“Similar to Donovan v. RRL Corp.,[Case 3] if a person sees an advertisement and there is a mistake that a person reading the newspaper would believe to be a valid offer and there is sufficient reliance on the offer, then it is unlikely that a court will rescind the contract.” seems to cover this situation. The OP thought it was a great deal, confirmed it was a great deal with an employee (who should be able to bind the company if they are answering reservation phone lines) and relied on that.

@Carver – Thank you for bringing your legal expertise here. Why aren’t hotels subject to the same rules of contract as others? I understand the difference between “buying the computer” and asking if it is a valid price. How about an analogy of a bilateral contract of you will deliver me such and such computer next month and I will pay you $200 (as opposed to unilateral of “*IF* you deliver me such and such computer next month, I’ll pay you $200.”)? Is it something in hotel boilerplate that says they can cancel at any time or ??? Also, why shouldn’t an employee who presumably can do reservations not allowed to bind the hotel? Do they all disclaim that everything is subject to manager approval?

I think the discussion of the various legal and business parts here is interesting. Thank you all for contributing your knowledge.

I’m not sure what the cost to the hotel was with this resolution versus honoring the original price and I appreciate those who provided insight into why the manager would prefer this resolution.

On the other hand, hotel managers also have a budget for “fixing things” for customers, and they may not be judged as strictly (sometimes) on the revenue from ancillary fees. So crediting off the fees to keep the room rate higher, and even paying for a ticket (which could have been as low as $200) might still be better than cutting to the lower room charge.

@Barbie: The point isn’t that Quincy isn’t a nice place, or isn’t convenient, or full of wonderful things to do. The point is that (a) the hotel in question isn’t a 4-star hotel, it’s a 3-star, and even at that, the rating is apparently questionable, and (b) 7 miles, even if only 20 minutes travel time, is a huge distance for, say, a business traveler at a convention, or one who is calling on downtown Boston clients. A leisure traveler might find Quincy perfectly adequate for a visit; someone who needs to be able to leave his hotel and be at a convention or law office or whatever within a few minutes will not. He may have a large amount of material he must bring with him to the convention, there might be an accident on the way in from Quincy blocking traffic, there are a hundred reasons why seasoned business travelers prefer to stay downtown, and pay a premium to do so. And that premium location (and the extra star in the rating) is worth a lot of money. If even a 3-star hotel in a suburb of Boston which is a 20-minute drive from downtown can get $50/night, why on earth would you defend as reasonable a $28 rate at a higher-ranked property practically in the lap of Universal Studios Orlando?

I wonder what would happen if I mistakenly booked a non-refundable room rate, then called the hotel and said my finger slipped and I selected the wrong rate? Hey Westin, honest mistake, you’re just a greedy hotel if you don’t allow me to cancel and get my money back.

I know exactly what would happen – “you agreed to the rate” and “there’s nothing I can do”.

This is not a win-win situation. The hotel had to be pressed for everything they offered. Greedy and short-sighted management. I’ll never stay at Westin Imagine Orlando if this is how they resolve problems.

If you wanted to try to get the hotel on the hook, you’d need to contact someone with authority, e.g. a manager or supervisor. A random employee isn’t empowered to bind the hotel.

@Topher

You Best Buy anaology is good, but misses slightly. If you call and confirm the price you can’t walk into Best Buy and demand the $200 computer. Now, once you’ve actually purchased the computer and taken possession of it, then you would be correct, they cannot unilaterally undue a completed contract.

Agree 100%. Had the customer simply relied on the website without re-confirming whether it was a fat fingered fare, it would be open for debate. Had the hotel immediately revoked the fare when the customer called, it would be understandable. But as the above poster stated–the hotel had the perfect opportunity to correct the error and missed the boat. If the employee who confirmed the fare didn’t think $28/night was too good to be true, why should the customer argue?

I, too, find the hotel’s resolution puzzling and perhaps overly generous. I think most of us would have backed off once the rate was reduced to $99/night. As for the airfare, I interpreted it as the hotel issued reimbursement for the cost of the non-refundable airfare, which the customer would have been out if she/he had decided to cancel the reservation. It’s possible, though unlikely, the customer found a good fare from CA – Orlando which would make the hotel still come out ahead.