Author Topic: Booking a hotel room  (Read 284 times)

Traveller

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Booking a hotel room
« on: Feb 06, 2019, 09:29:11 AM »
I read today that the competition & Marketing people are hopefully cracking down on the misleading tactics of sites such as Expedia, Trivago etc...

I'm heartily sick of their pressure techniques, stating things like 1000 people have booked this hotel in the last minute , or 187 people are looking at this room or only one room left at this price..   All designed to make people  'panic' into making a quick choice.

Now, I always make my own bookings and find these sites useful, but they really need to clean up their acts.  I also find that having done my research (I like Trivago), I can sometimes get as good or better deal by booking direct with the hotel.
This was generally true with airlines too, and now I always book my flights directly.
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biglouis

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Re: Booking a hotel room
« Reply #1 on: Feb 06, 2019, 01:58:52 PM »
I fell out of love with the travel industry many years ago, having been royally ripped off time after time paying a "single person suppliment". I abandoned the package holiday tourist trap because I felt I was being fleeced to subsidise all those "free" child places.


I was also wanting to go to places like Syria, Iran and Nepal where the package holiday industry didnt reach. So I found it far more advantageous to book a cheap flight on the internet and then find a hotel where I would book a single room by phone, fax or email. However I only ever booked 1 or 2 nights because I didnt want to commit myself to a hotel where I might not be happy. I often found travel forums like Lonely Planet useful for finding hotels which were "safe" for single females and near to places I wanted to visit.

Now cheap flights to far flung places invariably arrive in the early hours so all I wanted was a bed for the first night. I would have the hotel send an airport pickup and then just fall into bed on arrival. Next day I would ask the management to show me what other rooms were available and be prepared to bargain on the basis of "what can you do for me if I stay X nights?" - remember I had only initially booked 1/2 nights. I would always end up with a nice double room with balcony - sometimes a suite - for not much more than the price of a single cubbyhole at the back of the building.

Of course this laissez faire approach would not do for families with kids in tow but I always found it worked very well for a single traveller who was prepared to haggle.
Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the blind obedience of fools.

Sheila

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Re: Booking a hotel room
« Reply #2 on: Feb 06, 2019, 03:03:54 PM »
We have recently booked quite an expensive package holiday.  We wanted the best deal and checked the price online.  Someone said we would get a better deal if we went into the company's shop, which we did.  The price they quoted was higher than the internet so we protested.  The assistant went to speak to the manager, came back and said they could offer us 15% off.  We said we would think about it, came home and booked the same holiday, same flight with a different company. 

The shop phoned this morning asking if we want to book and we said we had got a better deal and they said they could have matched that!  Why didn't they do that when we went in?

I've just gone through a similar thing getting travel insurance.  They are all trying to get us to pay as much as possible.

zoony

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Re: Booking a hotel room
« Reply #3 on: Feb 06, 2019, 03:42:09 PM »
You'd have to be very naive to believe otherwise Sheila. They're businesses, of course they're out to get as much of your money as they possibly can.
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biglouis

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Re: Booking a hotel room
« Reply #4 on: Feb 06, 2019, 04:32:50 PM »
Ive got some stunning deals both in the UK and abroad by turning up at the last minute with minimum luggage and haggling. I love haggling.

But the travel industry (and especially the package travel industry) is really corrupt.

Look at how people with kids get ripped off if they travel during school holidays! Yet its exactly the same holiday as it was two weeks earlier (in term time). Many say its cheaper to take the kids out of school during term and pay the fine. And where do these schools get off by "fining" parents for taking the kids on holiday during term time. No wonder people in the UK are beginning to home school their kids. Schools and local councils have far too much say in people's lives.
Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the blind obedience of fools.