A furious visitor plans to launch a lawsuit for almost $2,800 against The Princess in a room rate row.

Barry Simons claims the hotel charged him more for his hotel room than he was quoted.

And he told The Royal Gazette before returning home to New York with his wife Pearl: "I saw my lawyer yesterday morning and we are going to start a lawsuit against the hotel.

"My lawyer wants me to get on the plane first before he draws up the papers so we are leaving tomorrow on the 7.25 a.m. flight.'' Mr. Simons is suing the hotel for $2,799.92. The Princess' general manager Peter Komposch was off the Island yesterday and unable to comment.

The bell rung for the battle between Mr. Simons and the hotel when he arrived on the Island for a vacation and found he was not being charged the room rate he was quoted.

The Flushing, New York native said he was offered a room rate of $225 a night by The Princess and booked 42 nights at the hotel with his wife.

He sent a cheque for $9,450 -- the full amount -- after double-checking the room rate with the hotel but arrived on the Island on January 21 and was told by hotel staff that the room rate was $255 a night.

This was after The Princess had accepted his cheque, he pointed out.

Mr. Komposch has denied Mr. Simons' claims and stresses that the rate of $255 per night was confirmed before Mr. Simons' arrival.

But the discovery prompted Mr. Simons to contact lawyer Marc Telemaque about starting legal proceedings against the hotel.

The situation seemed to be resolved when the hotel accepted the cheaper room rate.

However, Mr. Simons was not finished and said he still felt cheated.

He claimed he was told he would have been able to eat in the Tiara Room while at the hotel but it turned out that the dining room was closed a couple of nights each week forcing him to eat in the Colony Pub which was more expensive.

Mr. Simons now wants the hotel to pay the $446 he said it cost him to eat in the more expensive dining room on 14 separate nights.

But Mr. Komposch says the hotel does not advertise anywhere that the Tiara Room will be open every night of the week. And he added that Mr. Simons would have known this having stayed at the hotel before.

Mr. Simons also wants the hotel to pay for his lawyer fees which total some $350.

However the bulk of the amount of money that Mr. Simons is suing for is the $2,003.92 the hotel claims he owes in gratuities and taxes.

COURTS CTS