I’ve written in the past about the general concept of hotels canceling confirmed reservations. This includes everything from guests being “walked” on the day of arrival, to a buy-out events causing the hotel to close to the public. Along those lines, OMAAT reader Rob flagged an interesting situation that’s being discussed on Reddit, and asked for my take.
In this post:
DoubleTree Palm Springs cancels “cheap” Coachella bookings
There’s this little thing called Coachella that happens every year, and apparently it’s quite popular with people, and even drives up hotel rates. As you’d expect, many people book their stays way in advance, given how quickly hotels sell out.
It would appear that when the availability calendar first opened in recent weeks, the DoubleTree Palm Springs, part of Hilton Honors, forgot to load inflated rates for next year’s Coachella weekends, in April 2026. As a result, many people locked in rates of around $225 per night.
However, in recent days, the hotel has been reaching out to those who booked these rates, stating that it’s unable to honor reservations “due to an unexpected system issue.” The hotel offers to help people “explore alternative accommodation.”
So several people reached out to the hotel to ask about options. The hotel referred to what happened as “a technical glitch” that caused inventory to be “erroneously opened at incorrect rates.” The hotel justifies the cancelation by explaining that booking rules and restrictions state that “under circumstances where it appears that the reservations resulted from a mistake or error we do reserve the right to cancel or modify reservations.”
What’s being offered to guests impacted by this? The hotel is offering what it claims is 50% off the current published rate, in addition to waived resort fees. For a four night stay, that comes out to a total of $1,479.35 including taxes and fees.
Can hotels do this, and do consumers have recourse?
Unfortunately in the United States, we have pretty weak consumer protections, especially for the hotel industry. So I don’t want to say that hotels “can” do this, but I will say that this is unfortunately a far too common practice.
This is far from the first time that we’ve seen hotels act this way, especially when there’s a big event in town, whether it’s sports or music. Do I think it’s ethical, and a good way to do business? No. But I also know that it’s something that hotels try to do, and as consumers, there’s not some easy avenue to get this reversed.
So, is there any recourse? Certainly there’s value to blasting hotels publicly, whether it’s on review sites like TripAdvisor, or contacting media. That being said, don’t expect the major hotel groups to step in and mediate on your behalf for the original rate to be honored.
I’m not a lawyer, so I can’t speak to how this would end if you tried to litigate it, and what the hotel could reasonably argue is an “error.”
I don’t want to give the hotel a pat on the back here, but I’ve gotta say, the offer they give actually seems semi-decent. It seems the person had booked a nightly rate of $225 plus taxes and fees (including a resort fee), while the alternative they were offered comes out to $370 all-in per night. That’s probably the best deal you’re going to get at Coachella.
Again, none of this is to say that I condone this practice by hotels, but rather, I’m just being practical, based on what I’ve seen over the years. I’ve also seen a lot of hotels not honor rates, and not offer a material discount.
Bottom line
The DoubleTree Palm Springs is refusing to honor the rates that it initially published over 2026 Coachella weekends, when the calendar first opened. The hotel claims it has the right to cancel reservations that are mistakes, though I suspect people would interpret the definition of a “mistake” differently, for these purposes.
Unfortunately this isn’t an uncommon practice from hotels, disappointing as it might be. You can always fight back and give them as much bad press as possible. Though in fairness, I’ve seen hotels act much worse, in terms of not even offering a material discount over the published rate.
What do you make of this Coachella hotel situation?
Not only is the hotel taking responsibility for its mistake, this is still ALL about Budget and hotel ownership trying to nickel and dime guests, still claiming Covid ! It's time for the industry to get back to pre-Covid guest service !
I’m only familiar with the Coachella Valley carrot festival.
Forgot to make that left turn at Albuquerque, huh?
VRBO or Air BnB...
The Hilton fine print says:
“We reserve the right to cancel or modify reservations where it appears that a customer has engaged in fraudulent or inappropriate activity or under other circumstances where it appears that the reservations contain or resulted from a mistake or error.”
Does it stink? Yes. Was there an obvious pricing error? Yes. Can they do it? Yes. Did the hotel offer a remedy? Yes.
