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Hotel Advertised Prices Class Action Lawsuit Overview:
- Who: Chafik Mihoubi filed a class action lawsuit against hotel reservation websites, including Priceline, Hotwire and Orbitz, among others.
- Why: Mihoubi claims the websites unlawfully exclude taxes and fees in their advertised prices.
- Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in the Superior Court of Quebec.
Hotel reservation websites such as Priceline, Hotwire, Orbitz and Kayak unlawfully charge consumers a higher price than what they initially advertise, a new class action lawsuit alleges.
The Superior Court of Quebec ruled to authorize the class action lawsuit, according to a judgment filed by the court last week.
Plaintiff Chafik Mihoubi claims that, during the course of the reservation process, only a base price without taxes or fees is shown to consumers.
Mihoubi claims this method of only showing the final price at the very end of the process is in violation of the Quebec Consumer Protection Act (CPA).
The hotel reservation websites unsuccessfully argued that the CPA “does not apply to contracts regarding the sale, lease or construction of an immovable,” according to the judgment
Websites Must Include Full Cost Of Stay In Advertised Price
While some of the hotel reservation websites provide a warning in “small characters” that more fees will later be added, the total price is only displayed once a consumer makes a choice for the room they want, according to the judgment.
The hotel reservation websites would need to include all of the costs the consumers would need to pay in their advertised price to be in compliance with the CPA, Mihoubi claims.
Further, Mihoubi argues the CPA “prohibits breaking down the price into components, giving greater prominence to the price of the room rather than the all-inclusive price of the stay,” according to the judgment.
Mihoubi wants to represent a class of Quebec residents who reserved rooms on websites operated by companies including Priceline, Hotwire, Orbitz, Kayak, Homeaway, B&B, Canadastays, Benjamin & Brothers, Accor, Hilton, Six Continents, Hyatt and Wyndham.
A separate class action lawsuit involving hotels was filed against Pan Pacific last month by former employees who claim the hotel wrongfully terminated them during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Have you purchased a hotel reservation from one of the businesses targeted in the class action lawsuit? Let us know in the comments!
The plaintiff is represented by Mathieu Charest-Beaudry and Lex Gill of Trudel Johnston & Lespérance, Bruno Grenier and Cory Verbauwhede of Grenier Verbauwhede Avocats Inc., and Peter Shams of Hadekel Shams S.E.N.C.R.L.
The Hotel Advertised Prices Class Action Lawsuit is Mihoubi v. Priceline.com, L.L.C., et al., Case No. 500-06-001041-207, in the Superior Court of Quebec.
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13 thoughts onClass Action Claims Priceline, Others Fail To Properly Include Taxes, Fees, In Advertised Price Of Hotel Rooms
On October 22, 2022 I had a reservation with Blue Bird Suites through Priceline.com. The reservation was through October 29, 2022. Upon going on Priceline.com and entering my dates, I found Blue Bird Suites in Menlo Park, Ca. I thought to book the stay and upon making the reservation I was met with the option to finance the entire package through Affirm. For a $500 dollar down payment I could book the reservation and pay monthly. The package included a rental car at $0 cost for the same days of my stay at Blue Bird Suites. Total amount for the rental car and my hotel stay was $3044.00. I made the down payment of $500 and was instructed my Priceline to check-In at 4pm on 10/22/22 and that all taxes and fees are included in the total price, and that I would be charged $100 dollars upon arrival at the hotel. I thought that was probably a deposit for incidentals. Anyway I show up to Blue Bird Suites in Menlo Park, CA at 4pm on 10/22/22 just to find nobody there to receive me. I was told they went home at 4pm. Whoa! To make a long story short I was not honored my stay. I was never given codes or any way to get into my suite. Rather I was told to contact Blue Bird Suites billing department. I thought how could this places billing department have an issue with me? My reservation is paid for In full and taxes and fees are included. Called the billing department of Blue Bird Suites and find out they are closed. So ended up having to find a hotel for the night of the 22nd. Not cool. The next morning 10/23/22, I call Blue Bird Suites and talk to some guy named Norman Wilson. He told me they were not going to allow entrance to the Suite until they had $600. Then he said $500. That I should give him my CC, so they could charge it for the full amount. Apparently the stay cost $2600.00 dollars for a week. He also asked me for a 3 digit code to some CC number he had on file for me and I did not know who’s card that was as the last 4 digits I could not recall. I let the Gentleman know that my reservation was paid In full and that I would not be giving him my CC number to charge me $2600 dollars. So he told me that without it he would not honor my stay. So I got on the phone with Priceline instantly. Explained to them that my reservation was not being honored and that the young man asked for a 3 digit code to some CC which that last 4 digits was not any of my cc’s. Priceline then tells me to write down some trip number and then a PIN number and to call booking.com and that they booked the stay through them. Hold up! What?? I booked this reservation through Priceline I said. The lady then aid they used booking.com and that she could help me that I needed to call booking.com . I was furious. This was a total blindside. Meanwhile I financed a reservation for $3044.00 through Affirm which paid my reservation in full. What is going on. I call booking.com and they told me to provide they young man at Blue Bird suites my cc so that he could charge it $2600.00 dollars. I told them my reservation was paid for in full. I would not be paying them $2600 dollars when I just financed the entire reservation and it is paid in full. All taxes and fees where included. I was then hung up on. I never got my stay. I ended ip having to find another hotel for the night of 10/23/22 and I was pissed. Over the next two weeks I got ahold of affirm and relayed to them my concerns and how I was not honored my stay. Who dropped the ball? They said they would finance the entire stay for a $500 dollar payment which I made, why am I being charged $3044.00 through Priceline and $2600 at Blue Bird suites? All taxes and fees were included so where does this guy get off asking me for $2600 more dollars? I asked did you finance the reservation and was told yes. Then I was told that the CC number the guy at BB Suites had was a virtual CC number that had a one time use. Oh really, so why was I not made aware of this? They passed a virtual cc to Priceline, then Priceline passed it to booking.com and they passed it on to blue bird suites who immediately started charging unauthorized amounts locking up the card after receiving $1600 off of it. Norman Wilson Locked up the card. Now, they won’t give me a refund, never honored my reservation. Priceline acts like they don’t have anything to do with it and would not do anything except cancel my reservation. Booking.com also asks as if they are not obligate to do anything and washed their hands of it. Meanwhile I owe this entire $3044 to Affirm. This has got to be wrong. Why are they doing people
Like this. This is absolutely not acceptable.
