I’ve never been Stampy before finally ready to Yahoo in 2024 the veres family from Cold Lake Alberta gidd up and booked a hotel in Calgary back in April got the confirmation email that my reservation had been secured it was set for two nights two nights at a Government rate of about 140 a night a good price too good to be true hi this mess suffer lean as the family found out in a voicemail from the hotel just last week the government R code is actually not valid during the Stampede uh that’s actually a blackout for dates for the Stampede so those rate codes aren’t accepted um so we’re just giving you a call to let you know we can either cancel your reservation free of charge or we can just adjust that to the Stampede rate code um so the rate code for Stampede is at a rate of 430 per night calling me two weeks beforehand and telling me that I can either cancel or accept the new rate I just thought that was unacceptable MIAA with Global News global news tried to find out why the change would you like to do an interview with us to talk about uh why you’re not honoring that rate no we were directed to contact head office which we did several times but have not heard back it’s not unusual for Calgary hotel prices to Surge during the Stampede but the Calgary hotel association says what happened to the verges family is unusual it’s just active and it’s just um misrepresentation the family has kept the booking for now hoping for a change of rate and mostly a change of heart they should be honoring the the price or the rate that they have provided their customers it just feels wrong tomasia Silva Global News
A family from Cold Lake is questioning Calgary’s “western hospitality” after their hotel booking was unexpectedly and suddenly changed to a much higher rate.
Leanne Varughese booked a room at the Holiday Inn Express Calgary South on April 25. She told Global News her family had never been to the Calgary Stampede and were meeting up with some friends from Eastern Canada.
“I got the confirmation email that my reservation had been confirmed,” she said. “I was set for two nights.”
“Last week, Thursday, I got a voicemail stating that rate was no longer valid,” she recounted.
“That it didn’t apply” for the time that I was going to be in Calgary.
The voicemail went on to state that the “government rate” which Varughese had booked under was not what the hotel charged during the big event.
Instead, she would be charged $430 a night.
The company that owns Holiday Inn Express reached out to Global News for more information about this specific case so it can look into what happened.
Tomasia DaSilva has the story.
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Why the change? Gouging!