Third party hotel booking scam

No, but the first hotel I worked accepted Diner’s Club, though I was never actually presented with one.

I wanted to say it's not a scam. I wanted to say as long as it wasn't in a category of "taxes and fees", when there are no taxes and the fees aren't mandated. I changed my mind (even though I believed before it was something nobody should pay) because the website is not providing a service at all above any other site booking rooms. I don't know of any benefits they are providing for which someone would feel $20 is worthy and a fair deal. I usually get rooms last minute and usually wind up at booking.com, their prices usually seem equal with other sites and you often times don't need to provide a credit card when booking.

I haven't got around to reading any of the posts Yet. A friend was a hotel bell boy. He told me to always get the corporate rate. Is this better?

Third party sites get paid irrespective of timing or user awareness. During Dead Week TPWs have great bargains but the hotels themselves will often have better bargains, particularly once you are checking out. if you have used a tpw ths hotel's host checking you out can not undo that.

ALL rooms are sold by the hotel to the casino at the casino rate, its the casino's player development hosts that re-sell the rooms .

Quote: jjjoooggg

I haven't got around to reading any of the posts Yet. A friend was a hotel bell boy. He told me to always get the corporate rate. Is this better?

Not necessarily. In any case, if you're, "Walking-in," or calling a hotel directly, then just get the price first before mentioning any discounts. They'll either have to take something off of the first price quoted or explain why what they are offering you is already better than the discount you asked for.

When people would call me or walk in and mention having a discount before I could even get the rate I'd be quoting out of my mouth, I'd usually just give them the discounted rate (such as AAA) if the online AAA rate was more than I would have quoted them in the first place. In one of the chapters in Volume II of one of my other posts, I mentioned that the only rate better than what I was going to be quoting booking through me directly was Government/Military.

But, these are not universally true things. Hotels owned by big hotel companies (as in, franchisees or corporate owned) will pretty much have direct booking rate parody with all channels of online booking. Maybe they just don't like maximizing revenues, or more likely, the occasional complaint about a difference in the rates isn't worth the hassle to them. That happens most often when someone who booked online is in line and hears me give a walk-in a lower quote, and I just say, "Had you called me directly, that's also the rate you would have received; we're actually making more in profit on that room than on yours." Which was actually true.

ADDED: Also, some hotels require a code of sorts for a corporate rate because they'll think you work for a specific company that stays at that hotel or chain a bunch. If they ask you for this, obviously, you're not going to know one. I only know this because there was a place in our system for corporate rate codes, but we never used any actual codes...we just took the percentage off rack if someone asked for a corporate rate.

No offense to your friend, and we also did not have bell boys, but I can't think of any reason a bell boy would know this information, much less know whether or not it's true (It's not) of every hotel.

Quote: FleaStiff

Third party sites get paid irrespective of timing or user awareness. During Dead Week TPWs have great bargains but the hotels themselves will often have better bargains, particularly once you are checking out. if you have used a tpw ths hotel's host checking you out can not undo that.

ALL rooms are sold by the hotel to the casino at the casino rate, its the casino's player development hosts that re-sell the rooms .

I agree with all of this and have read several accounts of this nature online. If you book TPW and your play would have otherwise justified a comped room, or at least an after-the-fact discount; there's not always much a host can do for you and the front desk clerks generally can't do anything for you.

I don't know how the, "Casino rate," plays into things and won't claim to...but looking at the property on the whole, the only added costs to comping a room are going to essentially be the direct costs related to that room. The TPW adds a cost, because they are going to get the commissions for bringing the casino a booking whether or not the casino decides to charge the guest on the room itself. That reflects direct $$$ costs, which they may be less inclined to eat.

I don't know how many motels offer weekly rates, but the Knights Inn I stayed in last year was $79 a night or $219 a week. If you are staying more than two nights, a weekly rate worked better. As it is a Choice Hotel, this may be fairly common.

Quote: billryan

I don't know how many motels offer weekly rates, but the Knights Inn I stayed in last year was $79 a night or $219 a week. If you are staying more than two nights, a weekly rate worked better. As it is a Choice Hotel, this may be fairly common.

Wow, Knights Inn is a brand I haven't seen in probably 10 years.

