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They need to let their phone check in work with OTAs. I just stayed at a Hilton and couldn’t use my phone as a key because I booked through hotels.com and the f

They need to let their phone check in work with OTAs. I just stayed at a Hilton and couldn’t use my phone as a key because I booked through hotels.com and the front desk refused to add my hhonors info to set it up. I know you can call in but not something I want to deal with after traveling all day.

wenc 4y ago
I usually book through Concur (corporate booking site) and have never had any trouble. Hotels.com might not be a supported OTA however, since they are a consolidator. You can't even get HHonors points with hotels.com. https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilton-hilton-honors/1887120-earning-points-ota-bookings.html https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilton-hilton-honors/1887120...
- scarface74 4y ago
  There is a big difference between booking business travel through Concur and using hotels.com. You get all of the benefits of booking directly - points, nights count toward status, your credit card is charged directly by Hilton - ie I get 14 points per dollar by paying with my Amex Hilton Aspire.
  - ghaff 4y ago
    You're essentially saying there are different tiers of travel agents. But you're right. There's no particular disadvantage to me booking Marriott through Amex than directly other than an (expensed) booking fee for work travel.
    - scarface74 4y ago
      There is a huge disadvantage. You don’t get loyalty points are status upgrades. In the case of Hilton, that can be worth from 24% to 38% back in loyalty points per dollar spent. When Hilton isn’t running a special, I get 34 points per dollar at around .7 cents per point: - 10x base points - 10x Diamond bonus (automatic for having the Amex Hilton Aspire) - 14x Amex Hilton Aspire card But Hilton ran a 3x special May through September (54x total) and now they are running a 2x special (44x) through March 2023. The other advantage from booking directly is that it’s easier to change or modify a booking.
      - ghaff 4y ago
        I guess I don't see the disadvantage with Marriott or United with my company booking agency. I do prefer to book directly in general but I'm not traveling a lot now and also prefer to generally adhere to travel policy when there's not a good reason not to.
        scarface74 4y ago
        I’m referring to this statement; > There's no particular disadvantage to me booking Marriott through Amex There is a big difference between booking through Concur and booking through the Amex portal.
        ghaff 4y ago
        We use Egencia which is owned by Amex. And it has all my loyalty program info.
        scarface74 4y ago
        Ahh. You’re not talking about the public AmexTravel portal. Your company pays the booking fee instead of the hotel. On that case, you’re probably directly charged by the hotel and Egencia charges the company/end user the fee.
        ghaff 4y ago
        Right. Egencia charges us booking fees which we expense.
fein 4y ago
The one rule I learned while traveling over the years for work is to only ever book with the hotel directly. You open yourself up to much more annoying problems when dealing with third party booking regarding any sort of problem resolution with the reservation.
- umeshunni 4y ago
  That applies to airlines too
- dalyons 4y ago
  It pretty much always costs more going direct though, which is counterintuitive and annoying. Unless you call and negotiate which I ain’t doing.
  - lotsofpulp 4y ago
    All the hotel brands offer best price guarantees where they will give you a discount if you are able to reserve with a lower price elsewhere. The reservation systems are setup so that the pricing that goes out to priceline and Expedia is higher than what is on the hotel brand’s website. https://www.marriott.com/look/claimForm.mi https://www.marriott.com/look/claimForm.mi https://www.hyatt.com/info/best-rate-guarantee https://www.hyatt.com/info/best-rate-guarantee https://www.hilton.com/en/p/price-match-guarantee/ https://www.hilton.com/en/p/price-match-guarantee/ https://www.ihg.com/content/us/en/customer-care/best-price-guarantee https://www.ihg.com/content/us/en/customer-care/best-price-g... https://www.choicehotels.com/deals/best-rate https://www.choicehotels.com/deals/best-rate https://www.wyndhamhotels.com/hotel-deals/best-rate-guarantee https://www.wyndhamhotels.com/hotel-deals/best-rate-guarante... https://www.radissonhotels.com/en-us/best-rate-guarantee https://www.radissonhotels.com/en-us/best-rate-guarantee
    - Scoundreller 4y ago
      Unless you do a “mystery” deal, where you can save a ton in exchange for some uncertainty. It’s always worked pretty well for me, tbh.
ww520 4y ago
When you book with an OTA, you're the OTA's customer, not the hotel's customer.
scarface74 4y ago
You realize that’s part of the terms and service? Hotels pay third party OTAs around a 20% commission. You aren’t going to get extra benefits from the hotel for booking through a third party service.

