Room Block Question

Krysta6

So I am looking at 2 different hotels for room blocks because my hotels rates are super pricey. Is it normal for places like expedia, orbitz and hotels.com to be able to beat the price I get from the hotel for the room block? Should I try to negotiate? 

Natalie97

When i was looking for hotel blocks, I didn't find lower prices on the regular hotel websites. But what I did find was that hotelplanner.com offered really great prices for the blocks. You enter your requirements (location, price, rating) and you will hear back in the next days/week directly from the hotels giving you a price. It's all viewed on the website and they send you e-mails when a few bids have come in. I received a bid for a room block directly from the Biltmore at around $180 when other sites were showing it to be $300. Crazy! So check out that website, you may find a really great deal and even be able to contact the hotel directly and discuss more options.

HTH!

lgrn22

Yes, the Hotelplanner website is wonderful to get a whole bunch of quotes and see your options. I was quoted on that website $160 for a room at a hotel and actually went down and spoke with the manager and without even telling him the other quote he gave me a rate of $100 a night. (small 28 room hotel)

Other than that I called the Doubltree and was quoted a lower rate than when I looked it up myself. Right now the rate I was given was $159 and I looked it up online and saw it being quoted for 220.. so I would give the places a call, if its a chain like Marriot call the customer service line and look up the quotes for your dates on hotels.com to see how much lower they are. Normally they give you a pretty good price.

[Deleted User]

Hotelplanner gave me a lower rate then what my hotel  gave me. When I explained the rate that hotelplanner.com gave me.. the hotel ( sheraton) was like no way. I think they gave me some BS about thats not really the rate and stuff..but they did end up meeting me closer to the hotelplanner rate.

Krysta6

So if I get a better rate from the hotel planner website then do I take it to the hotel and negotiate or do I use the website somehow? Also it asks what kind of event it is do I say a wedding? 

[Deleted User]

You could take it to the hotel and try and get a better rate. The BS that the hotel gave me, was it was all on availbility. So even if hotelplanner says they can get you $XX rate when you click okay i want that rate, it sends and email or whatever to the hotel you are asking for a room rate, and if there is availbility then they will give it to you at $XX. If not they may do like I said for me was brought the price down closer to what I was quoted on hotelplanner. Half of me believes this was true, the other half was like BS!!

Krysta6

The hotel I'm trying to get actually came back at the same price on hotelplanner! Its still higher than expedia and orbitz. But I'm gonna try and tell them to match that price.

arlodamon

Do not be fooled by the marketing and hype put out there by websites like Expedia, Orbitz, and Travelocity. All of the major hotel chains have partnership agreements with these on-line travel agencies that include what is known as rate parity. What that means is they (the on-line travel agencies) are not allowed to sell rooms for less than you can get on the chains own website. If you see a lower rate, it is possible the hotel raised its rates and the website has not updated its display page. Chances are the rate will come back as "no longer available" should you actually try to book it. Plus they all add "booking fees" and you will actually pay more to use them.

The exceptions are small independant hotels with no distribution channels. They are essentially bullied into submission by the big travel agencies to give them lower rates, then keep anywhere from 15% to 25% of the rate for themselves, so a hotel can actually see just $75 of every $100 you pay.

Hotelplanner is just a cheap middleman who takes your rooms and serves them up as a "group" to naive hotel sales managers. These group leads are typically turned over to the most junior member of the sales staff or often an admin who act as nothing more than an order taker. Did you want fries with your room block? Hotelplanner actually does not "plan" a thing. They take  a 10% - 15% commission from the hotel. This commission is typically added to the rate the hotel quotes once again costing you more than if you just went direct.

Lesson: always go direct to the hotel sales department.