nmenaker

Questions: who has the earliest PLAZA in NYC reservation. I have two now for April 24 and May 6th.

kell113

Fairmont is giving incentives to their employees to book friends and family rates to fill up the empty rooms. It (the flyer) says "get paid to book". "win great prizes"


Every hotel offers only so many rooms at discounts and packages. So, if it's a busy weekend in Chicago...the special rates (gov. employee, AAA, AARP and other rates) and packages aren't available.

I don't understand how some and view this as a moral issue.

I think it's very smart of an employee to try to get as many rooms booked as possible to win prizes. It's what the Fairmont is asking of their employees. Isn't it? Fill up our empty rooms......!


I booked a non refundable rate for a S.F. in May a few months back. I called today to see if I found a lower rate...like "friends and family rate"....could i get the new rate? The gentleman I talked with said no....only because my rate is nonrefundable but next time i could book the friends and family rate. Also, he said that I had been upgraded from a one bedroom suite to a two bedroom suite. I asked why and he said probably because they are low on occupancy at that time. It's only my husband and myself traveling but I guess they thought i needed my own bedroom! lol

I love Fairmont! It's a great company and a super hotel to stay in! Good for them that they are rewarding their employees to help book rooms! It's a great marketing idea!

sammydavis

Why assume you know why the RFD thread was removed? I talked to the OP from that thread and he pulled it because of people like you on that site who were hassling him.As well as RFD hassling him for putting his ID number in the post. Fairmont is aware and has allocated rooms for this promotion if you think otherwise, well it is your loss.

sammydavis

One more thing, I just booked for September at San Francisco Heritage Place. The other hotel in SF wouldn't take my booking code. sweet deal, free private driver with Masserati.

ACYYZ/SD

Exactly. The rate is still open and bookable for the property that I reserved in May. Given that this has been "raging" for 24 hours, I'm certain that the CEO of Fairmont Hotels would have been summoned while floating on an inflatable raft at the Acapulco Princess, while sipping on a margarita , to deal with this corporate catastrophe -- if that were indeed the case. The NFAF rate is still alive and well.

This is no different than an airline running a seat sale.

soitgoes

It does seem like Fairmont is trying to turn their employees into sales agents. It does not seem like it's being touted as a benefit/perk.

Renard

There is some wisdom to this....they would have to be a bit dull to not think that this somehow end up on the internet--especially given this little employee 'perk' that appears to have been added

flyupfront

There is some wisdom to this....they would have to be a bit dull to not think that this somehow end up on the internet--especially given this little employee 'perk' that appears to have been added.

If there was any real concern on the part of Fairmont their web team could have deactivated the discount code in about 10 seconds. I think the powers that be are just fine with the room-filling that's going on. When they've filled enough, they'll shut off the spicket.

sc flier

Just like LMT.com didn't think that someone would purchase a week in a Waldorf-Astoria resort property over Christmas? (This was just one of LMT.com's problems.) I don't think that many companies are fully prepared for what they're getting into with viral marketing.

Fairmont might have known that it would spread, but that doesn't mean that they had an accurate understanding of how fast things would actually take place or that they had adequately confirmed that every rate manager was properly prepared for it.

In this case, I'm concerned that the decision on whether to honor a reservation might come down to a decision by each individual property manager rather than a corporate-wide decision by Fairmont.

dhammer53, I completely agree with you, though.

Renard

Yes...it is very clear that this rate is capacity controlled. If they're racking up 'too many sales' they can just shut it off or tighten it up.

wrose99

NJ seems to think the post below was some kind of moral gymnastics; frankly I don't understand the attack at all, but if it helps to clarify, points #1 & #2 below were intended simply to assist FT'ers booking this rate and were not intended to make any kind of argument. #1 is a heads up to be sure to check the fairmont savers rate too to make sure you really are getting the lowest rate with the NFAF rate. #2 also was just intended to make the community aware that sometime the NFAF rate does generate a request for prepayment.

Since some have expressed concerns regarding the volume of bookings attributable to one employee, 84462167, I advise googling '29905503 fairmont' to see an online posting by a different employee. The fact that that person is offering to provide his or her business card did indeed increase my level of confidence that the deal is legit and that Fairmont has told its employess to "get out there and sell!". Of course now having read some of the vitriol on this board I hope that employee reconsiders that offer because the person asking for his or her business card may be someone looking to make trouble for him or her just to be proven right in some argument which really has no one on the other side of it, which is sad.

This reminds me of many previous discussions on FT, including a $20 rate (including a nice breakfast) in Zurich I took advantage of via FT a few years ago - it wound up being available for several weeks after it was posted to FT and despite a few posters who thought it was too good to be true I did not have any problems or even questions during a two week stay in Zurich in midsummer and as far as I know neither did anyone else.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milea...breakfast.html

travelsavant

Is it me on April 10th? If so, I'm all set to go & will report back to all as soon as I can log onto my free WIFI at the Plaza.

She of low moral fiber & heading to H*!! in a gilded suite!

NJUPINTHEAIR

The only vitriol I see on this board is above where you imply that I would go to the lengths of obtaining same and then try to get that poster in trouble with his/her employer.

That is not only sad, as you say, but contemptible.

I think you should take a long look in the mirror before you start accusing others of such conduct. Psychologists call that projection, by the way.

DHammer --

I agree with you often, and your argument has merit, however, there is a flaw, as well.

Wrose points out that approximately 3-4 Fairmont employees have posted their ID numbers on separate bulletin boards (that we can locate as of now) announcing this "promotion."

Now, I have read herein that some of you don't hold the management of Fairmont in high regard and that they are a bunch of execs trapped in a
1960's time warp or something regarding marketing.

All of a sudden now, they are a bunch of geniuses conducting a guerilla marketing campaign.

If this overnight conversion is not enough to give some of you pause, then answer me this:

How many properties does Fairmont own/manage and how many people do they employ in their work force?

Does it not strike some of you as a bit strange that only 3-4 employees have announced this incredible guerrilla marketing campaign?

Of course the answer to these questions from some of you true believers is that the execs are dunderheads and did not effectively communicate this guerilla marketing campaign to all of their employees and that only a couple of their "enligthened" employees were able to glean and discern the true purpose of this guerilla "promotion."

Circular logic at its best.

As others have said, you likely should know soon whether this was the intent of the execs or not. If it was the intent of the execs to spread this virally, then I say they have failed miserably to communicate such intent to most of their workforce.

If, on the other hand, an overzealous employee sought to make a few extra bucks (for as I understand it, employees prior to this "promotion" did not receive a cash payment for a friends and family booking), well, then, that/those employee(s), may have some serious explaining to do come tomorrow morning.

By the way, as much as I think FT should be the center of the traveling public's universe, it is not.

If Fairmont really wants to get the word out about this "promotion" and wants more bookings, just wait till the folks at Fat Wallet and Slick Deals get their hands on this and publicize it.

You ain't seen nothing yet!

kell113

If you are worried about your reservation....just call your President club associate like i did. You will feel better! Confirm the rate and support the economy and hotel!!!!

I booked a bunch of rooms at Ritz when they had a $50 room rate glitch last year. I worried about it until I decided to inquire about it! They confirmed it and no worries. Such a classy hotel! They said..."hey, too bad you didn't catch the $5 room rate glitch we had a few weeks back!"

This isn't a glitch...just a promotion!

kell113

FYI...hotel management (company management, etc) works 24/7. They don't wait for Monday's report of mishaps to get on a problem (if there is one). Those people work harder than anyone I know.

There isn't a problem. You call..ask "am i good to go on this rate"....period. You don't need to go into anything else like ID#. that's just goofy.