Deal or No Deal with 'What A Hotel' Booking Site? || HotelChatter

It's an impressive lineup: Fairmont, Mandarin Oriental, The Four Season, Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis, scads of boutique resorts. The video ad promises the best value for online booking, either through lower than published rates or with bonus perks.

The thing that really caught our ear were the lines, "What's more, we do not charge guests upfront. You only pay after you complete your entire stay at any of the properties featured on your site."

With the prepaid model dominating the online booking scene, this is welcome news indeed. Imagine not having to put all that on your credit card! Imagine not having to lock into fixed dates!

After watching the camera pan yet another Mediterranean property (the video is heavy on Italian ones), we decided to click around the website, read the fine print if you well. There, in the FAQ section we noticed somewhat contradictory information, and we quote:

At some resorts, properties may take a one/two night deposit against your charge card.

Okay, that's the way it would work if we booked directly with the property. But it seems silly that the "What A Hotel" video ad made a global claim that customers only pay at the end of their stay at all of "What A Hotel's" properties. However, not silly enough to make us not want to click-test the site.

We called the toll free number (1-877-782-9281) and checked availability at Maroma Resort and Spa in the Mayan Riviera for August 10 - August 15. The "What A Hotel" travel agent quoted the lowest rate, with an oceanfront view, as $775 per night. When we hopped onto Maroma's website moments later, the lowest rate we found for the same dates was $950.

Now, one click-test does not an investigative report make. But $175 per night is an impressive savings. We'll play around with this some more. For now, we're thinking, "What a hotel booking website." We'll hold off on using an exclamation point pending further research.

4 Comments

Return to » Deal or No Deal with 'What A Hotel' Booking Site?

WhataHotel
HotelChatter Member

WhataHotel.com - Is Tthe Real Deal !
Barbara and I (SVP at Lorraine Travel which owns WhataHotel.com ) spoke but she really did not tell me that she was contributing to an article she was going to publish on Hotel Chatter until very late in the conversation after she asked a number of "loaded" questions, which is OK, because, there really is no "smoke & mirrors" in what we say or do on the site nor do we have anything to hide.
Whereas overall the review has some real positive points, like the nightly savings clients get by booking through WhataHotel.com, Barbara chose to focus on our "Book Now & Pay Later" slogan and trash it a bit. The fact is that even at the few hotels/resorts that really do require a deposit, guests still complete payment only AFTER they check-out(this is the second part of the slogan) even at these hotels.
We also felt the posting should have stated how WhataHotel.com stands behind all its offerings with its corporate name, address, & phone number on every page of the site, unlike so many other web-marauders anonymously and irresponsibly posing as legitimate businesses, from a single car garage.
So even though Barbara leaves readers without that exclamation mark that would have closed the chapter on this "Deal or No Deal" story, we're OK with that. You see, we're convinced that people who visit WhataHotel.com when they're looking to book a luxury hotel and compare us to the more prominent sites on the web, they'll be pleasantly surprised. This is because even when our rates are the same (as the hotel's rates), the value of our Exclusive Perks, which are applicable with most bookings at the participating hotels, make our deals-The Real Deal! ( I just had to add the exclamation point ). Most importantly though, our clients benefit from our reputation of over half a century in the travel business.

July 14, 2007 at 4:17 PM

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barbarab
HotelChatter Member

Re: WhataHotel Followup

Thank you for your comments.
My article hinges on the WhataHotel video and website. That is, WhataHotel's own words and rates.
From the start, I saw this as a Read a Fine Print piece. That, reading the fine print, is one of the things I do as a travel journalist.
As you no doubt saw, I found WhataHotel's hotel collection impressive. Ditto the $175-per-night savings at Maroma.
I also described payment at checkout as "welcome news."
And it is.
Best,
Barbara

July 26, 2007 at 2:03 PM

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WhataHotel
HotelChatter Member

Re: WhataHotel Followup
We're cool Barbara.

July 26, 2007 at 6:12 PM

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Julia1
HotelChatter Member

Re: Deal or No Deal with 'What A Hotel' Booking Si
Online Hotel Booking is the result of advancement in the internet field which has enabled us to book hotels anywhere in the world according to our travel needs. I have been a regular visitor of travel sites in various category one such site that I have recently visited is http://www.guaranteed-lowest-hotel-rates.com/
This site seems to be a good one with its content they give you all the details about the hotel booking and cheap accommodation

April 14, 2008 at 8:54 AM

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