An angry vacationer is set to take The Princess to court over a room rate discrepancy.

"I want to get the hotel in as much trouble as I can,'' an irate Barry Simons told The Royal Gazette .

"I would like to raise as big a stink as I can. This whole business has cost me time, money and aggravation.'' The New Yorker said he was offered a room rate of $225 a night by The Princess so he booked 42 nights holiday at the hotel.

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

"Needless to say I am very angry. They should not have accepted my cheque at the beginning,'' he said. "If they did not like the amount then they should have got back to me.'' Princess Hotel general manager Peter Komposch denied Mr. Simons' claims and stated that the rate of $255 per night had been confirmed with Mr. Simons before his arrival.

Mr. Simons said he has ordered legal proceedings to begin against the hotel.

"I went to see Marc Telemaque this morning and I have started a lawsuit against the hotel.'' To add to his problems, Mr. Simons said he arrived and found the Tiara Room closed.

"I called three times before I came down to make sure it would be open and that my wife and I had reservations to eat there.

"I have had to eat at the Colony Pub which costs $15 to $20 more per person than the Tiara Room.'' Mr. Komposch said the hotel did not advertise anywhere that the Tiara Room was open full time. Furthermore, he revealed, Mr. and Mrs. Simons had stayed at the hotel in the past and knew the way the restaurant operated.

Mr. Simons claimed he has now been told to vacate his room by February 23, instead of March 4 as planned, after being charged an extra $30 a night.

Or he can pay the difference of $1,260 and stay until next month under the new room rate, said Mr. Simons.

"They want me to make up the difference or they will send me home early. I want to be reimbursed for the difference in dining and the lawyer's fee.

"I will no be happy unless they let me stay until March 4 at $225 a night, reimburse the $350 lawyer's fee and the $35 extra a night I have spent on dining while the Tiara Room was closed.

"As far as I am concerned the hotel completely lied to me. I would not have come if I knew it was $255 a night. The hotel misrepresented itself.

"You have to use a certain degree of common sense. If it was $255 a night and the Tiara Room was closed then why would I have come down.

"I am sure they will be very happy when I leave. Needless to say I will not come back to this hotel.'' COURTS CTS