4 ms·

A lot of small business owner has one company credit card. They send the credit card information to us through fax for the employees that are checking in withou

A lot of small business owner has one company credit card. They send the credit card information to us through fax for the employees that are checking in without the company credit card. Employees are still using their personal card for incidentals. Big companies use travel agencies. They fax a virtual credit card. Depending upon the company, the credit card in the reservation won't authorize. We can only charge the credit card in the fax.

lotsofpulp 8y ago
Yes, my point is all of that can be obviated if the hotel offered an online payment system where you can just pay online, same as you can with Expedia.com or Hotel Tonight or Priceline or Amazon.com However, the major brands would rather have all of their hotel guests be inconvenienced and have people's personal information and ID scans flying around insecure systems operated by minimum wage hotel personnel with high turnover. This is so that they (Hyatt, Marriott, Hilton, IHG, Choice, Wyndham, etc) can offload the chargeback risks and payment processing costs onto the franchisees.
- reaperducer 8y ago
  all of that can be obviated if the hotel offered an online payment system I spent the weekend making reservations at nine hotels for a two-week trip. Of the nine, three could be paid online. Two could be reserved online, but will have to be paid with plastic at check-in. Two had web sites, but I had to call to make a reservation. Three didn't have web sites at all. The vast majority of lodging options in the United States are not chains, or hooked up to an app.
  - lotsofpulp 8y ago
    This Aug 2015 article says US hotel room supply broke 5 million rooms: https://www.businesstravelnews.com/Strategic-Sourcing/U-S-Hotel-Supply-Breaks-5-Million-Room-Mark https://www.businesstravelnews.com/Strategic-Sourcing/U-S-Ho... and this Mar 2015 infographic on HotelNewsNow.com shows over the 10 biggest brands having over 4 million rooms, worldwide. http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/25511/10-largest-hotel-companies-by-room-count http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/25511/10-largest-hotel-... Some of those brands have hit 1 million rooms each, so I think it's safe to say that the vast majority of rooms in the US are able to be reserved online, and even the boutique hotels not affiliated with bigger brands have an online presence in my experience. The only hotels I've seen not online are the low budget motels or smaller lifestyle businesses in a few niche locales here and there. Even then, I've seen them on booking.com where you enter your details, and booking.com emails or faxes the motel operator the details of your reservation.
    - reaperducer 8y ago
      I stated lodging option, meaning places to stay. I was not tallying hotel rooms, which is another metric. You and I apparently travel different places, so my experience is different than yours. But you're right about booking.com having the best chances of booking online in very small places.

lotsofpulp 8y ago

Yes, my point is all of that can be obviated if the hotel offered an online payment system where you can just pay online, same as you can with Expedia.com or Hotel Tonight or Priceline or Amazon.com However, the major brands would rather have all of their hotel guests be inconvenienced and have people's personal information and ID scans flying around insecure systems operated by minimum wage hotel personnel with high turnover. This is so that they (Hyatt, Marriott, Hilton, IHG, Choice, Wyndham, etc) can offload the chargeback risks and payment processing costs onto the franchisees.

reaperducer 8y ago
all of that can be obviated if the hotel offered an online payment system I spent the weekend making reservations at nine hotels for a two-week trip. Of the nine, three could be paid online. Two could be reserved online, but will have to be paid with plastic at check-in. Two had web sites, but I had to call to make a reservation. Three didn't have web sites at all. The vast majority of lodging options in the United States are not chains, or hooked up to an app.
- lotsofpulp 8y ago
  This Aug 2015 article says US hotel room supply broke 5 million rooms: https://www.businesstravelnews.com/Strategic-Sourcing/U-S-Hotel-Supply-Breaks-5-Million-Room-Mark https://www.businesstravelnews.com/Strategic-Sourcing/U-S-Ho... and this Mar 2015 infographic on HotelNewsNow.com shows over the 10 biggest brands having over 4 million rooms, worldwide. http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/25511/10-largest-hotel-companies-by-room-count http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/25511/10-largest-hotel-... Some of those brands have hit 1 million rooms each, so I think it's safe to say that the vast majority of rooms in the US are able to be reserved online, and even the boutique hotels not affiliated with bigger brands have an online presence in my experience. The only hotels I've seen not online are the low budget motels or smaller lifestyle businesses in a few niche locales here and there. Even then, I've seen them on booking.com where you enter your details, and booking.com emails or faxes the motel operator the details of your reservation.
  - reaperducer 8y ago
    I stated lodging option, meaning places to stay. I was not tallying hotel rooms, which is another metric. You and I apparently travel different places, so my experience is different than yours. But you're right about booking.com having the best chances of booking online in very small places.