What does "run of the house" mean?
 

When booking online reservations for hotels, I occasionally see "run of the house." I must say the term kind of tickles me and I imagine running through the hotel in my underwear and just grabbing whatever bed I can find.

I doubt that this is really what the term means and I'm hoping that you guys can enlighten me. I did do a search but it came up with over 20 pages of results.

"Run of the house" means the hotel can assign whatever type of room that is available when you check-in. It could mean the presidential suite if the place is totally booked (except the suite, obviously).. or it could be the filthy room facing the dumpsters.

It means, any room. If you book a "run of the house" rate, you can be given any possible room.


Cheers

My experience has been that "run of the house" is the same thing as "the worst room in the house". To be prudent, this is what you should assume.

So if I don't specify that I want 1 bed or 2 beds, I just say no preference, does that mean "run of the house"? Does it have a cheaper rate?

Quick search advice: when you're looking for a phrase like this, enclose it with quotation marks like this: "run of the house". That way, the search will only come up with results that match all words...in this case, a total of 10 results. Hope this is useful in the future :)

No, that means you have no preference to the layout of a certain type of room. It is not always cheaper, but sometimes is.

Cheers

I still remember when I needed a fake ID to gamble in 1982 & on our family vacation to Las Vegas we had a res for Run of the House at the Dunes. My mother did not like the room, but 2 me it was just a room.

I notice that some Hiltons now offer "Room Type Selected at Check-In." What luck have U all had with this??

^ I've wondered about this term for a long time! Glad I got the answer! Y'all are great on these forums.... :D

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Indeed so, in my case as well, though since I have not used a TA in years, it's been awhile since I actually got this type of booking.

Mark

FWIW, most *wood award reservations are booked as "ROH" and, as we know, can end up meaning almost anything. Status with SPG makes a difference here for certain.

It's also important for folks to know that someone has to stay in those crummy rooms on the third floor with a view of the parking lot! Often, it is the ROH rooms that get assigned to the less than wonderful rooms. As always, YMMV, but ROH is usually, but not always, the lower end of the room rate scale and -- as such -- is likely to get the lower end rooms.

As others have posted, it means your room assignment is up to the sole discretion of the hotel.

If they aren't very busy, chances are you won't be put in that crummy room with the maid closet on one side, the ice machine on the other and a window that looks out upon a brick wall 2 feet away. But you certainly could find yourself there. Especially if the hotel is booked solid during your visit.

If you have elite status with Starwood, I'd say your chances of getting the crummiest of rooms is greatly reduced, as often they oversell the cheapo room category and actually have lots of better rooms to play musical rooms with and distribute differently.

But anyone holding a Run Of House res should be prepared to put your best mooch forward at the check-in desk. ;) But don't be upset if you get just what you reserved: A room. Period.

Just a bit of minutia to add: It's usually referred to in the industry as "Run Of House" (without the "the") and you'll often see it displayed on confirmations and computer screens in it's abbreviated state of "ROH." Though sometimes it does have the "the" in there.

Hm. Interesting info. Thanks. Though I'm a bit disappointed that I can't run through the house with my underwear on.

yeah, in all of my years of traveling, i never knew what this term meant. hotel terms are really misleading, no? (Best Available Rate, Run of House, etc.).

when i think of run of house, i think of a great room....and getting to walk throughout the hotel un-restrained. i want to be able to walk into the kitchen in the middle of the night and rummage through the refrig. that is what i think of when the term "run of house" is mentioned. for instance, i have the run of the house in my house. and, i don't sleep in the bathtub. ;)

odd terms....