Ancien Maestro

Manual NFAF has been going on for 4 months now.. successful bookings and savings for FTers accross the Board.

I think its important to respect those whose opinions are of both factions.. Lots of FTers have taken advantage of it with great success, and for those who don't feel its worth taking advantage of it, then I would be the first to respect that opinion.. Not only FTers are taking advantage of this, but it ended up that my Facebook network including Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers, etc. have found great success in booking stays and vacations under this deal..i.e. Personally my family's Big Island Stay I saved about 40% off using NFAF compared to my previous stay rate.. and I thought I had a heck of a deal getting a Ocean Front 1,577 sq ft suite upgrade out of it.

I'm personally sold on this Friends and Family promotion.. Throughout the past 4 months, I've got 4 connections willing to book FTers friends through Facebook.. I've also received two other employee offers to book NFAF for myself personally additionally.. I also noticed since the Friends and Family rates went manual, that the rates have dropped as well.. i.e. 1 1/2 benjamins for Chateau Lake Louise Fairmont Lake View at the height of Summer.. They sell these things retail last year for $499 pn.

I remember the empty feeling when the March 31st internet deadline passed by.. everyone was dissappointed.. but I also remember that the deal was still on in the same way as the internet, and still available for those who want to book it, who otherwise wouldn't stay at a Fairmont. I'm happy to announce, despite those who don't believe in the method of the manual system, that the NFAF deals are still on and rates to my surprise are dropping! No obligation quotes by my network of Fairmont Employees at FTers beck and call.. just PM me. Name of the game.. save $$$.

Again, I'm not an employee at Fairmont.. my incentive, reward enough, is to communicate the very best Fairmont deals and savings to FTers interested.. NFAF, Packages and promos.

tcook052

What's with the speech? You asked if there were any objections about transporting the "deal" to the Hotel Deals forum and I suggested you might want to check with the moderators of that forum first to see whether such a deal which is only available through a social networking site would be suitable or appropriate. That really wasn't an actual objection but rather a suggestion though it seems like the only answer to your question you really wanted to hear was 'yes'.

Ancien Maestro

Actually, I said I respected your opinion and other naysayers.. if you're reading into the message, that is not the intent. Your suggestion is noted.. thanks.

Darkzx, I replied to your pm about NFAF but was not able to send because your settings are set to no messages received in the admin box. Please allow pms to be sent to you, then I'll be able to send the link to you. btw.. I appreciate the kind words.. I shall continue to contribute on to the FT board, for those who wish to benefit.

Jasper2009

I agree with tcook052 that contacting the mods would probably be a good idea as:

1) the rates cannot be booked by the general public without joining the FB site and having the booking made manually by a Fairmont employee
2) your "contacts"/"friends" don´t have any affiliation with FT
3) the original thread was closed due to some unpleasant conversations between you and some other FTers
4) there are different opinions on whether Fairmont employers are meant to make this rate available to the public/folks they don´t personally know

Anyhow I´m glad that those people who have booked the FAF rate haven´t had any difficulties so far.

Ancien Maestro

Jasper2009.. CanuckFlyer earlier on the thread asked both of us to communicate our concerns through Private Messaging and we both agreed. I would appreciate if you have any concerns to contact me directly, thanks.

Regarding the NFAF thread you mentioned.. I was being attacked by naysayers, and the comments were getting personal. I was the one who contacted the moderator regarding the attacks, and the thread was closed by the moderator as NFAF went manual.. so the program is the same but booking method the traditional way Fairmont has been doing F&F bookings for years.

Manual NFAF is the same program offered by Fairmont as was their NFAF program through internet bookings. The definition of friends and family remains the same, thus the program is available for all of those who booked thru the Internet prior. The attacks of prior thread and criticism for my efforts further emboldens my drive to make NFAF available for those who want to continue to benefit.

Regarding status of creating a thread in Hotel Deals.. there is a great volume of bookings that are being made currently through these connections I'm offering to FTers per arrangement with employee contacts. The definition of friend is solved legally through my friends booking thru Facebook. The problem with this high volume and the fact the employees are day in and day out working at Fairmonts for a living is the response time to these bookings. I think its best to keep the quality of response times up, because indeed it takes some time to get the response back from the employees (just as any friend working at Fairmont would sometimes need some time to get back to you). For quality assurance purposes we'll keep the thread here at Fairmont President's Club, and I will inquire if my contacts can handle increased booking volumes before deciding to start a thread in Hotel Deals.

