Hilton HHonors - Any success with late night walk up rates?

I was delayed at a meeting last night and decided to attempt the 4 hour drive home. I got an hour or so down the road and got tired, so I napped in my car. This occurred a couple of times when I thought I have 100 miles to go it is 4:30 in the morning do I risk it, or do I stop.

I decided to stop and found a Hampton Inn at the exit. At this exit there was a Holiday Inn, Best Western, Hampton, Choice, Motel 6, and some other brand. The Motel 6 and the other off brand were advertising for $30.00 a night. Being that it was 4:30 in the morning I asked the Hampton for their best rate, $68.00, the same as for a full night, I would have to be out by noon at the latest. THe Best Western where I am Platinum offered $48.00, Both these rates seemed high to me considering that hotels next door were offering $30.00 rates. I know they are not really competing with "value" hotels,but twice as much for 5 or 6 hours of sleep?

When I worked at a Sheraton hotel we were told to "sell the room". Of course there was a scenario in place to get the most revenue as possible out of the last minute travelers, but the ultimate goal was to sell the room at a price that would cover the costs and make a little bit of revenue. (Could be as low as $25.00). Like an airplane, if the room is not sold than the property made NO revenue off that room that night.

Have any of you had any success lately at late night walk up rates? I know that it would vary with the chain, the owner, etc. I am just trying to find out if one brand is better than others for the next time I have a meeting go into the middle of the night when I am 300 miles from home and driving.

I tried to find one of those "coupon" books at denny's etc, but they did not have them for this town, of course I could not get to the internet either, so I was stuck at the "mercy" of the chain.

I ended up driving the rest of the way and getting in around 6 a.m. It is a shame when the hotels are complaining about high vacancy rates that they let revenue slip out the door. Granted it would not be as much as they could make, but I would have gladly paid 35 or $40 at either of those chains and that would have been more than they made by having the room sit empty. But the best caveat to the hotel would be on my next trip along this route I would give them my business again. Now I will look for another property to give my business to along this route.

[This message has been edited by wldtrvlr (edited 09-30-2002).]

I came in late night at BWI's Hilton Garden Inn and *thought* I had a reservation when I looked at my confirmation, I had booked it for the wrong night! There happened to be a small line at the HGI so I went over to the HHonors VIP Check in and at the same time another person went to the regular line and wanted a room for the night. There was only one room left so they gave it to me (whew!) but charged me $149 for the room - a premium over my original rate.

Point is - sometimes they know they can get you because it is last minute.

I have not found any "breaks" or late-night discounts in my own experience.

Seems like most hotels settle on a rate based on their availability for that date and "live with it," regardless of whether or not some of their rooms sit empty.

Doesn't make a lot of sense, but there must be some logic to it?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by elbidercni:
I have not found any "breaks" or late-night discounts in my own experience.

Seems like most hotels settle on a rate based on their availability for that date and "live with it," regardless of whether or not some of their rooms sit empty.

Doesn't make a lot of sense, but there must be some logic to it? </font>


Have tried repeatedly and NEVER caught the late hours price break from a chain. From independants, YES at about a 50% success rate.

I believe the major chains don't want poeple trying the late night pressure tactics on their people so they will "live with it". If they did honor late night antics, I would be checking in on a regular basis after 11pm or midnight. Again, I think this is what the chains don't want.

The only time I've received a price break from a chain, is if I mention that a better chain property or at least easily their equal, has a far better room rate available.

As usual, I knew what I was speaking of, but did not clearly state it.

I could understand if there was a limited number of rooms available. However, this was a Sunday night, and I did not see more than 15 cars in either of their parking lots. The two Cheap hotels may have had 30 to 40 cars each.

Maybe things have changed since I was in the industry. I guess that is why occupancy rates have dropped. In addition to a lot of new hotels being built.

Today I called both hotels to speak with the GM and just let them know they had missed some revenue, and the potential for Revenue in the future. The GM at Hampton Inn was understanding, but said he was held to that rate by the owner, and their debt service. I mentioned that if their debt service was $40 a room per night, than they definitely needed any incremental revenue they could get. The manager at the BW was just kind of dumbfounded that I would call, I guess she just did not care! She was not rude, she just did not quite get it that a profit of $10 or $20 is still a profit, whereas an empty room is a cost.

I've been in the same situation when I used to travel a lot by car about 4 years ago. I ALWAYS call the reservation line from my cell phone first. About 90% of time in my experience you get a better rate.

I agree with travelmanken your might be better off calling the hotel from the parking lot.(make sure you get the hotel directly not the chains central reservations.)
I also agree with sweet willie. It's probably more profitable for hotels to sell less late night rooms at high prices than more rooms at very low prices.(although this makes more sense at an airport or big city location )

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by TravelManKen:
I've been in the same situation when I used to travel a lot by car about 4 years ago. I ALWAYS call the reservation line from my cell phone first. About 90% of time in my experience you get a better rate.</font>

TravelManKen is absolutly right. Always call from the parking lot. I call the Diamond Desk and have always got a good rate. Last month I got the DDTree in San Fran for $79, last minute.

My girlfriend worked for a Hotel chain (not Hitlon) and the management actually had a contest for the front desk agents to see who could charge the most guests Rack rate. They were absolutely discouraged from giving discounted rates any time the hotel was over 60% occupancy. The best rates she said were given when you phoned the hotel directly during the day and booked a rate far in advance before the hotel was half full.

Also the staff that they had during the night, was usually the person who was either a junior employee (as not too many people like working the graveyard shift) or the employee who wasn't really a people person anyway, thus they did not really want to deal with any customers, hence they worked the night shift.

and hotels wonder why we try to get everything we can out of them for free..

or wonder why occupancy is on a steady downhill decline.

Its not that anyone thing is the answer but all these little things do add up.

Its a dog eat dog world in other words, I get what I can from them while at the same time they try to get as much as they can from me.

My Hampton stay two weeks ago, I forgot to schedule my reservation (doh!) Well, I got a rate that beat the internet 'best rate' by $5 for the night. And this was a Thursday night at 6:30P to boot.

GMF