Best hotel booking portals?

Andreas H. Zappel wrote:
?

No reservation system / booking site can show you all
hotels/pensions/places to stay in a city, because they want money for
this. And not every hotel is willing to make a contract with the
systems and pay between 12% and 25% (can go up tp 40% with GDS) of
the amount for the booking to them.
And there is no "best booking portal" because all of them has a § in
the contract, that the rate in their system must be the same as in
other systems.
So if a hotel is noted in more than one booking portal, you normally
don't get a better rate in another portal.
Try the hotel itself, and you can get a better rate (because they
don't have to pay the reservation system) or you get a better room for
the same rate which was offered in the system.
(I know, what I'm speaking about - I work in a hotel and with booking
portals)

I suspected that might be the case 8-). I have discovered from experience
that some portals list hotels that others don't, but was never sure why. I
rather like hrs.de in part because of the information it lets me highlight
when I'm hunting. Of course, when I'm plotting something complicated on my
own, it's often in German- speaking territory.


--
Erilar, biblioholic medievalist with iPad

In article 1d3be57e-3352-402d-a280-
, aquachimp says...
Thank you (by the way, how much do the PTGUI updates cost you?)

The last update (from Dec 2010) cost 45 Euro.
--

Alfred Molon
http://www.molon.de - Photos of Asia, Africa and Europe

In article , Andreas H.
Zappel says...
Try the hotel itself, and you can get a better rate (because they
don't have to pay the reservation system) or you get a better room for
the same rate which was offered in the system.
(I know, what I'm speaking about - I work in a hotel and with booking
portals)

It may sound illogical, but I remember sometimes getting a better rate
through a booking portal than directly from the hotel.
--

Alfred Molon
http://www.molon.de - Photos of Asia, Africa and Europe

In article , Graham Harrison
says...
Actually I think it does show Pension Antik http://goo.gl/maps/vA9i

It shows Kájovská 62 but not Pension Antik. However if I go into street
view it appears that the previous name of this pension was Pension
Vltava, i.e. they changed their name. That might explain why it is not
in the listings.

And the TA rating of this place is not good:
http://www.tripadvisor.de/Hotel_Revi...24422-Reviews-
Pension_Vltava-Cesky_Krumlov_South_Bohemian_Region_Bohemia.html

which probably explains why they changed the name.

I tend to agree with this rating. Pension Antik was ok, but not a place
I would recommend. The bathroom was very basic (only a bathtub, no
shower) and we had only two tiny towels for 4 people.

--

Alfred Molon
http://www.molon.de - Photos of Asia, Africa and Europe

yes martin, try harder.

"Martin" a écrit dans le message de groupe de
discussion : ...
On Mon, 11 Jun 2012 20:51:21 +0200, Alfred Molon
wrote:

In article , Andreas H.
Zappel says...
Try the hotel itself, and you can get a better rate (because they
don't have to pay the reservation system) or you get a better room for
the same rate which was offered in the system.
(I know, what I'm speaking about - I work in a hotel and with booking
portals)

It may sound illogical, but I remember sometimes getting a better rate
through a booking portal than directly from the hotel.

That's quite common.
--

Martin

Martin wrote:

Most complaints can give you an idea of the hotel, but not much more.

Take a hotel with hundreds of complaints going back years and you get
an extremely good idea.

But still an idea.

Meanwhile there are several customers for discounts or other benefits,
or they will write a bad review.
BTW there are fewer and fewer complaints at the receptions. Because if
a customer complain there the hotel could solve the problem

IME they could, but don't.

There are some "problems" which coud not be solved, because they are
part of the system.
P.e.:
1. We still use the old fashion keys and ask the guests to leave the
key at the desk if they go out. There are several persons starting a
discussion about it. Perhaps they thing we could not enter the room of
they take the key with them. I don't know any hotel in world, using
keys or keycards or a keyless sytem which could not enter the room at
any time - even if the guest is in and did lock the door from inside.

2. The furniture is old fashioned.
I know a 5* hotel which worked around 40 years with the furniture
before they changed it.
A simple standard double room is around 2.000 EUR for new furniture.
That's a lot of money for a simple hotel with low rates.

3. The hotel charged me at the arrival, that never happened to me.
I'm traveling as well and I always had to give my credit card to the
reception at the arrival.
There isn't any difference if the hotel is charging or blocking the
amount on the card.
(The best experience was a 4* hotel in a belgium city, they charged
500 BFR more to the card because I could use the phone or the minibar
and returned it in cash at the check-out.)

4. I remember a review on TA of a hotel in Rome, Italy. All floors are
made of stone, thet is noisy if someone is passing by the room.
(I stayed there and didn't here nothing.)
BTW, the floors made of stone is a normal way in southern europe.

5. All floors are with carpets, thats terrible for allergics

What should a hotel do now? Carpet or stone or wood on the floor -
you find someone who complains about it.

Greetings from Cologne

Andreas

Alfred Molon wrote:

Try the hotel itself, and you can get a better rate (because they
don't have to pay the reservation system) or you get a better room for
the same rate which was offered in the system.
(I know, what I'm speaking about - I work in a hotel and with booking
portals)

It may sound illogical, but I remember sometimes getting a better rate
through a booking portal than directly from the hotel.

You are correct.
Specially with hotel chains you might get a better rate at the
reservation system, because these rates somtimes are noted by the
german or western europe sales office. And if you contact the hotel
itself the rate might be higher.
In smaller hotels it is the opposite way.

The last three reservations I made where in Berlin with best rate on
the hotel / hotel group website; in Hamburg with the same rate on the
hotel website and the reservation systems, but surprise a discount
when finishing the reservaton on the hotel own website; in Lisbon,
where one reservation system was 30% under the rate on the hotel
website and the other reservation systems - the solution was a. the
company behind the reservation system and b. the room was a not
renewed room facing the railroad track behind the hotel and not the
river at the front side.

Every hotel has better and worse rooms (normally on a floor where
groups are placed), even the 5* hotel does so, so if you get an
unusual good rate you might get one of these worse rooms.

Greetings from Cologne

Andreas

Martin wrote:

Try the hotel itself, and you can get a better rate (because they
don't have to pay the reservation system) or you get a better room for
the same rate which was offered in the system.
(I know, what I'm speaking about - I work in a hotel and with booking
portals)
It may sound illogical, but I remember sometimes getting a better rate
through a booking portal than directly from the hotel.

That's quite common.

Not any more.
Even the hotel groups now offer the same rates you find in the
reservation systems.
Thanks to the change of the contract conditions of two reservation
systems.

My last searches for hotels gave me in two times the better rate with
direct booking and one time a better rate in a, in Germany not really
known, reservation system - the other big reservation systems did
offer the same rate as the hotel.

Greetings from Cologne

Andreas

On Jun 12, 8:58*am, Andreas H. Zappel wrote:
Martin wrote:
Try the hotel itself, and you can get a better rate (because they
don't have to pay the reservation system) or you get a better room for
the same rate which was offered in the system.
(I know, what I'm speaking about - I work in a hotel and with booking
portals)
It may sound illogical, but I remember sometimes getting a better rate
through a booking portal than directly from the hotel.

That's quite common.

Not any more.

In respect to booking ; "Do it On Line" is what I've been hearing for
some years now, yet, consistently, I've had a better deal from a
regular travel agent, regardless of what porthole I've checked. I
don't know if it matters, but I was always checking some 4 to 6 months
before travelling.


Even the hotel groups now offer the same rates you find in the
reservation systems.
Thanks to the change of the contract conditions of two reservation
systems.

My last searches for hotels gave me in two times the better rate with
direct booking and one time a better rate in a, in Germany not really
known, reservation system - the other big reservation systems did
offer the same rate as the hotel.

Greetings from Cologne

Andreas

Am Tue, 12 Jun 2012 08:34:30 +0200 schrieb Andreas H. Zappel:

P.e.:
1. We still use the old fashion keys and ask the guests to leave the
key at the desk if they go out. There are several persons starting a
discussion about it. Perhaps they thing we could not enter the room of
they take the key with them. I don't know any hotel in world, using
keys or keycards or a keyless sytem which could not enter the room at
any time - even if the guest is in and did lock the door from inside.

The problem with old fashioned keys hanging at the reception is, that a
stranger could take a glimpse at the keys and ask for a random room key to
get into the room. The bigger the hotel is, the most likely this will work,
because the receptionists can't know all the guests. Not all hotels ask for
the guests' name or ID, especielly when it's busy. They did test this once
with hidden camera with some of the big holiday-hotels in spain, in in 9
out of 10 cases any stranger could get the key.

So in this case it can be a good idea, to take the key with you.

2. The furniture is old fashioned.
I know a 5* hotel which worked around 40 years with the furniture
before they changed it.

Theres even hotels with antique furniture - I wonder if they get those
complaits too ;-)

Regards,

Frank