Last week I booked three nights accommodation in a city centre hotel owned by one of the major chains. Booked on their own website, paid for it all up front because the room is for an event we absolutely have to go to and if for any reason we don't use the room there'll be a queue of people willing to take it.
As soon as I'd paid the bill I messaged the person I'll be sharing with to let them know the details. They wanted to check the location so within a couple of minutes of me booking and paying for the room, got the hotel website up and found the same type of room, same dates, same lack of breakfast showing for £90 less than I'd paid. When I googled again I got the lower rate too. So I called and talked to a woman who checked it and seemed perplexed and said 'Oh, that's not right, is it? Dynamic pricing shouldn't make so much difference in half an hour. I'll arrange to reimburse you so that you pay the lower rate'. She said there were a couple of stages she needed to go through and to check my credit card statement in a few days because it would probably take time to show up. A little while later I received two invoices crediting different amounts: it looked as if she'd had to credit the VAT and the room price separately but who knows.
The day after I had confirmation of my booking and a 'We look forward to welcoming you on 23 June' email and receipt for the lower sum. It's been a busy week and I forgot all about it.
This morning I've checked my bank and I've received a very large credit card repayment, which effectively means that we've been charged about 30% of the going rate for the room. Clearly there's an error here. I've been on the phone for half an hour this morning trying to speak to someone. When I looked at the site this morning, the price of a room has gone up by about £40 per night. So if I go back to them now, am I likely to be charged even more than I was first time around? If we're CFs and turn up on the arranged day clutching the receipt and welcome letter, what are the chances of being able to sort the situation out then? Do we actually have a room booked?