Hello.

I’m new to luxury travel. We want to do a 4 night layover in Beverly Hills this August on our way to Hawaii. The Peninsula BH is our first choice. I am crunching the numbers and trying to figure what we’d be losing by booking with Expedia or similar OTAs.

So for a deluxe patio room I can book via Virtuoso or their own site for $3,300 total. I can get a prepaid rate on their site for $2,800. With Expedia/Orbitz I can get $150 off the $2,800 and earn miles going through the airline portal, Hotels.com would give me 5% back paying with PayPal and airmiles and Rocketmiles would get be 37,000 miles on the 3,300 rate. Those savings/miles are very tempting.

BUT with Virtuoso I can get free breakfast, $100 credit and guaranteed late check out (we fly at 7pm). I can let them know we’re celebrating 2 birthdays and have a chance at an upgrade. Also very tempting, especially the guaranteed late checkout. I notice on their site that the wording is different for the prepaid rate and late checkout isn’t guaranteed if prepaying.

I also wonder if OTA guests are treated second class, I’ve experienced that in lesser hotels. Would we still get the little touches like monogrammed pillowcases and newspaper choice or would we put in the worst room and ignored.

We’re just middle class people pushing out the boat for a joint birthday celebration so it’s hard to justify choosing a higher rate when I could have hundreds in my pocket and some miles by using an OTA. Then do we risk getting that room no one wants and will we regret having to go to Starbucks when we could be eating a free breakfast on our balcony.

I know that ultimately only we can make the decision but I’d like to hear from travellers here who are used to this caliber of hotel. Do you think the extra benefits of Virtuoso/Pen Club are worth over an OTA or even their own prepaid rate? Will we have the full experience in terms of room and service if we choose to use an OTA? Any advice, suggestions, pointers are welcome.

Thanks,
Tom.