This just happened - hotel fun!

[figgyx]

I had a woman come to the desk and the following conversation took place:


SC: Boy I am really tired - how much is your cheapest room?

Me: (subtracting ten bucks from our standard rate - to be nice) 79 dollars plus tax.

SC: That's the best you can do?

Me: Yes.

SC: FIne, I am leaving. I guess I will just have to find another place to stay.

So, as tired as you are you would rather drive further hoping to find a cheaper hotel (good luck by the way in this area) then just pay the quoted rate. I can't believe some people just think they can negotiate their own rates because of the time of night or just because.

[bhskittykatt]

I get a lot of people who think our rates should be cheaper because it's late in the evening. Yeah...it still takes the same amount of work to check you in, the same amount of labor and supplies to clean the room after you've left...nope, you pay the same rate.

[Mr Hero]

I'm given a little bit of freedom to negotiate rates with guests. Tonight? Not gonna happen. Lots of people stuck here because of snow.

[EricKei]

If someone shows up to a half-empty hotel at 2 AM and has to check out at noon? Sure, I might be convinced to cut them some slack. Full up on rooms and normal time? Uh-uh.

[Sapphire Silk]

So, as tired as you are you would rather drive further hoping to find a cheaper hotel (good luck by the way in this area) then just pay the quoted rate. I can't believe some people just think they can negotiate their own rates because of the time of night or just because.

I get a lot of people who think our rates should be cheaper because it's late in the evening. Yeah...it still takes the same amount of work to check you in, the same amount of labor and supplies to clean the room after you've left...nope, you pay the same rate.

Yeah, I kinda did this once. I arrived around 9pm or so, and planned to be on the road again by 6am. I was tired and just wanted sheets and a bed. I asked for a discount, the clerk wouldn't budge and made a big deal about the other amenities that I wouldn't be making ANY use of (like the pool).

At the time, I thought he was being a jerk (well, he was, but not for that reason) so I wouldn't have stayed there even if I could have afforded the $79/night they were charging (I couldn't).

It is what it is; if you can't afford to pay close to what a hotel charges, you need to look for someplace you CAN afford, and not bitch.

[kpzra]

I was a bit ticked about having to pay full price for a room for 5 hours, but more so because the clerk made a point of saying I'd have to pay the full price. FTR, I never asked about a cheaper rate, just a nonsmoking room which I didn't get.

[AccountingDrone]

Sheesh, we just did a 5 day round trip to North Carolina on a sort of whim, and other than the room in Willmington De, we made no reservations and took 'pot luck' on room availability. We didn't ask for anything special other than handicapped access if available or on the ground floor to avoid stairs. We got 2 nights of handicap access rooms, none of the 5 nights was more than $79, and we had a blast. [We have a travel shower chair, and I can use crutches if there is no great amount of walking or standing.] The most expensive room was a beach front hotel on the Virginia Beach strip, with a sea view and balcony.

If you are taking 'pot luck' with a room, you get what you pay for, and how you act towards the desk clerk can make your room nice and at a good rate, or back by the ice machine and expensive. Being nice doesn't cost anything so why not be nice?

[I swear, other than the night in Va Beach, every hotel was one of the extended stay type with a small kitchen, I love me those small kitchens - we can make food that doesn't pin me on the toilet for a few hours afterwards. I seem to have an annoying allergy/intolerance to freaking canola oil of all damned things now ]

[slick]

I can't believe its been like 3 years since I have posted here!

But anyways, some people just don't budget much for hotel stays OR they suck at negotiating, which sounds like your customer.

I normally ask the person what there budget is for a hotel stay (you say budget, and it normally makes the customer think you are calling them cheap), when they give me a figure, I make a face, one of those "Sorry to hear about that" deals. I then say something like, "maybe the old super 8 might have rooms at that rate".

All that nonsense normally gets me a room rented. Try it, its fun.

[BroSCFischer]

One of my pet peeves.

Guest shows up at 3AM and asks for a discount 'cause they plan to be out by 8AM and just need a few hours of sleep.

#1.) We are already among the cheapest hotels in this area.
#2.) YOU chose to wait until the last minute to check in.
#3.) As has already been stated, we need to clean the room just the same as if you stayed the whole night.

Sorry, no discount.

SC

[kpzra]

I never asked about a discount. In fact, all I asked for was a nonsmoking room, which the clerk replied in a snippy tone with "No discounts, you have to pay full price". I said "Fine, a nonsmoking room please", which despite him telling me it was, REEKED of smoke. I was more offended by his attitude that anything.

Having been up for 18 hours, driving for 8, and having at LEAST 12 more the next morning I didn't bother to fight about it. I knew I was leaving in a few hours anyway (had to be to Ft Benning by a certain time) so I just showered and lay down on my coat.

I have never asked for a discount, nor expected one when I have had problems at any of the hotels I've stayed at.

[Desk clerk knows all]

Hey bhskittykatt, I've been reading your post and I think we are in the same city.

[bhskittykatt]

Hey bhskittykatt, I've been reading your post and I think we are in the same city.

Mine's the city currently full of woodland coffee-obsessed hamsters vying for trips to Hawaii.

[Desk clerk knows all]

That's where I'm at!

[bhskittykatt]

That's where I'm at!

LOL cool!

[BeenThereDoneThat]

In 1990 when I was driving myself (as in, all by myself) down to Florida from New Jersey to live, I decided to stop in Richmond, VA, around 3 AM and get a hotel room for the night. I believe checkout time was 11 anyway so that gave me at least 7 hours to sleep. The desk clerk was asleep on a sofa in the lobby and I had to wake her up, lol (glad there were no troublemakers about that night!)...but I paid whatever they were asking, got my rest and got back on the road the next day. Never even occurred to me to ask for a price break just because it was late. A nightly rate is a nightly rate.