This is a nothing sandwich.
I’d hoped that you would give the reader some actionable advice rather than just the equivalent of a shrug. I’m personally vengeful enough that I would make the hotel suffer more than I feel they were trying to hurt me. PR blitzes, small claims court, and simply embarrassing the hotel are beginning ideas.
This is dumb. A palaver of customer dissatisfaction and the risk of bad press, for what, to make up a few thousand dollars of lost revenue?
many years ago booked a hotel in Sydney aware that it was an error rate, came to AUD 30 per night including breakfast for a 4 star Sydney hotel, knowing it was a error rate contacted the hotel to let them know rate was to good to be true, manager wrote back to me thanking me very much and they quickly amended the website. but advised me they would honor my booked rate of AUD 30 just for letting them know about the error, not all hotels are about greed
Coachella is for high schoolers, posers, and chads. Take a worthwhile trip/vacation somewhere else.
These events have become a huge wankfest for big corporations and the parasitic "influencer" types who feed from them. Yuck.
I am an NFL fan, and follow my Raiders in 3 or 4 away cities every year. As the schedule opens I book ANY City I think I may want to attend a game.
I often get "advance" releases of the schedule and IMMEDIATELY book my favorite Hilton close to the venue. So far, I haven't had any issues, maybe it helps I am a HH Diamond.
This year my team opens at...
I am an NFL fan, and follow my Raiders in 3 or 4 away cities every year. As the schedule opens I book ANY City I think I may want to attend a game.
I often get "advance" releases of the schedule and IMMEDIATELY book my favorite Hilton close to the venue. So far, I haven't had any issues, maybe it helps I am a HH Diamond.
This year my team opens at NE and there are few hotels W/I walking distance of Gillette Stadium. I booked B 4 the "official" schedule release and within. 1 day the prices almost doubled. I screenshoted my reservation JIC---and if they try to cancel, I will do my best to have them honor my reservation. I have been doing this for years (only w/Hilton as a Diamond) and so far never had an issue.
Nothing you can really do if their revenue management wasn’t set up correctly. This is a case of mistake fare.
When I worked at a Marriott connected to the academy awards Kodak theater a co worker allowed a guest to extend their stay at an employee rate of $69 (back in the day ) the week of the Oscar’s when the hotel was sold out and rack rate was over $400. Needless to say the GM kicked him out and the employee was written up.
It sounds like it was set up just fine, the error was human one that forgot to check for major festivals. And it wasn't even a "cheap" rate to begin with, we're not talking a $5 or $50/night rate. That should absolutely be honored by the hotel.
Hilton hotels have been doing that for the past 3 months on dates where events are happening next year. Everyone should write to Hilton and your local politicians. Enough is enough. They screwed up and need to honor bookings.
Really missing the Biden administration here.
Please do tell what the Biden Administration would have done? Then give me ranking of how much you believe your answer.
Sorry Mary, I'm relatively in the middle of the political scale but I'm getting fed up with either side responding reflexively and you were the proverbial stick...
@Mike
Lucky reported on quite a few DOT initiatives that Buttigieg was working on to expand consumer rights and protections against airlines, and under Biden the FTC was implementing rule changes (that would have taken effect back in May this year, assuming Trump didn't reverse it) to force hotels to display the full up-front price with all taxes and fees included in order to combat the issue with hotels showing deceptively low nightly rates...
@Mike
Lucky reported on quite a few DOT initiatives that Buttigieg was working on to expand consumer rights and protections against airlines, and under Biden the FTC was implementing rule changes (that would have taken effect back in May this year, assuming Trump didn't reverse it) to force hotels to display the full up-front price with all taxes and fees included in order to combat the issue with hotels showing deceptively low nightly rates and making up for it with absurd "destination" fees. There was also legislation in Congress to ban those junk fees altogether, which is probably not passing within the next 4 years now.
It's entirely possible that if something like this got enough publicity, we'd see Democrat-led legislation to address it, because it is incredibly hostile and unfair to the consumer. But under Trump, there's not a snowball's chance it hell it passes.
