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On a travel blog I occasionally frequent, two persons reported an exact same circumstance regarding trying to book a hotel IN ADVANCE at the cheapest rate they could. They did everything they should ahead of time - researched the hotel on Expedia or Travelocity, got their rate, called the hotel to ask THEIR rate and when given a higher rate, advised they had seen it lower on line. In both cases, two different clerks in two different cities said the same ridiculous thing: “You’ll have to book it on the web then to get that rate.”

I had maintained that because almost all hotels have a free night policy if their rate is not the lowest public rate offered, only a disturbed individual would tell someone to book it on a site where the hotel gets appreciably less in revenue. I had to admit however that it actually happened to me once also and I can only conclude some hotels ‘don’t get it’ or the clerks are lazy and don’t want to take a reservation.

If you look at the fine print on any hotel website, you will almost always see the hotel will at least MATCH the lowest public rate found, if not beat it by a few dollars. But you get a clerk who refuses to do so. Now what?

Make sure there isn’t a lower rate on their own website, personal or franchise. This is what the fine print actually alludes to - not for calling a desk clerk to get a better rate. Most hotels wanting your business will not want you cruising the Internet in case you find a lower rate elsewhere so a clerk worth his salt will always say “I can match our internet rate.” If they are extremely busy they might tell you to book it online and that should be the only reason. But remember, the fine print always says: ” We’ll match or beat any lower public rate with our lowest INTERNET rate”, not walk-in rate.

If you think the clerk is just being lazy, ask if a manager is on duty. If the manager sames the same thing, I’d look for another hotel because if they don’t ‘get it’ by this point, there may be other serious issues you don’t want to find out about. If they truly don’t get it in this instance, they likely don’t get it overall - or they simply don’t want your business. Either reason is a good one to move you toward a competitor.

royal caribbean wedding cruises