Hotel claims government doesn't work on weekends

Q. I can't get my hotel to honor a rate it confirmed, and could use a little help.

I recently called the Hampton Inn Asheville to reserve a room for two nights to attend a database software training class on federal government travel orders. I asked for, and received, its version of the government rate, which was $81. A reservations agent also gave me a confirmation number.

Another colleague attending the training class did the same in a separate phone call and received the same rate and a confirmation number. Several days before the class, my colleague got a phone call from Hampton Inn with some bad news. Apparently, we'd both been offered the wrong rate. The new rate for Friday night was $149. The representative asked her to pass the news along to me.

I contacted Hilton, which owns Hampton, and was told that someone from the Hampton property in Asheville would contact me, but when I got the call from Hampton, it continued to refuse to adjust its rate. It insisted no one traveled on government business on Friday or Saturday. I can assure you this is not correct.

I have not yet canceled my reservation, but I find it odd that I can go online and get a $114-a-night rate for Friday. What would you advise me to do?

Cheryl McClure, Atlanta

A. Don't cancel your reservation. Hampton Inn needs to honor the rate it offered you and your colleague when you phoned.

This isn't a "fat finger" rate -- a price that's too good to be true. It appears to be a legitimate government rate that somehow, for reasons that aren't entirely clear, was arbitrarily withdrawn.

It should be obvious to even the janitor at the Hampton Inn that the government doesn't stop working on the weekend. And besides, there are ways to confirm that someone is traveling on government business. Why not ask for an ID, for starters? I'm sure you would have been happy to show yours to the hotel when you checked in.

Instead, your government rate was taken away and replaced with what looks like the hotel's undiscounted room rate, also known as the rack rate.

Come on.

You could have done one of two things. First, you might have phoned the Hampton Inn in Asheville and spoken with a manager. A one-minute conversation would have cleared up this whole matter. Second, you could have just shown up at the property with a printout of your confirmed room rate and insisted that the hotel honor it, even though you knew it didn't want to. A manager would have been called and after a one-minute conversation, I'm sure your rate would have been adjusted.

Oh, there's a third option that I almost forgot about: me.

I contacted Hampton on your behalf, and it turns out the hotel goofed. It never should have changed your rate, and it blamed the screw-up on a trainee, according to a phone call you received from a manager. Hampton reset your rate to $81 a night.

Or so it said. When you checked out of the hotel, you were presented with an invoice for $149 a night. You asked for a manager, who readjusted your final bill back to $81.

Christopher Elliott is theombudsman for NationalGeographic Travelermagazine.E-mail him atcelliot@ngs.org or troubleshootyour trip through hisWeb site at www.csr.elliott.org.circ;© 2007, Tribune Media Services