I’ve worked in and around the hotel industry since 1984 and have never known a hotelier who would claim otherwise. Perhaps there are rogue operators out there that practice business unscrupulously (and the Blakemore account, if accurate, describes a thoroughly unscrupulous practice), but to survive they would have to cater largely to a clientelle I’d not want to meet on a dark street.

It took three truly bad experiences, and worthless credits that were just wasted on the next reservation to learn this lesson (and all were over double the charge here for simple rooms). Give up Days Inn! Days Inn is now lumped in with the Wyndham group (Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, Ramada Worldwide, Days Inn, Super 8, Wingate by Wyndham, Baymont Inns & Suites, Howard Johnson, Travelodge, Knights Inn, and AmeriHost Inn) and their customer service is truly a sham. After a truly horrific night spent half awake in an Indianapolis Days Inn, no working coffee machine or shower and the neighbors seem to have attracted police attention we left as fast as we could followed by management threats of “future charges”.

Days Inn customer service noted they would take care of once we would mail them a “copy of our credit card bill”! Wrong. We stopped that before a bill was mailed, and a month later received a slight apology and credit noting it was our fault for not leaving immediately. We had a handicapped person with us who had to lay down for a while — once rested, we ran!

I have the last letter with a faux-credit that can be used at any of these hotels on our next trip. It lists all of the related hotels and suggests that we join WYNDHAM REWARDS and/or their resort club. We keep this as a reminder to avoid all of the hotels on their header and noted that other billing problems since 2006 had occurred in same group: Wyndham, Ramada, Knights Inn (shudder), Super 8, and Wingate. They don’t miss us, they get more than enough suckers sent over by their other booking agencies. Each of these hotels is independent now (per conversations with customer service) and has been told by the Wyndham group that they can do as they wish — and they seem to be doing just that. Most complaints will just lead to an angry call from someone telling you not to complain (or as in indiana, “you can sleep in your car next time”).

Learn from those who DO complain and book elsewhere or don’t just shut up and pay whatever the desk clerk asks for, clean your room and shut up.

I think though that this scenario is fundamentally different from the airlines’ yield management system per the opening lines of the article. It’s one thing to be suspicious of prices which dynamically go up and down. It’s another for the hotel owner to arbitrarily cancel a reservation. Apples and oranges at the very least.

I wonder if the hotel felt that this was one of those fat finger fares. I mean $29 for a suite does seem unreasonably low, even for a slow period. In which case, IMO it was right to cancel the reservation.

I work in a hotel and I deal with these types of contracts regularly. When you book through an OTA (i.e. Travelocity), the contract is between you and them. The hotel also has its own contract with the OTA.

The hotel has control via the internet of the rates and inventory that Travelocity has available for sale and whether they were aware of the cheap rate or just weren’t paying attention they still allowed Travelocity to continue selling at that rate which resulted in a reservation being booked.

By cancelling the reservation they (the hotel) were trying to bait and switch and I’ll bet this isn’t the only person they have done this to considering that the “too good to be true” price is in more than one place.

Anyway, that leaves this person stuck in the middle because Travelocity had their money, therefore it was up to them to find comparable accomodations or refund the money depending on the booking agreement with them. Unfortunately the guest would not have any recourse against the shady motel operator because the guest made the deal with Travelocity and not the hotel directly.

By refunding the difference in price, Travelocity is actually paying that money out of pocket unless they somehow can recover that money later from the hotel, so thumbs up to them for taking care of their customer even at a loss that was beyond their control!

Since the hotel breached their agreement with Travelocity, I can only hope that Travelocity is taking some sort of action against the property. If Travelocity (and its other affiliate sites) dropped their agreement with this property imagine the amount of money they could lose by not showing up in search engines next to all their competition.

Don’t let this foul experience ruin you from booking through third parties! Here’s my advice:

1. Always shop around. If the rate is cheaper through the hotel directly book it through them. If the rate is cheaper through the internet book it online.(remember to take into consideration all the taxes and fees and look only at the total price!)

2. If you’re going to whine if you don’t get two queen beds or a suite, book it through the hotel directly. Often the reservations made through a third party are “Run-Of-House” and “Based on Availability.” You get what you pay for.

3. Read the terms & conditions. Read the terms & conditions. (Read the terms & conditions.) Often by booking online you could save money, however you could also lose money if you cancel or make a change. Many sites charge nonrefundable booking fees and may also charge fees for cancelling or making changes. 99% of the time when you book directly with the hotel you can cancel with no penalty just by providing 2-3 days notice.

Now if the hotel did notify Travelocity that it was not going to honor the rate and Travelocity did nothing to even notify the customer, then Travelocity bears the liability for the difference in rate. Kirzen is 100% correct about how the business operates. But that does nothing for the customer standing at the hotel’s check-in desk. Keep in mind that travelocity is not your customer – no matter what you may think.

That said, I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for something to happen. Unless it’s found to be part of a pattern of behavior, the AG would be likely to look at the hotel’s actions, the fact the complainant was reimbursed by Travelocity, and decide no harm, no foul.

Regardless of whether Travelocity screwed up and couldn’t “get you a room” or the hotel was being stupid and didn’t confirm the room, or the hotel was being a bunch of bastards and cancelled a reservation ‘after’ it was confirmed, the hotel is under no obligation to provide you the room.”

It’s funny how someone who doesn’t know the law either, makes up legal stuff, too. I’ll go for it. You’re most likely wrong. There are more than one way to pursue this. It could very well be breach of contract, I recommend you research the term privity.

Second, it could well be a tort and there may be a third cause of action under state law under the state’s deceptive trade practices act.

BTW, I am a lawyer.

Travelocity cleaned up the mess, and that is nice of them. But they would not have had to clean up the mess if the customer would just have got the room she booked.

Because now, they have both lost a customer.

In addition, just because you “can” do something or have the right do do it (e.g., cancel a customer’s room) doesn’t mean that you should do it, or that it makes good business sense. Alienating customers is never a good idea. Hopefully, this is not a corporate-wide policy at Days Inn.

I agree that it’s crucial to confirm directly with the hotel when you book through a third party. I always do this when I book through Priceline or Hotwire and so far my reservations have been honored.

The owner and hotel can tap dance around the issue all they want. She booked a room with their establishment and they chose not to honor the price. Penalizing her for booking through Travelocity isn’t right or honest. And if I know SEC football fans (and I do), that hotel manager may be looking for another job, and quickly. He/she may find doing business that way in a town as small as Auburn isn’t the way to make a profit. Word travels.

Hey, at least most of us actually read the article.