2 ms·
sometimes you get kinda suboptimal rooms if you're booking through an aggregator. They're making less money off you and they know it I would expect the
by TekMol 9y ago
sometimes you get kinda suboptimal rooms if you're
booking through an aggregator. They're making less
money off you and they know it
I would expect the opposite. When you book via an aggregator and they provide bad service you can fight back via a bad review. When you book directly you are completely at their mercy.
Example: I just checked the Ritz-Carlton in Berlin. And on booking.com it's clearly stated that Wifi is free. So I would expect I can rely on that. On the Marriot website the hotel, it's written in the small print that you have to pay extra for wifi. So I would expect them to fuck me over and bill some outrageous €25 per day or something for wifi.
- chipotle_coyote 9y agoSee, I'd probably assume that the hotel's own site has the information right and it's Booking.com's information that's wrong--which may or may not be correct. :) Either way, though, I wouldn't assume that people who book on Booking.com get free wifi and people who book on the Marriott site have to pay; it's much more likely that one or the other site is incorrect: either the wifi is free or it isn't. (Or like Hilton, it's always free if you're a member of their rewards program.) As for reviews, maybe? Hotels have to care in (ahem) aggregate, sure, and it's probably true that more people see reviews on travel sites than on Yelp or Foursquare (although it's sometimes interesting to compare). But if you're a hotel loyalty program member, then they have incentive to make you want to think well of their hotel brand. Anecdotally, I've never gotten bad service from booking from Hotels.com; it's not like the hotel staff goes out of their way to be difficult or anything. But I've noticed that I'm more likely to get a room right by the elevator when I book with them, while I've noticed that booking as a Hilton Honors member seems to be fractionally more likely to get me a free upgrade, or a welcome note from the manager at a hotel that didn't give me one two years before when I booked on the third party site. All anecdotal, possibly coincidental? But still something I noticed.
- TekMol 9y agoI'd probably assume that the hotel's own site has the information right and it's Booking.com's information that's wrong There is nor right or wrong. If they advertise their rooms with free wifi on booking.com they are legally bound to offer free wifi when you booked via booking.com