Tag: Hotel Booking Tips View All Tags
Tags: Hotel News / Travelocity / Hotel Booking Sites / Hotel Booking Tips / Price Guarantees / → All Tags
Travelocity Now Offering Hotel Guests a Price Guarantee
The economy may not be feeling back to its old self, but there is more good news for hotel guests looking to get a better deal.
Travelocity announced today that it would not only eliminate change and cancel fees for hotels and vacation packages and offer guests a special $50 discount for travel but that it would also offer a price guarantee, something that other online travel booking sites have yet to do.
A price guarantee is a common feature found on hotel's websites which allow guests who find a lower room rate elsewhere to receive that lower rate instead of whatever the hotel is offering. It's a nifty little way for guests to sort of negotiate with hotels to get a better rate. For hotels, it keeps guests booking directly through their site, rather than with a third-party booking site, with whom they usually have to split a sort of commission.
Tags: Hotel Booking Tips / Bidding Sites / Hotwire / TripAdvisor / HOWTO / → All Tags
How To Determine Hotwire's Hidden Hotels Before You Book
Expedia Inc. has been on a bit of convergence spree recently. A few weeks ago our sister blog Jaunted reported on how the travel mega-company integrated Expedia and SeatGuru, and in the meantime they've also integrated TripAdvisor and Hotwire. That last part integration has the potential to be particuarly yummy, though not for the reasons Expedia intended (they thought customers would benefit from seeing TripAdvisor reviews on Hotwire - not so much).
Instead we're excited because the TripAdvisor/Hotwire integration may help Hotwire bidders crack the opaque site's hidden hotels. Hotwire has an interest in minimizing what a customer knows about the hotel being considered, lest they decide that they're not getting a deal and move on.
Customers have the opposite interest and try to figure out as much about the hotel as possible. The new TripAdvisor/Hotwire arrangement exposes so much data that many customers will be able to figure out exactly what hotel Hotwire is offering them, and will be able to accept or decline accordingly.
Tags: Hotwire / LA Hotels / Hotel Booking Tips / Kor Hotels / → All Tags
Booking Our LA Hotels: A Hotwire Experience
So we had to book a couple of nights in LA this week. Where to start? So many hotels to choose from, so little money to afford them was the general obstacle we came up against. Being fans of Andaz London, we were up for trying out the WeHo branch, but we lacked the $196 to do that.
So we went the Hotwire route. In the hope of scoring the Andaz for less, we asked for hotels in West Hollywood, where we found a 4 star for $121. We booked it for a night, thinking we could find out which it was and come back for more if we liked it.
Tags: Hotel Booking Tips / Twitter / Hotel Reservations / Calling The Hotel / → All Tags
Calling The Hotel Might Be 'Old School' But Better Deals Can Be Found
The other week we mentioned that in booking a stay at the La Quinta Resort in Palm Springs, we found that the hotel's reservations line gave us a way better deal than both the hotel website and Expedia.
Over at VegasChatter, the same thing happened when they searched for last minute hotel rooms at The Bellagio. The hotel's reservations line was a bit cheaper than the hotel site and Expedia. And now, we're reading about a Twitterer who got a great deal the old school way.
Just called the hotel and got a pimp ass room for way cheaper than any of those deal websites were offering. Old school win!
It's not just random Twitterers that are finding deals this way. We've actually been hearing this a lot lately and it we're pretty sure every hotel reservation we make from here on out will be cross-checked with the hotel's own reservations line. Sure, it might be more work but a deal is a deal. What do you think? Let us know in comments here.
Tags: Hotel Booking Tips / Hotel Reservations / Hotel Deals / Deal Drop / → All Tags
Does Calling the Hotel Get You a Better Deal?
There's a very good chance that in the future, we may not be making our next hotel reservation online. Why's that? Because recently we were quoted a rate by a human reservations agent that was more than 50 percent off the hotel's online rate and a rate found on a third-party booking site. And there was no begging, pleading or threatening involved at all.
Let us walk you through a recent booking experience at the La Quinta Resort & Spa in Palm Desert, Calif. We decided we wanted to get out of LA for a while and spend our Fourth of July weekend at the desert resort. We also didn't want to just shack up in any old room at the place. You see, we got spoiled last year when we stayed in a Spa Villa suite which had a full kitchen, a couple of balconies and access to a semi-private pool.
The only problem was that when we checked online, the suite was going for about $475 a night, not including the daily $27 resort fee.
Tags: Expedia / Seattle Hotels / Hotel Booking Tips / Hotel Hell / → All Tags
Expedia Asks About Our Canceled Hotel Stay That We Had to Pay For
The other weekend we were all set for a trip to Seattle when a nasty sinus infection with a side of vertigo forced us to stay in bed. Meaning, unfortunately, that we could not fly to Seattle and therefore we could not check into our hotel.
With a doctor's note in hand, we were able to cancel our Virgin America flight without any cancellation fees. However when we called Expedia, we were beyond the cancellation period and thus forced to eat the hotel rate ourselves. We pleaded with the Expedia reservations agent about our vertigo and promised to fax/scan/mail the doctor's note but she told us the contract was binding and there was nothing she could do.
She did, however, give us a $50 Expedia credit to use towards our next booking. Since we initially paid $185, all in all, we were out $135. It sucked but that's what we get for having crappy sinuses we guess.
Tags: Hotel Booking Tips / Wendy Perrin / How To / → All Tags
How to Deal When a Hotel Lowers Its Rates After You've Booked
Due to the state of the economy and, consequently, hotels scrambling to fill up rooms, rates are dropping all over the place — and chances are, you might fall victim to the dreaded "I-booked-my-hotel-too-early" situation. Yes, it's one of those times where the early bird doesn't catch the worm. If you've booked your hotel too far in advance, room rates may end up dropping between the time you've reserved your room and the time you arrive at the hotel.