Quote: billryan

I don't know how many motels offer weekly rates, but the Knights Inn I stayed in last year was $79 a night or $219 a week. If you are staying more than two nights, a weekly rate worked better. As it is a Choice Hotel, this may be fairly common.

Knights Inn is not Choice Hotels International, they've been spun off of Wyndham Worldwide into a new small(ish) player called Red Lion something. Prior to Wyndham, they were a Cendant hotel.

Wyndham was a weird fit for Knights Inn as they really didn't seem to care about the brand at all. Knights Inn is kind of an, "It is what it is," sort of place, but there wasn't a lot of consistency from one location to the other. That might have changed with Red Lion, but I must admit I know almost nothing about Red Lion or how it runs things. It wasn't even until the 2010's that Red Lion broke 100 total properties, so I just happened to never work in any area where they were ever of any relevance to me.

Anyway, that's quite correct as relates weekly rates, and that's not strictly limited to motels.

And, overall, a very good tip: If you're planning to stay somewhere 3-4 nights (particularly if those are weekend nights) then the weekly rate may well be cheaper and you just have the room sit empty for a few days after you leave.

IN VERY GENERAL TERMS:

---The first hotel that I worked, you would be better off taking the weekly rate if you were staying MORE than four nights. If it was four nights, then you would be better off with the nightly rate. This hotel also did not have different standard rates for weekends, only special events. Weekends did not make a big difference in our occupancy, in general.

---The second hotel I worked, you would only want to take the weekly rate if you were already going to be staying six nights and precisely six nights. Usually, five nights would be exactly the same and the sixth night is where the full weekly rate would become cheaper. That's if you were staying for that length and did not work for a company we had a contract with...usually contracted rates for companies they were better off with the contracted nightly rate for four nights, or less, then the weekly rate if it was more than four nights.

***So, it will just depend on the hotel and how their nightly rates relate to their weekly rates---or even if they have weekly rates, which some hotels don't for people, "Just coming in off the street," which just means you're not from a company with a contract with them. Same thing with monthly rates occasionally being cheaper than 2+ weeks, if you think you'll be in the same place for two or more weeks.

Quote: DRich

Wow, Knights Inn is a brand I haven't seen in probably 10 years.

Yeah, Wyndham didn't focus on that brand very much. Super 8's were even starting to become pretty inconsistent (when I was doing hotels), though Days Inns, Hojo's and many Travelodges are probably still worse. Some Travelodges are apparently very nice, from what I've heard...so that's weird. Not any that I have seen.

While there are almost certainly individual exceptions, (mostly owing to Knights Inn's franchise fees being absurdly cheap for the Wyndham booking channel) Knights Inn is usually what you were if you had exterior corridors and were too dumpy to be a Days Inn or Travelodge.

You are correct. K.I is not Choice. What confused me was one week their AC was down and they honored the reservation at another motel a few blocks away as they were both owned by the same people. That was a Choice hotel and were running a promo where two stays got a free night.

You are correct. K.I is not Choice. What confused me was one week their AC was down and they honored the reservation at another motel a few blocks away as they were both owned by the same people. That was a Choice hotel and were running a promo where two stays got a free night.
The Knights Inn in Sierra Vista allowed dogs with no extra fee and had donuts and oatmeal for breakfast. For $219 a week, I got more than I paid for.

We had a lot of Knights Inn when I lived in the midwest. I don't see many at all out west.

My wife and I are not much of snobs when it comes to spending a night or two in hotels. We tend to stay in the 2.5 star to 3 star hotels and motels. We use Best Western, Comfort inn, and Days Inn a lot. If we are spending more than two nights we may step up to a 4 star hotel like a Sheraton or Hyatt.

Quote: billryan

You are correct. K.I is not Choice. What confused me was one week their AC was down and they honored the reservation at another motel a few blocks away as they were both owned by the same people. That was a Choice hotel and were running a promo where two stays got a free night.
The Knights Inn in Sierra Vista allowed dogs with no extra fee and had donuts and oatmeal for breakfast. For $219 a week, I got more than I paid for.

It's not uncommon for a franchisee to own different motels/hotels that are in different franchises or to own a franchised property(ies) and an independent property(ies).

Strangely enough, some franchisors will not extend the, "New franchise," discounted franchise rates to owners who already have at least one franchise with them. Even if they do, they'll often refuse to waive the assorted fees that you would otherwise incur to have a new hotel join one of the chains covered in that franchise. What will often happen in this case is that the same owner will end up with different properties whose brands belong to two, or more, franchisors.

