Originally Posted by
arlflyer
I articulated one very big reason why upthread. And that reason is the fact that most corporate travel policies impose a cap on base rate, with taxes and fees being what they are. So this is an easy way for hoteliers to take price on a core segment without ruffling feathers.
It can go both ways. The people who run the hotel programme in my organisation are very aware of this trend and are including it in the annual negotiations, indeed play off hotels which do and don't charge. New York has seen a certain number of Mandatory Daily Charge fees recently, typically US$20 to $30 a night, and we essentially insist that either that is removed from our negotiated rates or we will put the hotel in a general pool. That pool shows at the bottom of the screen, and includes the fee in the headline rate. It certainly upset one NY Hilton GM who amusingly accused us of bad faith and breach of contract but we merely pointed out that when you are the most expensive totalised rate, our people aren't going to chose hotels when there are cheaper ones in the same chain within walking distance. Now I'm under no illusion here, these sorts of hotels will replace us with other customers, but they have to work harder for that business, and it's a more price sensitive business than reliable negotiated rates.