booked a 2022 Spring Festival room on the hotel's official app. Two months later, the hotel told the hotel that the system price was displayed incorrectly when booking. The treatment plan given by the hotel was "either cancel the order or accept the double price", and the guests will not be compensated for the loss of air tickets booked for the itinerary.
This annoying incident happened between DoubleTree Lakeside Resort Hotel, Xinglong, Hainan (hereinafter referred to as "Hainan Xinglong Hilton") and dozens of guests who booked their rooms for next year's Spring Festival.
Many travelers booked the hotel did not accept the current handling method. So, should the hotel’s own mistakes be borne by the consumers, and who should be responsible for this situation?
Chen Yinjiang, deputy secretary-general of the Consumer Rights Protection Law Research Association of the Chinese Law Society, believes that the most reasonable approach for the hotel is to continue to fulfill the agreement and continue to let passengers stay at the price they originally booked, or compensate the difference for the house they are staying in. If the consumer unilaterally cancels the order by the hotel, the consumer can also ask for compensation for the related losses caused by the result.
Hainan Hilton unilaterally canceled the order
Spring Festival rooms are 499 yuan per night to 999 yuan. Many passengers said they would not accept
Recently, a reporter from Beijing News Shell Finance received a report from several passengers that the rooms he booked during the 2022 Spring Festival in Hainan Xinglong Hilton were unilaterally cancelled by the hotel in May this year.
On March 18 this year, Zhang Chong (real name) received an order confirmation email from Hainan Xinglong Hilton. He booked a total of 6 nights from January 31, 2022 to February 6, 2022 through the Hilton official app. The room price per night is 493 yuan, a total of 2,958 yuan, and a service fee of 491.03 yuan, a total of 3,449.03 yuan.
Note: The email of the booking success confirmed by Zhang Chong provided screenshot
Then, on April 23 and 24 this year, Zhang Chong booked a round-trip air ticket. The departure departure from Beijing and then transferred to Sanya through Shenzhen. The return departure departure from Sanya and then transferred back to Beijing via Nantong .
Unexpectedly, on May 17, Zhang Chong received an email from Hilton, Hainan. The email stated, "Due to the changes in the hotel prices in our group's hotel reservation system, the price of our products on the booking website is displayed incorrectly. According to the express agreement of the "Website Usage and Information Agreement" applicable to Hilton's official website, Hilton "reserves the right to cancel or modify the booking if the booking contains errors'. For this reason, we regret to notify you that we will cancel your booking. We apologize for the unchanging of this."
Note: The cancellation file of Hilton, Hainan, received by Zhang Chong,
, for this, Hainan Xinglong Hilton gave an adjustment plan in the email, namely, "To express our apology, we will provide a preferential price for luxury rooms for your reservation RMB 999/room/night (service fee and taxes are also charged separately). If you book multiple rooms, we will provide you with a discount per night (room fee only) for up to four rooms. If you book other room types, we will give you the corresponding preferential price according to the room type difference of the hotel's best flexible price (the discount terms and conditions apply to Hilton Hotel Management Group)."
Finally, Hainan Xinglong Hilton pointed out in the email that if you do not receive a reply from Zhang Chong before May 21, 2021, it will automatically cancel Zhang Chong's reservation.
Not only Zhang Chong encountered this situation. Currently, there are 22 members in the WeChat group called "Xinglong DT Rights Protection". According to a reporter from Beike Finance, its orders are basically all Hilton Chinese official app. The orders are between January and March this year, and the reservations are basically all around the Spring Festival in 2022.
"I hadn't received the cancellation email at that time, but after seeing the relevant information on the forum, I called the official customer service of Hilton Group on May 17, saying that I was very concerned about this matter. The customer service said that I might receive (email) in the past two days. I expressed that I could not accept the plan after the price increase. I have booked a plane ticket for so long in the past two months." Liu Yan (real name) told reporters.
On March 18 this year, Liu Yan received a confirmation email for the Hilton room reservation in Xinglong, Hainan. The check-in time for booking through the Hilton App is from February 1 to 7, 2022, a total of 6 nights. The room price per night is 493 yuan, a total of 2,958 yuan, and a service fee of 491.03 yuan, totaling 3,449.03 yuan.
htmlOn May 18, Hainan Xinglong Hilton sent Liu Yan another booking confirmation email.Note: Liu Yan provides - received confirmation information from the hotel twice on March 18 and May 18
"On May 19, a person in charge of Xinglong Hilton Hotel named Zhang called me and said that I would like to negotiate the price of the hotel during the Spring Festival, saying that due to the wrong display of the hotel price change system, the hotel has the right to cancel or modify the booking." Liu Yan said that on May 21, without any communication, Hainan Xinglong Hilton canceled its hotel booking.
