake? If the Ritz made a mistake and wants to back out of their rate, shouldn’t they then be responsible for the financial harm that their negligence caused the consumer?

Do the right thing and honor the rate, Ritz. You screwed up and the customer shouldn’t be responsible for paying for it.
eileen

Meh. I worked in retail long enough to know that if you advertise a price, even accidentally, you should be prepared to honor it. If the Ritz had to eat that price, you can bet that mistake would not be made twice.
Tanya

Ritz should have to honor the rate. Notice given weeks later that there was a pricing error is not the fault of the consumer. And sometimes, hotels do offer ridiculously low rates. When my friends and I went to Germany, we booked a hotel on-line for a week. It ended up being a super fancy hotel, we were greeted with Champagne and a fruit tray, at no cost to us. We had gotten the room for less than the equivalent of $60 a night. Was this a mistake? Not at all, it was an on-line promotional. Had we called or used a travel agent to make the reservation, we would have been charged at minimum 7 times as much.

The OP did not know that this was the so called “fat finger” rate. I am not sure I would have either (and I am an experienced traveler that knows of the Ritz Carlton brand). Sometimes companies offer amazing rates, so why should a traveler have to eat the cost when it is the companys’ fault?

I may have felt differently if he had been contacted immediately after the purchase, but I think it a bit odd it took 2 weeks to notice the error. I bet the credit card payment went through within a day. Either the Ritz or Travelocity should make sure he gets his weekend at the Ritz for the $58 per night he agreed to pay.

I am also confused by the response from Travelocity, where you will never roam alone . . ., unless there is a mistake in the advertised price, then we will do nothing for you, company. While this is not the fault of Travelocity, shouldn’t they have been an advocate for the OP (I do wonder how many others had the same problem) and others to make the Ritz honor the price. Or at least pay for the room he booked, not a lessor quality room.

Also, should Travelocity have the authority to cancel reservations without the consent of the consumer? As long as the credit card went through, the consumer fulfilled their end of the contract.

Bottom line, Ritz should honor the rate and Travelocity should have done more.
http://TravelIndiaSmart Vic

Ritz should certainly have honored the rate as it was their mistake. The amount of money involved here is not worth the amount of negative publicity this incident has created for the Ritz management. I wonder why Travelocity did not go to bat for their customer!
Mark

The Ritz should probably have chosen to honor the rate for anyone who complained, it’s a great goodwill gesture. But I don’t think they’re out of line offering what they did, or if they even just cancelled the reservation completely and offered nothing in return. The reservation is far enough out that the OP would have plenty of time to find a new hotel. But Ritz could capture a very loyal customer if they did honor the rate.
http://www.thetravelinggiraffe.com Crissy

The Ritz should honor the rate, in the end it’s $100 a night less then they were offering. If the money was so important to them, then it wouldn’t have taken 2 weeks to notice the mistake. Instead they’re pushing someone away instead of drawing in a customer.
Carver

@Arizona and others

I certainly concur that the travel providers have certainly generated alot of ill will by some of the onerous travel policies. Perhaps many of us have been stung and are taking a stick-it-to-the-man attitude. While I disagree, I understand it.

Let me clarify my position.

The question of a far fingered fare is about opportunistic behaviour. Let me define that so as not to be sidetracked. Opportunistic behavior is the conscious policy and practice of taking selfish advantage of circumstances, with little regard for principles.

If you honestly and reasonably believe that a rate is a legit rate, then book it by all means, and I think the travel provider should honor it. If the rate should have been $250, but $225 gets inputted, tough luck to the travel provider.

But if you know, or strongly suspect, that a rate is an error, then you are basically profitting, or getting a windfall, because of someone else’s mistake. I find that to be flatly wrong.

I find it hard to believe that the OP didn’t know that the $58 rate was an error. However, giving the OP the benefit of the doubt, his belief was still unreasonable, that a Ritz-Carlton, probably America’s most famous luxury chain, could be had for $58 is an unreasonable belief, despite the various mental and logistical gyrations some poster will perform.

