Want to Score a Deal at Getaroom.com? Pick Up Your Phone
Today, the founders of Hotels.com launched a brand new discount hotel booking site to go up against the opaque booking sites (the Hotwires and Pricelines) of the 'net — except this site is sort of not so opaque at all. Getaroom.com (ha! That's like what you shout to your big sister and her boyfriend when they're making out under the bleachers) offers travelers "the benefits of opaque pricing without being kept in the dark about where they will be sleeping."
It promises the same sort of discounts as opaque booking sites like Hotwire (where you don't know which hotel you'll be staying in until your credit card gets charged for your rezzie), but it touts itself as a wallet-friendly competitor in three ways:
· Everyday Savings. Getaroom.com provides discounts up to 50 percent off regular rates.
· Special Non-published Rates. Registered clients booking accommodations via the getaroom.com Dallas-based call center 800-HOTELS-8 (800-468-3578) can receive additional savings at select hotels with getaroom.com's special non-published rates. Offered at most properties, the discounts are an additional 10 percent to 50 percent in savings.
· Deals of the Day. Select properties are featured daily in the Deals of the Day program enabling travelers to save an additional 15 percent to 40 percent off their accommodations compared to internet rates offered by other websites.
Naturally, we surfed over to the site, grabbed our phone and put it to the test.
We checked on two hotels — one in New York and one in Boston — for one person for the night of Friday, July 17th. We checked the hotel's website, compared it with the rate listed at Getaroom.com's online booking system, and then we called this fabled Getaroom.com call center to see what kind of price we could score.
New York: The Carlton:
· The Carlton's website rate: 233.00
· Getaroom.com's online rate: 229.00
· Getaroom.com's call center rate: 183.20
Boston: The Langham:
· The Langham's website rate: 209.00
· Getaroom.com's online rate: 209.00
· Getaroom.com's call center rate: 167.20
Verdict: Call the call center, people. At least your first go-round. The agent we spoke to was very nice — helpful and personable — and we were told that if we register for an account to get a weekly newsletter, we'll be able to score some of those call center rates without having to pick up the phone in the future.
One more thing: from now until July 31st, booking two nights or more will get you a $25 rebate. Poke around on the site here.
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