Originally Posted by
spgplat21
A family member of mine recently moved over from to a Marriott property from a Hilton property so I've been exploring these rates recently. We had some great luck with amazing Hilton family and friend rates over the years, but the Marriott rates seem pretty terrible across the board (especially considering they come with no benefits).
I don't know what the Hilton rates are, but almost every "real" associate rate available is going to be an excellent deal. The only tricky thing is that they may not be available up until a couple to a few weeks before the stay, if ever. About 1/3rd of the BAR is a typical price for an associate rate. Even the friends rate can be a good deal at times - but more often than not, a prepaid rate is going to better than the friends rate (which is refundable).
Typically, the more expensive the hotel, the better the discount. For example, a single night in mid october at the RC Half Moon Bay is $1k for the BAR. Associate rate is $159 and the friends rate is $520. Actually, the associate rate pretty much never goes above $200. $160ish is about the max that I would normally see for a real associate rate. Sometimes, there are "bugs" where the associate rate is actually higher than a normal rate.
Originally Posted by
Brucemcdou
Any guest on any rate can be "walked" to another hotel (Marriott or SOB) if the hotel is oversold. The difference is that they might be more likely to walk an employee, or somebody on an employee or F&F rate than a paying customer, and certainly than a paying customer with status. That said, even if you've got triple-Plutonium status, if you show up at 11 pm and every room is already full, you're going to be walked.
True, but at the same time, I doubt many "true" associate rates are being offered during times with high occupancy.