Originally Posted by
RogerD408
There are some companies that are able to negotiate a very good deal and do not allow use for anything but business travel. Some of these relationships have been in place for many years and having them abused/misused is not in the cards as far as they are concerned. Choosing a chain has a lot of components, from a personal relationship between the person signing the contract to property saturation at destinations used by the client.
Exactly this. Many people assume that fraudulent use of corporate codes can only help the company by increasing volume. That's a false assumption.
For example: At one hotel I worked, one company had a corporate rate of roughly $70. Our rack rate was $269. They earned that discount because they only used it on weekends (when our rates were usually in the $79-89 range). If that corporate code had gotten out and was used during the week, it would have become an unnecessary annoyance for both the hotel and the company to fix.
Although not as drastic, we had other accounts that got discounts based on average stay patterns. Anyone who avoided the nights we almost always sold out (Tuesdays or Wednesdays) got a better discount. So, without knowledge of the contract, anyone stealing a corporate code can't assume they are actually helping out the company.