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On July 17, The Priceline Group Inc. and Hilton Worldwide Inc. were sued in a proposed hidden fees class action filed in Connecticut federal court. The class action lawsuit alleges that traveling consumers who placed bids on hotel rooms though Priceline’s website pay undisclosed fees on top of the offered hotel price to Hilton and other hotels.
Lead plaintiff Adam Singer claims that Priceline’s “Name Your Own Price” feature is misleading, as it leads consumers to believe that they can say how much they are willing to pay for a hotel room and they will then be matched with hotels affiliated with Priceline that are willing to accept the proposed rate. However, according to the Priceline class action lawsuit, the company allegedly conceals mandatory resort fees from bidders who use the “Name Your Price” feature, resulting in thousands of consumers being misled about the actual price of their Priceline hotel bookings.
Singer’s Priceline hidden fees class action lawsuit claims “the true, total price of which was never agreed to or revealed prior to booking. That is despite the fact that, prior to booking, individual hotel operators like Hilton fully inform Priceline of the mandatory fees, including so-called ‘resort fees,’ that consumers will be required to pay as part of any hotel stay. This conduct renders the ‘Name Your Own Price’ option illegal and deceptive.”
The plaintiff claims he used Priceline’s “Name Your Own Price” option when searching for a hotel room in Puerto Rico, at which time he was matched with a Hilton property. Once presented with the hotel contact, which featured his offer price plus $60.68 in taxes and fees, he accepted the contract and the room. However, when Singer attempted to check out of his room at the end of his trip, the Hilton hotel charged him an additional $66 mandatory resort fee. He claims he was not adequately informed by Priceline about additional resort fees that would be charged on top of the total price and was caught by surprised when charged at the end of his stay.
According to the hidden fees class action lawsuit, “Priceline could easily have programmed its Name Your Own Price bidding system to account for resort fees which it knew full well would be charged — and thus match consumers only with hotels truly willing to accept their bid amounts. Instead, it affirmatively chose to delete resort fees from ‘total’ ‘taxes and service fees,’ in order to make it appear to consumers that they were getting a better deal than they truly were.”
The Priceline class action lawsuit alleges that Hilton profits from Priceline’s consumer deception, as the hotel gets the opportunity to charge consumers more for their hotel than they would knowingly consent to pay on Priceline’s website.
Singer’s hidden fees class action lawsuit also cites a 2012 Federal Trade Commission (FTC) letter addressed to 22 hotel companies, informing these businesses that online booking websites that do not disclose mandatory fees to consumers and guests may be in violation of the law.
The plaintiff seeks to represent himself in this Priceline hidden fees class action lawsuit, as well as a Class of consumers who used Priceline’s “Name Your Own Price” and were allegedly tricked into booking a hotel room because of Priceline’s failure to include the mandatory resort fees. Singer also seeks to represent and certify a subclass of consumers who specifically paid more than expected for a Hilton hotel booked through Priceline.
Singer is represented by Robert A. Izard and Mark P. Kindall of Izard Nobel LLP and Jeffrey D. Kaliel of Tycko & Zavareei LLP.
The Priceline Hidden Fees Class Action Lawsuit is Singer v. The Priceline Group Inc. et al., Case No. 3:15-cv-1090, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.
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3 thoughts onPriceline, Hilton Sued in Hidden Fees Class Action Lawsuit
I booked a place in Puerto Rico through Priceline and gave them my flight number and arrival time. After I arrived at 1:00 AM and tried to contact the owner, there was no answer. I had to stay with the taxi driver’s family. The next day I checked into the apartment. There was a storm in Puerto Rico. As a common occurrence, most hotels and places that host guests have generators. Owner did not. There was no Internet, water, or electricity for three days. The apartment leaked and accumulated pools of water on the floor in the bedroom and kitchen. Consequently, I developed a cough and relocated to another hotel. I was charged over $1000 for the original two week stay and had to pay another $900 for the new hotel so it totaled over $2000 for both. I tried to get a refund for time I stayed in the first week. Booking.com said I had to talk to the owner. Owner’s voice mail was full and she did not return my calls. Then I received a “cancellation fee for the remaining reservation. It was 90% of the original price. This was after I moved. Owner told Priceline/Booking.com that she was trying to get in touch with me. It was a lie. The entire time I called, text, and emailed her she never responded. The cancellation fee was presented as a threat “Do you want to cancel now?” after stating I would be charged the full fee. I guess it’s okay for Priceline to give people slum landlords in accommodations that are flooding, have no water, electricity or Internet. Then charge full price for it.
