Hotel in Venice erroneously advertises rooms for one cent

A four-star hotel located on the outskirts of Venice, Italy, meant to offer a special deal for romantic weekends, and advertised rooms for one euro cent on its website instead.

As might be expected, the exceptional low price offered by the Crowne Plaza in Quarto D’Altino, located 25km from Venice, was quickly found by bargain hunters, who booked the equivalent of 1,400 room nights during the few hours the rate was available. According to a spokesperson for the hotel, it appears that those bookings will be honoured.

The hotel thought that the one cent offer was the result of someone hacking into the website, but according to the hotel’s sales manager, Fulvio Danesin, it seems that someone at the US offices of International Hotels Group, the property’s parent company, made the error.

It was supposed to appear on the website that the hotel was offering a two-night stay for the price of one night, but the one cent offer that appeared for a few hours brought in bookings from October of this year through all of 2010. The sales manager said that the cost to the hotel for the mistake will be around $129,000.

The media relations manager for the US-based hotel group, Monica Smith, commented that 228 guests booked the equivalent of approximately 1,400 room nights – and that the hotel would honour the reservations.

She said: “Although a pricing error, IHG is committed to honoring the 1-cent rate for guests who have a valid confirmation,” adding, however, that the bookings “are nontransferable”.

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