KXAN price gouging investigation leads to 40 hotel refunds

kxan ^ | August 28, 2017 | Jodi Barr

[ASOC]

Come guys..

At least there was no extra charge for the bed bugs and ticks.

[cyclotic]

So?

Number one, raising prices at times of heavy use is normal.

Nyumber two, raising prices in crisis makes economic and sense and is more compassionate. Say a family of 6 needs a hotel. At $350, they’ll pack in the same room, at $150, they might get 2-3 rooms, leaving others outside sleeping in their cars.

A month ago, I stayed at a hotel in a large university town. The cost was about $120. A week ago, I tried to book another room at the same hotel, it was $275. It was orientation week at the school.

[fhayek]

I hate price gouging laws. We had an ice storm around here a couple of years ago. Individuals who could have bought a portable generator for maybe $500 a few weeks earlier, were now facing paying twice that much. Price gouging laws went into effect. Two things happened. It wasn't the people who needed the generator the most who got the generator (as free markets economics is supposed to work), it was the guy who got in line first. Secondly, suppliers in surrounding regions would have loaded up a truck full of generators and transported them to where there were needed. Thanks to price gouging laws, there were few incentives to do so.

[SaveFerris]

Nothing like the price-gouging during disaster.

That’s why I filled up my SUV the morning of September 11, 2001. I knew exactly what some of them were going to try.

[Artemis Webb]

The state AG is going to make the price gougers pay!
Here in Missouri we had an ice storm over a decade ago. Gas stations tripled their prices (or more). So the state AG made them sell an entire truck load of fuel for like .19 cents a gallon to avoid prosecution.

[libertylover]

showed room rates for a two queen bed priced between $120 and $149 a night. But, when it came time to book the room at the hotel’s counter, that price nearly tripled.

Should've booked the room at $120-$149 when they had the chance.

[IronJack]

This guy didn't charge those rates because of muddy tracks or abuse of his laundry facilities. He charged that much because the market would BEAR that much. THAT is free enterprise.

He's a gouger. No question about it. But that means potential customers have a choice: pay what he's asking, or do business somewhere else. And don't whine about everyone else charging the same price. That does nothing more than support my point.

[MayflowerMadam]

I may be wrong, but I think the price gouging is illegal if businesses are doing it during an emergency. If the demand is high, and the reason is fun and games (eclipse), they can charge any price they want. At least that’s how it sounded when the TX Atty. Gen. Was being interviewed.

I’m sure the laws vary from state to state.

[mabarker1]

Patel = Smith

[arthurus]

Gotta get all those price gougers and put’em in JAIL. There is no excuse for letting prices naturally rise. We can’t permit conditions to deteriorate to the point that more food and supplies come rapidly to the stricken zone. It’s just not FAIR.

[fr_freak]

Thomas Sowell: Price Gouging in Florida

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Isn’t the sun being turned off an emergency? We assume it’s coming back, but what if we are wrong?

[TChris]

I love it when the laws of economics are outlawed.

There's no such thing as "price gouging". That term is only used to justify -- and seek -- government price controls.

That said, if the room was reserved at an advertised price, the hotel should honor it. Otherwise that's false advertising / fraud.

[trebb]

Taking advantage of “Lunar Paparazzi” is one thing, taking advantage of victims of a tragedy is a whole lot lower into the slime.