I booked with Priceline.com and the web pages all along said CAD funds including the final page that I input my credit card number said CAD funds. Imagine my shock when I got a bill from VISA for $600 of exchange fees. When I called they said I input my info knowing it was US funds and showed me a doctored paged saying US funds. I’ve booked online many times with other companies and they’ve always rectified their mistakes. I know it said CAD funds when I booked my tickets. There is not a shadow of a doubt. But they refuse to fix their mistake. I will never use them again and I will tell or advise everyone to go elsewhere and NOT Priceline.com
When I called earlier this year to the Hilton I was told my room would be around 200$ for two nights then was charged 400.00 when I got there my room had a live cockroach in it my room was very dirty my bathroom that is, it states that on the bed that they furnish clean sheets I went into the closet to take a blanket out of the see through plastic bag it was a lot of cockroach in the bag I had my niece which was to at the time and my sister that I was visiting in Florida at the time it was July 4th I call downstairs to report it shortly after I’ll be about 15-20 minutes later housekeeping came in to clean the room the manager of the hotel came up to my room not going to do or I open the door she asked was I busy I told her no I’m not busy she didn’t proceeded to turn around and said okay I’ll talk to you later she did not discuss anything with me concern of my concerns that day found that kind of odd the next day is when I found the live cockroach in my bed the next morning I called to the front desk to ask what time check out was over the phone I was told that it would have been at 11 o’clock when I call downstairs they told me 10 o’clock I disputed it I ask to speak to a supervisor or manager I was told that she was busy I went downstairs and mingle with the locals and was told by a couple of the locals that they had an extended time for them to leave which was going to be at 1 o’clock I was confused of why the treatment that I was receiving was much more differently considering considering that the wrong that I had was unclaimed I did request a refund my refund was denied actually the supervisor that I spoke to that came to the room on July 4th or July 3rd refuse to speak to me but at that time a stranger that I had just met she was discussing my personal issues with him when I walked up between the two to discuss my situation she looked at me and said that I cannot talk to you and I will not talk to you I went to the front desk to see if I could speak to someone at that time and young girl was taking care of another customer she Ruby stop what she was doing in the middle of a transaction and turned around and said we do not talk to you people I immediately went outside because at that point in time I had enough came back inside went back upstairs and unbeknownst to me the police was called on me I tried to put the lock in between the door so that I have privacy so that I could do the things that I needed to do to prepare to leave the cops route we pushed open the door and said you are not allowed to have any privacy in here you have to leave I quietly got my things in my belongings together as my niece and my sister was in the room I was very embarrassed I have pictures of the cops cars I have pictures of the unclaimed bathroom I have pictures of the cockroach cockroach that was in my my sheets I have made numerous of the phone calls to corporate in the hotel in Jacksonville Florida they refused to speak to me they said because the police have been called they are obligated not to speak to me their procedures anytime they call the cops on a customer they’re not allowed to speak to the customer anymore basically this was premeditated on July 3rd the supervisor refused to speak to me anyway so this was already pre meditated for them to do what they had did only thing that I requested was a refund I did not give anyone any issues about leaving the hotel I just was blank me asking a question of why they were treating me differently from the other customers that they had their contacted corporate a female corporate days basically without allow me to know have closed my complaint I’ve called in December and spoken to someone in corporate customer service at that time I was told that they had to same complaints that one was closed I called back in January 2016 and was told that the case was closed. No excuses I’m looking for justice in this situation because I feel that I was treated unfairly I spent $800 for two nights when I was given a different price over the phon and once I got there it was $400 a night