What does this have to do with the Biden administration?!?!?! Geez, some of you on this board...........THE HOTEL WOULD HAVE DONE THE SAME EXACT THING IF BIDEN WAS STILL PRESIDENT......
I think Mary means the Biden Administation would have cancelled the reservation and filled the hotel with criminal illegal aliens and billed the government $3,0000 a night.
If you actually believe Biden was literally flying illegal immigrants into the country, and actual criminals at that, you are the single most gullible rube on the planet.
Right because none of us saw the flights...talk about gullible..im guessing you believe everything you read on the internet or chatgpt...some people really are either extremely gullible or just dumb...
@Jon
No, you didn't see the flights. You saw what FOX and NewsMax TOLD you to see. You ARE that gullible. If you actually took a moment to THINK about how absurd the claim is, IE that the US government was intentionally flying violent foreign criminals into the US (FOR WHAT REASON??? to replace you???) and tried to look up factual information about what was happening, you would have realized long ago you were...
@Jon
No, you didn't see the flights. You saw what FOX and NewsMax TOLD you to see. You ARE that gullible. If you actually took a moment to THINK about how absurd the claim is, IE that the US government was intentionally flying violent foreign criminals into the US (FOR WHAT REASON??? to replace you???) and tried to look up factual information about what was happening, you would have realized long ago you were gulping the RWNJ koolaid. So let me help you:
1. The "illegals" you're talking about were citizens of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela
2. As of 2023, people from these countries were allowed to apply to stay legally in the US for 2 years, and work while they were here.
3. This required a US citizen or company to sponsor and financially support each individual/family, and they would not be eligible for welfare benefits like Social Security, SNAP, Medicare, etc.
4. Every person conditionally approved had to buy their own flights here, the US did not buy their flights for them or fly them on government aircraft.
5. Every person coming in required a criminal background check, and would have been disqualified and not eligible to enter the US if they did have criminal records.
6. Every person coming in presented themselves to CBP for screening and could STILL be denied if they were caught smuggling drugs or lying about their sponsors or whatever.
This program was the same as what was offered to Ukrainian nationals, which began showing up in droves at the US-Mexico border in 2022 following the Russian invasion. The purpose of both of these programs was to provide a legal way for these people with family or business contacts in the US to come here, work, and have a pathway to citizenship that isn't depend on the green card lottery, while cutting the legs out of the cartel coyotes who were making bank to actually smuggle people across the border. Conversely, people who did not go through the program and tried to illegally cross into the US (IE, actual criminals or people paying coyotes) got summarily returned. And it worked, apprehensions at the border from the countries these programs applied to plummeted.
PS: I realize you probably won't read any of this. I also realize that even if you did, you'd probably dismiss it out of hand, or go searching for some random source, maybe Marjorie Taylor Green or Center for Immigration Studies (lol), to rebut it. But maybe, just maybe, it'll make you think about what you're being told from your usually news sources and get you to break the echo chamber you live in.
“Legal” and “ethical” are two entirely different concepts.
Paging @DCS.
Hilton that DOESN'T Honor.
He has sworn off this site. At least I hope that's what happened, that he is still alive and well in the real world.
As you, Eskimo, know, I often appear in these comments wishing cancer and death on scumbags who reveal intolerable traits (indicating that society is better off without them), but, while I disagreed with DCS's points, he never appeared to be scum, and I wish him a long, healthy life. A public records search shows he is 66 years of age.
If it was a so-called "fat finger" error on the rate that was not in line with rates around the same time frame, I could understand, but just because someone dropped the ball and failed to monitor the festival dates, they should honor the original rate.
You are absolutely correct in the fair, just, and moral sense.
Unfortunately, fairness, justice, and morality don't pay the bills. America is capitalist. If there are no laws keeping business operators in check? Stuff like this happens.
The power of law is immeasurably amazing which is why I went into the profession.
“… which is why I went into the profession.”
Bullshit. You are in your mom’s basement between shifts at Sonic.
