Choice Hotels suing loyalty member after reservations glitch

A Florida man who allegedly took advantage of a glitch in the online reservations system of Choice Hotels, managing to rack up nearly $50,000 in rewards program gift cards, is being sued by the hotel group.

Choice Hotels International recently filed a lawsuit claiming Robert Chat, 38, fraudulently took advantage of a glitch which offered reward points even when a booking was cancelled.

The company claims when Chat discovered the flaw, he systematically made hundreds of bookings and cancelations from October to January racking up $48,500 in loyalty points.

The lawsuit stated points are "offered as a reward in exchange for actually staying at Choice Hotels, not simply for making a reservation."

"Frequent-stay programs are common throughout the industry and neither Choice nor its competitors offer rewards for frequent reservations," the lawsuit added.

Chat, who Choice admits is a frequent customer at its hotels, claims no wrongdoing.

 "I’ll be hiring a lawyer tomorrow to fight the suit as there was nothing done illegal nor was anything done in malice," Chat told the Tampa Bay Times.

 "I stayed at over 1,100 Choice hotels in the last five years. I worked with their bonus structure to obtain points."

"I’m not even computer literate. If I obtained more rewards than allowed, it’s on their end, not mine. As I’ve stayed in their hotels exclusively for over six years, points do accumulate."