AAA's Hotel Discount Not Really a Discount at All?

For drivers with AAA coverage, it’s nice to know there’s someone to call when things go wrong. For many, the club’s additional perks, including discounted hotel rates, make road trips easier than ever. At least, that’s the idea – but a new putative class action filed in Florida accuses AAA of overcharging members for hotel rooms. The extra charges allegedly come in the form of undisclosed fees that actually make AAA’s prices more expensive than if club members had booked directly through the hotel.

The suit’s been filed by Iris and Stanley Rothstein, AAA club members who booked three different hotel rooms as part of a 2014 trip. The couple booked the rooms through AAA and its local affiliate Auto Club South, and therefore assumed they would enjoy an AAA club member discount. Upon arriving at the first hotel, however, the couple was allegedly told they’d been overcharged and had, in fact, paid more than the hotel’s usual price. A quick investigation revealed that the two other hotels would also have been cheaper had the couple not used AAA, leaving only one conclusion: AAA’s discount was anything but, and the Rothstein’s had actually paid a combined total of more than $300 extra. As the complaint notes:

“[...] instead of providing discounted hotel bookings as defendants AAA and Auto Club South promise their members, these defendants actually charge members far more than they would pay if they booked with the hotels directly.”

Particularly frustrating is the fact that AAA’s own website states that no fees are charged for booking hotels rooms – but the couple says an AAA representative they spoke to admitted that the charges were counted as “service fees.”

Adding further confusion, the Rothsteins disputed the charges with their credit card company, and the complaint was answered by Priceline.com, Inc. – a hotel booking site – rather than AAA, according to the suit. While Priceline’s terms and condition do refer to booking fees, the Rothsteins say they never agreed to such conditions, as they always believed they were doing business with AAA:

“The Rothsteins never accessed Priceline’s website or selected the ‘Buy My Hotel Room Now’ button and thus could not have agreed to Priceline’s terms and conditions. Moreover, Priceline was never identified during Mrs. Rothstein’s booking process with AAA.com or through her use of Auto Club South’s services. Despite disputing the overcharges they paid to Defendants, the Rothsteins did not recover all of these overcharges.”

The lawsuit, filed in Florida federal court, is seeking to consolidate a class of all AAA members who made hotel reservations using their club memberships – and who may have been overcharged without knowing it. The suit’s been filed against AAA and Auto Club South, which “by routing its members to AAA.com for booking hotel reservations, where they were charged undisclosed fees for booking these reservations,” may also have breached its membership contract.

Sadly, this just goes to show the importance of doing your own research and comparing prices when booking hotels and planning trips. The Rothsteins believe the damages in the case could be worth more than $5 million – that’s a lot of AAA club members who may have not realized they were paying more than they needed to.