Entering the holiday season you may get confused by all the travel information you see. It is important to know what a cheap price means and does it truly represent Value!
Did or do you know that if you Look at Priceline and then find a lower price on Kayak, you are actually looking at the same company, Booking holding is trying to find the price you are willing to pay. Oh and they will price adjust up if they believe they can, Have you ever wondered why the price goes up as you look around well look at the info graph below and see how often you bid against yourself!
Thanks to OPPTEE Travel Search for this cool graphic!
How do Online companies make money, They will buy blocks of rooms all over the world. The volume of these rooms allows for major discounts to the online company. In the early days of E-Commerce, Hotel Chains could assure over 90% occupancy even if they sold half the rooms at half price. As time has gone by the big Chains got addicted to this and also hate being addicted to this. Hotels have been hit by a number of profit centers ending for in-room services, your IPad gives you the movies you used to pay the hotel for. You no longer make expensive long-distance calls from the room. You can Grub Hub room service, and on and on, This revenue is gone and led to “Resort Charges” to make up for the lost revenue, resort charges also help with the lost revenue of folks purchasing rooms from online sellers.
A big awakening to the Hotel Industry was (is) you the consumer paid 75% of the normal room rate but the hotel only got 50% of the room rate from Expedia. You (the consumer) expect Hilton to be Hilton, but Hilton cannot serve you and their loyal Honors folks the same. Here’s where it stinks for you the Expedia Client, both you and the Hilton Honors clients are paying the same price for the room. You the Expedia client will not have “free upgrades” and you may not get Hilton credit for your stay. You are tagged in the Hilton as an outside booking, so when Mr/S Hilton Honors shows up, they may get free parking, no/or discounted resort fees, and free breakfast. Now your Hilton stay is cheap, but someone else is getting the value that you gave up. This does not include calling Expedia if something changes in your plan, or you need to cancel. Hilton will not service this, they will send you back to Expedia and you will need to follow both Expedia and Hilton rules and that takes time and patience.
Will Hilton or Westin or any of the other chains treat you poorly, of course not! They will treat you differently though! This is where a good Travel Agent (like me) comes into play. I can find room rates similar if not equal to what you can get online, but you will be recorded as someone who booked through the resort. You will have the chance to get upgrades, though not assured, but your level of service will be better.
Let me make you a deal, We can both try to book the same hotel at the same time, and let me know if you get the same value as I can!
Cheap is cheap, Value is getting more than you expect for the money you are spending, Let me find the most exciting and valuable trips for you and your friends and family.
