Making Hotel Reservations is Not Fun!
I can remember when booking a hotel for a vacation was as easy as calling a simple to remember 800 number, booking the accommodations, giving your credit card for a hold only, and that was it. These days, it’s not so easy to book a hotel, or even to figure out how to get the best price. As part of the new world of making reservations, we still have the 800 numbers, but now they have different rates for weekends, high volume dates, room sizes, children or no children, and an assortment of amenities. As if that’s not bad enough, travel agents have other rates, and on line “discount” web sites offer a hoist of so called discounts making it almost impossible to figure out where you can really find the best rates. I am beginning to think, that the industry wants us as consumers to feel confused so that we will just take any price that is offered to us, even if it is the highest rate the hotel offers. Telephone reservations still require a credit card, only now, they actually run the card first, and put a hold on the entire amount of your booking. Some hotels even charge your credit card a cancellation or change fee if you make changes with in five days of your stay.
Booking on line is even worse. Using your credit card on line to book hotel reservations is like giving your money away. The web sites that claim to have the lowest prices have very strict and limited cancellation policies that almost none of us ever read. They add on a bunch of additional charges for “processing, confirmation, taxes, user fees, and transaction fees”. By the time you add up all of the fees, your not really saving much money I have often found that one of the best ways to get a lower hotel price is to call the hotel directly. If it is a national or international chain, don’t use the 800 number, but go directly to the location where you want to stay. Use your smarts, look on line for the lowest price you can find, call the national reservations number to get a quote, and only after you do all of that should you call the local number. Tell them about the lowest price you found, and let them know about any memberships you have like AAA or AARP etc…
Unfortunately, booking a hotel reservation is like booking an airline ticket. I would bet that if you ask the other people standing on line with you at the check in desk, you would find that most if not all of you each paid a different price for the same accommodations on the same night. If you have problems with your hotel reservations or complaints about any hotel stay, check out www.directcomplaint.com and use the Hotel Motel Complaint Form in the consumer complaint center.
Hotel rooms
~Do you ever wonder if hotels change the sheets from the person who stayed in the room before or after you?
How would you feel, pulling down the covers, climbing in, and oops, you find a sock down by your feet, or better yet, a big fat sticky stain, write in the middle of the bottom sheet. How would you feel?
How would you feel if once you checked out, the bed was made, but not changed, and along comes the next person, checking into your old room. Just think, they will un-knowingly get bombarded by your sweat, your drool, your germs, just think?
If the beds are changed every day, as promised, then conduct a test for yourself. Put a sock way under the covers, and see if it is still their later the same day, after the bed has been made. Just think?