But it's a'ight; that doesn't mean there's nothing you can do to score the lower rate. You're not stuck with the rate you reserved!
Wendy Perrin, who writes the Perrin Post over at Conde Nast Traveler's Concierge.com, gave killer advice to a reader who had written in with the very same dilemma. The reader had booked a trip to the Ritz-Carlton Cancun several months ago — and rates have dropped significantly since then. The guest wanted to know how to do go about politely checking to see if he or she could score a better rate.
Tags: OpenThread / Hotel Booking Tips / Hotel Room Upgrades / → All Tags
Will Calling the Hotel Really Get You a Better Room Rate?
Last week, we learned of some tips from Jane Engle at the LA Times on how to get the price of a non-refundable room rate for one that you could refund. Her biggest point was that calling the hotel in person may yield you a bigger discount and could possibly get you a refund if it was needed.
We at HotelChatter, while we love our computers, agree that actually speaking with a human reservations agent at a hotel can lead to better deals or better rooms and you often pick up information you would not find on the website. Like about the multi-million dollar restoration the hotel is undergoing that has shut down the pool and the restaurant and has construction crews drilling away at 8am.
However, lately we haven't had much luck with the reservations agent or the front desk. Asking for discounted rooms, no matter how sweetly we ask, has really not yielded any results.
So, we want to know what are your recent experiences in booking a room on the phone? Also, any readers out there who used to work the front desk or currently work the front desk, let us know your secrets.
Tell us your experiences of directly calling the hotel and how it affected your room rate or stay.
[HotelChatter OpenThreads are a place for readers to get in here and talk about hot stories and issues of the day in an open forum. If you are already a HotelChatter member log in to comment, if not become a member for free and comment away.]
Tags: Vietnam Hotels / Retreats / Hotel Booking Tips / → All Tags
Pilgrimage Vietnam Worth Pilgrimage to Vietnam
When it comes to user reviews of Pilgrimage Village in Hue, Vietnam, everyone’s a-talkin’ about the greenery. "Tropical paradise," "felt like you were out in the rainforest" and "serene and lovely" are all slightly-hackneyed-but-still-helpful superlatives doled out by TripAdvisor reviewers.
They also rave about the fresh fruit served every morning and noted that Pilgrimage is only $5 more than Vinh Hung Resort (in nearby Hoi An), and well worth the upgrade.
Tags: Hotel Booking Tips / Jane Engle / Hotel Deals / → All Tags
Changing the Rules on a Non-Refundable Rate Just Takes a Phone Call
We all know the drill. Find an awesome, over-budget hotel. Scour the internet for a good deal. Rejoice with trumpets when you've landed some savings and then give your life away--or at least the full cost, no refunds--to get them. We advertise deals like this all the time, but it doesn't make it any easier to click that submit button. Commitment? We don't like it.
Never fear! LA Times writer Jane Engle has found a way for us to pass go and get our $200 (or refund). In her story How to get a low-cost hotel rate without the risk she outlines how you can still get that non-refundable, internet-only rate without all the rules simply by using the phone.
Tags: HotelChatter Reader Deals / Hotwire / Hotel Booking Tips / Santa Monica Hotels / → All Tags
3.5 Star Hotel in Santa Monica on Hotwire for $119 a Night
If the recent discounts at Oceana Santa Monica are still out of your price range, then you should definitely skip on over to Hotwire.
The booking site has a ton of deals for the Los Angeles area and we found a listing for a 3.5 star hotel within walking distance to the beach for $119 a night. The hotel also has a pool onsite, as well as a restaurant, a fitness center and a business center. We headed over to BetterBidding.com to sift through past Hotwire bids and results to see just what 3.5 star hotel this might be.
At first, we considered the Sheraton Delfina, but that is not really within walking distance to the beach. It's actually on a busy stretch of Pico about four long blocks away from Ocean Avenue. It could however be the The Georgian Hotel which is just across from the beach.
Well, ok. Nothing is "across from the beach" here in Santa Monica. Staying at the Georgian involves walking down to the Pier to get beach access or finding one of those stairway passages that lead you over the Pacific Coast Highway and then onto the sand.
So unless you are staying at the Loews, JW Marriott or Shutters on the Beach, every hotel in Santa Monica "on the beach" will involve a bit of a walk.
If you book this deal on Hotwire, let us know what hotel it was!
Tags: Hotel Booking Tips / Hotel News / Manhattan Hotels / Hotel Bills / → All Tags
Blue Moon Hotel Responds To The Accidental Overcharging of a Guest
Remember when the Blue Moon Hotel accidentally added a zero to a guest's hotel bill and didn't care? We thought that was pretty atrocious, especially that the hotel's general manager never even called the guest to apologize or keep her abreast of the situation.
Now, finally Blue Moon speaks. The hotel's management staff has left a detailed comment under the story explaining their side of the snafu.
Although I was not responsible for the error, I called this guest back immediately after she called, and in the spirit of the best customer service which our hotel is reknown for I listened sympathetically, assured her that the correction had been made, and I called our credit card processor, conferencing her in (NOT "talking to other patrons which I heard over the phone"), in order for her to personally realize that it was now her bank's responsibility.
You can go here to see the full comment and we urge you to do so. Thanks to the Blue Moon staff for taking the time to tell their side of the story. The hotel however has still not gotten in touch with the guest about the incident. Judging from the tone of their letters, we don't think they will be doing that anytime soon.
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