A sad state of affairs

[Mr Hero]

After I quoted a guest a rate, he decided to call other hotels in the area. He had his phone on speaker phone. When asked where their hotel was located, the lady on the other end said they were in City, IL. That didn't stop the caller asking if they were near major cross streets that are in City, CO.

[earl colby pottinger]

But

If they were cheaper would he had tried to drive there? That could be fun.

Worse, he could try to tell you to give him the same cheaper rate.

[EricKei]

Transparently trying to piss Hero (or any other hotel clerk) off would be bad enough, but if the guy did ask him to match prices? At that point, the only reasonable response would be "I'm sure that that other hotel would be only too GLAD to have your business, and honor that rate. As you have made it abundantly clear that our rates are not to your satisfaction, we're gonna need you to leave, so that I may help our actual customers. Door's to your left."

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

With so many sites out there that list room rates and can find you great discounts on rooms...

Why don't more people use them instead of trying to haggle with the clerk who has little to no wiggle room in the pricing?

I'm a big fan of Room Saver. I look for prices and hotels in the area, I print out the coupon and go there. They take the coupon and my CC# and I get a room for my vacation.

Easy, drama free and saves money.

[EricKei]

I'm guessing that the issue here was that the guy did it right there in front of the OP, and intentionally did so on speakerphone -- That level of dickishness goes above and beyond the call of duty ^_^

[Mr Hero]

The issue was that the hotel clerk the SC was talking to clearly said they were in Illinois, while the hotel is in Colorado. Same city name though.

[BroSCFischer]

One of my pet peeves when working at the Front Desk was when the guest would complain about how much higher our rate was at the Huge Mid-Rate Franchise Hotel I worked at compared to the HMRFH that was in another state halfway cross the country. I had quite a few business people who got pissed that my rate was $59.99 and the rate in Major Midwest City was $39.99.

No one seemed to realize that rates differ based on location, availability, time of year, and major local events. Not to mention the quality of the individual hotel/motel/inn.

SC

[earl colby pottinger]

Taxes

One of my pet peeves when working at the Front Desk was when the guest would complain about how much higher our rate was at the Huge Mid-Rate Franchise Hotel I worked at compared to the HMRFH that was in another state halfway cross the country. I had quite a few business people who got pissed that my rate was $59.99 and the rate in Major Midwest City was $39.99.

No one seemed to realize that rates differ based on location, availability, time of year, and major local events. Not to mention the quality of the individual hotel/motel/inn.

SC

You also forgot taxes, a big difference between where I live and downtown Toronto is the various taxes the hotel has to pay in the downtown core. Services that are easy to fix in the more open spaces of the town I live in become a nightmare when you have to work in the built up areas of a major city.

[bhskittykatt]

No one seemed to realize that rates differ based on location, availability, time of year, and major local events. Not to mention the quality of the individual hotel/motel/inn.

OMG this! When I worked at the motel, I got this ALL THE TIME.

What didn't help is that our chain had advertisements online that said something along the lines of "Room starting at $25.99", which meant that somewhere out in some BFE flyover state, you could find a room that cheap. But because the ad didn't specify which remote podunk location had that price, everyone would say, "But your ad said!" when they discovered we charged $50+ a night.