The Mrs was browsing hotels last night and found one where a single night stay was advertised as £0.00.

She highlighted it……still £0.00

Put it in her basket……still £0.00

Added credit card details…..still £0.00

Completed the purchase……still £0.00

Received e-mail confirmation from said hotel saying how much they are looking forward to seeing us on the given date.

Now this morning we have had a call from the Hotel Manager saying there was obviously a problem with the price on the website (which we totally accept) so they could not honour the price.

It was my understanding that once payment is made this forms the contract?

Thoughts from the STW massive?

No they do not have to honour an obvious error.

No of course they don’t.

It was my understanding that once payment is made this forms the contract?

Well you understand wrong.

Nice try though.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=3277262

they don’t have to

but they just might, as goodwill / word of mouth / further selling of meals etc

What MSP said.

They’d have to honour something which you’d reasonably expect to be correct; if it was underpriced by 10% say, you’d reasonably assume that it was just a good price. £0.00 is clearly a glitch, so they don’t have to honour it. No free room, sorry.

What you might get if you ask nicely is a discounted room for “goodwill” purposes due to their error, but if you go in all shouty Internet hardman with “I know my rights!!1!” then you’ve got no chance.

Say you understand, but is there anything they could do for you?

Thought that in this case we would be fighting a losing battle……

Ta all….

Personally, even if they did have to honour it, I wouldn’t feel comfortable turning up to a hotel or B&B and doing them out of business when it was clearly an error.

Plus with mistakes like that, all it takes is for someone to mention it on social media and the hotel’s booked out solid with free rooms inside of ten minutes. If companies were forced to honour that sort of mistake it could potentially bankrupt someone.

It was my understanding that once payment is made this forms the contract?

Thoughts from the STW massive?how can you pay zero? you chanced it and it didn’t work. either pay or cancel.

It was my understanding that once payment is made this forms the contract?

Had the payment been accepted? I guess that if not there is no contact (I’m confident I’m not guessing).
Your understanding is clearly wrong.

It is not the norm to give out free accommodation in the hospitality industry without prior agreement whatever (e.g. exchange air miles whatever for a room)

If it is not the norm then it will not stand in the court of law because it is an absurd contract (assuming one side argues that a contract has been created) beyond common sense.

Contract must be fair for both sides so if there is/are unfair contractual term(s) then changes of that being binding is minimum.

Similarly if the hotel, by mistake, value the room to be £100 million per night and your cat/dog clicked on it while you are browsing the website, then you can void the contract by arguing in court that the amount charge is beyond absurdity (not the norm) and beyond common sense. (I think even the world most expensive hotel will not charge that amount let alone some cheapo ones)