Tip #6 - Use the internet to your advantage

Use sites like Expedia, Travelocity and Priceline to REALLY get the best rate. I don't mean book your room with these sites. First let me explain how these sites work. Say you visit Hotels.com and the price for the Example Inn is $60(this price is usually the same as the hotel's rack or standard rate). You book the room and give your credit number. Hotels.com charges your card for $60 plus tax. Hotels.com then sends your reservation to the Example Inn. In return for selling rooms the Example Inn agrees to give Hotels.com a big discount, usually between 20% and 30%. So Hotels.com pays the hotel about $45-$48 dollars then sells the room to you for $60. Here's where you can save money, and the hotel will normally be happy you did this as well. Call the hotel directly and tell them that you are interested in arriving on whatever date and you were going to book your room on one of websites I mentioned. The hotel knows that it will make little money if you book online. Offer to book directly with the hotel at a discounted rate. As I said before the discount that is given to the website is usually between 20 and 30% so you should have no problem getting a 10 or 15% discount. You pay less, the hotel profits more and everyone is happy.

Now you are probably thinking that these websites sound like ripoffs. They aren't. They are good for the hotels because of the massive exposure that they get and they don't hurt the guest because the rates they charge are usually the same as you would pay at a hotel without any discounts (or if you didn't visit this site and learn the secrets). The best time to book with a site like I've mentioned is if you are booking a package. Say you are flying to Pittsburgh and staying at a hotel and you need a rental car. You can book everything together and get a better deal. A

Also, know that many of these sites do no guarantee certain things when you book. Like whether your room is smoking or non. For example you might book a non smoking room with a king bed but the website sends the reservation to the hotel as a smoking room with a king bed and notes that there is a request for non smoking. Often this is not a problem because the hotel can see this is and change your room before you even arrive. However if the hotel is busy they may be out of non smoking rooms and you will be stuck. Again this is why I always say it's best to call the hotel directly, even if it's after you booked through another source, to make sure everything is correct with your reservation.

That's all for now.

Hope this was helpful.

Tip #5 - Always Call The Hotel Directly

Before you book your room be sure to call the hotel. Websites and 800 numbers have set rates that they are given by the hotel and do not have the power to bargain. If you call the hotel directly you can negotiate the best possible rate. Also you get a chance to speak with an employee of the hotel which serves a couple purposes. 800 numbers know little or nothing about the hotel other than what their computer screen tells them. I've dealt with 800 numbers on numerous occasions and the operators are usually not friendly and/or not knowledgeable. They usually have a script to follow and if you make them deviate from the script they get confused. Here's an example of one of my experiences:

"Thank you for calling blah blah blah hotline how may I help you?"

"I'm looking for a room in Some City, USA"

"Ok let me see what we have..... "

"I need non smoking with for one person and I'm looking for a hotel offering the employee discount"

"Ok would you like smoking or non?"

"Non"

"And how many people"

"....One"

"Ok the rate on that room is $89.99"

"Is that the employee rate?"

"Oh you're a hotel employee, why didn't you say so?"

"..........."


At this point I've had about enough. I've taken enough reservations in my life to know that it isn't that hard.

The second purpose calling the hotel directly serves is that you get a sense of the type of employees the hotel has. These are the people you will be dealing with during your stay and if they seem like they don't care about you on the phone then that's how you can expect to be treated in person.

That's all for now.

A Message From The Hotel Guy

Hail!


The Hotel Guy here. As an employee of the hotel industry I've discovered that most people have no idea what they are doing when it comes to staying at hotels. Well I am here to help. I will be giving tips on how to get the best rate when checking in, what to look for when choosing a hotel and also share some stories about what really happens at hotels that most travelers never find out about. Plus a bunch of other stuff as I think of it.

Locked Out!

I was working night shift (seems like all the interesting things happen on night shift) and it was about 2:00 am. I had just finished checking a guy into a room and decided I was going to go out to my car to get some change so I could raid the vending machine. Now at this particular hotel at night all the doors are locked and you can't get in without a room key or a master key. I grabbed my car keys and walked outside. The instant I heard the door slam shut I knew I was in trouble. I forgot to bring my master key. I didn't know what to do. I had no phone with my so I couldn't call my manager, not that I would have wanted to. I walked over to my car and grabbed some change and as I was walking back I saw a light on up on the third floor. It was the guy I had just checked in. Thank God he was still awake. I picked up some pebbles from the parking lot and started chucking them at his window. He slid the glass open and looked out. I shouted up to him, "Hey it's the guy from the front desk". I didn't even have to explain the situation he immediately asked, "Did you lock yourself out?" I acknowledge my stupidity and he said he would come down and let me in. Within a minute he was downstairs opening the door for me with a big grin on his face. This guy was my hero. Not only did he let me in but he could have climbed over the desk and stolen all of the money if he had wanted to.

