Le Meridien Maldives Attempts to Trick Guests into Cancelling Reservations

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what is the harm in providing the information they are requesting?

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If you don't reply within 24 hours they'll cancel your reservation. This went to people who booked rooms on very low rates that the hotel is trying to claw back.

Plus, this is going out months in advance when some people may not have finalized travel plans.

I don’t understand the “trick” part of it?

And let’s face it, if it was an online mistake that people knowingly took advantage off, I don’t mind them trying create an online loophole to get back to even.

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take advantage of the business?

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Business trains their people. The people that push promotions aren't making minimum wage.

Business is all about risk management, particularly when it comes to anything that can be done electronically. That's the reason that Sarbanes Oxley and many other things exist. Can you add an accounts payable account, and also approve payments? Fraud risk! Can you move the decimal point on a room offer and lose thousands in revenue per booking? Risk!

The hotel owner that supposedly approved the rate, and didn't bother to check it before publishing it needs to eat the shite sandwich and not do it again. I'd have a bit more compassion if it was the Courtyard in Irving, TX, that needed to adjust a rate by $19 a night. It's called QA, and it exists in every controls framework, financial and IT, under the sun, for a reason. They didn't do it, and they eat the risk.

If you can afford to own a hotel in the Maldives associated with a brand, it's your duty to ownership to do proper QA. The risk to the brand is that every one of those travelers that gets caught in this, and gets canceled, with their $25k a year in hotel spend with Marriott brands (Le Meridian) decides to make Hyatt the preferred hotel for everyone that works for them.

The hotel costs are fixed. How are people supposed to "know" it's a mistake? You can fly anywhere in the world, from anywhere, in biz on Turkish for about $4k. Flying from Houston to Tokyo in biz costs $12. Am I supposed to assume Turkish is a mistake fare and they'll leave me stranded in Istanbul (outside the lounge!) and it's just my fault?

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I don't disagree, but on the other hand if people intentionally booked this knowing it was likely a screw up does the price really change the fact that they tried to take advantage of the business?

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Airlines and hotels make mistakes from time to insanely low pricing. The Le Meridien did this but came out after the fact and instead of cancelling the bookings as they were entitled to within a certain period, they chose to honor it. Marriott corporate may have been involved in that decision and now this seems like the local hotel is trying to find a way out.

These emails went out to people months in advance of their stay with an arbitrary 24 hour window which is the real problem here. LemmyLives nailed it about what the hotel is trying to accomplish.

The hotel said they can reinstate your reservation past the 24 hour limit, but they can't reinstate your rate.

Also, they did this to JT Genter who is one of the most respected travel writers in the business (and his wife is a writer for The Points Guy) and it's already been picked up by One Mile at a Time, myself, and others. There's gonna be a lot of smoke around this which is sure to piss Marriott corporate off.