PhotoAndTravel John's

May 2004
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Golf, Fly Fishing, and other innocent addictions.

International Travel

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21st Century Hotel/Motel Reservations

John C. Jones, Editor

With the event of the Internet coming into most homes in America, came the ability to search for the “best deals” on rooms in hotels, motels, and resorts. No longer are you limited to traveling from motel to motel trying to find a room that is “priced right” for your budget. No longer does the night get shorter, your patience wear thinner, and you become more frustrated with each stop as you ask, “Do you have any rooms available, what is the price, do you give AARP discounts, AAA discounts, what about ?????”

I went online and put a search in for Hotel.com and was taken to a web page- http://www.hotels.com/index.jsp, where I could fill in the request for a hotel in a city of my choice, hotel and air, hotel with car, and other choices.

After filling in the form with about two minutes of questions to be answered, a page listing all of the major accommodations was presented with the rates of each hotel. There I made a choice, placed in the date, number of people, and a click took me to a page offering a view of the room, pictures of the hotel, location / address, directions, area attractions, and other vital information. You will find a place here to click to book the room , and then you fill in your credit card, etc. on a secure page (protected from the information being copied by others). How simple does it get? One can do this all the way through a trip and have all the reservations secure at what is supposed to be the cheapest prices available. If you find a cheaper price they will honor it. I actually had a travel writer friend, who upon arrival got a cheaper rate and Hotel.com did refund the difference. One can also search “towns closest to,” last minute specials, and other special features on the Hotel.com site.

Priceline.com lets you name your own price and see if it is acceptable. If it is not, then you can raise your bid and state “what you would pay” to have a room in the area. One can go online to most of the hotels/resorts/motels and check directly with them, or call their 800 number to double check if they are “getting the best deal.”

Some chains have a policy similar to Hilton's guarantee – which is, if you find a better deal, the chain will match the discounted rate and also give you a $50 American Express gift check. In addition to Hiltons, the chain's brands include Conrad, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Hampton Inn, and Homewood Suites.

Other hotel chains with similar programs include Choice (Clarion, Comfort Inns/Suites, Econo Lodge, Quality Inns, Rodeway, and Sleep Inn), InterContinental (Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, InterContinental, and Staybridge Suites), Marriott (Marriott, Fairfield Inn, and Renaissance), and Starwood (Four Points, Luxury Collection, Sheraton, St. Regis, W Hotels, and Westin). Marriott's guarantee applies no matter how you reserve your room—online or by phone—while the others guarantees apply only to online bookings.

Match-the-rate guarantees are designed to discourage individual hotel managers from cutting off-chain deals. They're specifically aimed at big hotel discounters such as Hotels.com, Expedia, and Travelocity.

Some good sites:

Travelocity

http://www.travelocity.com/Hotels/0,,TRAVELOCITY||N,00.html

(This is a company I use and have never had any problem with any of their services).

Hotels.com

http://www.hotels.com/

Travelweb.com

http://www.travelweb.com/tvlw_web/jsp/index.jsp

Hotwire.com

http://www.hotwire.com/hotel/index.jsp?bid=B43988&sid=S11

Orbitz.com

http://www.orbitz.com/App/GetDealsDetailsContent?deal_id=hotel&semsource=goog&semkeyword=