Tip #3 - Don't be shy about complaining

I numbered wrong so Tips 3 and 4 are out of order. THIS WHOLE SITE IS OUT OF ORDER

If your room is not what you expected it to be then don't hesitate to call the front desk and let them know. Now I run into a LOT of people that make up complaints just to get discounts on rooms so I am not endorsing that behavior. People like that make hotels less compassionate when a guest has a real problem. If you do have a legitimate complaint though make sure you let the hotel know. The hotel will take 1 of 2 steps to resolve your initial problem. 1 - A staff member will correct the problem themselves. (Perhaps you were missing a pillow or the hair dryer wasn't working) If the problem in that room cannot be solved they should offer you another room. If this is taking place in the middle of the night you have every right to refuse to move and demand a discount. Depending on the severity of the issue you may also have the right to switch rooms AND demand a discount. Once these steps have been taken by the hotel and you continue to run into problems there is no way you should pay full price. If the staff gives you a hard time about a refund or discount then ask to speak to the manager. If the manager is no more helpful then tell him/her that you will be calling the corporate office. (This only works with franchises. Independent hotels most likely don't have a corporate office) Most franchises penalize hotels for complaints. My particular chain allows 1 complaint per 1,000 rooms rented the previous year. After this it is an automatic $75 penalty plus another $100 if the issue isn't resolved in a timely fashion. In most cases it's cheaper to give a full refund than it is to pay the penalty.

That's all for now.

Tip #4 - Don't Be Afraid To Negotiate

An empty hotel room brings no revenue. Many hoteliers understand this and the ones that don't are ignorant. Take a cruise around the parking lot before checking in. If it is not crowded this means the hotel probably has some empty rooms. This is your chance to show off those negotiating skills. At my hotel right now our rack (regular) rates are between $59.99 and $64.99. It is our slow season though so I have no problem renting a room for $45.00. Research the area you are traveling to and find out when their peak and off peak seasons are. Also the later you check in the more anxious the hotel is to get rid of empty rooms. I was bringing my wife something to eat one night at her hotel and a gentleman walked in and asked if they had a late night walk in rate. She said she could give him a room for $60.00. He then told her that he wanted to cancel his reservation that had a rate of $79.99 and check in as a walk in. Now this will not work at a lot of places because for one thing it was way past the deadline to cancel. I was sitting in the lobby, disgusted by this cheapskate. I still think this kind of behavior is sickening but that guy saved about $20 so who am I to judge. Also don't hesitate to shop around. Find a dumpy hotel with a cheap rate then head over to a mid level hotel and tell them the rate you are quoted. More times than not the mid level hotel will rather sell the room at a discounted rate than see their competition get you business. You don't go to buy a house or a car without some negotiating on the price so why should a hotel room be any different?


That's all for now.

No shirt, no shoes...no pants?!?!

Story Time

This happened about 3 years ago while I was working night shift.

It was about 3:00 AM. I had just finished printing all my reports and balancing all the cash and credit cards from the day when I hear, "Psst, hey buddy". I look to my left, where the lobby ends and the hallway begins, and I see a man's head peaking around the corner. I say, "Can I help you, sir?"

His response was, "I locked myself out of my room...and I'm naked."

Well...this was a new one for me.

I asked the guy what room he was in so I could make him a new key. Of course he gave me the wrong room number and I was glad that I double checked because the room he said he was in was actually occupied by an elderly woman I had checked in earlier. We were not that busy so I figured out which room he was really in and quickly made his key, grabbed a towel from laundry and headed out to the hallway.

He was gone...

I began searching for him. This was not a large hotel. Three floors, hallways going straight down each floor but I could not find the guy. Several things are going through my mind. Why did he leave his room without clothes on? Why would he come ask me for help then run away....naked? After checking all three floors I headed back down to the desk. I take one last glance down the first floor hallway and here he comes. I wish he had stayed lost. I threw the towel and the room key at him and told him to have a good night. He called me a little while later to thank me and to express his embarrassment. He said that he was just going across the hall to the vending machine and the door shut on him. How bad did he need that Snickers that he couldn't put on a pair of pants or at least a towel??

What you will be most surprised to find out is how frequently this happens. Luckily that was the only time for me but my wife(a former hotel worker) had this happen to her on multiple occasions.

And it's never an attractive person that gets locked out. It's the 300 lb. bald guy that's craving Twinkies at 3:00 AM.

Hope you enjoyed the story.