The smallest state

Hi:

Booked 3 nights at Vancouver HR about 5 months ago. Rate was $249 Canadian a night. Called the "Discoverist" number on the website and asked if I could amend it to two nights only (found a Rocketmiles price of $240 at another place that would give me 9000 AA miles for third night).

The Discoverist phone rep indicated that they have to re-do the whole fare, now instead of $249 per night x3, it will be $440 per night x 2. I decide to keep the three nights. Figure I will just stay the 3 nights at HR.

Called the front desk and the lady who answered was super nice, saw I was a Discoverist and said she could do it.

So my question is.........who is correct? The "Discoverist" phone rep who said "no" or the front desk agent who said "no problem"?

neo_781

Both. When you call central reservations they have less flexibility to come up with "custom rates" and can only price a stay the way the system is setup. However when you call the hotel directly they may have the ability to override the rate (depending on the policies their hotel setup) as its their hotel and they individually manage rates and inventory.

Here's a similar example.....

Recently I wanted a 3 night stay at a specific hotel. Hyatt dot com showed its as $175 for the 1st night but $220 for nights 2 and 3. I made the reservation for 1 night at $175 and when I got to the hotel I asked if I could extend for 3 nights for the $175 rate. They happily obliged. Pressing my luck a bit further I asked if they could also make a reservation for the next week at $175 and he said sorry, next week is showing $210/night.

So in my case they were willing to extend the rate to multiple days but not make a new reservation from scratch at the lower rate.

cmjaffe

as a former diamond, and present globalist had come across this many a time. sorry to be rude but exploring isn't going to get much attention from CRO, that said i have 90% of times had success calling up to speak directly with the property. yeah, it could be an extra call, take a bit if time but in the end accomplished i wanted vs settling.
my only suggestion is for you to double check that everything is in order and possibly get a name with the confirmation (i usually ask and then say a personalized thank you)

The smallest state

It makes me wonder about the "exclusive phone" line they have set up for me. If they exclusively tell me no, there really is no reason for it. I like the front desk approach.