wenc 4y ago

I usually book through Concur (corporate booking site) and have never had any trouble. Hotels.com might not be a supported OTA however, since they are a consolidator. You can't even get HHonors points with hotels.com. https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilton-hilton-honors/1887120-earning-points-ota-bookings.html https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilton-hilton-honors/1887120...

scarface74 4y ago
There is a big difference between booking business travel through Concur and using hotels.com. You get all of the benefits of booking directly - points, nights count toward status, your credit card is charged directly by Hilton - ie I get 14 points per dollar by paying with my Amex Hilton Aspire.
- ghaff 4y ago
  You're essentially saying there are different tiers of travel agents. But you're right. There's no particular disadvantage to me booking Marriott through Amex than directly other than an (expensed) booking fee for work travel.
  - scarface74 4y ago
    There is a huge disadvantage. You don’t get loyalty points are status upgrades. In the case of Hilton, that can be worth from 24% to 38% back in loyalty points per dollar spent. When Hilton isn’t running a special, I get 34 points per dollar at around .7 cents per point: - 10x base points - 10x Diamond bonus (automatic for having the Amex Hilton Aspire) - 14x Amex Hilton Aspire card But Hilton ran a 3x special May through September (54x total) and now they are running a 2x special (44x) through March 2023. The other advantage from booking directly is that it’s easier to change or modify a booking.
    - ghaff 4y ago
      I guess I don't see the disadvantage with Marriott or United with my company booking agency. I do prefer to book directly in general but I'm not traveling a lot now and also prefer to generally adhere to travel policy when there's not a good reason not to.
      - scarface74 4y ago
        I’m referring to this statement; > There's no particular disadvantage to me booking Marriott through Amex There is a big difference between booking through Concur and booking through the Amex portal.
        ghaff 4y ago
        We use Egencia which is owned by Amex. And it has all my loyalty program info.
        scarface74 4y ago
        Ahh. You’re not talking about the public AmexTravel portal. Your company pays the booking fee instead of the hotel. On that case, you’re probably directly charged by the hotel and Egencia charges the company/end user the fee.
        ghaff 4y ago
        Right. Egencia charges us booking fees which we expense.

fein 4y ago

The one rule I learned while traveling over the years for work is to only ever book with the hotel directly. You open yourself up to much more annoying problems when dealing with third party booking regarding any sort of problem resolution with the reservation.

umeshunni 4y ago
That applies to airlines too
dalyons 4y ago
It pretty much always costs more going direct though, which is counterintuitive and annoying. Unless you call and negotiate which I ain’t doing.
- lotsofpulp 4y ago
  All the hotel brands offer best price guarantees where they will give you a discount if you are able to reserve with a lower price elsewhere. The reservation systems are setup so that the pricing that goes out to priceline and Expedia is higher than what is on the hotel brand’s website. https://www.marriott.com/look/claimForm.mi https://www.marriott.com/look/claimForm.mi https://www.hyatt.com/info/best-rate-guarantee https://www.hyatt.com/info/best-rate-guarantee https://www.hilton.com/en/p/price-match-guarantee/ https://www.hilton.com/en/p/price-match-guarantee/ https://www.ihg.com/content/us/en/customer-care/best-price-guarantee https://www.ihg.com/content/us/en/customer-care/best-price-g... https://www.choicehotels.com/deals/best-rate https://www.choicehotels.com/deals/best-rate https://www.wyndhamhotels.com/hotel-deals/best-rate-guarantee https://www.wyndhamhotels.com/hotel-deals/best-rate-guarante... https://www.radissonhotels.com/en-us/best-rate-guarantee https://www.radissonhotels.com/en-us/best-rate-guarantee
  - Scoundreller 4y ago
    Unless you do a “mystery” deal, where you can save a ton in exchange for some uncertainty. It’s always worked pretty well for me, tbh.

ww520 4y ago

When you book with an OTA, you're the OTA's customer, not the hotel's customer.

scarface74 4y ago

You realize that’s part of the terms and service? Hotels pay third party OTAs around a 20% commission. You aren’t going to get extra benefits from the hotel for booking through a third party service.