Hotels...To book or not to book?

[gerefan2]

I’m winging it around Thailand now...nothing booked.

I’m finding hotels are offering reasonable prices ....less than Booking.com and other websites....to those of us arriving at the front door.

So the question is....”is it worth using websites or just arrive and ask for a room”.

This assumes you KNOW they have rooms...e.g off season etc.

Any views?

[Oliver]

I include in my holiday experience both the anticipation of the trip and the recollection afterwards and so I like my Thailand arrangements to be clear and immutable. I even email my hotels a week before arrival to confirm....come to think of it, I've just done so at my Chiang Rai hotel for next week's arrival. At the same time I envy those who are more spontaneous.

[frequent]

I’m finding hotels are offering reasonable prices ....less than Booking.com and other websites....to those of us arriving at the front door.How do you know that, exactly? You check booking.com before you turn up and ask? In that case you will know whether they have a room or not

[goji]

I've tried both with advance booking and without.

I always used to book in advance, but then I found myself forced to move on when I really wanted to stay in a place for a day or 2 longer. So I did a couple of trips with very little booking. For instance in Vietnam, I booked one night in a hotel & then did everything as I went after that. The same for part of a trip to Cambodia & some parts of Thai trips.

This all works if there are a number of candidate hotels located close together. For instance, I had been around Halong bay & was returning to my previous Hanoi hotel, when the one just down the street offered a much better room at a low price. This also permits changes of itinerary at short notice.

The disadvantage is (for example) when turning up in a town and not finding any vacancies until the 6th hotel visited.

Of course, there are disadvantages to booking on line.
In one instance, I booked a hotel in Ayyuthaya & the lady had over booked & placed me in a hotel around the corner, with a rating 0.5 below that for the hotel I had booked. The worst hotel of my trip & needless to say, she got a terrible review from me.

My last few trips have been 100% booked in advance, although if I were doing longer trips away from peak season, I would probably do some parts without advance booking.

[Nirish guy]

How do you know that, exactly? You check booking.com before you turn up and ask? In that case you will know whether they have a room or not

Not necessarily as hotels usually only allocate a certain % of their rooms to the "discount" booking sites, so it's not uncommon to see a hotel with "no rooms available" on either one or all of the various sites and then see it on another site OR available direct from the hotels site, likewise this can also happen in reverse where the hotels direct site shows "full" but there are still rooms to be found on the booking sites. Unfortuantely in my experience it's not an exact science and sopmetimes you win, sometimes you loose.

For instance I was in Spain two weeks ago and had booked my room two months previously at about £110 a night, only to find when lying on the sun lounger that i could actually book a room either on the same booking site or direct with the hotel for £55 a night ! Grrrr. Simple supply and demand of course. I beleive the hotels are made to sign a contract stating that they wont undercut the booking sites advertised rates to avoid the every thing that Gerefan is describing from thing happening, but likewhere sometime people break the rules and I guess if your hotel is half empty and you've a guy standing in front of you waving cash you just might take it a risk the booking sites never finding out.

So to me if it wasn't critical I think I'd take a chance and go on the hoof ( in low season) BUT I've also been surprised sometimes to walk into what i expected to be half empty hotels and find them fully booked so it's a hard one to gauge - simple answer I guess if you're time limited you book the room in advance and if you've all the time in the world then one has the time to shop around and find out.

[frequent]

Not necessarily as hotels usually only allocate a certain % of their rooms to the "discount" booking sites, so it's not uncommon to see a hotel with "no rooms available" on either one or all of the various sites and then see it on another site OR available direct from the hotels site,I'm not sure where you're getting your information about these sites from. There have been a couple of published investigations of them recently. Although there are many sites, they are all just brand names for the same three or four large consolidators who are predatory in their behaviour with hotels that they list. In particular, hotels that list with them are not allowed under their agreement to offer prices via their own Web sites to the general public that undercut the price they offer the consolidators. This is the basis for their claim that you can always find the cheapest price via them. The only way around this, apparently, is prices that a hotel chain might offer only to members of its loyalty club. It's always possible that a hotel will offer a better price if contacted directly, either via email or walk-in, but not otherwise

[Nirish guy]

Yep, I'm fully aware that its the same two or three companies that own most of the hotel booking sites, I never thought or suggested otherwise and they cleverly "appear" to play each site off against the other, however that still doesn't stop you sometimes winning that game ( or at least not OVER paying) by checking them all against each other ( and not via one of the comparison sites as they too are ALSO owned by the very same companies half the time.

