Hotel reservation woes and predators on school-issued laptops: CBC's Marketplace cheat sheet

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Booking.com cancels $4K reservation, offers to rebook for $17K | Go Public

When Erika Mann booked a hotel for the 2026 Formula One Grand Prix in Montreal, she played it safe.

Her relatives were flying in from the Netherlands to watch the races with her, and Mann, who lives in Oakville, Ont., wanted to make sure their accommodations were locked in.

On May 25, she booked a four-room unit on Booking.com at Montreal's Holland Hotel, steps from the heart of race-weekend action. Price tag: $4,300. "I was super excited and yeah, jumped right on it," Mann told Go Public.

But weeks after her reservation was confirmed, her excitement ended. Mann says both the hotel and Booking.com told her the price was a mistake — and if she still wanted the unit for May 22-24, 2026 she'd need to cough up four times the amount — more than $17,000.

The Holland Hotel where Mann had booked, told Go Public a "synchronization error" with Booking.com caused the issue, allowing non-event pricing to briefly appear for two units at the property. When they did, the hotel says Mann booked one of them.

It said automated software updates prices through Booking.com's system — which means the hotel can't manually override the rates shown on the platform. 

Booking.com says the hotel asked them to review the case. The site sided with the property after it reported the posted rate was an error.

Mann says Booking.com did offer alternative accommodations for roughly what she paid — but none were remotely equivalent and would have meant squeezing her in with her adult step brother, step sister and partner, plus her 24-year-old son and husband.

"One was a single-room studio with two beds," she said. "Another had one bathroom. We're a group of adults, not backpackers."

But after Go Public contacted Booking.com, the company took another look at Mann's case.

How a school Chromebook became a gateway to exploitation

A Nova Scotia mother says her 14-year-old daughter was targeted by online predators through a school-issued laptop and is warning other parents to be vigilant.

The woman noticed the problem in October, when she says she found questionable emails and chats on the Chromebook computer.

Timestamps on the device showed that these messages were accessed both at home and at school.

The mother took the computer to the RCMP, and the Internet Child Exploitation Unit (ICE) is now investigating. She also says she contacted the school and the centre for education.

The school subsequently issued a warning email to parents.

A Sudbury teen was surprised to learn he couldn’t use a dashcam during the driving exam for his Ontario G2 licence, even though the device was built into his parents’ Tesla.

Tristan Imgrund said he initially failed his driving test because his examiner said he failed to come to a full stop at a stop sign — but dashcam footage the car recorded proved otherwise.

Even when the dashcam is turned off in a Tesla, Imgrund says the car is always recording and saves those recordings when a driver uses the horn.

At the start of his driving exam he had to show the horn worked, at which point the car saved the next 10 minutes of his drive.

He later successfully appealed his driving test result and passed the test.

Imgrund said Drive Test Ontario should review its policy on dashcams, since drivers often use the devices to protect themselves from liability in case of a crash.

Blazina added that “while some individuals may wish to use recording devices for reasons such as liability or accountability, these restrictions are in place to ensure the secure and standardized administration of road tests.”

Campbell's exec on leave after allegedly mocking 'poor people' who eat its soup

The executive also allegedly claimed the chicken in Campbell's soup is fake.

'System is broken,' nurse says after her mother's death following more than 30-hour wait for care

Earlier this month, Marketplace investigated the ER crisis across the country. You can watch here.

Making a health-care complaint is tough. These tips can make the difference

Take notes, file as soon as possible and be persistent, says health-care mediator.

Why some young people are investing based on vibes, not research

Some young people say advice from older generations doesn’t account for new tech and changing priorities.

Have you gotten the run around from a company's chat bot? Or maybe you're stuck on hold as you read this. We want to know your worst customer service complaints. Email us at marketplace@cbc.ca.

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