I booked a hotel through Priceline and it was supposed to be in new Iberia Louisiana and they booked it in Abbeville and they refuse to refund me are even put me in the right tow.
I drove all the way from Texas to California with very little money because of a life-changing event. While on my way to California I stopped at a rest stop to get some fresh air and booked a room using price line. All my credit cards are maxed out and the one I have left had like under two hundred dollars left. So I knew I had to get a room under 90 dollars so I picked a room for the price shown was like 89.00 but when it was all said and done, it came out to be almost 107.00, rounded off. I was tired and in need of a shower so I booked it. Now before I booked it I know I looked for any other charges, but I couldn’t find any so like I said booked it. Well, when I get to the motel they inform me an additional 100-dollar deposit is required. I didn’t have that and if I knew that I wouldn’t have booked the room. So that was 5 days ago, and I am still waiting for the funds to be refunded. By price line not making information that could matter, I was displaced without anywhere to go that night. Still waiting for my refund. You would think an attempt to accommodate when something like this happens but no nothing but a “sorry”
Priceline never gave me me refund back eve thought they sent me a email saying my cancellation was free of charges.
I booked a hotel room from priceline (with my wife account) and everything went well. I then went to book and the prices were slightly higher for a couple of dollars. During the check-out there was only the dollar sign. After I confirmed the payment they put a summary in USD with the CAD converstion (30% more expensive than the previous room that I just booked). In the confirmation email I received there is a note “All prices are in CAD” but that was not true. They put a small print stating that the prices is in USA. Thats to mislead you are paying in CAD but the reality is in USD. I called them right away and they said they could not do anything. They could not cancel, they cannot adjust the price. The difference was close to 400 CAD for 3 nights booking. I think they should be obligated to display the currency symbol at the check-out. But they are doing this in purpose … the only thing they did was to refer to their contract to state they are right and I am wrong. THey do this because they know people will not sue them for 400 cad
I paid for a hotel in May that I needed to cancel because I didn’t end up going to that city. The room was 290 and they charged an additional 160 for their services. I called Priceline within 24 hours to cancel and after a number of dropped calls I finally spoke to someone who called the hotel directly to cancel the reservation and provide a refund. However the call was dropped again and after a number of hours trying to get through to someone, my calls were either dropped or the representative was extremely disinterested in helping me. I called the hotel who confirmed they would not be charging me and that I would be getting a refund, however Priceline still charged me the full amount and said the ticket was no refundable. The whole system is one big scam.
I booked a room at the Westin Hotel in San Diego priced at $295.00 per night, priceline charged an extra $40 in fees per night which made the room more expensive than other websights, they make this look like state tax but it is actually fee’s charged by priceline.
We booked a room at the
Comfort Suites Near Camp Lejeune. We were charged $211 for two nights. When I received the hotel
Print out it said a total of $149.10. That’s $60 difference. When I called Priceline and spoke with Max the manager he says that is there profit margin. I said show me where that is in writing and disclosed… and his answer is “no where!” I said I will contact a lawyer his response was “go right ahead!”
I booked the Ramada by Wyndham in Kissimmee Flordia for 7 nights through Priceline. Priceline showed the total including a $21 resort fee that was paid through Priceline at the time I booked it. Upon checking out of the hotel I was charge an additional $7.95 a night. The hotel stated this was an extra resort fee. I will be filing a case against Priceline and the Ramada. I hope everyone who has this happen does so as well. If they aren’t held accountable they’ll continue to do it.
Hello! I booked a flight through Priceline yesterday for United Airlines. I paid Priceline for the tickets with upgrades on all four flight segments. But when I checked with United for my reservation status, they found the tickets but not the upgrades. Apparently Priceline failed to send the upgrades to United Airlines that they had charged me for. Since Priceline “guarantees” a full refund within 24 hours, I cancelled my reservation to start over. Unfortunately, Priceline refused to refund the full price. I called them and they confirmed that they had indeed charged me $898.99 but they would only refund $593.51. I asked if was their policy to charge money for services they didn’t or couldn’t provide, and the customer agent (who would not give his name) confirmed. I think this would make an excellent class action lawsuit.
This happen to me I been trying to get a refund american would not let me fly so I had to buy a new ticket because I did an upgrade and they never added the money this was 12/21 I went for father’s funeral this 4/22 all out of country agents no supervisor run around 3 hr wait time to be told your being transfer again