NJUPINTHEAIR

Well, I wonder if there is any company policy concerning who you can give the Friends and Family rate to if you are an employee of Fairmont.

It seems to me that posting your employee ID so that anyone can use it stretches the limit as to who actually qualifies as your friends and family -- notwithstanding the fact that you are making a great deal of many new "friends" online by giving out your employee ID number for anyone to use to take advantage of these rates.

If Fairmont does not want to police its policies as to whom actually is eligible for these rates, well then, so be it.

I am just glad that I am not a stockholder of the company as I see nothing in that flyer to even remotely suggest that you can give out your employee number willy nilly so as to have anyone and their uncle eligible for this discount.

On the other hand, if Fairmont is unhappy with the new "friends" of and clear overuse of a certain employee's ID number, well then, they certainly know how to locate that individual, should they wish.

I agree with Lorna concerning the ethics of those employees who have interpreted the flyer as allowing them to post their number, as well as it also being demonstrative of the ethics of those who think that they now qualify as the friends of a certain Fairmont employee -- despite their never having met the person, do not know their name, or even gender!

Chacun a son gout.

tcook052

The deliberate deception of the employee quoted in OP is what made me first suspect the validity of this promo. I would've been much more accepting had that person chocen instead to be forthright and said the company was okay with this promo code being shared and asked users to be so kind as to include his number for an in-house recognition or incentive plan. However to deliberately mislead FTers into thinking a Fairmont reservation couldn't be made without both the employee number and promo code speaks volumes to the naked greed of said employee.

nyx.t2t

I don't believe that the code being used is actually the employee ID number as mine is only a six digit code and I am a fairly new employee. I'm sure they were given a separate number that is only used for this program to make sure they are rewarded.

I hate to stick up for the original poster of this deal, but like mentioned a few times already in this thread, I don't believe that it is necessary to see the special rates but possibly necessary to prove that you "know" someone that works at a Fairmont when checking in? I mean the front desk of CanuckFlyHigh's parents noticed it (but luckily didn't ask for specifics).

rupmh

Called reservations to confirm.. all good

mlbcard

It's unusual that they hadn't thought of something like this happening and didn't set up some safeguards against it already (i.e. detection of an unusual (say 1000) number of reservations with the ID of that one person).

soitgoes

They may have a maximum payout amount.

blueslip

Since you are the most obvious Fairmont employer here at FT, what is your employee number so that I can credit you my two bookings?

CanuckFlyHigh

My apologies, I just came from YUL on a work trip last week and stayed at the QE, but yes, my parents are staying at Hotel Mac.

nyx.t2t

I don't think the referral number is the same as the employee number. It's probably something you have to request from HR or whoever is in charge of the benefits program. I'll probably request one sooner or later when a family member needs a hotel room but I don't think I'll be sharing it with the general public like this other guy just in case because I don't want to get into any trouble. Thanks for offering that up to me though!

NJUPINTHEAIR

I don't fault the OP for posting this deal or even having his parents stay on this rate before more of the specifics of this rate have become known.

Now, that there is at least some question of the provenance and appropriateness of this deal in doubt, the question of booking same obtains.

I think we will will soon know whether this is for real, for as others have said, this has doubtless gone viral, and if Fairmont does nothing to stop it, then it would seem that they endorse its widespread dissemination.

nyx.t2t

Everyone makes it seem like this is a really bad thing for Fairmont. But if they have empty rooms that aren't being used, why not make use of them and boost revenue during these tough economic times? Even if it's at an incredible discount. A program like this brings in people to fill their rooms and boosts revenues not only for hotel night stay-overs but for in-room dining, hotel restaurants, etc. Does anyone else see it like this? Doesn't that make sense?

nyx.t2t

Oh and a few posts ago, I meant the original poster of the deal itself. Not the original poster of this thread

iahphx

Well, it apparently made sense for Kimpton, which earlier in the week sold me a hotel room in Seattle for $81 that otherwise was going for $299. What Fairmont is supposedly doing isn't all that different. This deal is even closer to the Intercontinental friends and family promo. I could be wrong, but I think there's more skepticism here than merited. I'm not 100% sure a Flyertalk forum is what Fairmont had in mind, but I'd be very surprised if these rates are not honored. I think they need/want the business.

LornaV

My guess is that tomorrow morning when Fairmont execs show up at work....this lovely offer will get a bit of attention. Meanwhile, I booked the Orchid, Kohala Coast, Hawaii.

BEAV

While it remains to be seen whether anyone will be denied rooms at these rates without knowing the name of the employee in the booking ID, we are in unprecidented times as far as the travel industry goes.

I frequently stay (and monitor) hotel rates in San Francisco. I used to use Priceline or Hotwire for most stays. However, since January of this year, I'm seeing very aggressive pricing through various hotel chains and am now booking most of my stays direct. And I'll say most of my direct-book stays are at typical Priceline rates ($100 and under for 4 star hotels). During the post 9/11 downturn in travel, Priceline rates were rock-bottom. In contrast, what I'm seeing during this economic mess is much more creativity on the part of various brands which is encouraging direct-bookings.

Crystal Cruises, a high-end luxury product with only two ships, this week announced their 2010 pricing. Although their prices remained virtually unchanged from 2009 on a per-diem basis, they are including $500-$1000 per person shipboard credits on most every 2010 voyage. These credits can be used toward shore excursions, spa treatments, wines/cocktails, you name it. A very clever marketing scheme which makes many of their cruises more or less "all inclusive". They also devised a promotion whereas if you sail on your birthday in 2010, you will receive a 50% off certificate for a future cruise to be taken within 12 months. On the Cruise Critic message board, most of the Crystal diehards (as well as Travel Agents who post there) swore up and down the 50% reduction would not be valid on segments of their annual Full World cruise, which is typically exempt from most all promotions. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and the word back from Crystal headquarters was YES you can use the 50% off promo on World Cruise segments. Their ships have been sailing at mostly 50% or less capacity so far this year, so obviously they needed to come out with some drastic promotions.

I would tend to agree Fairmont probably didn't stop to think of the ramifications this promotion could have if/when it hit the Internet. And who knows if modifications loom ahead once they get a grasp of the reservations being generated. If they're going to pull the plug on this, or make changes, hopefully they'll honor reservations made prior to any changes. At the very least, they are making some bucks on rooms that otherwise would have gone empty, as nyx.t2t mentioned.