Not exactly the same but a few years ago I booked an Airbnb way in advance that coincided with a huge music festival (coincidentally). A few months later I got a message from the owner via Airbnb's system that he was going to have to cancel my booking because he hadn't set rates for the festival when I had booked (strange, since there were rates and I successfully booked it). Long story short, Airbnb mediated...
Not exactly the same but a few years ago I booked an Airbnb way in advance that coincided with a huge music festival (coincidentally). A few months later I got a message from the owner via Airbnb's system that he was going to have to cancel my booking because he hadn't set rates for the festival when I had booked (strange, since there were rates and I successfully booked it). Long story short, Airbnb mediated and we agreed that he could cancel and rebook me at increased rates and Airbnb would cover the difference, so both he and I were happy. Their team handled it very well. Credit where it is due.
The owner even bought me a ticket to the festival as a thanks, which turned out to be great.
Hilton is not an individual renting out one Airbnb. Enough said.
I would imagine this one could result in litigation and a loss for the hotel.
In addition to false advertising, bookers might have a case for price gouging.
At the very least, they could take it to small claims court, if they cancel the reservation.
I would also ask for the demand to be mailed to me. Doubt the hotel does it.
Actually you are wrong. US courts have ruled that airlines and hotels can cancel reservations due to "mistake fares" or similar issues. In this case the hotel notified him well in advance and provided options likely below the cost typically for that time period. You would not win a lawsuit and only waste your time (and money) pursuing it. Trust me on this one.
Retired,
Were you licensed to practice law in California?
What is the precedent for your statement?
Do tell.
I mean if the hotel canceled and didn't send it in writing, what would you do? Doubt you'd win in small claims court and no lawyer would ever take this case on.
1. Hotel posts rate, takes money, breaks deal - that's fraud dressed up as customer service.
2. Hotels do this when they think they can get away with it - big events, sold-out markets, captive customers.
3. Offering to screw you less isn't generosity - it's a shakedown with a smile.
4. You book months ahead, they cancel last minute, and somehow you're supposed to be grateful for the privilege.
5. Until there are real...
1. Hotel posts rate, takes money, breaks deal - that's fraud dressed up as customer service.
2. Hotels do this when they think they can get away with it - big events, sold-out markets, captive customers.
3. Offering to screw you less isn't generosity - it's a shakedown with a smile.
4. You book months ahead, they cancel last minute, and somehow you're supposed to be grateful for the privilege.
5. Until there are real consequences, hotels will keep pissing on customers and calling it hospitality rain.
If you've been following what's going on in Washington, you will notice that this is the norm and it will not change. It is exactly the deregulation that US voters wanted.
My brother has been in hotel business for 20 years. He is a manager for a Mandarin Oriental and has pretty much only worked in five star hotels all his career. He dislikes what his industry has become because he is passionate about hospitality. He says that when he started his career, customer loyalty was the paramount thing hotels cared about. They wanted repeat customers. Now all they care about is how much they can earn from a person during a stay.
Why on earth are you comparing the before tax and fees price to the newer after tax and fees price? Hell for all we know the new price could A dollar more, or some similar trivial increase
How can you trust the hotel to honor the “revised” confirmed reservation? Who’s to say that in another few months the 50% offer turns out to be another “mistake?”
Slippery slope argument (fallacious)
More pragmatically, how can you trust the hotel to honor? The same way you trust any hotel, in the generic sense, to honor any reservation.
Why on earth is a Doubletree charging $225 per night to begin with and charging resort fees on top of that? Is this some special unique high-end Doubletree resort? I know Doubletrees are typically better than your standard roadside junk (Hampton, La Quinta, Courtyard, Garden Inn, Place, etc) but come on.
It’s the nicest Doubletree I have been to for sure. The pool with Mountain View’s right in front of the golf course is beautiful. I have gotten upgraded to the the corner suites, and those in particular, have awesome views and are huge (over 1000SF) with wraparound balconies that have awesome views. At $225/night it is a good value in the area, even outside of festival season.
Palm Springs is pricey. Even outside of Coachella and Indian Wells.
$225 for a DoubleTree (off peak) isn't pricey in any halfway desirable locale in the United States.