I did a quick search on travelocity for chicago. The only hotels in that price range were Howard Johnson, La Quinta, Super 8, etc. Most higher end hotels were $200+. That’s why I am dubious about claims of innocence. The facts dont check out.
Teresa

The Ritz and Travelocity should honor the rate they advertised. The completed booking constitutes a contract between Whalen and the hotel and/or Travelocity that the law requires them to honor. A $58 hotel room rate is not an obvious a mistake in the way that a 58-cent rate might be. Customers make plans contingent on hotel reservations and can suffer genuine losses if the hotel becomes unavailable. The problem I see for Whalen is that it might be difficult for him to recover any kind of damages from the Ritz or from Travelocity. They’ve probably already refunded his $58. If he took their $187 offer and tried to get the difference out of small claims court, it would be hard for him to argue that he had no option but to pay the higher price (he’s not arriving at the hotel by foot after midnight here).
Mike P

I agree, The Ritz Carlton should have honored the rate. In Wisconsin, if you walk into a grocery store and the wrong price is on an item, they are required by state law to honor that price. If you see a price you expect it to be correct, it isn’t your fault that someone paid minimum wage didn’t bother to take down the sale sign from last week. It is reasonable to assume that if the price is out there, it is valid. Its too bad Travelocity didn’t lean on The Ritz a bit more to honor the rate, but this one falls squarely on the shoulders of The Ritz Carlton in my opinion.

But even so, I would have taken the $187 offer and ran, that is still a phenominal deal for that property.
Glenn

@Carver – I think you keep totally missing the point. It doesn’t matter of the rate is an error or not, nor whether the the customer knows (or cares) whether it is an error or not. With the processes and software that “SHOULD” be in place in any mega-conglomerate, those errors should NOT be occurring, therefore the perception is that it simply has to be a legitimate offering. If you get caught for speeding, do you just say “I made a mistake, it doesn’t count”… or do you pay the ticket. Well, the corporations have had decades to put their processes into place…. let them start paying for their mistakes if they have failed to do so!
KathyJ

Mr. Whalen made a reservation for $58 a night. If the Ritz decides two weeks later they want more money, they should (try to) get it from Travelocity, not Mr. Whalen. Note that it was Travelocity that contacted him with the bad news. I’m surprised that Christopher didn’t pursue the issue with them, since that’s who acted as agent.

Mr. Whalen’s comment, “How can I ever feel safe booking a reservation through Travelocity if they go ahead and cancel my reservation?” is significant for all of us. If neither the hotel nor the online agency is responsible for what they advertise, who is? Are consumers reduced to calling the hotel every day to see if they’ve changed their minds about the price they offered?
Jason

I think Ritz should honor the rate. I can’t believe such a reputable hotel will fight for $129 (difference between 187 and 58). If they not have proper quality control system they should implement it to minimize errors. A client who booked a cheap hotel might already made other commitments such as non-refundable flight. I remember some time ago American airlines offered $37 flights to Hawaii on aa.com. After I made reservation, I received a phone call that it was an error and the fare will not be honored. The explanation, there is a disclaimer fare is not guaranteed until tickets are issued. Website allows you to make a reservation, but there is a person, going through every reservation and issues tickets. If an error is found or illegal connection or not compliance with any rules reservation is cancelled. United, for instance, automatically issues tickets. As a results some people I know flew to Thailand for $25. With hotels, there are no tickets, so the reservation confirmation rate should be final.
Aaron

If a store accidentally slaps a $2 price tag on an item instead of a $20 price tag, I believe they have to honor that price, correct? A hotel should be held to the same standard.They should take the loss and learn their lesson rather than ruin this guy’s planned vacation. This may have been a mistake, but it’s exactly the same “mistake” a hotel could make if they wanted to pull a bait-and-switch.
Eric

Ritz made a mistake and should honor their error. They just lost an opportunity for great PR due to $100.00. The room was paid for and the credit card was charged. I feel really bad for the guest and will make sure I never stay at that hotel.
Chris in NC

@ Aaron
“If a store accidentally slaps a $2 price tag on an item instead of a $20 price tag, I believe they have to honor that price, correct?” Not necessarily. If you read Sunday flyers carefully, there is almost a disclaimer about “errors and incorrect pricing.”

@ Kathy J
I think you make a great point. Perhaps we are all blaming the WRONG provider here. It appears the mistake was made on the Travelocity site, rather than the Ritz Carlton site. If this is true, then the Ritz Carlton really is presenting a generous offer and Travelocity is passing the blame and offering its typical NO service guarantee.

