Getaroom.com and TripAdvisor.com Exorbitantly Overcharged by Misrepresenting Total/Final Hotel Price on Internet

Long story short -- Getaroom.com (a TripAdvisor booking partner) cheated me by offering me a final purchase price (which I clicked "Buy" on) for a Standard room for ~$1153, and then issuing a $1550 charge to my credit card for a different room -- an incredible overcharge of $400.

I recently shopped online through TripAdvisor to purchase a 5-day hotel stay at the Majestic Tower Hotel in Dubai. Clicking on the listed nightly price on TripAdvisor led me to a TripAdvisor booking page with a total purchase price of ~$1153 for a Standard Room. The TripAdvisor booking site said that Getaroom.com would charge my card and provide customer service for this purchase.

Within minutes, I filled out my credit card info and clicked to buy a Standard Room for $1153. Ironically, below the button that says "Book this room for $1153" there is a tag line that says "No surprises! This is your total price." They lied.

My booking processed and the confirmation page that came up said that Getaroom.com had charged me ~$1550 for a 1BR Apartment. That's a WHOPPING $400 upcharge on something I never agreed to buy.

I contacted Getaroom.com's Escalations Dept. (which took multiple phone calls, emails they initially claimed to have never received, and even an absurd request that I instead print everything out and fax it to them to resolve an online order, which I did). 

The Escalations Department asked me for proof that I booked the hotel for $1153. Luckily, out of an abundance of caution, I had made screenshots of each page I visited/was led to from the moment I saw the hotel price on TripAdvisor, all the way to my final confirmation page. Not one of the pages prior to my final purchase confirmation indicated a higher price or a different room. The screenshots showing this should have been enough for Getaroom.com to fix their mistake.

It was not -- ACTUAL SCREEN SHOTS OF THE PRICE they advertised as they asked me to click "Buy" to finalize my my purchase WERE NOT ENOUGH PROOF for them. 

It sounds like aside from customers having to make a video of their screen as they make a purchase to show how the TripAdvisor and Getaroom cheated them, there is no way to prove what happened as far as they are concerned. This is absurd. No customer approaches online purchasing in this uber-cautious and paranoid way. 

Getaroom's response stated that, "Often times there are prices online that are listed at a certain time of day but if the reservation is not booked you could loose that price."

I understand that, completely. 

However, even if the advertised price changed in either the minutes I took filling out my credit card info or in the 30-60 seconds it took to process/confirm the booking, one would would think that any responsible website would charge me the original advertised price only, or notify me of the difference and ask if I still wanted to proceed -- NOT UPGRADE ME AND CHARGE MY CARD THE DIFFERENCE ANYWAY! 

My stay in Dubai is only days away, and I am faced with the prospect of eating this large $400 price difference or going without a comparable hotel room in price, quality, and location (at this late date).

Getaroom.com (and the website that led me to them, TripAdvisor) has cost me money, time, aggravation, and stressed me out for a vacation I was looking forward to.

In conclusion:

TripAdvisor's "trusted" partner Getaroom.com is doing nothing more than stealing from consumers by promising to charge one price (as you click "Buy") and then pushing through a much higher charge to your credit card.

This is not even a buyer beware situation. This is a buyers-should-run-and-hold-on-to-their-wallet situation. 

I want what I paid for (a Standard room, not a 1BR) at the $1153 price I agreed to pay (not $1550).