kar120c

On two separate occasions recently when I've looked for a reservation, there's been a rate change during the time I want. On both occasions, when I've broken the stay into two separate reservations, one up to the rate change and one after, one of the pieces comes out cheaper than was quoted for the same days when I asked for the whole period. And I'm not switching from rack rate to another rate like AAA, etc., so that isn't the difference.

1) Does anyone know why the rate would be less for a shorter stay than for the same days on a longer stay? Is it just yield management like airlines and they want more money to lock up a room for a longer stay? Is somebody consciously deciding that people will pay more rather than go to the trouble of looking at each piece?

2) Is there any reason I can't or shouldn't book two separate shorter reservations at the same hotel rather than one long one? Will the hotel have a problem when I show up with two consecutive reservations? (The first one I booked hasn't come up yet.)

3) Could or should I call Marriott or the hotel and ask them to combine the two stays? Would they do it?

I could see that depending on how the rooms are allocated, I might have to change rooms, or check out and back in on the same day to get from one reservation to the other, in which case I might not have access to a room for several hours between checkout time and checkin, or that for one reservation an upgrade might be available but not the other one. (Although if I have the same type of room for the whole period and I'm willing to sacrifice any upgrade I don't see why they couldn't just let me stay in the same room.) And I am not trying to get more "stays" for MegaBonus or anything else underhanded, but I don't understand why someone else using the same type of rate for the same type of room should be able to pay less for the same days.

And I prefer to think of this as being frugal rather than cheap, thank you.

swag

No idea why that happens, so I can't answer #1.

But I've done consecutive stays many times at Marriotts and at other brands. Sometimes it's because of rate changes, sometimes to combine a paid stay and an award stay, sometimes to add nights to a prepaid or priceline stay. No matter why, I've never had a problem. Never even had to change rooms. Sometimes you'll need to visit the desk at the end of the first stay to close that portfolio out, and sometimes you'll need to have the room keys reset.

When booking these online, I usually book the later stay first, then add that conf # to the notes section when I make the first reservation to let them know. But that's optional, you can always just tell them when you check in.

myperks

(this may not be specifically answering about Marriott properties)

I know some properties "blend" rates and some properties take the "higher of".

For example:

Day 1: $99
Day 2: $149

Some properties will blend it so it will show up as $124/night

Some properties will take the "higher of" and show up as $149 for both nights... (in this case I would book separately)

this true of some SPG and Hyatt properties I go to.

just my two cents...ymmv

(hopefully i understood the OP's question)

kar120c

I get your point, but that's not what's happening. My example--if I book four days, first two days are $209 (all prices per day), last two days are $249. If I book two stays of two days each, first stay is $199, second stay is still $249. I think in both of the cases I found, the price difference was only $10-20 per day, not a deal breaker but enough to justify the effort to make two reservations and to make me wonder why they do it that way.

happymommy

I've had that happen a few times, so called the platinum line, and they made all the reservations and linked them. No problem at the hotel at all.

For instance, I had a great weekend rate, then it was going to change on a Monday to a really high rate. The gov't rate was really good, so we switched to that starting Monday. Then the next Thursday we had the weekend rate kick in again through the weekend.

No problem with staying in the room.

GlennTheBaker

You should have no trouble getting all the separate res's linked together. I've done it loads of times.

cw082350

Ive also had the reservation linked with no problem at checkin

kar120c

Sounds like it shouldn't be a problem. Of course, I'm a mere Gold so we'll see . . . .

Thanks for all the responses.

Counsellor

It has happened to me a few times, usually when my stay runs over a weekend. By booking the weekend separately, you can get a special rate for those nights.

On the other hand, some properties give a special rate if you stay five night or more, which you lose if you split the stay.

It's always worth checking.

As to having to move, usually either the desk will catch the follow-on reservation and make sure you stay in the same room, or you can mention it when you check in and they'll "fence" the room for the follow-on reservation at that time.

rylan

Happens to me with stays that transition a weekend or other day where there is a price change... particularly with the AAA rate. I had this occur recently when booking an AAA rate at the Williamsburg Marriott. Put in 4 nights and it comes up with the daily rate being the highest of the span... if I break it into multiple reservations I get the first and last night for substantially less. I just reserved the full block and contacted customer service and explaineid and requested they adjust the rate for the certain nights and they did no with no problem.