Anyone who advertises a $2.00 hotel room deserves to lose their ar$e on the deal. Bait and switch is illegal and immoral. No matter the "advertised" price, the seller has the obligation to live up to their posting or suffer the consequences.
'Advertise' and 'bait and switch' are words which have specific commercial meanings. You know the words but you don't know the meanings. An advertisement is an invitation to make an offer. A car dealer can put signs on the cars in his showroom. If the lotboy mixes up a $10,000 sign with a $20,000 sign the dealer is no more obligated to sell the $20,000 car for $10,000 than he is to sell the $10,000 car for $20,000.
Bait and switch is a pattern of behavior which is designed to entice customers to purchase a substantively different item. The pattern is essential to the fraud.
A meeting of the minds is a requirement for a contract. An error on the part of a sales manager or clerk in loading rack rates onto Expedia does not enable some dullard to claim to have an enforceable contract at the erroneous price. In this case Expedia was blameless and Hilton has no obligation to honor the price. Hilton was more than accomodating in the offers that they made.