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Getting better service (Special hotel rate vs Priceline/hotwire rate


Jason's Storm
By Jason's Storm,
in

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For those of you in the biz, which one would you give better service to. Joe A find a special rate AB Hotel, and books it. Joe B use Priceline/Hotwire and just happens to get AB hotel. The question I have is, if AB hotel is moderately full to full, which one would you more likely give the better room to? Any insight would be great. (BTW I found the Radisson DTWN Minneapolis for $75 through the end of March.:)).

~JS

Jason's Storm- Making one killer deal after another. With something other than a machete to the head.

From the ashes of Friday the 13th Forum, rises Friday the 13th: The Community. A new beginning has arrived.

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The other thing to keep in mind is that even though one person booked through HW or PL; both parties are now guests of the hotel. Both are candidates for other services offered by the hotel (dining, spa, concierge...etc). In an ideal situation, both should be treated the same (and my previous reasons are just a few reasons why). If I'm made to feel second class, I'm less likely to have a meal at the hotel, or drink in it's bar....don't give me a reason to go elsewhere and you'll get more of my money.

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DJS, I think your thinking on this is quite right. The money a hotel gets from the room is usually only the beginning of the money that will be left behind by a guest, and probably when there are deals like are had on PL and HW not to mention they just plain sell more rooms. I have only booked into one PL hotel but have two already paid for in the near future. The one time, we were treated quite nicely, got a very nice room on one of the upper levels, all and all a very nice experience.

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Another thing occurred to me about hotels using PL or HW. It's a done deal, they are not going to keep a reservation for 2 months only to have a customer cancel at the last moment because they found a better deal somewhere else. Its not all a one way street for the PL/HW user, the hotel gets quite a lot of value from the deal. It is a bird in the hand kind of thing, I don't know how many cancellations a typical hotel gets on average, but I suspect it can get high, people hedging there bet, making 3 or 4 reservations while they decide which one fits their needs and offers them the best value. I have to think that a hotel that uses PL/HW at the end of the year has a better bottom line, simple mathematics. A few years ago, we went to the Goodwill Games in Long Island. We booked a room at a Holiday Inn that we hated because most of the decent hotels were booked. After the first night there, we wanted out badly. We went to the Host hotel for the games a nice Marriott and asked to be put on the cancellation list and to our surprise they had rooms. We took it right off and checked out of the Holiday Inn as quickly as possible. I suspect if we had gone there and asked the same question the night before we still would have gotten a room, sold out, doesn't necessarily mean every room is filled. I have paid way to much for a room and still had a problem getting something nice. We stayed at the Sheraton in Burlington Vermont a couple of years ago and it took 3 rooms before we got a room that was somewhat acceptable. We are not that fussy really, one room had such a strong smell of chlorine it could gag you, another room was adjacent to the Ice machine I think, which is never a good room for obvious reasons. The hotel wasn

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I don't stay in hotels much during the year(although I probably should get out and travel more) but I do work at the front desk of a resort in the Palm Springs area and can say that there are various factors as to getting 'better service'

In the end, a guest is a guest is a guest. I do agree that many times paying more for a room will get the guest better service or a better room.

I personally try to treat all guests the same regardless of whether they are on a HW/PL rate or paying full rack rate, because they are a guest in the hotel and should be treated as kindly as possible. The overall purpose of a resort is to get the guest to spend as much money as possible, which is why when asked for places to dine, the various restaurants in the hotel are mentioned first, to keep the money within the hotel. The golf course gives guests a discount to keep them from going to many of the other courses in the area.

I have to admit that sometimes a guest that tips will get better service regardless of what rate they are on, I hate to sound unethical, but if you take care of me, I will definitely take care of you. I might not get you the presidential suite but I'll definitely give you a nice view of the mountains, golf course, or the pool.

How booked up the hotel is also affects what rooms a guest will get, especially since so many of us here use HW/PL(of course it is a board dedicated to those two services)...I don't understand why some of my colleague, as the previous poster said, 'want you in a crappy room'...when the hotel is at 15% in the dead of summer, during low season, why doesn't everyone get a nice mountain/pool view room? I do upgrade guests to those rooms when the hotel is DEAD, but some of my colleagues won't. I know we have incentives to upgrade because the hotel gives the agent x amount per day depending on how much is charged...I just think it's more of a hassle sometimes to go through all the paperwork required and I upgrade, and a happy guest is always better than one upset about their view who will not be coming back. This could also be because I'm VERY flexible with the rules as opposed to others who I work with and I'm sure many of you have encountered who are 100% by the book.

In the end, in my opinion, the factor that will affect your treatment at the hotel/resort is your treatment of the person assisting you. From a front desk aspect, the agent is in control of what room you will get, regardless of what is requested. They have the power to say they don't have a particular room when in fact they do and not give the room type requested or location. When the guest is nice, the agent is much more likely to upgrade without a fee(w/ or w/o HW/PL rate). I have upgraded guests to SUITES simply because they asked how my day was going and were genuine about it....not just being 'fake'(although I'm sure that's just my perception)

sorry to rant on, but in the end, treat the staff as you would like to be treated and if you take care of them(and not necessarily monetarily), they will more than likely take care of you.

