CHANGING ROOM RATES

Earlier this year, two of my colleagues and I booked online for a three-night stay at the Marriott Royal Aurora Hotel in Moscow.

The online offer was to pay for two nights, with one night free, for a total of around 13,000 roubles (US$206) including taxes.

This was double the price of another Marriott in the city, but we chose to pay the extra as the hotel was within walking distance of Red Square. We received email confirmation stating the total invoice for three nights.

However, upon checking out on August 28, 2016, the bill was almost double the amount that had been confirmed. As we were in a rush to catch an early morning flight, we didn’t have time to argue so we just paid the amount. When we reached Houston we emailed the hotel (no reply) and called to sort the issue out, however the hotel denied responsibility.

We cannot comprehend this daylight robbery from such an established chain of hotels and feel cheated by Marriott. Edmund E, Singapore

MARRIOTT MOSCOW ROYAL AURORA RESPONDS: We would like to extend our apologies to the guest in question. The guest booked the offer “Buy Two Get One Night Free”. This promotion presupposes a minimum stay of three nights – two of which are at a certain rate, and one night free of charge. However, the confirmation calculated the rate only for one night instead of two, which is incorrect. We have rectified this technical inaccuracy and apologised to the guest. We have also refunded the guest for 6,500 roubles (US$103). The guest subsequently confirmed in an e-mail that he was satisfied with the measures taken by the hotel.