I Booked a Room for $0 Online; Is the Hotel Obligated To Honor It?

I was looking for a room at Harrah's in December. I signed onto the Harrah’s website and found some rooms that were listed at $0. Only the resort fees and taxes were shown. I made reservations for five nights and received an email confirmation. Today I got online and found that the room is about $50 a night, plus the resort fees and taxes. My guess is that this was a computer error. My questions are: Does this type of error happen often? Do they have to honor the reservation or are they allowed to contact me and cancel the reservation? Given the outrageous costs of the resort fees, parking fees, and all the nickel and dime charges that visitors to the Strip are being hit with, I only feel a LITTLE guilty.

Raving Consulting President Deana Scott comments, “If a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is. A property can cancel a room. This is typically done when it's oversold or there's a problem with the room.” That said, she adds, "If the room is advertised at no charge and the guest has the confirmation, he or she could use it to ask the manager to honor it."

Dr. Mehmet Erdem of the William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas says that this kind of snafu used to happen more often, but it still does despite the rise of online travel agents (OTAs) and other Internet booking systems. It can also happen if the property's booking software is being changed or the service has been outsourced.

The hotel “has the right to refuse a reservation if it was in error,” Erdem continues. "It is not obligated to honor erroneous prices and the guest has no legal ground to stand on.”

He adds that the guest should have checked other room-booking services to see if the $0 room night was in error. And either way, the prudent thing, according to Dr. Erdem, is to call the hotel and double-check, thereby preventing some deferred pain in the wallet.

We hope this helps clarify the situation. Please let us know what happens to your "free" room.

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Comments

David Miller Sep-23-2018

Rip off resort fees

 The "resort fee" is more than the room is worth.

doufous Sep-23-2018

Not an error

Sorry, but you really missed on this one.  This person logged into their Total Rewards account while checking room rates.  Harrah's was at that time offering five nights comped (resort fee not included) to this guest. These room rates are not available to all guests, only qualified based on play. As most hotels do, the rates have changed and the comped rooms are no longer available.  Harrah's will does honor reservations made at lower rates.  It would have been better to consult someone with knowledge of the comp system before answering this question.

johnchiang Sep-23-2018

Legit

No, this is not a computer error. My brother, who only places a few sports bets while in Vegas or Reno was able to book the same offer for Bally's. He had no problems checking in, they even upgraded him to a slightly larger room. Harrahs requires very little action to receive a comped room (paying only resort fees) during slow times of the year.

Jonathan Selavka Sep-23-2018

COMP Nights Are Not An Error

I agree with the other comments, I had noticed Bally's offering me a large number of COMP nights through the end of the year when logged in with my Total Rewards card. It's not all dates, but a lot of selected dates. Doesn't appear to be any sort of error, they're still getting their ridiculous resort and parking fees, plus hoping to get even more of your money.

Dave Sep-23-2018

Confirmation

So you’re saying an email confirmation isn’t a good enough confirmation?

Sorry LVA. You really blew it on this one. 

Sometimes prices change and sometime the inventory of free rooms gets sold out. 

And sometimes an OTA screws up. 

But, when booking direct, a confirmation is a confirmation!!!

Ray Sep-23-2018

What did they do?

The way the question reads, it looks like the person logged in, got the free room, and then logged in again and found a $50 room rate. Of course! They won't let you get ANOTHER room the same dates at the $0 rate! They're smart to not keep the comped rate up after you've already booked it. It doesn't look like Harrah's has told them they would be charged, just their own perception by looking online again. If they want to verify it (without calling Harrah's directly), just log in and look at your reservations. THAT will tell you what you have. Maybe LVA should have asked Harrah's or Caesars about this before answering.

Dave in Seattle. Sep-23-2018

Not ZERO.

Free room,but pay the resort fee and taxes? Sure,I would like that.
 $50 a night for a strip room is a good deal.
Down town would be even less $$.
A comp room without the fees is what I want,anyway.Then,I'll go next month.October is one of the best times to go,weather-wise.

David Sep-23-2018

Your casino rate

The $0 is probably your monthly casino rate. The $50 is probably because you weren't loggin in or your promo went away once you booked.  Not positive on this, just my past experience.

O2bnVegas Sep-23-2018

Best way to do it

Print the web page of the offer.  Call directly, ask to speak with a Host, give the offer code, ask if this is available.  Most Hosts want to book a stay, especially a new customer.

I'm guessing the confirmation is good enough.  Right now he can call Harrah's, have the confirmation with the reservation number/code in hand, just say "I'm calling to confirm my reservation", give the res number.  DO NOT start out with "I'm not sure this is valid", or "I saw a different price online", etc. 

And, to be safe, do not arrive LATE.  Any problems I have read about with a reservation not being honored (not necessarily Harrah's) is when the persons arrived really late in the evening.  If there becomes a shortage of rooms late in the day, they may sell to whomever is standing there with a credit card.  Good luck.

[email protected] Sep-23-2018

Not Error

I have five nights COMPED, during December for: Rio, Bally's, Planet Hollywood, and for the Linc.  Ten Years ago; I was able to book a month at different CET properties, in December, by combining myvegas awards and CET nights.

gaattc2001 Sep-23-2018

"Comped," but you still have to pay the resort fee?

That's like the award that a certain far-Eastern country once gave the British ambassador's wife. They couldn't give their highest honor to a foreigner, so they gave her "The Order of Chastity of the Second Class."
As the Saturday Night Live "Church Lady might say: "Now isn't that Special...."

Texas Transplant Sep-24-2018

Update on "Free" room at Harrahs

Update on this one.  I wrote to QOD and have the "Free" room rate at Harrahs.  I really appreciate the input from LVA and everyone else who took the time to respond. Here is a more complete story and an update.

 As some readers surmised, I did log in with my Harrahs' account number. I am at the lowest(gold) tier level with very few (2000) points - Got the points ONLY because I take part in some online surveys that are done with a market research company that partners with Harrahs, NOT for actual gambling.   

It NEVER occurred to me that with only 2000 "survey" points I could get a "gambler's" rate

As you all suggested, I just called in to Harrahs, spoke to a reservation clerk who said that because of my "play"  I got the rate. NOT a mistake. Apparently Harrahs has a broad definition of "play", at least during the slow season. 

Thanks again to everyone.

Looks like it was an error on my part.

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