How Discounters Do It

[question everything]

How Discounters Do It

Charles Kelber of Rockville paid $925 to Cheaptickets .com for three nights at the Westin Colonnade in Coral Gables, Fla. He was shocked on checking out to see on his bill that Cheaptickets had paid the Westin only $ 747 for the room. That was a price he was not supposed to see, and Cheaptickets offered him a $100 voucher when he complained. Kelber didn't want the voucher; he'd vowed never to use Cheaptickets again.

He had, however, run into a common practice among discount travel sites. They negotiate prices for blocks of rooms and probably wouldn't be allowed to pass on the full discount they receive even if they wanted to. Major hotel chains don't want to devalue the brand by selling rooms to the public too cheaply. They require third-party distributors to keep prices at a certain level. Hotels that vow that their own Web prices won't be beaten require distributors to keep rates as high as those on their own sites.

That's a nice windfall commission for agencies, but don't conclude that you paid more than you could have elsewhere. Though it's impossible to research prices for time gone by, prices at the Colonnade in the future suggest the Cheaptickets price was in line with prices available at other online sites, including the hotel's.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/30/AR2008053001253_2.html?sid=ST2008053001649

[TreasonousBastard]

1. So, what's the point? Priceline's "auction"...

and now "negotiation" was always a game to see if you could get down to the price they actually paid the airline or hotel. And hotels have always had pricing schemes to make the airlines dizzy. You end up paying less, the vendor makes his money and the broker ends up making a buck. Everyone should be happy, nu?

No doubt someone will come up with a class-action suit on this claiming that buying and selling things is now illegal, immoral, fattening, and just plain nasty.

[question everything]

2. We saw the same thing with AARP/Priceline

When we checked out there was $100 difference. I was going to call AARP to ask but I suspect that this is the game. I did remember having the page of the AARP and of the hotel opened on my computer and there was a slight saving on AARP.

I think that next time I will reserve directly with the hotel.

[TreasonousBastard]

3. Heh! Just got some AARP junkmail and it's...

only 13 bucks a year to join. They gotta make their money some other way.

(and they're hooked upwith Priceline, now?)

[XemaSab]

4. How is this different than the difference between wholesale and retail?

:shrug:

I would be really, really, really surprised if the wangdoodle nut that I paid 5 bucks for at Lowe's cost $5 when it left the supplier to go to the store... Would I be absolutely crushed if I learned that Lowe's paid $4 for it from their supplier?

I mean, Cheaptickets is a business and they have to make a buck somehow, no? :shrug:

[SoCalDem]

5. Every summer I book about 150 rooms in Vegas at South Point

for about $50 a night less than rack rate or casino rate.. When you pre pay and book in bulk, you always get discounts..

I "could" charge my group more , but I always sell them the rooms at the super-cheap rate :)

[tanyev]

6. So he's going to pay full price next time because he vowed never to use Cheaptickets again?

Ooh, that'll show 'em! :crazy:

[KharmaTrain]

7. Third Party Is Third Party...You're Gonna Pay

I found some of the online sites were good as a reference...a place to research flights and hotels...and it didn't take long to see where the mark-ups were and how a price could vary from what a Travelocity or Priceline offered and what the hotel did. Even better, we began to call the hotel directly and get a quote on the phone...almost always it was the lowest price.

These sites are out there to make a buck...and to think they're going to give someone both convenience and the best discount is buying their sales pitch, not the reality. The smart traveler and money calls around first...it saves a lot of time and hassles as well.