Villa bait and switch?

[ngillis]

I talked my fiancee into bidding on, and winning, a 5 bedroom villa in Costa Rica. We send in the dates we want and get a "sorry, none of your dates available", no biggie. We send our second set of dates but this time we get a "the property has decided not to honor the auction price, wants a higher price and you can either pay the higher price or we'll refund you." Excuse me?! Well gee, let me bid on something, win, decide I want to pay less and suck my money back. No? If I can't do that, why can the property change their mind? And to add insult to injury, the property is back on LL at the higher price! What is LL thinking? Has this happened to anyone else? Advice?

[Mountie]

Don't really understand your complaint. Are you out any money? Things change. Luxury Link doesn't own the property in question, they are simply acting as an agent.

So, your choices appear simple. Either buy the package at the new price, which is still well below rack price, or move on to something else.

[danielboldea]

I talked my fiancee into bidding on, and winning, a 5 bedroom villa in Costa Rica. We send in the dates we want and get a "sorry, none of your dates available", no biggie. We send our second set of dates but this time we get a "the property has decided not to honor the auction price, wants a higher price and you can either pay the higher price or we'll refund you." Excuse me?! Well gee, let me bid on something, win, decide I want to pay less and suck my money back. No? If I can't do that, why can the property change their mind? And to add insult to injury, the property is back on LL at the higher price! What is LL thinking? Has this happened to anyone else? Advice?

Sounds unpleasant, to say the least. Were the dates submitted through LL or directly to the property?

Regarding pricing, prices change with the seasons, percentage of hotel occupation for any given time, holiday proximity, fluctuating currency exchange rates and events held in the area.

It could have been an initial mistake on the pricing.

We are all human and mistakes are inevitable. I wouldn't give up on LL just yet. They are the best travel site that I have come across with no close second in sight!

[kyshel]

It's prudent to check with a property prior to bidding regarding dates /availability. Did you do that? Are the dates in a different season from what was offered on LL? You were offered a refund. I think that's fair.
I hope you have better results with future purchases. I'm getting ready to buy LL pkg # 26.

[ngillis]

The complaint was that it seemed like an unfair practice by the property and my concern is what stops the property from doing it again? Was just surprised and taken aback.

[kyshel]

Well, I can only hope you and that fiancee will be looking for honeymoon options @ LL in the future.
I can recommend Prague, Bali, Thailand...............

[danielboldea]

Well, I can only hope you and that fiancee will be looking for honeymoon options @ LL in the future.
I can recommend Prague, Bali, Thailand...............

I second Prague! Truly magical and very romantic. We stayed at one of the Alchymist properties and had a great time.

Haven't been to Thailand or Bali but we are looking in to it.

[[email protected]]

If you won an auction on LL and you give the hotel a choice of say 3 dates ranges, which is what I usually do, then it should not matter if the hotel accepts either of the 3 date ranges - the price you paid is the price you should get and it sounds like the villa owner is not honoring their auction contract - unless I am missing something - check with LL on this.
There have been a few times where I did not get my 1st date choice but did get my 2nd or 3rd and the property never said "they were not going to honor the auction price" and ask for more money. Something sounds off here.

[thepiranha]

Just to be sure, did the resort manager tell you that he was not going to honor your deal after you purchased it? If so, that's highly unethical. You should definitely complain to Luxury Link. They have excellent customer service.

[copahc]

This is wrong and I think that LL should do something about it. If the dates you chose were stated in the auction and they are available you should be able to book it. The hotel has a contract with LL to provide the villa (if available) for the dates they speficied in the auction. If the refuse to do so, and LL made a mistake on the price they offered, then LL should pay the difference. No other hotel booking sites call you back after you book and tell you you need to pay more money..

I had a similar problem several years ago. The property for the auction I won was available for the dates I chose but they didn't want to give me the room for the dates I chose because 2of the five days were in thier peak season. Well it doesn't matter. If they don't want to sell those dates at that price they should not let them be offered in the first place. LL was able to fix this for me with the hotel and they eventually booked me the dates I asked.