yea you guess it - more hotel horror stories

[figgyx]

People who rent hotel rooms through a 3rd party discount vendor do not get to pick and choose what room they get. The reason the rooms are being sold on priceline - etc is because the hotel wants to sell more rooms that nobody else wanted. These rooms are usually always two queen beds instead of the coveted king bed - and when we had smoking rooms - were always smoking rooms. This did not stop people from demanding upgrades. Also, when you book through priceline you should know that the rate you pay priceline is (gee) more than what we charge priceline. This is so the hotel can make a profit. You don't get to demand a receipt from the hotel because you already paid priceline.

The drunks are always the worst to deal with. They are not acting rationally at all and are very hard to reason with. We chased this one guy all around the hotel and when we got him to his room we found all his valuables sitting out in the hallway. Geez, he was lucky nobody stole his wallet, keys etc.

We had this one woman at the (rhymes with Pilton) who used to come into the bar and get wildly drunk, pick up a guy for her nightly sex, and because she knew that we would rather discount a room then send drunks out into the night - she would always come to the desk and ask for a discount. What could we do? We put her into a room and security would come down and report to us the noises coming out of her room. (she literally was banging the headboard into the wall.)

[Mr Hero]

People who rent hotel rooms through a 3rd party discount vendor do not get to pick and choose what room they get. The reason the rooms are being sold on priceline - etc is because the hotel wants to sell more rooms that nobody else wanted. These rooms are usually always two queen beds instead of the coveted king bed - and when we had smoking rooms - were always smoking rooms. This did not stop people from demanding upgrades. Also, when you book through priceline you should know that the rate you pay priceline is (gee) more than what we charge priceline. This is so the hotel can make a profit. You don't get to demand a receipt from the hotel because you already paid priceline.

From my experience, when someone asks for a reciept, I tell them that Priceline, Travelocity, etc. will have that available for the guest since they paid the money to them.

[PepperElf]

i always figure... if you're worried about the price of the rooms being more expensive from the reseller ... stop going to the reseller.

i mean if i want a hotel room in the US i may research the reseller sites for deals but i also check the hotel itself.

unless it's overseas. when i was deployed i found that it was easier to call a specific hotel site vs trying to call the local hotels... mainly because i wasn't always sure the hotel staff spoke english. but that was my choice and my responsibility. the hotel wasn't at fault if i ended up paying a little extra for the convienence.

[taxguykarl]

i always figure... if you're worried about the price of the rooms being more expensive from the reseller ... stop going to the reseller.

Mrs. TGK booked from a reseller. Goodies (e.g. breakfast) that would have been included apparently went to the reseller. Last time she used a reseller.

[Moon]

3rd party resellers don't always charge the guests. The one I work for doesn't. We do take credit card details upon booking, but we pass it along to the hotel for them to deal with. We often receive calls from guests asking for a receipt, and we tell them to go to the hotel since they were the ones who charged them.

Also, in the terms the hotel agrees to, we require they give us the lowest rate they offer for that room type with those conditions... so you don't always pay more.

I've got some stories myself.... I see BOTH sides of the equation. Many many stories of guests who need to be educated in being a good customer, but also stories of hotels who are pretty crappy themselves.

[Andara Bledin]

Mrs. TGK booked from a reseller. Goodies (e.g. breakfast) that would have been included apparently went to the reseller. Last time she used a reseller.

Resellers can be great, but you have to do your research.

When I was booking for the old boss, I'd hit a reseller to check availability, then I'd go to individual sources to check actual availability and see what the differences were for the same item.

Most of the time, it could be had directly without any additional fees, and with all the perks of booking direct. But once in a while, I found some great discount for something through the reseller that would be worth more than a few lost benes.

^-.-^

[Sonoma]

i mean if i want a hotel room in the US i may research the reseller sites for deals but i also check the hotel itself.

That's exactly what I do for both hotels & airfare. This way I can compare prices, (and I usually find booking directly can get me the same pricing), plus I'm in control of my booking.

When we went to Vegas years ago, my sister booked through a reseller. I booked directly. We not only paid less, but were on the flight we booked. My sister's flight was changed 3 times between the time we booked & our actual trip. Plus, we had better flights and wound up in Vegas before noon. They got there in time for dinner.

[TigressChar]

The 3rd Parties are not always willing the own up to their own mistakes either which can make a great customer in to a sucky one. Although recently I had a sell out night, and a pile of people arrived for their two rooms reserveration.

It didn't exist and never had. We called the 3rd party, who happened to be one that passes the CC on to the hotel to charge, to find out where they had booked the guests. They said they booked it with us, but there was a system error and our system rejected the rooms (Likely because we'd be sold out!) and they STILL sent the guests a confirmation!

We tell the guests what happen, and we know for fact there is like no hotels left in the whole state. The 3rd party had the gall to call us and tell us that we were responsible for the guests room costs and any incidentals incurred, because we refused to take them in the hotel.

It was CLEARLY the 3rd parties problem!

They refused to help the guest, and we spend almost an hour, on a SUPER busy day to find them another hotel in the state. It took forever. The new hotel's address was incorrect on google maps, so they ended up at the wrong hotel. That hotel called me and chewed me out for embarrassing them because they didn't have their reservation either.

Come to find out, the guests got to the new hotel, was convinced there were bedbugs so they went to LLBeans (driving nearly an hour to get back to the store) and bought pillows and blankets and slept in the car... And the 3rd party sent US the bill expecting us to pay it.... *blinks* yeah right.