Note: The hotel order status screenshot provided by Liu Yan
This way of processing has aroused dissatisfaction among many customers. "Since there is an error in the system, can the hotel tell me when the error started, when it ended, when it was discovered, how to deal with it after discovery, and why I contacted me after two months." Liu Yan said, "As a Hilton Diamond member for several years, I have chosen to book from the official Hilton channel and trust this brand. Our reservations are not to say that there is a temporary problem with the hotel system. I found it the next day and called us to cancel it. Instead, the price lasted for nearly 2 months and was cancelled after we booked two months. The website he said now shows an error, and no proof materials have been provided so far. I think this is a contempt for the spirit of the contract, a ignorance of Chinese laws, and a trampling on customer rights and interests."
It is understood that Zhang Chong, Liu Yan and others have sent lawyer letters to Hilton, Hainan Xinglong, and other relevant parties. "The lawyer's letter was sent to the hotel manager Zhang Yu on May 27 with SF , and signed on the 29th. We then confirmed that we had received it by phone, but we have not received any feedback yet."
Note: The lawyer's letter provided by Liu Yan
Hainan Xinglong Hilton official website shows that the hotel is located in Xinglong Town, Wanning City, Hainan Province. It is Hilton's tenth hotel in Hainan area. Its official WeChat official account is "Xinglong Hotel Branch of Wanning Kaide Investment Co., Ltd.". Qichacha shows that the Xinglong Hotel Branch of Wanning Kaide Investment Co., Ltd. was established on November 30, 2017. The person in charge is Zhang Yu, and the head office is Wanning Kaide Investment Co., Ltd., which is 100% controlled by China Resources (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.
Should the hotel be responsible for canceling the order?
Deputy Secretary-General of the Consumer Rights Protection Law Research Association: The hotel party is illegal
June 2, a reporter from Beike Finance called the above-mentioned person in charge of Hilton, Xinglong, Hainan. He said: "Our Spring Festival price in 2022 is because of the changes in the hotel price of the group booking system, the website price was displayed incorrectly when booking, that is, the price displayed on the official website at that time was wrong. Cancellation was also based on one of the website agreements. Hilton reserves the right to cancel or modify the booking if there is an error."
Note: Screenshot from Hilton's official website - "We hope to minimize the impact of this matter on everyone. The price of 999 yuan per night is the Spring Festival price we set based on the surrounding data information." The person in charge of Zhang said, "We are also actively communicating with the legal authorities for the round-trip air tickets booked by passengers for hotel reservations, and there is no compensation at present."
So, why did the system error notify passengers who booked for two months? The person in charge of Zhang said: "We found that most of the bookings were placed on March 18. From this day on, we realized that the price was wrong. After discovering it, we had to report to the group and communicate with the legal affairs to deal with it. It is not what the Internet said. We saw that the business on May Day is good and the price was raised."
However, a relevant person from Wanning Municipal Market Supervision Administration told Beike Finance reporters that orders for booking rooms in Hainan Xinglong Hilton during the 2022 Spring Festival in 2022 have started to appear in January this year, and the time is distributed between January and March.At the same time, according to some passengers, the orders were placed in January and February this year.
Why did the hotel fail to find this problem in January and February? In response, the person in charge of Zhang said: "Whether the discovery is found or not has nothing to do with the facts that are established. I don't know where 12315 is known, and what I know is not the same fact." Then, the reporter asked: "Are the orders all from March?" He said: "At present, the hotel did not discover it in January, and we have not verified this situation."
So, how can we prove that the price display error was indeed caused by system reasons? The person in charge of Zhang said: "I believe that our legal affairs have their own basis for their own judgment, so there should be no problem. I cannot give such feedback on how to prove it. I believe that what we Hilton did must be legal."
The person in charge of Zhang also said that the hotel suspected that someone had maliciously occupied the house. "We found out that the price was wrong on March 18. The order on that day occupied almost all 290 rooms for the Spring Festival in 2022. However, there is no evidence now, so it is difficult to draw conclusions. There must be some that are not really wanted to live in, and there is suspicion of malicious occupying the house. They have no evidence now and cannot draw conclusions at will."
