Hotels and Resorts and the New Pricing Philosophies They Go By
The hospitality industry really became creative in the year 2009. It was not because they felt like it, of course. It was because ever since the Great Depression, hotels and resorts in this country never went through a rough patch. Why, even the year 2010 wasn’t that much of an improvement. The average room rate fell to about $95 (from $105 in 2009) and only 50% of hotel rooms were even filled at that price. Hotels and resorts fired staff and cut corners everyplace they could (for example once you check in, housekeeping would not put a new soap next to your sink daily). However, hotels aren’t bringing rates down any further. They don’t want to be in trouble when the industry recovers next year. What they are doing alternatively is to charge you the same, but to offer you freebies – gift cards, a free night, and so on. It’s the new reality in the hotel business. They have to learn to be creative about giving you your discounts.
At one time, it used to be that if you made reservations for a hotel through a travel website, that you could expect some perks or a slightly lower price. Travel magazines would always tell you that if you approached the hotel directly, you always got a higher price. All of that has shifted now – the travel websites have the upper hand, and they expect a 30% commission from every hotel. Hotels and resorts, smarting from all of this, haven’t quite worked up the nerve like the airlines have, and withdrawn from the travel websites completely; but they do offer you better deals if you book directly through their websites. And you get freebies, upgrades and specials. One in three regulars at hotels gets free upgrades.
Many hotels and resorts are franchised; the corporate office decides what each hotel does and what kinds of specials they offer.
What you really want is to go to the one-off hotels, or, the ones that have three or four establishments at the most. These are the people who really know how to recognize a good customer. These are the places where you can really get deals if you get close to them. In this day and age, to get close to a company would be to follow them on Twitter. Do something like that, and you will come by some unbelievable discounts that are not available anywhere else. Occasionally, hotels offer great discounts through their partners at the Credit-card companies. However, you really have to seek those. They hide them well.
Airlines have found that they can get away these days with charging you a fee for just almost anything they can think about. Hotels though have too much competition, and they cannot afford to play hardball. Hotels no longer make much money on that landline in the room or with the movies you order. People have their own cell phones and laptops for that. Hotels and resorts try instead, to make up by charging you, exorbitant parking charges and something they call resorts fees at the resorts. As much as they really like those fees, they like loyal customers even more. If you see really irks you, you really can negotiate it.
