STAY123 - Anyone else have their rate change?

[sea_u_onboard]

I decided to follow the advise of some of those on this board who suggested using stay123 dot com.

 

I made my reservation yesterday at $129 price. Today I get an email and a voice mail that they can't honor the price - it is now $159 bacause the hotel is almost booked up.

 

Funny thing if they are still advertising the $129 rate on their website.

 

This is the email is got;

Thank you for choosing to travel with Stay123.com

 

Dear Ms. xxx

Hotel has just informed us that due to high occupancy and limited availability their normal park and cruise selling rate is $209.00 plus tax, and higher, BUT since we do wholesale at this hotel, hotel will offer us this package at special rate of $159.00 plus tax.

 

Please let us know if $159.00 plus tax is acceptable for your, and we will proceed with your reservation confirmation.

I've been checking and I know the hotels are booking up fast but to me this is THEIR fault.

This was my response.

While I think it's unfair to come back and ask for more money on a guaranteed reservation (especially since I'm sure you would hold me to the cancellation policy if I decided to cancel later) I guess I don't have any choice. So I guess I will have to pay the additional money.

You're site came highly recommended on one of the cruise boards. Is this your normal policy to hit your customers up for more money once the reservation is made?? It seems to me that if YOU made the mistake of offering a room at a lower rate that YOU would have to make up the difference. But I guess that's the difference between good and poor customer service. Lesson learned - I won't use your site in the future if you can't guarantee your pricing.

In the future I suggest you not offer rooms at a price that is not available. Leaves a bad taste with the customer.

[urbanhawk]

I'm sorry you didn't get the rate that was posted....I checked their site today for 10-15-11, as it appears your cruise leaves on the 16th. I no longer see the Holiday Inn Superdome listed for that date, so I went to the Holday Inn's website, and plugged in 10-15-11 for a one nite stay-rooms no longer available, so it looks like it is full. I booked with 123 in early June for my cruise in November, and had no problems....Again, sorry you weren't able to get the lowere rate.....

[sea_u_onboard]

I contacted Holiday Inn direct and spoke to the person in charge of overseeing the wholesale program because even though stay123 was telling me the rate went up they were still advertising for $129. I didn't blame the hotel - I just wanted them to be aware of a situation that I saw as a bait and switch on the part of someone that was representing the hotel. The woman I spoke to was very helpful and explained that each wholesaler is given x number of rooms at a certain rate and once the allotted number was gone they could request more rooms at the going wholesale rate - which she confirmed was $159 - so they weren't trying to charge me more than the allowable - but she also stressed that they should know how many rooms they have available and should adjust their website accordingly (maybe even have a statement that pricing is subject to change until the reservation is confirmed - none of which they have). She asked if I had the rate in writing - to which I told her no because the original confirmation they send only states the basic informaiton (dates, number in party) but no price.

 

So I again emailed stay123 and asked that if the $129 was no longer available then why were they still advertising it (I went out and printed the page just to confirm they were still offering it). They responded but not until after they had updated their site to show $159 as the going rate.

 

I decided I wasn't going to be hijacked into accepting a $30 increase and told them I would not be using their service.

 

I received an email this morning that they were going to honor the original quote of $129. (they are going to pay the difference). I haven't found out how exactly they are doing this yet and have not canceled by back-up reservation yet.

 

I will post and update when information becomes available.

 

FYI - Maybe you put in the wrong date - I just went out to their website and they are showing Oct 15th as available for $159 at the Superdomw location.

[sea_u_onboard]

Update - I called the hotel again and spoke to the person in charge of the wholesale program an dtold them that stay123 honoroed their original agreement and she told me to email her my confirmation number and she will she that we get the best room available for our stay.

 

Great customer service.

[luvmysox1]

Did the rate you set up on stay123 end up being you total cost? did the surprise with extra fee?

 

I was wondering why they were cheaper than the holiday web price. My date say 138 plus 20 for taxes but HI web site say 174 because of my 3rd person. No indictation of that on Stay123.

 

Thanks your help

[sea_u_onboard]

Did the rate you set up on stay123 end up being you total cost? did the surprise with extra fee?

 

I was wondering why they were cheaper than the holiday web price. My date say 138 plus 20 for taxes but HI web site say 174 because of my 3rd person. No indictation of that on Stay123.

 

Thanks your help

 

We don't go until October.

 

I booked for three and they are aware (it's on the confirmation). I would hope they don't charge anything additional for the third since it's on there. I will post after our stay.