@ “But if you know, or strongly suspect, that a rate is an error, then you are basically profitting, or getting a windfall, because of someone else’s mistake. I find that to be flatly wrong.” Most reasonable people will agree with you. But, the point is, WHAT is a reasonable fare? In today’s day and age, I just don’t know anymore. Making matters worse, THERE IS NO REASONABLE way to confirm it either. If you call an agent (even the companies agent), they are looking at the same information in the computer. So, what is an infrequent traveller to do?

Lets say the OP did know it was a “fat finger rate.” If Travelocity took his credit card information, charged the deposit, and offered a confirmation, then the transaction was complete. Suppose a car dealer sold you a car $5000 under invoice. Could, or should they come back 2 weeks later and say you owe an extra $5000, because “oops” we made a mistake?

If Travelocity offered the $58 rate, but when you tried to book it, the lowest rate available is $580, you may say “oh, they are doing a bait and switch.” This was not the case. The rate and transaction was confirmed. If Travelocity is to break their own guarantees, then there really is no guarantee. Are you reading this Travelocity?
Mike Z

@ Carver

Who cares if it is opportunistic behavior? The company advertised a price and at least one consumer took them up on their offer. They refused to make good on the price they offered and accepted. Also, as has been pointed out many times, it wasn’t a mistake that they tried to correct 6 hours later. We are talking a few weeks later. Just how long do you give a company go back on their reservation before you don’t consider it opportunistic?

Do you feel the same way about LCD televisions selling for $200 or game consoles for $75 the day after thanksgiving, or $.01 school supplies advertised in August? Just where do you draw the line?
cjr

“But if you know, or strongly suspect, that a rate is an error, then you are basically profitting, or getting a windfall, because of someone else’s mistake.”

Welcome to the world we live in, where corporations are free to profit from such mistakes, but the consumer is not.

But Ritz does not want to chalk up their own carelessness to the cost of doing business. Imagine that.
Dang

I suspect either Travelocity or Ritz Carlton make a publicity stunt or “bait and switch” scam.
Dave

Mr. Elliott, you’re seeming crusade against people taking advantage of pricing errors is my one bone to pick with you. Whether airlines, car rental agencies, or hotels, these are large international corporations that have every advantage when dealing with customers. It is up to them to ensure their prices are correctly stated when published to the consumer. If a customer accepts that offer, and is allowed to purchase it, then the corporation should honor it. The company is allowed to correct for mistakes they made after purchase but the customer isn’t? How is that fair?

Say I walk into Wal-Mart. I find something that should be $50.00 but it’s price tag says $5.00. I take it to the front to pay, and the cashier lets me buy it and takes my money. In what world would Wal-Mart be allowed to come to my home and take the product back, simply saying “Sorry, that was a mistake”?
suspicious

In the future, if I see the Ritz-Carlton advertise any price, I will be suspicious whether they have typed in the correct rate. The Hotel should have honored the rate displayed. It is their mistake and they have to make it right. I am responsible for my mistakes and the Ritz-Carlton should be responsible for theirs.
Linda

I think it is Travelocity that bears the responsibility – it’s beyond me why people even use these sites to book travel, when the hotel websites have the same rates, and by booking directly, you aren’t dealing with a middle-man. That is a key difference when there is an issue such as this. If the Ritz-Carlton website had offered that rate and you had an email verification from them, they would have to honor the rate, whatever the software problem – or you take the case to Small Claims Court.
jrgal331

The Ritz-Carlton Chigago is not associated with The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC who manages the numerous Ritz-Carlton hotels around the world (http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Locations/Default.htm). Rather, the hotel is bound to maintain quality of the other hotels, but does not have access to the reservation system of Marriott (RCHC,LLC uses the Marriott reservation system).

