Overpriced Rooms Misleading False Advertising of Room Rates [CHECK-IN.com.au]

Lshane23 on 17/03/2011 - 23:52

I wanted to share my recent experience . I made a booking at hilton sydney showing me a room rate of $1299 per night and as you scroll across the rate i got was $429 . I told my wife to book it and went from there. I called the hotel to confirm the booking and they had it i asked the room type they said guest room i asked for the full rate was $490 not much of a savings is it. I doubled checked the website and again saw the rate of $1299 on the front page of sydney C.B.D hotels . So i rang them and they told me to deal with the hotel they only given the rates. Back and fourth and in the end they just cancelled my booking and i had to seek accomodation else where.

What im looking for is some assistance or opinions about this blown out rate to trick people into thinking they are getting a room worth $1299 but really only saving 50 bucks. I checked wot if last min , etc all showing the correct rate which makes me angry and i rang them to take it further and Then i rang fair trade . I can lodge a complaint and they look into it and we go to small courts tribunal seems alot. I tried negoiate with them and said look how about a suite worth $900 instead of something worth $1299 which doesnt exist. No and hang up.

Any opinions or help for either way is appreciated. Link is below to get an idea what im talking about

General Discussion

Comments

  • issh on 18/03/2011 - 00:04
    +1

    $1299 per night and as you scroll across the rate i got was $429

    if it is too good to be true it probably is

    check on wotif first(as you already did)

  • cdundee on 18/03/2011 - 00:36

    Lots of websites do the same, even wotif. They tell you the full rate and then compare it to their own but if you call the hotel directly, you'd probably get the same rate than from wotif. That's just my experience, but usually I do my bookings through wotif anyway.
    In this particular Hilton case, you're right that the link shows the ridiculous price of $1299 and it also seems that you'd get the room for around $400-500, woohoo great deal. But as in wotif, you have to go to the details of the hotel and type of room which will actually tell you which room you'd get for that $429. King suite full rate seems to be that $1299 but I doubt that you actually booked that particular room through check-in website. If you did, that's definitely fair trade case. What did the booking confirmation say?
    Also wotif shows the full rate of king suite being $1389, but they don't show it on the main page as if it were such a great deal.
    I agree that showing these blown out rates first is a bit unfair but I guess in this case it might be a misunderstanding from your side and also a bad design on the web page itself when showing the prices.

  • neil on 18/03/2011 - 02:06
    +3

    This is their rack rate and is standard hotel practice around the world. Very similar to RRP where no one actually pays it.

    The price a hotel charges for a room before any discount has been taken into account. The published rate for a room, sometimes set artificially high and used to calculate a variety of discounts. src
    Wikipedia

    Looking through checkin's site, the $1299 is rack rate for the king suite. The sale price ranges from $929-$1049.

    The only way you can book on checkin (as far as I can see) is by pressing the view button. After clicking the view button, the $1299 rate is shown only for the king suite. I don't see what the problem is?

  • POWERevolution on 18/03/2011 - 02:24

    Guest Room Plus Full Rate is $595
    $1299 is for King Suite
    so you booked guest room and can't expect them to give you king suite

  • Ashlea on 18/03/2011 - 02:32

    It was hard to tell what you meant from your post as the punctuation was a little poor. From what I gathered, though, you misunderstood those websites.

    When they show you full rate, it's the full rate for the BEST room available. They've done nothing wrong, you simply expected more than they were offering.

  • shane23 on 18/03/2011 - 03:23
    -3

    whats wrong with my punctuation i went to a catholic school. Maybe its easier to talk on the phone ashlea to explain it more clearly. Basically the other websites are showing the full rate of $500-$600 this website shows the room rate at $1299 and if thats the king suite then thats what im entitled too. You cant advertise a plasma tv thats usually $10,000.00 and below have a price of $1000.00 out on the banner out the front and then when you get into the store the tv is really only $1200.00 you get for $1000.00 the tv for $10,000.00 is the best tv we sell?
    What culture does that?

    • pauly on 18/03/2011 - 04:28
      +1

      http://www.check-in.com.au/rg-2-hoteldetails.asp?ihotelid=19…

      From the link above, I can't see where you can book $1299 rooms for $430? From what I can see, the $1299 rooms are advertised on special at different rates. So the advertising is correct.

    • Gaz1 on 19/03/2011 - 13:06
      +2

      "whats wrong with my punctuation i went to a catholic school."
      That is funny in so many ways.

      • esq on 20/03/2011 - 21:42

        Perhaps he is still in attendance at the aforementioned school.

  • sparkles on 18/03/2011 - 11:52
    +1

    I can see where the OP is coming from as the set up of that website is somewhat misleading. Unless you click on "View" and actually see the price breakdowns of the different rooms and their rack rates, you could assume at first glance that you were getting a $1299 room for $489 or whatever. However since you have to click on "View" to actually make a booking (and thus all the breakdown info is revealed) I don't quite get how you thought you were booking the King Suite for $489?

