Hotels have begun paying back customers who say their hotel reservations were canceled or suddenly increased in price from the original booking ahead of the Aug. 21 eclipse.
Related: Oregon AG To Eclipse Visitors: Check Your Hotel Reservations
The Oregon Department of Justice says six customers received a total of $6,500 in payments after filing complaints with the department against the Stafford Inn in Prineville.
Twenty-two individuals who had rooms booked at The Grand Hotel in Salem will receive payments as well. Customers can receive $500 per reservation.
The department has received complaints about 15 hotels in the 90-mile path of eclipse that suddenly canceled reservations, doubled and even tripled the price of reserved hotel rooms without notice to customers.
Oregon’s Unlawful Trade Practice Act prohibits businesses from misleading customers over the cost of certain services.
The Stafford Inn was charged a $1,300 fine for violating the law.
The DOJ says more complaints are coming in every day from consumers traveling to Oregon from across the country and internationally.
So far, the department has resolved complaints from nine hotels.
“It’s not, obviously, illegal to charge a high price for a hotel room,” said Kristina Edmunson, spokeswoman for Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum. “What is not right is when you market a certain price to then later on not honor that price.”
