Is It the Principle...Or Is It Being Cheap?

Is It the Principle...Or Is It Being Cheap?






Above is my receipt from my time in Cambodia for the $7 hotel room.

The reason I posted it is what happened when I was checking out.

When I got to Cambodia after the long ride from Bangkok, they stopped at this hotel. Of course it is all a setup between the travel agent, the bus company and the hotel. They take you there and then give you a deal you can't refuse, even if you've made arrangements to stay at a different place.

To get me to stay there and not look for another place, they offered $7 a night. I gladly accepted.

When checkout time came the clerk put down $8 per night for $48.

"Hey, you promised me $7!"

"No, no $8 is the usual fee."

"Nope, you guys offered me $7. That is the rate I agreed to."

He had this shocked look on his face, like are you REALLY going to argue with me over a dollar a day??

He sighed heavily, looked around and after consulting some other people, he scratched out 48 and put in 42 in red, but gave me a look like, "I know you can pay an extra 6 dollars."

*To address the comments after I posted this, I do not know if the desk clerk knew of the arrangement I made when I first arrived, or if this was them trying to get a few more dollars out of me.*

Of course I could pay the extra 6 dollars. But it was the principle of the matter. You offered me $7, I will pay $7.

I thought about it after I left.

I'm not losing sleep over this. But finding this receipt recently I remember the indignation I felt when the desk clerk was trying to charge me an extra dollar per day.

Was it worth a dollar a day to raise a stink? Or is a deal a deal? Can you take the budget travel mentality too far?