In response, a booking passenger told the reporter of Beike Finance: "There is indeed a case of a booking. Many people placed orders on March 18th, but at that time, many public accounts pushed bookings for cheap hotels. We communicated, and many people also read the tweets before placing orders. We cannot guess that there are malicious housing occupations based on the large number of bookings. Moreover, the cancellation email only wrote the reason for the system error. Later, the statement of malicious housing occupation was verbally raised. We think this is untenable. Even if there is malicious housing occupation, the hotel should also bear the responsibility for tourists who have real housing intentions. "
It is understood that when ordering to book a hotel through the Hilton official app, there is no need to pay immediately when booking, but a credit card must be provided as a guarantee. If the passenger does not check in on the day of the check-in date, the hotel will notify the passenger to transfer the money.
Note: Screenshot from Hilton's official App room booking page
Regarding this incident, a relevant person from Wanning Municipal Market Supervision Bureau told reporters: "The low-priced orders for next Spring Festival will be available in January, February and March. After the hotel discovered the error, it will send a unified email and further telephone communication in May. Therefore, we will negotiate with the hotel customer service for booking air tickets. I believe they will come up with a proper solution. If you feel that the feedback results are not satisfied, then It can only be taken in the form of litigation, which is stipulated by law."
Chen Yinjiang, deputy secretary-general of the Consumer Rights Protection Law Research Association of the Chinese Law Society, told Beike Finance reporter that from the perspective of the "Website Use and Information Agreement", this is a format contract clause. The " Consumer Rights Protection Law " clearly stipulates that through standard terms, consumers' responsibilities cannot be increased, but their own responsibilities are reduced, otherwise it will be an unfair format clause and an invalid clause.
"It is what we call the 'overlord clause' in daily life. To take a step back, why should consumers bear the consequences of the problem caused by the hotel's mistake? The hotel's mistake should be held responsible for their own mistakes. At the same time, even if the consumer signs and confirms this clause when placing an order, as long as this clause is unfair, it increases the responsibility of the consumer and reduces the operator's own responsibility, then even if it is signed, it will be invalid, let alone just check it when placing an order." Chen Yinjiang said.
According to Chen Yinjiang, the above-mentioned " format clause " refers to the terms unilaterally prepared in advance, "the terms written together are contract terms formulated by both parties, but one party draws them in advance and solicits opinions for the other party is called the format contract terms."
According to Article 26 of the "Consumer Rights Protection Law", operators shall not make unfair and unreasonable provisions on consumers such as excluding or restricting consumer rights, reducing or exempting operators' responsibilities, and aggravating consumer responsibilities through standard terms, notices, statements, store notices, etc., and shall not use standard terms and use technical means to force transactions.If the standard terms, notices, statements, store notices, etc. contain the content listed in the preceding paragraph, the content shall be invalid.
Lawyer Han Xiao from Beijing Kangda Law Firm believes that it is not uncommon for hotels to require consumers who book their peak season rooms in advance in the off-season to cancel orders or make up for the price difference, and it is not uncommon for hotels to cancel such bookings without the consent of consumers. The price difference in off-season prices in the peak season of tourism should be predicted by ordinary merchants.
Han Xiao believes that if consumers make room reservations through the hotel's official website and cooperative platform, they have actually reached a contractual relationship with the hotel when they make payment or determine the booking specific information in the form required by the hotel and platform website. According to Article 16 of the " Consumer Rights Protection Law of the People's Republic of China", if the operator and the consumer have an agreement, they shall perform their obligations in accordance with the agreement. The operator shall operate in good faith and shall not set unfair or unreasonable transaction conditions, and shall not force transactions.
Han Xiao pointed out that the hotel has obviously lacked rationality for requiring consumers to bear adverse consequences due to its own system's fault in not distinguishing the off-season peak season. At the same time, consumers also have reasons to believe that hotels are conducting such behaviors through system error reasons due to price increases in peak seasons. "Generally speaking, there are three ways for consumers to protect their rights and interests, namely, complaints from the consumer association, complaints from the industrial and commercial administration department, and lawsuits from the people's court. They can protect their rights in order to facilitate and effectively resolve the matter."
Chen Yinjiang believes: "The most reasonable way for the hotel party is to continue to fulfill the agreement, continue to let passengers stay at the price they originally booked, or compensate the difference for the house they are staying in. If the consumer unilaterally cancels the order by the hotel, the consumer can also ask for compensation for the related losses caused by the result."
Beijing News Shell Finance reporter Xiao Wei Pan Yichun Hou Runfang
Editor Li Weijia Proofreading Li Shihui
Reporter: xiaowei@xjbnews.com
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