As such, the pockets of the hotel may not be deep enough to prevent a travelocity rate code error. However, this does not excuse the error. The hotel should honor the rate and accept it as a cost of doing business. You don’t want these errors, put in a control to prevent it in the first place.
Arizona Road Warrior

@ Chris in NC – “”@ Aaron – If a store accidentally slaps a $2 price tag on an item instead of a $20 price tag, I believe they have to honor that price, correct?” Not necessarily. If you read Sunday flyers carefully, there is almost a disclaimer about “errors and incorrect pricing.”
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I am looking the Best Buy flyer that was in the Arizona Republic this past Sunday, it states: “Best Buy is not responsible for typographical or pricing errors in this ad.” The Staples flyer states: “Staples is not responsible for typographical errors and has the right to limit quantities.” When Chris Elliott wrote about British Airways in regards to the pricing errors for fares to India, I made a comment that BA does not have a disclosure like the retailers that have ads and/or flyers in newspapers.

By the way, most retailers that I took a look at their disclosure was similar to Staples (We are not responsible for typographical errors). Unless the newspaper, media firm, etc. made a mistake in putting together the copy for the ad and\or flyer, these retailers are going to honor the price in the ad. Best Buy on the other hand, takes it one step further but adding pricing errors to their disclosure.

There is a difference between having a typographical error in an ad or flyer and a wrong price sticker slapped on an item. The typographical error in an ad or flyer is covered by the disclosure…this disclosure does NOT cover the retailer if they put the wrong price ticket was put on an item.

The bottom line does the Ritz Carlson have a disclosure on their website that they are not responsible for typographical or pricing errors on their website or the websites like Travelocity which they feed their rates to? I didn’t see any disclosure on their website so I think the answer is ‘No’ and Ritz Carlton should honor the $ 58. If there is a disclosure, I will side with the Ritz Carlson.
Arizona Road Warrior

@ jrgal331 – “The Ritz-Carlton Chicago is not associated with The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC who manages the numerous Ritz-Carlton hotels around the world. As such, the pockets of the hotel may not be deep enough to prevent a travelocity rate code error. However, this does not excuse the error.”
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I don’t know if you read my earlier comments but I wrote that the Ritz Carlton Chicago is owned by the Four Seasons (http://www.fourseasons.com/chicagorc) and the two large investors\players when Four Seasons went private was Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, a member of the Saudi Royal Family (“In 2007, a deal was completed that returned Four Seasons to private ownership in a partnership between Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, one of the major shareholders of Four Seasons. Isadore Sharp and his family retained a significant share and operating involvement in the company he founded.” http://www.fourseasons.com/about_us/four_seasons_history/2000s).

The Four Seasons owns 82 hotels in 35 different countries (http://www.fourseasons.com/find_a_hotel, http://www.fourseasons.com/about_us ) and we are not talking about Motel 6 properties. I think that the company has deep pockets and the owners\shareholders have deep pockets.
Ronda

Good for the Hotel. In perfect land that was not corporate controlled, the right thing for the hotel to do would be to honour the rate. But, in not so perfect corporate land, the fact that they are willing to discount a room for this guy to make up for a ligitmate mistake says alot to they’re costumer service. They didnt have to discount a cent, but they did. I say half off a room at a hotel like that, take it. It may not be the 58 a night deal you were booked for, but its still a VERY good deal
Chris in NC

@ AZ

Ultimately, I think we are in agreement on this issue. However, there is a huge difference between a Sunday ad and a confirmed reservation. If Best Buy were to advertise a computer for $4.99 instead of $499, and you go in to buy the computer, they will politely inform you that the price was incorrect. It would caught at the checkout line. This scenario is akin to buying a computer for $4.99, paid for it with your credit card, went home and 2 weeks later the store comes to you and says, oops, an error was made, demanding more money.

If I were to purchase an ticket or pre-pay for hotel reservations, then I expect them to honor it, regardless if a mistake was made. If I purchased it directly off the provider’s site (ie BA, AA, Four Seasons, etc), then I have an expectation that they honor it.

With 3rd party sites, things are a little more murky. Perhaps someone correct me if I am wrong, but when you book on Travelocity, they act on your behalf to make the reservation. We ASSUME that this process is made immediately, but sometimes there is a delay. I am assuming that Travelocity took the information, sent a confirmation and didn’t realize the error until it made the actual reservation with the Ritz Carlton Chicago.

Some 3rd party sites disclose this (ie they are making a reservation on your behalf and the reservation isn’t guaranteed until it is confirmed by the provider). Since Travelocity prides itself on “We guarantee that your booking will be right or we will work with our travel partners to make it right, right away” I won’t give Travelocity a lot of leeway. If Travelocity CONFIRMED the reservation, it should make good on it.

