How not to negotiate hotel room discounts

[bhskittykatt]

First, some ways on how to do it right:

• Check in during the slow season when we are stuggling to fill rooms.
• Be a regular customer and charm a discount out of me (I am susceptible to bribes of pizza and chocolate).
• Come up with a really convincing sob story, preferably one I've never heard before.

How to do it wrong:

• Demand a discount just because. Don't give any reason other than you're a super speshul snowflake.
• Check in on a night when I am very close to selling out, and have other hotels in town sending their overflow my way.
• When you are denied once, scream "WELL THEN YOU JUST LOST A CUSTOMER!" and storm out the door. What, you aren't even going to TRY and haggle? 'Cause I might still be willing to throw in free WiFi or something before you screamed at me.

Unless you are a regular, I'm not obligated to discount you anything. If I'm busy and you don't want to pay full price, I'm sure the next person will be more than happy to. And believe me, there will be a next person on nights like last night. (Regulars I will cut some slack if they are nice about it...their repeat business is worth it.)


Bonus: Yeah, I don't think I can refund this late

Had a guest try and cancel their reservation tonight. Except...they didn't have a reservation, they checked in yesterday and paid for two nights. So they're already checked in, the room was cleaned as a stayover (read: beds made but sheets not changed, used soap not thrown out, hung towels left to be reused, etc), housekeeping left, and at 6pm they call to tell me they're 30 miles away and don't want the room tonight? Yeah...checkout was at noon, you've been "occupying" that room for six hours (at least, your sheets and soap and hanging towels have)...I don't think I can refund that since I have no one to reclean it (though if I did, I could certainly resell it tonight!)

I mean, when you checked in, I verified with you it was for a two-night stay! Not one night plus a reservation just-in-case for a second night. You checked in for two nights!


On the bright side...

Baseball team in-house is being very nice and quiet. I did not hear a peep from them last night, and haven't heard anything from them tonight. Some of them are right above the office, too, and it's silent! They are my favorite kind of sports team to have checked in.

[lupo pazzesco]

Bonus: Yeah, I don't think I can refund this late

Had a guest try and cancel their reservation tonight. <snippy>

at 6pm they call to tell me they're 30 miles away and don't want the room tonight? Yeah...checkout was at noon, you've been "occupying" that room for six hours (at least, your sheets and soap and hanging towels have)...I don't think I can refund that since I have no one to reclean it (though if I did, I could certainly resell it tonight!)

I mean, when you checked in, I verified with you it was for a two-night stay! Not one night plus a reservation just-in-case for a second night. You checked in for two nights!

...

Um. What...?

I...howdoyou....mew...!?!?

REALLY!?!?

Did you give them a room 30 miles away or are they just caught in some kind of, oh, I dunno, tear in the space time continuum??



Just...


Here. *Gives lots of chocolate* You need it, after that methinks.

[MoonCat]

Yeah, sounds to me like they got lucky 30 miles away from your hotel so they don't need the room, as they found another place to, um....sleep.

Too bad, so sad. No refund for you!

[Mr Hero]

How to do it wrong:

• Demand a discount just because. Don't give any reason other than you're a super speshul snowflake.
• Check in on a night when I am very close to selling out, and have other hotels in town sending their overflow my way.
• When you are denied once, scream "WELL THEN YOU JUST LOST A CUSTOMER!" and storm out the door. What, you aren't even going to TRY and haggle? 'Cause I might still be willing to throw in free WiFi or something before you screamed at me.

I tend to get bullet point #3 often. I usually tell them the rate, and they storm out the door saying "That's too fucking much!" or are otherwise rude to me instead of trying to reason down the rate.

[bhskittykatt]

...
Here. *Gives lots of chocolate* You need it, after that methinks.

*noms* Thank you! 10% off your room rate for you. And I'll keep the pool open late as well.

[NateTheChops]

I have a long sad story to tell you. But be forewarned, this is a tale that will rattle your bones and shake the very foundations of your soul. You may yet be forever changed. While your physique may remain chiseled in timeless beauty, your inner depths will be scarred from this epic journey into the past.

Upon completion of my tale, I hope you will understand why I must have a discount tonight.

*Ominous crash of thunder*

[underemployeed]

Have you ever considered going, but sir, that is the discounted rate! I wonder if your boss would let you give everyone a discounted rate of 1 penny, just to make them happy, your getting your room paid for, they are getting a discount. They don't really know or care it is a penny.

