Some of you may not be aware, but in celebration of their 80th birthday, the Leading Hotels of the World created a great special offer to celebrate it - rooms for $19.28 per night, on-sale for just 80 minutes - LHW/1928.

Trouble is they used technology from 1928 to manage demand.  At 14:00 CET on 01 October the rooms went on sale but no-one could actually log in due to such high demand.  Despite knowing how many registrations they had, somehow they didn’t manage to manage demand.

This was a real shame, given the great idea and sensational offer.

It seems as though they realise the negative affect that this has had on their brand and sent out an apology this morning:

Thank you very much for your continued patience with The Leading Hotels of the World. We are extremely sorry for the inconveniences our USD 19.28 promotion has caused as a result of the dedicated site’s failure.

We are sincerely committed to restoring your faith in our brand and do not want to risk disappointing you again. We are working tirelessly to develop a solution that will be fair for you and all registered participants and will email you next week with further details.

Sincerely,
Ted Teng
President & CEO

So watch this space for a new date.  I know its neither boutique or design, but 5* hotels for $19.28 a night…you’d be a fool to let that offer pass you by.