Again, I think a lot of readers are mis-directing their anger. Unless more facts are published, the hotel has gone above and beyond, whereas Travelocity has dropped the ball.

Chris
Mary

I’m a simple person so I see it like this: You purchase a loaf of bread with a price sticker of $2.50. It rings up $3.50, customer service gives you a $1.00 back. Same thing in my mind. They should honor the “sticker” price, even if it’s a mistake and learn from it. It wouldn’t have killed them now would it? And made a perhaps repeat customer very happy!
Carver

@Glenn

Since we live in the real world, we know that errors will occur. Holding someone to a standard of perfection is patently ridiculous.

@Mike Z

Though is made a point of defining it, you mistunderstand the definition of opportunistic behavior. Opportunistic behavior, as I previously defined, is taking actions without regard to anyone else. In this case its the booking of a room rate that you know is a mistake. What does that have to do with $200 LCDs. If the Ritz has intended to offer a $58 rate, there would be no issues.

@Arizona

The Ritz website contains the following disclosure

8. The Ritz-Carlton Information may contain technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. The Ritz-Carlton reserves the right to make changes, corrections and/or improvements to Ritz-Carlton Information, and to the products and programs described in such information, at any time without notice.
Mike z

@Carver

“8. The Ritz-Carlton Information may contain technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. The Ritz-Carlton reserves the right to make changes, corrections and/or improvements to Ritz-Carlton Information, and to the products and programs described in such information, at any time without notice.”

Ok, so they admit they may contain inaccuracies or typos. They say they reserve the right to make changes and corrections to products and programs. To me this means that they admit they may make mistakes on their website or in advertisements and that they can correct them. I also see that they can change their product offering. For example, no free breakfast or paper on Saturdays and Sunday perhaps. What I do not see in there is a right on their end to cancel confirmed and paid for reservations. There is a complete difference between saying that you have a right to correct typos and then actually saying you have a right to cancel a paid for service. Since it says “information” I have to take that literally to mean they can make corrections in print or on their website to errors made. For example realizing their $58 mistake and correcting it on their website so that nobody else can book at that rate.
Mark M

I think that crusading for strict enforcement of terms against major corporations stems from resentment, but it’s not entirely sensible. Without knowing the terms of the contract in question (i.e., whether it had a clause permitting bilateral cancellation under certain circumstances), under basic contract law, scriverners’ errors are not automatically part of the contract. If a scriveners’ area precludes a true agreement, recission is often the apporpriate remedy.

I’d also note that with rooms not subject to prepayment, consumers are generally able to cancel their reservations without any penalty, to the extent we’re concerned with reciprocity. I’d be more concerned if the consumer didn’t have sufficient time to book another room. In the end, there’s just no real loss to the consumer. He thought he was getting an unrealistically great rate. He won’t. But, he hasn’t actually lost anything that he ever truly had.

All of that written, I would agree with those who suggest that–unless Ritz-Carlton thought the consumer was trying to take advantage of an obviously erroneous offer–then it might have been a better business decision to honor the rate. I just take umbrage with the notion that Ritz did anything wrong legally.
cjr

“Holding someone to a standard of perfection is patently ridiculous.”

And yet, as this blog proves time and again, perfection is expected of the consumer by these same companies who are allowed to cancel reservations after their own mistakes. They want and get it both ways, and it’s wrong.

“The Ritz website contains the following disclosure”

Considering that Ritz should be controlling their own website, such a disclosure should not be necessary, nor should it be binding.

Best Buy does not print the ads that go into the mail; thus, the disclosure.

Once again, this could have been avoided if Ritz bothered to put validation procedures in place. And I certainly wouldn’t be shocked in the least to find out down the road that they did not learn from this.
Arizona Road Warrior

@ Carver – “The Ritz website contains the following disclosure

8. The Ritz-Carlton Information may contain technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. The Ritz-Carlton reserves the right to make changes, corrections and/or improvements to Ritz-Carlton Information, and to the products and programs described in such information, at any time without notice.”
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It doesn’t refer to room rates. It should say something like “The Ritz-Carlton is not responsible for room rates errors and reserves the right to correct the room rate error and/or to cancel the reservation.”
John Baker

@Carver
“Since we live in the real world, we know that errors will occur. Holding someone to a standard of perfection is patently ridiculous.”

