travel republic vs laterooms - uk hotel

mumto2loves

hi

i was just going to book a hotel in blackpool but thought i'd have one last google 'just to double check' and i found the same room same hotel for £141 on travelrepublic.co.uk instead of £235 with laterooms.com

can't help thinking 'if it sounds to good to be true....'

any comments???

balletshoes

travelrepublic is a reputable company, I've also got some great deals for hotels with them in the past .

mumto2loves

right then thats all i needed to hear:rotfl:, i'll book it right now - thanks:D

Tippytoes

I've used them before and got great deals. Never had a problem at all.

hcb42

sounds like an error to me, hotels should offer parity on all websites...but if you can book it, hotel should honour.

giraffe69

hotels should offer parity on all websites

and where does this idea come from? It is common for hotels to have all sorts of rates on all sorts of web sites.

hcb42

It comes from the fact I have done it for a living for years, working with lots of top hotel brands..UK and overseas and contracting with the main hotel sites e.g. as quoted in here - in the process.

It isn't common for hotels to have all kind of rates. Think about it - that makes no commercial sense whatsoever. It is common for hotels to have same rates, and they often have best rate guarantees if you book on their own website, as they dont pay commission then.

"some" hotels might have all kinds of rates, but normally they are hotels who do not have much commercial sense, or very often as they are in a state of disarray with staff turnover and no one looking after the rate parity function - and not hotels I would be staying with, as I know this only too well, but that is my personal opinion of course. You can see it with big names occasionally, but trust me it is an error most likely due to lack of staffing, not a deliberate strategy.. in fact all the big name sites insist on rate parity, and if I allowed my hotel to become out of parity, I would not have a job tomorrow - as we have a rate guarantee which pays back a considerable difference if an error is found. So why would I load all kinds of rates when it would simply lead to being fired!!

THis is why adverts like trivago are misleading, they imply they are cheaper than hotel direct, and they are not. In fact many of these TV adverts websites are driven from the GDS systems - so the price HAS to be the same on them all. For those that arent, there are specialist tools which allow the person in control to publish the same rate on lots of websites at the same time - to make sure they have parity.

This is where I get this idea from

Some sites might have a different rate if say buying a flight and hotel together. However THESE rates will also be the same across the board.

balletshoes

that may be your idea, but from past experience you get lots of different rates from lots of different agents, for hotel room only, by shopping around. I've rarely booked a hotel room with the hotel's own website, because they are usually the most expensive. I regularly compare the hotels I'm looking at on their own website, Expedia, travelrepublic, and alpharooms (I've also used medhotels too for Turkey etc) - the prices vary dramatically for the same rooms and dates.

Tippytoes

balletshoes wrote: »

that may be your idea, but from past experience you get lots of different rates from lots of different agents, for hotel room only, by shopping around. I've rarely booked a hotel room with the hotel's own website, because they are usually the most expensive. I regularly compare the hotels I'm looking at on their own website, Expedia, travelrepublic, and alpharooms (I've also used medhotels too for Turkey etc) - the prices vary dramatically for the same rooms and dates.

I agree with you. For example, let's say you're looking at a particular hotel in Paris. Expedia quotes one price, Ebookers quote is considerably less. Only thing to watch out for is that the rooms are "like for like". I've never quite figured out how one site can be so much cheaper/dearer than another, but it happens....fact. Take advantage!

ayrforce1

Just out of interest ,on the rate parity , is there anything to stop websites upping their prices.

hcb42

Some interesting perspectives here.

Expedia is normally fed direct from the GDS systems. So if I update my rate in my hotel system, then it updates Expedia. So rate is same. (some hotels have to do this manually, but this is revenue management 101 for the hotel industry). They do have package rates e.g. if you book hotel and flight together of course, which hotel sites cannot do.

For other websites e.g. l@terooms, and the one mentioned in this thread, these are updated by the hotels - the websites do not dictate pricing strategies. If they did, no hotel would use them. It's the first job on the to do list every morning to update them all!

Superbre@k CAN sometimes be different as they price per person which is historical and could work either way, but they insist on guaranteed rooms with hotels which none of the other get - so rates have historically been higher or lower, but they might only be able to sell 1 room per night.