I’ve recently been in contact with Robert Orsini, Managing Partner and Vice-President of Sales and Marketing for the Doubletree Resort Lodge & Spa in Niagara Falls. I stayed at the hotel this past week and was impressed. I’ll be posting my comments, pictures, and videos early in the new year.
Robert did send me something that I thought I would include. These are his comments about getting the best rate from the hotel you are staying at:
The question of knowing if you are paying the best available rate at hotel often plagues the mind of the traveling public. The truth is, most major hotel brands including the Hilton Family of Hotels offer a Best Rate Guarantee. In short, this means the rate you are quoted hotel direct or on the hotel’s web site or through the brands’ reservations centre is guaranteed to all be the same, and no higher than you will find through any other booking channel, including the on-line travel sites. For most brands including Doubletree, if you find a lower rate, they’ll match the rate you found plus give you a bonus item, with the Hilton Family of Hotels it is an American Express Gift Cheque – so you can be assured the hotels do not want to go down this round and have technology in place to prevent rate discrepancies. Not need to search high and low, when traveling to Niagara Falls Canada – the hotel’s web site is reliable, safe place to book your hotel stay – best rates … guaranteed.
From the hotel point of view, of course they want you to book directly with them. If you are paying $100 for a room through them, or $100 for a room through Expedia, they may only be getting $80 or less from Expedia even though the guest is paying the same amount. But the overall point is still valid. Have you ever tried to cancel a booking through Expedia, TravelZoo, Priceline, etc? It’s not easy. It is much easier to deal directly with a hotel and speak to someone on the premises who knows what they are talking about. If you want, use Expedia to compare prices and use TripAdvisor to check for feedback, but in the end, I do think it’s a good idea to book directly with the hotel.
As a side note, price-matching also works great in other retail areas as well. Look online for deals on computers, books, etc, and then go to your local store and see if they will match the price.