If that sounds like not-so-great business, it is, but the next time the franchisors actually care about the hotels they are supposedly helping will be the first.

Pet policies (for non-service animals) are going to vary from hotel to hotel. This order could be wrong, but if I had to guess, from most to least:

A. Will not accept pets.
B. Will accept pets with some kind of deposit, straight up fee, or both.
C. Will accept pets at no additional cost.

Knights Inn is definitely what you would consider a, "Value brand," so if you left there feeling like you got good value, then they did their jobs very well. And, again, some are going to be nicer than others---which is true of anything.

I would feel bad for the franchisees who got into Knights Inn depending on how much notice they were (or were not) given about the sale of the brand to Red Lion. Although, during the time that they were under Wyndham...Knights Inn owners had it pretty good. The franchise fees mainly consisted of a flat fee plus a VERY low percentage of first and second night revenues. They also virtually never did inspections, and even when they did, you'd have to be running a total flophouse to not pass the inspection and then get into the remedial process.

So, great franchise recognition with Wyndham Worldwide, and an excellent booking/rewards channel with a widely-known franchisor for very little money.

Of course, it's hard to know how long Wyndham knew that they planned to sell off the brand internally. That could very well be why the franchise fees were so friendly, build up the hotel count, sell off the brand name, make a ton of money on the backend of selling it. Either way, those properties certainly were getting the best of it while they were under Wyndham, no question. Now, it's a recognizable brand name in a mostly not-well-known franchise.

Quote: DRich

We had a lot of Knights Inn when I lived in the midwest. I don't see many at all out west.

My wife and I are not much of snobs when it comes to spending a night or two in hotels. We tend to stay in the 2.5 star to 3 star hotels and motels. We use Best Western, Comfort inn, and Days Inn a lot. If we are spending more than two nights we may step up to a 4 star hotel like a Sheraton or Hyatt.

Those are all reasonably good choices, though my experience is that there is a pretty big difference when comparing a Best Western or Comfort Inn to your average Days Inn.

Of course, Days Inn does have more than 1,500 hotels flying that flag, (could be a small franchise by itself, though it's part of Wyndham) so there's certainly going to be some amount of variance and I've certainly not seen them all.

Not counting Microtel, (which I would consider a kind of hybrid of limited service/midscale and economy) my opinion is Super 8 was the most consistent of the Wyndham Economy chains, but now it might be a tie between them and Days Inn. Otherwise, Microtel, but I don't really think of Microtel as an economy hotel in the same sense.

My big thing is, if I was just going to pick a brand in each segment and roll with it, I'd want consistency. That way I can book the thing and have some idea what I am getting no matter where I go. Here are the most consistent hotel chains, in my opinion:

Luxury/High-End:

How the hell would I know? (LOL)

Extended Stay:

Suburban (Choice Hotels)
Candlewood Suites (Intercontinental Hotels)

***There are a few others, but they are mostly more pricey that these and I would not know anything about them.

Limited Service/Midscale:

Best Western (Best Western)
Fairfield (Marriott)
Holiday Inn Express (Intercontinental Hotels)

***For this, I almost want to say Hampton Inn, but compared to various hotels in same market...Hamptons occasionally price themselves like they think they are upscale. Some Hamptons, though, I would consider on the lower end of upscale. I guess that makes them inconsistent.

Midscale/Limited Service/Economy:

---These are basically hotels that I think are too good and consistent to be considered straight-up economy in the case of Microtel.

Sleep Inn (Choice Hotels International)
Microtel (Wyndham)

Economy:

None, anymore. There are only varying degrees of inconsistency. Gun to my head, Motel 6. Super 8 would have dominated for consistency, once upon a time.

If you consider Microtel or Suburban Extended Stay to be economy hotels, then you could include those. Suburban Extended Stay literally has, "Extended Stay," in the name, though. It does the same basic things that the other ones do, just at ridiculously good value. Many would call Microtel economy, so if you call them economy, then they are the most consistent economy hotel by a mile.

MISSION'S FAVORITE HOTEL CHAIN FOR CONSISTENCY:

Suburban Extended Stay! Awesome. I love these!