Re your "hotels that list with them are not allowed under their agreement to offer prices via their own Web sites to the general public that undercut the price they offer the consolidators" - yep, I believe thats exactly what I said too so you're bang on there as well. And likewise re your "It's always possible that a hotel will offer a better price if contacted directly, either via email or walk-in, but not otherwise".

[frequent]

Yep, I'm fully aware that its the same two or three companies that own most of the hotel booking sites, I never thought or suggested otherwiseSo what exactly did you mean by your assertion "as hotels usually only allocate a certain % of their rooms to the "discount" booking sites" since that simply isn't supported by what you now claim to know?
https://www.theguardian.com/money/blog/2012/aug/24/reservations-tripadvisor-best-hotel-rates

[Nirish guy]

So what exactly did you mean by your assertion "as hotels usually only allocate a certain % of their rooms to the "discount" booking sites"]

Without going over the same ground I meant exactly what I said as I've had numerous experiences of hotels only making a certain number but not ALL of their rooms to the available to the various ( or some or just one) booking site, I can only assume this is as the hotel KNOWS they can fill a certain number of rooms themselves at their preferred (higher) rates and without paying the any commission to the sites, whereas then they'll use / all the sites to hopefully fill up their remaining available unsold rooms. Or Likewise in reverse and hotel with few guests may use the sites to get (some) people into the hotel, either to simply cover the staff's wage cost or to make the hotel appear busier, in the hope then of attracting more private ( higher paying) full tariff guests. But either way it's ablsutely not uncommon for hotels to only make a certain percentage and certainly not all of their rooms available for booking via the booking sites - hence it's not uncommon for a room to be available on the sites, but when you ring it IS still available via the hotel directly, which is I believe what I'd said.

[frequent]

Without going over the same ground I meant exactly what I said as I've had numerous experiences of hotels only making a certain number but not ALL of their rooms to the available to the various ( or some or just one) booking site, I can only assume this is as the hotel KNOWS they can fill a certain number of rooms themselves at their preferred (higher) rates and without paying the any commission to the sites, whereas then they'll use / all the sites to hopefully fill up their remaining available unsold rooms. Or Likewise in reverse and hotel with few guests may use the sites to get (some) people into the hotel, either to simply cover the staff's wage cost or to make the hotel appear busier, in the hope then of attracting more private ( higher paying) full tariff guests. But either way it's ablsutely not uncommon for hotels to only make a certain percentage and certainly not all of their rooms available for booking via the booking sites - hence it's not uncommon for a room to be available on the sites, but when you ring it IS still available via the hotel directly, which is I believe what I'd said.Right - all based on your subjective experiences - very scientific

[Nirish guy]

well what other basis would you like me to comment on other than my own ACTUAL experiences and from talking to numerous hotel managers who have also confirmed this with me, I dont quite get your point, if you dont agree fine, I couldn't care less, just my view, take it or leave it, up to you. That IS how and why many hotels avail of using the booking the sites - to their "mutual" benefit, it's not like that's an industry secret or anything ......you dont know this ?

[frequent]

well what other basis would you like me to comment on other than my own ACTUAL experiences and from talking to numerous hotel managers who have also confirmed this with me, I dont quite get your point, if you dont agree fine, I couldn't care less, just my view, take it or leave it, up to you. That IS how and why many hotels avail of using the booking the sites - to their "mutual" benefit, it's not like that's an industry secret or anything ......you dont know this ?Local front desk staff will tell you anything provided it gets you out of their face as quickly as possible. The number of times I've heard service staff tell bare-faced lies (that can be proved to be lies by not too diligent research) is without number. Local hotel staff will repeat what someone else who thinks he knows what head office policy is. I recall going into a Star Alliance lounge once with a guest who was travelling on a different *A flight than me, as my guest. The pompous meeter-and-greeter told me in no uncertain terms that that was not allowed and he was denying entry ... until I produced the Star Alliance lounge rules guide that I keep with me for occasions such as this

