Originally Posted by
Shareholder
Margins are very tight these days and a customer filling a room a below cost is only marginally better than the room going empty. And points cost so giving them could drive the margin down even further to represent a loss on each night. Thus, you may well be "not economically viable".
Why would filling a room "below cost" be better than having it empty? Or are you including fixed costs in there where the revenue is above the variable costs, so as long as you don't displace a customer paying more (or letting the higher paying customer know that they could have done better), you still make a bit to help cover the fixed costs?
For an idea of the various costs for the owner of the Best Western, see
http://www.bestwesterndevelopers.com...le%20FINAL.pdf
It looks like providing points would cost 5.5% of your rate. Or more if the individual property owner pays the elite bonus, survey points, etc.
I also found it interesting that free night redemptions are only at 30%(min $30) of ADR if occupancy is less than 90%. Does that mean corporate BW thinks that your variable costs will be less than 30% of ADR? It also adds an indirect cost to a property giving you a low rate - it decreases their ADR and so their free night redemption reimbursements will be lower. Not giving you points for deeply discounted rates(quite legitimately under their T&Cs) helps offset this.
I found the number of various fees amazing. Surprising that they can make money at all. Something that may help you is the Customer Care fees - if they don't respond in 2 days or if their ratio is too high. If you're having problems, complain!
And the Best Westerns that give you good service...buy travel cards at them and use them at the bad ones! And make your reservations for the bad ones from the good ones. :-)