My sister told a guy a rate that was high because she had 2 rooms left, he said "No fucking way your fucking nuts, I'm leaving and giving my money to someone else!", went to several other hotels to find out how bad the conditions were and made it back to to her hotel. In the mean time she sold one room, at that same price and when he walked in and said ill take that room for X..... Sorry that was a quote for that point in time subject to availability, last room is Y (about $30 more). He paid it too.

I still think she did two much at that job. She should have worked out a commission for selling rooms higher than what the boss wanted for a room. That way everyone would have won, she did it for sport, and he was still keep about paying her for overtime or a raise. and she made him hundreds just because she wondered what someone would actually pay for a room.

[Jester]

Heard a story from a customer who was staying at a local guest house. Some dude comes in, asks the rates, gets the rates, has a very rude reaction to the rates, and goes off looking for a better deal. When he realizes he won't get a better deal, he comes back to the guest house...and is informed that the rooms were 50% more than the first time he was there. From what I understand, the owner basically told him that he was not there to get abused by him, and if he didn't like the new rates, he could fuck right off.

[Frantic Freddie]

Had to stay in a hotel (a well-known nat'l chain) a couple of weeks ago & while I was a little disappointed to see a male clerk-I'm at my most charming when dealing with young,pretty ladies -I simply asked for "The best deal you can give me for 2 rooms,one of them handicap on the bottom floor for my mother,what can do for me amigo?" (we were in Texas) & mentioned I had AAA & Mom has AARP.

He said he could beat both the AAA & AARP discounts & showed me,just because I'd asked nicely.

[Jester]

I have learned over the years that asking nicely will get you a far better result far more often than screaming and whining. Of course, the asshats will never understand this concept because, well, they're asshats.

Hell, I once almost got a GREAT upgrade (but I did get a good upgrade) for a rental car when I did a couple card tricks for the ladies at the rental counter. The great upgrade would have been the Jaguar. As the one lady said to me, "You're good...but you're not that good."

[HotelMinion]

Got another one on how to do it wrong:
Hang around the lobby and talk to your friends on your cell phone about how unfair we are and they have to pick you up. Hit the road, Jack. And don't u come back no more!

[Gizmo]

Hopefully I have today done it the right way... I discovered that a hotel I need to stay at later in the year charges £15 per night for parking. I meekly rang up and enquired as to whether a special rate had been negotiated for the event and was told residents do get it for £7 a night.

I did point out that the reservation confirmation email quoted £15 which was why I'd been concerned and rang them but I didn't rant at them like I felt like doing last night when I got the email.

[AccountingDrone]

Heh, this past Friday got upgraded at the hotel we stay at once a month [we visit Mom once a month, I pick up hubby at work friday evening, and we drive half way there and stop for the night, always stay at the same place] because the desk temp gave away the ground floor we reserved [apparently didn't see the note on the reservation that it must be a ground floor room because I'm a gimp] so we got a hot tub room that normally goes for $120 instead of a basic king for $89 ... mainly because we are always nice to them, and don't mind taking a smoking room if that is all they have left on the ground floor. Freshly renovated, huge jacuzzi ... brand new king bed.

[Kogarashi]

We got an upgrade (small one) the first night we were married actually. Hubby had specifically requested non-smoking because neither of us are smokers and the smell actually makes us nauseous. For some reason, the "non-smoking" room we were put in absolutely reeked of cigarettes (I suspect either the room was mis-labeled in the comptuer system or they had just previously had a guest seriously break the rules in there). So Hubby went back to the desk and politely informed them of the trouble, and we got a slight size upgrade to our room because that was what they had in the way of rooms that didn't stink.

[jedikuonji]

My favorite discount story:

Older guy comes in. It's about 11:30pm and I'm not close to selling out, so I'm open to negotiate. Still, it's the busy season and there's only so much I'm supposed to discount per management.

Me: Hi, welcome to Hotel, how can I help you?

Old Guy: Hello, how much for a room?

Me: Normally it's $99 plus tax, but since it's late I could do 89.

OG: That's pretty good. Say, you wouldn't happen to have a AAA discount would you?

Me: Sure, that would be 79 plus tax.

OG: Yea, yea, that's alright. So how much is a room for me?

I just busted out laughing at that point. It was pretty clear this was his usual routine at every hotel he goes to and it was delivered so smoothly and deadpan that I couldn't help but laugh. I ended up giving him a room for a no walk rate of like 59.

I wish more people understood that you have a better chance of getting a good discount by being polite. Too many "experts" putting out info that being rude is the way to go.