Originally Posted by
graeylin
First off, yes, not staying at that hotel, the manager allows me to park and shuttle. And yeah, not a platinum benefit, but I suspect that it helped in the decision.
Sorry to hear about your experience, justaagirl. I've typically had much better luck with favors and IHG properties, it seems.
You haven't explained:
Does the hotel normally charge for parking or not? Does the hotel normally charge for the shuttle or not?
If neither, then the manager was simply OKing you to do what some people might "sneakily" do, but he was happy that you asked.
Yes, at some "in the middle of it all" (or just huge) airports the hotel parking (especially close-in) might be gated and with a steep cost. But at many airports it's not uncommon to find free parking at hotels near (enough) to the airport (to have a free airport shuttle). If so, the main trick is whether you need parking passes on your dash to not get towed, and if so how to get those parking passes without staying there.
Plus it's hard to know how much the manager is "giving away" without knowing how crowded the hotel's parking lot gets. Some hotels have parking lots which rarely even get half full, because they built them with extra capacity, while others assumed tour buses too much and have problems fitting everyone if everyone comes in a vehicle which they park.