How To Avoid Being Tricked Into Paying More For A Hotel Room

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When COVID-19 is less of a threat and we’re ready to start traveling again, it’s going to be a whole, different world. We’ll have new rules for flying and hopefully new cleaning procedures in hotels. We’re going to hope that airlines don’t charge 33% to 48% more for flights but maybe we can try to get a good deal on a hotel rate, right?

Well, maybe.

Apparently, hotels are already anticipating us looking for low prices in the post-coronavirus world, so some of them will be ready for us, with answers like these…

Kennedy Training Network is one of the lodging industry’s sources for hotel training programs and supportive services in topic areas of hotel reservations sales, hospitality and guest service excellence, front desk hospitality certification, and hotel sales department training.

Doug Kennedy, President of KTN, is aware that during those first few months, we know hotels will be hurting and wanting to fill up rooms. So he recently gave some words of advice to those in the hotel industry, to sort of “head us (the consumer) off at the pass” when it comes to getting lower rates at hotels.

Here are the suggestions he’s making, paraphrased. This way you know ahead of time what they might say, so maybe YOU can head THEM off at the pass 😉

• If you’re asking about room rates, they might start with one of their more expensive rooms, so when they go down to a lower-priced room, it sounds like it’s a discount. It’s not. They’re just quoting you for a junior suite and then a regular king room. When you get there, you won’t be getting a junior suite for a king room price.
• They may tell you the price for a more expensive season, say Christmas Week. And then tell you how the rate they’re offering you is so much better.
• If you’ve done your homework and mention how they seem to have a lot of rooms open, they may come back with a comment about how they’ve been getting more calls, or how things have picked up recently.
• They may use terms like “lock in your rate,” or remove barriers that stop you from making the reservation then and there, such as, “If things change, you can always cancel up until…”
• If you don’t want to make the reservation just yet, they may be a little more insistent on getting your contact information so they can do follow-up and try to get you to commit then.
• They may have been purposefully asking key questions and taking notes during your conversation so their follow up can be more personalized. Expect an email that includes how excited you must be about your 4th trip to the Napa Valley, who you’re traveling with, if you’re going there for any special occasion, etc. This makes the follow up more personal and playing on your emotions could get you to commit.

Getting the best rate on a hotel room is a challenge for a lot of people. Getting the commitment of a reservation at the highest rate possible is the challenge for the hotel reservation specialist. Don’t let them win! 😉

Feature photo: Marco Verch/flickr

#stayhealthy #staysafe #washyourhands

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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary