Originally Posted by
mikebor
I know a few director of front office and AGM's well and what was told to me is that they don't want to lower the rates too much because the hotel clientele will be different and not who they want. Plus when I called other properties and spoke with mgmt that message was also conveyed in an indirect way.
The personal reasons for a decision kind of don't matter, whether we agree with them or not. In a (somewhat) free market, decisions based solely on poor, personal reasoning tend to put people out of business. Granted, we are experiencing a unique market right now, so the normal rules don't apply. It's very likely that every Marriott/Hilton/Hyatt hotel sets their prices all the time based on a certain type of customer they want to attract. Many businesses do that. It's only a conversation now because of the extraordinary times. This would only be discrimination if a property turns away someone who is willing and able to pay the $159 (and, although I'm not an attorney, I believe they'd probably have to be in a protected class too, but that may be wrong). From what you've written, they aren't refusing anyone services, they're just setting a price point that discourages some customers from buying. In that case, there are a whole bunch of businesses that discriminate against me -- I'm looking at you, local discriminatory BMW dealer!
