secrets of booking hotels

We’ve been travel advisors for about three years, at this point, but even before we were in the industry, we were seasoned travelers. We’d been around the world to every continent (including Antarctica!), and we’d earned top-tier status in multiple frequent flyer programs and in multiple hotel loyalty point programs. And we thought we had a pretty good handle on how the travel industry works.

Boy were we wrong. As travel advisors, we have access to booking tools that aren’t available on consumer-facing websites. We also have contacts in the industry that give us a unique insight into the pricing and operation of different travel providers. And what we’ve learned might surprise you. It certainly surprised us!

Want the inside scoop on booking a hotel room? Here are our pithy maxims of all-things hotel-related!

If you know the price of your room, you’ve paid too much.

Okay. That might sound a little snarky, but hear us out. Many times, we’ll give our clients a quote for a vacation package and they’ll ask us for a pricing breakdown. That’s because most travelers who book their own travel are used to booking isolated elements of a trip, and then adding up the total cost. They think that if they comparison shop, they’ll be assured to get the absolute best deal. Heck, there are even websites that pull pricing from multiple websites and compare them, so that you can (allegedly) get the lowest price for your hotel stay.

But here’s what those online consumer booking engines will never tell you: there are all sorts of confidential negotiated wholesale rates for hotel rooms that you, as a consumer, will never see. Our vendors who negotiate those rates with the hotels, won’t even give a pricing breakdown to us—and we’re their partners! These contracted, negotiated, wholesale rates are confidential. and our wholesale suppliers are contractually-prohibited from disclosing them—even to other travel professionals.

But guess what—if we bundle that negotiated confidential rate on a hotel room with a consolidator airfare, or with a sightseeing package, or maybe a rental car, or an additional hotel stay, we can put a package together that’s very likely to be lower, in the aggregate, than if you booked published rates available to the general public.

Want to get “walked?” Book online.

Just like airlines will bump you from a flight if they’re oversold, hotels will “walk” you to a hotel if they’re overbooked. The average no-show rate at any given hotel property is approximately 10 percent, which is why hotels will book their properties to 110 percent capacity, thinking that with cancelations and no-shows they will fill every room. But sometimes that 10% figure is an overestimation of the actual no-shows, and in that case, the hotel will move you to another nearby hotel—maybe one where you’d rather not stay.

Not all reservations are created equal, though. So, when the hotel looks like it’s actually oversold, the hotels have to decide which guests to “walk.” And the first ones to get walked are the travelers who booked on an online booking site like Expedia, Travelocity or the like. The rates might be good, and the convenience factor is there when you book online. But hotels know that travelers who book on those sites have absolutely no loyalty to their hotel or their brand and that they’re just shopping for the lowest common denominator.

There are a few ways to decrease your chances of getting walked. One way is to belong to the hotel’s loyalty program. Even though most hotels and airlines have devalued their awards programs in recent years, I can assure you that if you’re a Diamond Platinum Elite, you won’t be getting moved to another hotel against your will.

Booking with a travel advisor is another great way to decrease your chances of a “walk.” Hotels know that our clients book with us because we’re knowledgable professionals. And they know that we make recommendations about where our clients should stay. So, if it shows on your reservation that you booked with a travel advisor, the hotel will worry that if you get walked, not only will you never stay at that hotel again, but the travel advisor who booked you won’t send any of their clients to that hotel. And for agencies like Huckleberry Travel, because we’re part of a network of independent advisors and we also belong to a consortium, the hotel knows that word will get out that that property did that to the valued client of a travel advisor.

A room is not just a room.

We hear from clients all the time that they don’t really care about their hotel room—it’s just a place to sleep, and as long as the room is clean and cheap, they’ll be fine. But, honestly, when they get to the hotel and see an incredible view or a lovely balcony, we suddenly find Huckleberry Travel tagged on an Instagram photo of their hotel room. Those gorgeous rooms that our clients get are also because of the loyalty factor; we book a lot of hotel rooms every year, and the other travel advisors in our network do, too.

Every hotel has rooms that are difficult to sell. And some of those rooms are in the same price category as rooms that are much nicer. So, if you’d rather not have a view of a dumpster, or a view into the parking garage next door, or a dirty airwell, you should not go to an online booking site. The people who go to a site called “CheapCaribbean,” for example, are looking for the lowest price, not the best value. If the hotel sees that you’re only looking for a cheap place to rest your head, that’s exactly what they’ll give you.

So, there you have it! The things you need to know about booking a hotel room! You know, a lot of times people don’t come to us for simple air and hotel bookings. But if you’re just looking for an air ticket, a hotel and a rental car, we can actually bundle all of that together to make your trip seamless and to maybe even save you a little money. You’ll be more likely to get a nicer room, and less likely to be walked. So, what are you waiting for—drop us a line and see what we can do for you!