Expedia booking - no benefits and points
Mar 6, 2020, 3:49 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Cambridge, UK
Programs: Qantas Gold; BA Silver; Virgin Australia Platinum; Virgin Atlantic Gold
Posts: 336
Expedia booking - no benefits and points
I have 75% discretion over which hotel I stay in on business but 0% discretion over whether it is booked direct or via Expedia. Therefore I get really annoyed that ihg do not recognise my loyalty (and my spire elite status) when I stay in an Expedia booking
Mar 6, 2020, 4:20 pm
#2
Join Date: Dec 2003
Programs: AA Plat Pro, United Silver, Marriott LTT, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, IHG Platinum
Posts: 1,120
MTA: I'm not unsympathetic. My husband's employer requires him to use a corporate travel agent which sometimes has drawbacks, but luckily those hotel bookings still qualify for elite benefits. I'd be pretty upset if they switched to Expedia. But I'd blame the employer, not the hotel chain.
Mar 6, 2020, 4:23 pm
#3
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Canada, USA, Europe
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 31,452
Sorry, but can you explain what this means, please?
Mar 6, 2020, 4:26 pm
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Capetown
Programs: Marriott Lifetime Plat, IHG and Hilton Diamond, LH SEN, BA Gold
Posts: 10,167
Or the loyalty of your employer?And it is as easy as this: Booking platforms offer various benefits. IHG.COM is nothing but a booking platform and offers certain benefits (points, status). EXPEDIA.COM is another booking platform and offers other (or no) benefits (at least not to you). Both, IHG.COM and EXPEDIA.COM get a certain percentage of the value of the relevant transaction. Your employer decided to use EXPEDIA.COM, probably because your employer gets (a) a good reporting, (b) offers not limited to one chain and (c) a substantial kick-back at the end of the year. IHG.COM, offering points and status, gets nothing, you can't expect anything.
Mar 6, 2020, 4:27 pm
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Capetown
Programs: Marriott Lifetime Plat, IHG and Hilton Diamond, LH SEN, BA Gold
Posts: 10,167
Mar 6, 2020, 4:35 pm
#6
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Canada, USA, Europe
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 31,452
Mar 6, 2020, 4:44 pm
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Brighton. UK
Programs: BA Gold / VS /IHG Diamond & Ambassador
Posts: 14,191
Your employer dose not care abut your points collectionn and hotel status. All they are about is the price of where you stay. Perhaps they have negotiated a corprate rate with expedia where they are rebated a % of the expenditure of the business they put expedias way?
If you expense yoru stays then are they amenable to you booking your preferred IHG hotel direct but only claiming the expedia cost (which you would of course very by providing screen shots of the expedia booking engine) or to the limit of their per diem for hotel bookings?
If you expense yoru stays then are they amenable to you booking your preferred IHG hotel direct but only claiming the expedia cost (which you would of course very by providing screen shots of the expedia booking engine) or to the limit of their per diem for hotel bookings?
Mar 6, 2020, 5:40 pm
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: CPH
Programs: UAMP S, TK M&S E (*G), Marriott LTP, IHG P, SK EBG
Posts: 11,083
Mr.'s current employer also uses Expedia (engenia or whatever crap it's called), I book hotels for him so I know how it works: I can see both point earning and non-point earning rates for ALL chains, if you want points the price will be at least 20% more. It means Mr. will not book those under any circumstances (we don't have the "you can spend $200 max per night to book whatever you want" thing).
Mar 7, 2020, 12:45 am
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Capetown
Programs: Marriott Lifetime Plat, IHG and Hilton Diamond, LH SEN, BA Gold
Posts: 10,167
Your employer dose not care abut your points collectionn and hotel status. All they are about is the price of where you stay. Perhaps they have negotiated a corprate rate with expedia where they are rebated a % of the expenditure of the business they put expedias way?
If you expense yoru stays then are they amenable to you booking your preferred IHG hotel direct but only claiming the expedia cost (which you would of course very by providing screen shots of the expedia booking engine) or to the limit of their per diem for hotel bookings?
If you expense yoru stays then are they amenable to you booking your preferred IHG hotel direct but only claiming the expedia cost (which you would of course very by providing screen shots of the expedia booking engine) or to the limit of their per diem for hotel bookings?
Expedia pays a certain percentage of the value of all bookings as a kickback. This can be very substantial.
Mar 7, 2020, 3:01 am
#10
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Cambridge, UK
Programs: Qantas Gold; BA Silver; Virgin Australia Platinum; Virgin Atlantic Gold
Posts: 336
Mar 7, 2020, 3:05 am
#11
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Cambridge, UK
Programs: Qantas Gold; BA Silver; Virgin Australia Platinum; Virgin Atlantic Gold
Posts: 336
I mean that (on average) 3 out of 4 occasions I can choose the hotel I want to stay in but not the way it is booked. My point is that i am annoyed that Hilton and ihg do not recognise my prior loyalty and I now have no reason to choose their hotels ( in fact my annoyance is a disincentive ).
Mar 7, 2020, 6:01 pm
#13
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Fort Lauderdale, FL
Posts: 3,360
Being for-profit businesses, hotels need to limit costs to make money. In most cases, when someone books through a third-party company like Expedia, the hotel must pay a commission to that company. All of the major US hotel chains have decided that individual hotels don't have to pay that commission and pay the costs associated with providing frequent traveler benefits. Hotels will pay one or the other.
Mar 8, 2020, 8:36 am
#14
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Capetown
Programs: Marriott Lifetime Plat, IHG and Hilton Diamond, LH SEN, BA Gold
Posts: 10,167
Rest assured, the individual hotels pay commission to the chain. And they have to pay the costs (most of these like upgrades on availability don't cost anything) of these benefits. Or do you really believe the cashbay paid by shoop and others comes out of IHG's pocket. No, the hotels pay about 15% as commission to the chain, plus, plus, plus....
Mar 8, 2020, 11:32 am
#15
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: CPH
Programs: UAMP S, TK M&S E (*G), Marriott LTP, IHG P, SK EBG
Posts: 11,083
Rest assured, the individual hotels pay commission to the chain. And they have to pay the costs (most of these like upgrades on availability don't cost anything) of these benefits. Or do you really believe the cashbay paid by shoop and others comes out of IHG's pocket. No, the hotels pay about 15% as commission to the chain, plus, plus, plus....