  • shane23 on 18/03/2011 - 12:08

    I saw the price $1299 and the rates along side $419 etc I told my wife to book it and she proceeded following the price for the day we wanted. I have done this myself Once you proceed the rate changes to the cheapest rate and the room for $1299 isnt $419 is close to a $1000.00. I'm still feeling the first screen is a trap to get you believing your getting a room valued at 1299 all the other websites shows you rates of $450-$550

  • andy19363 on 18/03/2011 - 12:36
    +1

    What im looking for is some assistance or opinions about this blown out rate to trick people into thinking they are getting a room worth $1299 but really only saving 50 bucks.

    My opinion is that I suspect there would not be too many people who didn't understand that hotels have more than one type of room……

    I'm still feeling the first screen is a trap to get you believing your getting a room valued at 1299 all the other websites shows you rates of $450-$550

    I guess they have limited space….. Would it be better for them to show you the cheapest room rate, then find out you need to pay more?

  • Miranda on 18/03/2011 - 12:40
    +1

    This is just one stunt of that web which in order to attract your attention with something misleading.

  • whiteflame on 18/03/2011 - 13:20

    Check this out:

    http://www.wotif.com/hotel/View?hotel=W50784&adults=6&childr…

    Notice the full rate for 3 Bed Plunge Pool 2+:
    Full rate is $433 and discounted is $311, compare it to this

    https://www.oakshotelsresorts.com/RoomAvailability.aspx?sid=…

    Notice the full rate for the same,
    Full rate is $396 and discounted rate is $311.

    How does that make ANY sense to ANY one? NOONE will ever pay the full rate that wotif claims, since the full rate on oaks' site is less than wotif's.

    They are all a load of crap. I basically always booking the rates they charge all the time and it has never ever been a discount.

  • shane23 on 18/03/2011 - 14:18
    -1

    I have had another look around the website and I worked out what Checkin is doing which the other websites are not . The check in website is showing on the main page the rates for the best room that hotel offering and shows you the cheapest rate and then once your interested than and you click ahead they show you the cheapest room offered for that price that can't be legal

  • cdundee on 18/03/2011 - 15:02
    +1

    A trap, a hook, whatever you call it, it is marketing. Ever heard of "up to 70% off" or "prices tarting from XXX".
    I agree that in a way it is a bit misleading on the first page but mate, there a plenty of others that do the same. I'm not saying if it is wrong or right, but you gotta see through it.

    • whiteflame on 18/03/2011 - 15:42

      and i heard that from a text book of marketing, one of the leading women's fashion brand (i think it was CUE) was penalised because they have marked up their prices then went on SALE claiming it was a legitimate SALE.

      you cant just cop it in the chin, i guess thats y this topic has been brought up

  • shane23 on 18/03/2011 - 16:31

    I understand they inflation the rack rate like wot if and last minute rates to go and beat rates but what they are doing here is showing your the best room the hotel has to offer showing youths rate and then showing you the cheapest price you can get a room. Again sign at the front of good guys plamsa tv worth $10,000 now only $900- you stop car walk into the store where's this t.v over here it's rrp is $1100 oh what about the t.v advertised for $10,000 oh hats on salE for $9,800 it's the best tv we have . How is that right ?

  • andy19363 on 18/03/2011 - 17:15

    If you look on that list of hotels….they all give their most expensive room rate…. that gives you some idea of the most you might have to pay…… Hopefully, if lower priced rooms are available, you will end up paying less.

    Look at it the other way…… if hotels used their lowest priced room for the 'rack rate', how annoying would it be to find that there were no lower priced rooms available, and you had to pay more.

    To use the Good guys analogy…. it's like them saying "come inside, the most you will pay for one of our tvs is $10,000"

    • Gaz1 on 19/03/2011 - 13:04

      I agree. If they listed the rack rate of the cheapest type of room you could find that their actual "special offers" would be more expensive if there were no rooms available at this price.
      As they list prices for several days at once it wouldn't be possible to change the rack rate price dependent on the type of rooms available.

  • shane23 on 18/03/2011 - 17:34

    So from still looking and asking apparently section 18 of the consumer law states misleading / incorrect advertising so I'm lodging a formal complaint with fair trading

    • Hintswen on 19/03/2011 - 01:05

      Good luck, but I think they haven't done anything wrong. They probably just haven't got updated rates (that's what it sounds like)

  • ang911 on 23/03/2011 - 20:46

    I don't understand why you are still pursuing this? On the front cut-down page it says full rate for the hotel is $1299…e.g rack rate for the best room they have. Then to the right it shows their "hot deals" e.g. cheapest room available in the hotel. If you want to book a room you click through to the next page which clearly shows the full rate of $1299 is for the king suite. You booked a guest room and it shows the full rate is $595… so you think they should have given you a king suite because you didn't read the page properly?

    Also your Good Guys example is completely different. A similar situation would be if they had a picture of an expensive plasma TV with a caption that says TV's instore from $500 (it's a marketing technique…bit dodgy, annoying but not illegal because they are not actually lying about anything). What you are claiming is blatant false and misleading advertising which I don't think it is. But hey good luck with Fair Trading.

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