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Wow, jquero, what an insightful post. I have never thought of tipping the Desk person and frankly don't know how you would go about doing it without looking bad. "I hope your having a nice day" and shake their hand and slip them a $10 or whatever? Before you actually get your room assigned. I am not above spending an extra 10 to get a great room. At PL/HW rates spending a little extra isn't going to kill you, still way ahead of the game. My big concern is not the view, we won't be looking out the window all that much, but I understand at a resort hotel that may be a bigger issue, my big concern is getting a non-smoking room and a room that hopefully is sparkling clean.

thanks,

Barry

Still not getting email notification, maybe a moderator could look into this for me.

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jquero, thank you for sharing your thoughts. We're always happy to have an 'insiders' perspective.

OldRelayer, there is an entire thread on Tipping at Hotels which may be of interest... the thread started with the 'typical' housekeeping, bellman, etc questions, but a few posts down takes the turn towards tipping the front desk clerk.

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You're very welcome anything I can do to help the people on this board try and get more of an understanding of what goes on behind the scenes, so to speak.

Tipping is kinda risky, in terms of how it will affect the room given at the front desk, as opposed to tipping bellstaff or maid service, because that's a tip for service already performed. The tip of the front desk is something that is given hoping for a nice room or upgrade.

I actually had a gentlemen yesterday hand me a five and say, give me a good room. I did. I took it and helped him out, but others might not have. It can be kinda hit or miss just depending again on the agent. Other times, a tip will occur AFTER the room is assigned and especially if there is some sort of conversation between the agent and guest that's more than just the standard check in procedure.

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"I have heard"... that with the desk agent, you flash the cash and then tip after getting a good room. Also that tipping the bellhop regular for the room you wanted, or under if they don't help you get you a better room after getting a subpar room. Flashing and tipping more if you get a subpar room, and they call down and get you a better room. Also that a positive comment card is better than tipping more sometimes. Also jquero, who would say is more flexable, the regular person (or kid at the desk) or one of the managers? One of my past experiences, is that I checked in with a manager and she told me my rate didn't include free breakfast, even though I brought a sheet that said it did (she said it was only M-F). So I go up and settle and figured I go back down and take another shot. Sure enough, there was a younger guy there and I asked with the same approach, and sure enough got the free $15 Sunday brunch. I wrote a positive comment card and dropped it off at the desk. Okay enough ranting.:)

~JS

Jason's Storm- Making one killer deal after another. With something other than a machete to the head.

From the ashes of Friday the 13th Forum, rises Friday the 13th: The Community. A new beginning has arrived.

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Jason's Storm:

It honestly is hit or miss sometimes with that. I am only a front desk agent and don't plan on making working at a hotel/resort something I want to do for the rest of my life. I'm 21 and in college and hopefully going to law school after this. This job helps me pay the bills and is close to home. I have very little vested interest in whether the restaurant has to comp a breakfast or two, because I know that as long as the hotel is booked, I will get hours regardless of any incidentals the guest might have. I do my job to the best of my abilities but I know that there are rules I can bend, just like the managers and supervisors can.

The place I work at has a partnership with a 3rd party vendor that sells a membership for $99 that includes vouchers for a free night stay, two vouchers for buy 1 and get one 1 night free, a happy hour food party and a bottle of wine. Previously, guests would be able to use more than one voucher at a time, and only last week, the hotel changed their policy and made it only one voucher per stay. A guest was going to check in, and my supervisor was next to me, and flat out told the lady she couldn't use more than just one, as she was about to check in. Apparently an e-mail had been sent out the day before and he was not going to budge from that position. The guest just stared at him in disbelief. I didn't say anything because then it comes back to me, but I personally thought that was very mean(to not use more profane words). I then asked him why he said no, and he stated that the goal of that is to get guests to spend money in the hotel and that by using more than one certificate, it would not help the restaurant, golf course, etc. That didn't make sense to me, and still doesn't but I just said okay.

I had another guest a few days back that had multiple certificates. I accepted them because in my opinion, the guest will end up using the certificates one way or another, be it months apart or consecutively, the hotel lost out by negotiating such a HORRIBLE rate with the 3rd party vendor and those are room nights that are now lost. The guest was happy and it made my job easier.

Sorry to rant, but that's just an example of a time when a desk agent might be more helpful than just a young desk agent who is working at the hotel as a job not as a career....

I know managers, especially those on the executive committee have to worry about the bottom line and every room night counts, many times their job and more importantly their bonus depends on that. The F&B Director will not want the vouchers to be given away for free. There is much hypocrisy in the upper levels of management. An employee amount runs for x amount of dollars, many times a manager will upgrade their guest to the Presidential Suite and comp the night, while if I did that, it would not be acceptable. Again, a lot of hypocrisy involved. I can do this but you can't mentality.

In terms of your breakfast situation it does help to deal sometimes with a "normal" desk agent because managers will many times go more by the book, in the end it all depends on who the manager and desk agent are too because some managers are very nice and flexible while some agents will NOT be...

I don't mean to sound bitter as I really enjoy my job and the people I work with, but I figure this forum is a good way to expose some of the stuff behind the scenes, at least at the place I work at to some of you people that tend to travel a lot throughout the year.

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