Quote Originally Posted by frequent View Post
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.