Isn’t that the standard that airlines and hotels hold me to? I have to pay a fee when I make a mistake, even a typo. Why shouldn’t the providers be held to the same standard?
Steve

@Carver: I see your point about “opportunistic behavior,” but I’m not sure it applies here…and even if it does, I still maintain that without some kind of clearer rule in place, allowing hotels to cancel confirmed reservations after the fact and claim a pricing error offers an opportunity for them to raise rates that were not mistakes.

I believe the traveler in this case where he says he didn’t know he was booking an incorrect rate. $58/night at the Ritz Carlton sounds pretty darn close to too good to be true, but I’d argue that it’s not unbelievable, depending on extenuating circumstances. A hotel could be undergoing a renovation that makes it a less desirable place to stay for a period of time, or it could be responding to a sudden plunge in expected demand (maybe a big convention got cancelled and they’ve got tons of rooms to fill).

But as I said earlier, even if you believe the Ritz Carlton in this case (which I’m inclined to do…$58 *is* pretty darn low, if they meant to price the room at $580), would it change your mind at all if the quoted rate had been higher? The hotel has stated that they meant to charge $580/night for the room. What if the advertised rate had been $158 instead of $58? (You said yourself that there are plenty of fairly nice hotels available in Chicago for around $200/night)? What if it had been $358? Is there a point at which you’d say the hotel should stand by the rate, or would you grant them carte blanche to say “oops, we made a mistake.”

I still wonder what would have happened if the traveler had booked a nonrefundable reservation, then two weeks later realized he’d booked it for the wrong night – would the hotel grant him a date change with no hassles, or would they say “sorry, you booked it, you pay for it?” To me, that does make a huge difference.
Arizona Road Warrior

@ Steve – “I believe the traveler in this case where he says he didn’t know he was booking an incorrect rate. $58/night at the Ritz Carlton sounds pretty darn close to too good to be true, but I’d argue that it’s not unbelievable, depending on extenuating circumstances.”
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I could print the the 10 e-mails that I received in the past week from reputable travel companies\websites\providers\etc. about great travel deals. The discounts for hotels ranged from 50 to 75% and we are talking about brand hotels, five star hotels, etc.
Shina E.

The retail rule of thumb should apply in this situation: If it’s in print, it’s honored. Unless an errors and omission statement is printed somewhere on their site. A better way of handling this would be to offer the rate for at least 1 night of their stay and then the 50% rate could apply. Here again, a good gesture in customer service.
Carver

@Mike Z

You suggest that the meaning of the disclaimer is that the ritz can proactively change the website so no one else could book the rate. Such an interpretation would violate basical legal construction. Of course the Ritz can change what’s on the website, it’s their website. The point of that disclaimer is that if you find something on the website that is a typo, you cannot hold the Ritz to honoring same, whether a room rate (which is found on the website), a property description, etc.

@Mark

Your legal interpretation of scrivener’s error is correct. To others, the point is that the law contemplates the type happen and does not necessarily bind the parties.

@cjr

Would it make you feel better if the Ritz outsourced the programming of the website, which it almost certainly does. In any event the Best Buy comparison makes no sense. Best Buy submits camera ready copy to the various print media. That’s why the ads look exactly the same regardless of the newspaper. If there is an error in the copy, its Best Buy’s fault, not the newspapers.
Carver

@Steve

I’d be inclined to agree with you under a specific set of circumstances. Its been my experience that when US hotels have radical firesales, they take great pains to highlight that fact and sometimes even explain why, e.g. mid-summer dessert special, beat the heat rate, etc.

As to your second question about whether their is a tough luck point. Absolutely. In the plethora of posts its gotten lost. If the rate is within the realm of what’s usual and customary for the hotel, then the hotel needs to suck it up. I gave the example of a $250 room being sold for $225. At that level the hotel should clearly suck it up.

The only time the hotel should be allowed to unilaterally cancel a reservation is when 1)the hotel made an honest mistake in posting the rate, and 2)that mistake is obvious. I believe that is the definition of the so called fat finger fare.