Palm Springs is in Southern California which qualifies as halfway desirable (although the region is huge and there are exceptions--Inland Empire, yikes)
In 2022 I booked a Marriott property for the F1 weekend in Montreal at the lowest available points rate. When the race weekend date was confirmed, clearly the event organizers had failed to give a heads up to the local hotel industry that they were going to announce it being a week later than the previous 25 years. The result was for a few minutes after the announcement being able to book low points or...
In 2022 I booked a Marriott property for the F1 weekend in Montreal at the lowest available points rate. When the race weekend date was confirmed, clearly the event organizers had failed to give a heads up to the local hotel industry that they were going to announce it being a week later than the previous 25 years. The result was for a few minutes after the announcement being able to book low points or cash rates. I received a letter from the hotel a few weeks later offering me a new “correct” cash price and saying if I did not accept by a certain date, my reservation would be canceled. I contacted the hotel management and asked if asking me to switch from a points rate to cash was permitted by Marriott? I also asked if what they were doing violated any Canadian or Quebec consumer protections. They funnily declined to answer those questions. I decided to take the gamble and do nothing. My reservation was never canceled. I suspect this was more driven by trying to get worried people to accept the change rather than lose a reservation. Sometimes just waiting things out is best.
Well, there are consumer laws, weak or not. You booked at a published rate, it has to be honored. But if you do not push back, they will walk all over you.
With that said, what Hilton offered was not bad, considering rates are usually ridiculously higher.
There is a particular type of person who attends Coachella (and Glastonbury) in this era. That's all!
In a vacuum, yes.
In context, Hilton pissed on your leg, told you it's raining, and offered you an umbrella.
The proper response is not to think "not bad" but to shove that umbrella up their ass.
It doesn't have to honored. Read the terms and conditions. You know how many people from the Taylor Swift concerts got their rooms canceled?
The revised deal is not a "good deal." It's straight up fraud.
Amen! A reservation is a contract, and failure to uphold a contract constitutes breach of contract. Shocked to see Ben acquiesce so easily on this one.
I'd be having an attorney friend send a nastygram, at the bare minimum, to the management company in charge of this place.
A proper attorney doesn't have friends who find themselves in situations like this.
A reservation is a contract? Are you serious?
Alonzo, if not a contract, what is it?
Absolutely.
Google AI: "A reservation, particularly in contexts like hotel stays or property purchases, is considered a legally binding contract. It's an agreement between two parties (e.g., hotel and guest, buyer and seller) where both parties make promises to fulfill certain obligations.
A hotel reservation is a contract where the hotel agrees to provide a room at a specified price and date, and the guest agrees to pay for the accommodation. This agreement is...
Absolutely.
Google AI: "A reservation, particularly in contexts like hotel stays or property purchases, is considered a legally binding contract. It's an agreement between two parties (e.g., hotel and guest, buyer and seller) where both parties make promises to fulfill certain obligations.
A hotel reservation is a contract where the hotel agrees to provide a room at a specified price and date, and the guest agrees to pay for the accommodation. This agreement is legally enforceable."
Good lord, AI has its uses, but Google AI in particular just gets facts wrong so frequently I no longer pay any attention to it. You’ll have to find a better cite.
I believe he only meant it's a "good deal" in that it's the cheapest booking you will possibly find out there during the festival, not that the people were actually offered a good deal.
Even as a consumer, I still recognize that in most cases I cancel my hotel room, flight, restaurant reservation or car rental a few days before the reservation starts. Should businesses have the same privileges?
In any case, the price isn't a whole lot more than the original. It's Coachella.
No they should not, for many reasons. To a proprietor, you are just one customer of many and you are easily replaced, often seamlessly with a walk-in or standby customer, and even if not, the revenue forgone is an absolute pittance. To the customer, a dishonered reservation causes a scramble to find a substitute which is often impossible because the good places are all booked up.
Coachella is in 11 months. They'll survive.
As a consumer if you book at a cancellable rate you can cancel without penalty because that’s what the terms were.
If the terms of the booking were that the hotel could cancel without penalty then they should have the same right. Otherwise no.