As a teenager, I drove cross country twice as my father changed stations from Ft Lewis to Ft. Bragg and back again. We'd always stay in Days Inns when possible because back then they all had dining rooms and were consistent. By the time I started traveling on my own- 1978ish, their dining options had greatly deteriorated. I miss their spaghetti and meat sauce, with toasted garlic bread.
From personal observation, there weren't a lot of family-friendly motel chains back then. Witth no computers, or cell phones, I think we just drove and stopped when we say a place that looked good.

Quote: billryan

As a teenager, I drove cross country twice as my father changed stations from Ft Lewis to Ft. Bragg and back again. We'd always stay in Days Inns when possible because back then they all had dining rooms and were consistent. By the time I started traveling on my own- 1978ish, their dining options had greatly deteriorated. I miss their spaghetti and meat sauce, with toasted garlic bread.
From personal observation, there weren't a lot of family-friendly motel chains back then. Witth no computers, or cell phones, I think we just drove and stopped when we say a place that looked good.

That's a good post and another thing that I didn't think of. I guess maybe the individual brands do not need to be as consistent anymore because people can look at pictures/reviews and everything like that online. Before the mid-2000's, (transitional period) the big thing to have was the recognizable name, so I guess having a consistent experience was even more important, making it more of a mutually beneficial partnership as much as anything else. A person would just see a sign and say, "Oh, hey, we like these!"

When you travel with a family, consistency is more important than to others. I remember we rented a cottage in some midwestern state and it was dank, took an hour for enough hot water for a shower and the beds were horrible. My Dad argued with the manager and they offered him a dollar back for the problems.
When we'd travel in the south, we'd always look for a service area with a Stuckeys, because my Mom was convinced they had the best rest rooms.

Mission, thanks for your lengthy inside detail on the process.

I'm referring to a period of about a decade ago, but during that period (and before) when I'd use one of those third party sites like hotels dot com if I was using it to book a good hotel, I'd follow up with a FAX directly to the hotel Executive Offices that gave my relevant rewards card number, such as Starwood Gold (now Marriott Bonvoy), and request an upgrade.

I'd get one of three responses:
1) No response
2) A call from someone telling me that he would upgrade me
3) A call from someone telling me that he would upgrade me as a courtesy but that normally I'd have to book through the hotel rewards directly.

If the hotel in question was a good hotel where I did not have a rewards program card, I'd still send a FAX requesting an upgrade with some reason or other as to why they should treat me better, and again, sometimes I'd get one sometimes not.

I think it is a more recent phenomenon where the hotels ignore rewards members unless booked directly. They used to accommodate us more readily.

MDawg,

You’re staying at some pretty nice places, so that’s going to make a big difference. For some time, Hampton Inns had basically a 100% guarantee where the guest could complain about any little thing and it was a full refund and it sounds like you’re talking about places even nicer than that.

We didn’t have an, “Executive Office,” for example. Here was the chain of command at the hotel:

-Owner
-Me
-Everyone Else

The people we treated the best were the ones who were the least demanding, because at our hotel level, the super demanding people were going to complain no matter what you did for them. If someone sent me a fax like that (never happened) on an individual booking, I’d call and inform them I was cancelling their reservation and recommend to them the Hampton Inn and/or a few others.

Also, I say, “Suite,” but it’s not like some big huge deal with a full-sized living room, bedroom and dining area. There wasn’t a ton of difference really between a two queen and a suite. The king suites and jacuzzi kings were the only rooms that I’d consider meaningfully better than anything else, so if you wanted a jacuzzi room, then that’s what you should have booked.

Personally, our regular king rooms were the ones I’d want to stay in if alone or as a couple. I thought they had the best layout.

So, Rewards Members...when we were really busy, I’d personally show them the room when they came in to make sure it was to their liking. At that point, I’d tell them they could cancel at no charge if they felt the accommodations were not to their standards. They usually did not opt to cancel, but did once in a while.

If anyone complained while still at the property within the first four (or so) hours of checking in, then I’d offer a full refund if they wanted to leave. Some people thought they were cute and would say no, but then check out and complain to the franchisor. Anyway, not only did the franchisor NOT refund them anything, it didn’t even stick as a complaint, because I’d already communicated that we offered a full refund in exchange for them just leaving and they said no.

If they did take the refund and leave, then I’d just go clean/straighten up (depending on degree of use) the room and rent it to someone else.