There are lots of hotel discounts on the Internet for those who know where to find them. Don’t count on anything, however, until your reservation has been confirmed.
The biggest discounts are offered not directly by the hotels, but by reservations services that negotiate with the hotels to fill unsold rooms at sharply reduced rates. They also often have rooms, though not at a discount, when a hotel is otherwise sold out.
A few companies will tell you immediately on-line exactly what’s available for the dates and destination of your choice. More often, however, the company fudges on rates, asking you to submit a reservation request by e-mail, fax or phone and replying in the same manner. You usually must provide credit card information before a request is processed, but that can often be done by phone if you prefer, rather than on-line.
Here’s a sampling of what’s out there:
Hotel Discounts (http://www.hoteldiscount.com/) This offshoot of the Dallas-based Hotel Reservations Network offers discounted lodging or guaranteed rooms on otherwise-sold-out dates in Anaheim, Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, London, Paris, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Orlando, Paris, San Diego, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. At this writing, any stay of three nights or longer earned double frequent flier miles.
Hotel Discounts recently offered 13 hotels in New York: ranging from the Ameritania and Howard Johnson at 34th Street to the Waldorf Astoria. When I tested it, Hotel Discounts offered the Waldorf at a low-ball $238.95 a night plus $34 tax, compared with a regular minimum of $304. Since the Waldorf is part of the Hilton chain, I also tried Hilton’s Web site (http://www.hilton.com), which said the hotel was sold out for my preferred dates.
Then I tried a month later. Both the Hilton site and, by telephone, “Patrick” at Waldorf reservations (800-WALDORF) quoted $335. The Hotel Discounts rate was $285.95.
Quikbook (http://www.quikbook.com) Based in New York, it offers hotels in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, New York, Boston and Washington, D.C. It recently listed 17 hotels for New York and spotted each of them on a map of Manhattan. The list gave price ranges, from the Woodward (less than $100 a night) to the Gorham, Millennium Broadway, Palace, Omni Berkshire Place, Paramount, Rihga Royal, Helmsley, Tudor and Waldorf, all more than $150.
Quikbook does not provide precise rates on-line. You fill out a reservation form and submit it by e-mail. You must provide a credit card number, but if you don’t want to do it on-line, you can provide a telephone number instead, and Quikbook will call you for it. Then, says Quikbook, “one of our hotel specialists see (sic) if the hotel you requested is available for the dates you need. If your reservation request is accepted by the hotel you selected, a Quikbook written confirmation will be sent to you.”
1Travel.com (http://www.1travel.com) The hotel discount program of this New York-based Internet travel agency promises savings of 25 percent to 50 percent at more than 1,300 hotels in the United States and Canada (which, incidentally, have more than 46,000). When I asked about New York at any price on a recent weekday, I got 101 choices, beginning, in alphabetical order, with the Ameritania, next door to where the David Letterman show is taped, at $102, including tax. There were only four choices per screen and a security information screen between each hotel screen, making it long and tedious to get a balanced idea of what hotels were available.
When I asked about Chicago, Los Angeles and Philadelphia for the same date, I was told: “I am sorry, but it appears that there were no records in the database that matched your search criteria.”
Travelers Advantage (http://www.cuc.com/ctg/cgi-bin/Travel/home/) This is a travel club of Connecticut-based CUC International, which offers many benefits, including half-price rooms at more than 3,000 hotels across the country. You deal directly with each hotel, citing your Travelers Advantage connection, and present your membership card upon check-in. Trial membership is $1 for three months; after that, $49 a year.
Capitol Reservations (http://www.hotelsdc.com) Based in Washington, D.C., it concentrates on hotels in that area. It recently offered the Willard at $229 to $269 a night, compared with a regular range of $249 to $329. It offered Loew’s L’Enfant Plaza at $109 to $139 weekend, $159 to $189 weekday, compared with regular rates of $169 to $230. No available dates were provided; the information was from an undated rate chart. Reservations had to be requested by telephone.
Hot Rooms (http://www.hotrooms.com) This agency, a division of Hotel Reservations Management of Chicago, focuses on that city, offering discounts or at least nondiscounted rooms when hotels are otherwise sold out. “If you are on our waiting list, we will call you,” it says. “With a little patience, you will be able to get a room even during the largest of conventions.” If you cancel, you pay $25.
Reservations can be requested on-line, with confirmation by phone, fax or e-mail. It recently listed nine hotels: Best Western Inn of Chicago, Blackstone Hotel, Executive Plaza, Lenox House Suites, Omni Ambassador East, Ramada Congress Hotel, Regal Knickerbocker, Sutton Place and Talbott.
Express Hotel Reservations (http://express-res.com:80/) Although based in Colorado, it concentrates on New York and Los Angeles, with only New York on its Web site. Its “deluxe” hotels include the Plaza, Essex House, Trump International, Palace, Omni Berkshire Place and Rihga Royal. “Superior” include the Crowne Plaza, Millennium Broadway and SoHo Grand, and “standard” include the Radisson Empire, Holiday Inn, Novotel, Paramount and Windsor. Specific rates are not published but are available by phone, fax or e-mail when specific dates are requested.
Citywide Reservation Services Inc. (http://www.cityres.com) It focuses on Boston, where it is based, but also has hotels elsewhere in New England and in Montreal, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Reservation requests for three nights or more can be made by e-mail or fax, otherwise by phone. For one or two nights, “a small fee may be applicable for peak periods such as fall foliage and graduation weekends,” the company says.
San Diego/Phoenix/Scottsdale Hotel Reservation (http://www.savecash.com) It has ties to more than 200 hotels and motels in the Greater San Diego and Phoenix/Scottsdale areas. Booking is by telephone.
San Francisco Reservations (http://www.hotelres.com) It offers discounts at about 225 properties in the Bay area, mostly in San Francisco. Booking by telephone.
Las Vegas Room Reservations (http://www.klas-tv.com/lvr/) It recently listed specials that had expired nearly two months earlier: Sahara and Circus Circus, $39 a night, and Excalibur, $49. No specific current information was offered on-line. Bookings must be made by telephone.
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(Paul Grimes can be reached by e-mail at paulmark@aol.com)
