Was hotel deal a dud?

Twice on this blog we wrote about the $19.28 promotion by Leading Hotels of the World that allowed consumers to book select member hotels for the promotional price for 80 minutes beginning at 8 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time today.

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But before that 80 minute period was over, LHW posted a page that said the promotion had been suspended due to overwhelming traffic and technical errors.

Were you, or anyone you know, able to get through? Were you able to book a room? If so, we want to know.

I can tell you my experience: The Husband and I went online on two different computers on multiple access lines and multiple browsers before the start time. We never did get the booking page. At one point The Husband got a page with phone numbers to call; after 20 minutes of speed dialing he finally got through to a recording that said the promotion had to be booked online. Thirty minutes after that he got a live person who delivered the same message.

And shortly before 9:15 we got a page that said the promotion -- which should have run until 9:20 -- had been suspended due to technical errors resulting from overwhelming response.

I've got an e-mail in to the spokesperson at Leading Hotels to find out what happened, and I'll  let you know what they have to say. Given the disclaimers that preceeded the promotion, I doubt anyone has any legal claim against them, and besides, how petty to sue because you didn't get a discount!

Still, from where I sit, the promotion was a flop. If the idea was to raise the profile of Leading Hotels, they certainly did. But they didn't come up with a positive image...at least not at my house.

What do you think? Let us know.

Comments

[Bryan]

Jane - it sounds like you and your husband had the same morning as my wife and me. Unbelievable! This much is true - I am canceling my account with LHW and will never book a hotel through that website. In my experience, I've found if enough people boycott the "store," LHW will suffer more than a frivolous lawsuit. Thank you for presenting the potential opportunity though!

[Brent O.]

Yep, same thing here, couldn't get the site to load. Not surprising - I've seen this with so many ecommerce sites that were built by amateurs who'd never really tried to scale up volume before.