The Crowne Plaza in Venice, Italy created news worldwide due to what appears to be a fat finger rate of 1 cent per room.

Fat finger rates have been around since the dawn of online commerce with incidents occurring in all fields of retail.

Best Buy was a recent "victim" while travel sites have committed such bloopers fairly frequently.

Travel site Expedia, a few years ago,  had a rate snafu that they initially refused to honor irking travelers before relenting and agreeing to honor the rate or at least its equivalent value for another booking.

Few merchandisers harness the unexpected worldwide PR exposure to their advantage and the hotel in Venice seemed slow off the mark in responding with a Reuters newsreport noting that staff at the hotel, some 25 km (16 miles) outside Venice, declined to comment.

The parent company, Intercontinental Hotels Group, also failed to respond saying that a spokesman "was not immediately available". That is unfortunate, as the hotel group chose to honor the fat finger rate unlike Best Buy which plainly refused to honor the large screen TV "purchases" made uner the non-offer of $9.99.

The hotel's 90,000 Euro mistake could well have been turned into a positive PR opportunity highlighting its reputation for rate integrity.

A penny for a room can, however, be a genuine offer. That is the case with some Red Roof Inns in the US per an offer on the economy hotel chain's website  The lodging chain hopes to garner positive PR as well as convert penny pinchers into dollar spenders once they have stayed at a Red Roof Inn.

The initiative is essentially akin to "free offers" that seek to keep the marketing conversation going:with new customers to the product or service as the real value of a free offer is the ability of the merchandiser to follow-up and continue the marketing conversation.when the time is right and the prospect is ready to take advantage of the services. 

Red Roof Inn clearly hopes to entice the penny spenders to use the chain as their lodging of choice.


Vijay is Chief Operating Officer and part-founder of Apple Core Hotels- a chain of 5 midtown Manhattan hotels offering value and comfort in the heart of the city.Member of the board of Directors - Hotel Association of New York.

www.vijaydandapani.com