@Arizona

50 percent off, easily, 75 percent, unusual coming from a non-consolidator, but perhaps still within reason, but do you have any e-mails at a whopping 90 percent off. To me, that’s where its just over the top into La-La land.
Elisa

It’s happened recently in a hotel in Italy, in Venice to be precise; someone noticed a higher flux of booking than what should have happened at that moment and realized that an employee had put a price of just $1 instead of $100 and that had sparked a rush of bookings – the hotel decided to keep up the price towards those who managed to book before the error was spotted, and I’m sure they now have some more loyal customers (if the hotel was any good, I mean). It’s worth honouring these mistakes, it creates a wonderful friendly ambience and I’m sure the loss of cash flow won’t be breaking the bank for the hotel, less than ever in a place like the Ritz…………..
Geoff

I have fat fingers! I have made an error or two over the 45 years in the travel business. I have always honered the rate that I had printed for the client. I asked for their check out bill and refunded the taxes. ANY GOOD AGENT WOULD DO THIS! Now, I have tried to ask the customer if I might look for another hotel ,equal to the original, but a better price, and when you are honest and up front, clients work with you.
The original MikeZ

Let’s put aside the legalistics. Yes, R-C had the legal right to do this, whether we like it or not. End of that discussion.

However, as several have noted, a few hundred dollars is less than pocket change for a hotel chain that has frequently spent hundreds o0f dollars to satisfy clients’ whims and provide the world-class service they are noted for.

As a PR professional, I can tell you: in this case, R-C blew it. Big time. Since this online error appears to be an isolated case — rather than one where dozens or hundreds of people all tried to cash in on it — R-C would have reaped incredible goodwill by honoring the rate. Not only from the customer (who, as has been pointed out, may have already booked the rest of his trip and now faces blowing his budget completely), but from the widespread positive publicity they could easily have generated (online and through conventional media). Call this “opportunity lost.”

I can’t wait to use this as a case study in classes and seminars on customer service and public relations. Oh, I’ll remind participants about R-C’s overall reputation as a world-class chain — but I know they’ll have a field day ripping R-C for this gaffe.
HI Innkeeper

@Cindy H

The reality is these rates are hand-keyed directly by someone at the hotel into Travelocity’s website on a daily/weekly/monthly basis. So there is just as much opportunity for error as with phoning in the rates. Perhaps all hotels should adopt a policy similar to that on a submarine, where every order is verified by repeating it to another person. Of course that would increase the room rates too. Until Travelocity and other internet travel providers change their method for rate input, these fat-finger problems will continue to occur, because in the end we are all human.

From a business perspective, R-C’s offer of a 50% discount is already close to the break even point for a luxury hotel. Accepting a 90% discount is like giving the customer $200 before they check-in, and then directing them to a competitor. Any consumer would immediately question why gas is selling for $0.30 per gallon when it should be $3.00; why should common sense avail them when it comes to travel?

Aloha,

TM

As a software professional, I know that a company like the Ritz certainly has the resources to purchase software with the appropriate guards in place to prevent a “fat finger” rate. I have no sympathy for them in the least. It is easy to have a data base that says that for X class of room, the minimum rate is X and the maximum Y. You can even add to the database for time of year, etc. It is easy to add in a “second set of eyes” to do a final inspection prior to submitting the rate. Remember, this was all done through a software reservation system, not calling someone up on the phone.
Carver

@The original MikeZ

What goodwill would the RC really have generated?

The OP is booking a room in the $58 dollar range and refuses to pay $290. The R-C probably figured, correctly IMO, that the OP is highly unlikely to 1)be a repeat customer or 2) use any of the ancilliary services at the R-C.

As far as good will with others, had the OP gotten the rate, he would have had no reason to contact Chris and this would be a non-story.

I’m not seeing the opportunity for major third party goodwill here.
Carver

@Hi Innkeeper

As a software professional, you will appreciate that for a major corporation to overhaul software is a herculean task.

Also, for whatever reason, that particular functionality doesn’t seem to exist in any hotel reservations systems as many chains seems to have suffered from fat finger fares at one point or the other.
http://lorihenry.ca Lori Henry

They should definitely have honoured the rate. It was their mistake. Period.

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