Relying on the local paid help for objective information simply adds to the general pool of ignorance

[Nirish guy]

Well you seem to have it all cracked there, so aye, just whatever you think. I'll be sure to remind the manager of mosaik of all this the next time he's no rooms available on the sites ( by choice) and I wheel up and he promptly sells me one that he's held back from them as I've lost count the number of times that has happened now over the years, both there and in many other places, I must have been dreaming. Sometimes the local paid help might be smarter than you seem to give them credit for it seems.

[frequent]

Well you seem to have it all cracked there, so aye, just whatever you think. I'll be sure to remind the manager of mosaik of all this the next time he's no rooms available on the sites ( by choice) and I wheel up and he promptly sells me one that he's held back from them as I've lost count the number of times that has happened now over the years, both there and in many other places, I must have been dreaming. Sometimes the local paid help might be smarter than you seem to give them credit for it seems.Oh well, Thailand - I was discussing the real world

[NitNoi]

My approach when planning to stay for a week or more is to book two nights with Agoda. If I like the place, I will compare the front desk offers with Agoda. The same if I choose to change hotels. Booking sites are often MUCH cheaper than the best direct price - but they will sometimes reconsider when you show them the Agoda quote.

[DrewSpz]

Yeah I wanted a suite on f block in mosaic but it wasn't available on agoda (which I love and use for all trips). I put my request for f block in my standard room booking, and they contacted me trying to upsell me. Which was fine.

I'm also trying AirBnB these days... it's cool depending on what you're looking for

[Nirish guy]

Drew if you contact Mosaik directly you may well find that the rooms you want ARE in fact available as as I mentioned previously in this thread I know for a fact that mosaik don’t release all their rooms to the booking sites as they know ( and prefer) to keep their popular rooms to supply to their own regular / preferred guests etc at their own (different) prices to the sites.

The number I have if it helps and you need it is :0066 2038 20723667 - their email is Info@mosaikpattaya.net and speak with Nop the manager there.

The room could of course genuinely be booked up, but it’s always worth imtge call ( or email) I find. Hope that helps.

[cdnmatt]

Holy shit, an actual helpful response on SGT. Am I being delusional, or is this real life?

I tip my hat to you NIrish. :) Well, I would if I owned a hat.

[frequent]

Well you seem to have it all cracked there, so aye, just whatever you think. I'll be sure to remind the manager of mosaik of all this the next time he's no rooms available on the sites ( by choice) and I wheel up and he promptly sells me one that he's held back from them as I've lost count the number of times that has happened now over the years, both there and in many other places, I must have been dreaming. Sometimes the local paid help might be smarter than you seem to give them credit for it seems.As usual you have completely misinterpreted what I said. If a hotel advertises rates on its own site it cannot advertise rates less than those offered to the booking engine. If it offers "walk up" rates for those who contact it directly that is no different to the hotel that offers "frequent guest" rates - they are not advertised publicly, you have to log in securely to their members-only site. Do get a grip

[arsenal]

Some hotels limit how many rooms can be booked from certain countries. My Pattaya hotel now operates a sort of 'separate but equal' system. Middle easterners, Chinese, western families and single occupants are placed on different floors. This is due to the differences in behaviour between the groups. It's actually a very sensible thing to do.

[DrewSpz]

Which is your hotel (sorry if I should know this)?

[frequent]

Some hotels limit how many rooms can be booked from certain countries. My Pattaya hotel now operates a sort of 'separate but equal' system. Middle easterners, Chinese, western families and single occupants are placed on different floors. This is due to the differences in behaviour between the groups. It's actually a very sensible thing to do.You'd be in the basement then

[gerefan2]

You'd be in the basement then

And you, the penthouse?

[frequent]

And you, the penthouse?Doubtless a rhetorical question

[gerefan2]

Doubtless a rhetorical question

Correct ....but it should have read attic!