AMRivlin

Can you explain what your words mean, when saying Pacific Rim and Santa Monica are loss leaders?

I would think with Fairmont Waterfront sold out time to time PacRim would help the overload of bookings. I just stayed at PacRim for 5 nights, it is a wonderful location and new hotel. The layout and structure is similar to the East tower of Fairmont Singapore, just newer.

fly-yul

What I understood is at those 2 properties the NFAF rate is a good value as Ancien was unable to find any other rate (ie. "loss leader") that was a better deal.

In this context a "loss leader" would be a rate that is very low to get you to the hotel during, for example the off season. 99$ at Scottsdale in July would be a loss leader.

jarusoba

Like comping Platinum to Amex Centurion holders would be a loss leader. They are hoping we would spend more $ there. But there is little or no difference between a Plat member and a regular member when we stay there, there is not much incentive for me to stay there after I used up their free night certs and suite ug certs.

Ancien Maestro

Fly-yul is correct.. NFAF are loss leaders at some hotels, its simply I can't find a better rate, combined package, 3rd party website, etc.. and that these hotels depend on Friends and Family bookings to fill the empty rooms not sold retail. I'm surprised to actually find that some hotels are depending on NFAF, as at one point I was convinced that Fairmonts accross the board has a loss leader that beats the NFAF rate. Kokinos when I was golfing with him, told me that he has stay at Hotel Vancouver next time out at the coast because Pacific Rim rates were high, sometimes higher than Four Seasons.. he simply couldn't find a rate that was low enough, or a loss leader that was available to him for Pacific Rim to get his business the next time he was out to Vancouver. Long and behold, I tried looking at rates for Pacific Rim, and found that the best rate was prepaid advanced (non-cancellable) for $262 per night.. still steep. Then on the FB booking wall, a quote for a Pacific Rim booking went through and it was about $100 less then prepaid advanced (NFAF is flexible and cancellable).. and I realized that the Pacific Rim's loss leader is NFAF Manual bookings. A bit surreal watching deals that people are getting on the FB wall.. sort of like a stock ticker symbol screen.

For some hotels, NFAF Manual Bookings are a must have tool, unless you're flexible at staying at other hotels that are not your first choice or comfortable paying higher rates.

jehova

Hey AM,

Just wanted to say thanks! I just got confirmation of getting the F&F promo rate through your friend on FB. The confirmation was also validated also via fairmont's 1-800 reservations line~

Shenanigans

Is there no way to take advantage of the NFAF rates if not on Facebook? There has to be many people, other than myself, who want no part of Facebook but would like to take advantage of the opportunity. I guess I just don't understand the exclusivity.

noirpepper

there are ways to have almost no part on Facebook and yet have a Facebook account.

Ancien Maestro

Some have inquired and asked to be part of NFAF without FB.. FB solves the 'friend' requirement of Friends and Family, also is a hub to organize everyone involved seemlessly. The FB page is a like a stock ticker symbol page with rates posted for quotes. Its' a neat way to get involved, but I guess its the setup that we've got and it works well.

There are many employees at Fairmont.. in fact thousands. The setup here is to facilitate those interested in booking the friends and family rates in a unique way. Contact the Fairmont employees you know to accomodate your rate requests if you don't want to be involved with FB.. and they'll be more than happy to book for you. If FTers don't want to be bothered, then this is a convenient way to book as well, in an organized fashion.. this setup meets the requirements that Fairmont is seeking and has been working very well. If FTers are interested in booking these rates, please pm me for a Facebook friends link.

tcook052

Why would the folks who already know a Fairmont staffer consider booking this promo through FB?

Ancien Maestro

I personally know quite a few staffers, and found it a lot more convenient to post the quote on FB and get the booking done.. Saved the hassle of trying to track down the staffer by leaving a message, getting quotes, finally deciding, tracking down staffer again, doing reservation details, and finally getting the confirmation #. I found it more convenient to post quotes FB online, viewing other requestors' quotes for the same and other hotels, and then getting th final booking done with confirmation #. Quotes are like stock ticker symbols.. For example I noticed that you are going down to Turnberry, which I've been to as well, nice hotel.. In September, you can get your room as low as a benjamin plus 9 loonies..