Blumie

Flying for Fun

I understand but we all need to be cognizant of the ramifications of doing so. It is a touchy subject for some and an inappropriate scapegoat for others.

Interestingly, no one seems to be bothered about "Ladies night" specials which in itself is discriminatory towards men. I do agree that the OP opened up a can of worms with the choice of words though. I will leave it at that.

Cheers

James

flyingeph12

1. At least with the previously SPG-affiliated hotels (e.g., Chatwal, St. Regis SF, etc.), resident rates for CA and NYC-area residents were quite common and often listed on the "Offers" page. The rates were often very similar to AAA rates (10-15% off + free breakfast). I don't see them as often now with Marriott, but I bet if you called the hotel and asked you might get lucky. My guess is that there's some special code for these rates that is no longer prominently listed online (with SPG, if memory serves, it often was something like "RESFLT," but with Marriott it would be some 3-character code).

2. There are two types of discrimination: invidious and benign. I would say these rates are a type of benign discrimination.

Blumie

Tedgrrrr

Everyone is ignoring the fact that the local rate I am complaining about made it seem as though everyone was eligible based on the description and it was only on the 12th line of the rate rule where it said that you need a particular id... Truth be told, if it had been obvious from the get go I would not even have bothered to click on it or look.

bhrubin

The saga continues despite the obvious fact that local and special rates are the normal course of business pretty much everywhere.

WillBarrett_68

"it seemed like everyone was eligible except the part where it said only residents of X"

Nobody is ignoring that at all. The fact that you personally didn't notice doesn't suddenly make it "blatant discrimination"

Often1

There are complaints about what line one term or another of a hotel, air carrier, or car rental rate appear littered all over FT. The bottom line is that everyone wants the term that trips them up in 100-point bold font at the top. The rub is that people differ as to which item tripped them up.

Would you be happier if it were the 11th line? How much worse would it be if it were the 13th?

You should also be aware that there are plenty of properties which specifically do not rent rooms to local residents. There are rants on FT about those as well.

writerguyfl

But it's not hyperbole in some places. In the two hotels in which I used to work, we routinely sold full rack rates on multiple nights of an average business work week. That was our BAR on most Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Flying for Fun

Case in point!

flyingeph12

I was not aware of such properties. Would you mind sharing some examples? I am surprised that hotels would refuse to allow local residents to book rooms. I would think that as long as any person were willing to pay whatever the hotel is asking, it wouldn't matter where the person was actually from. How do these properties define "local resident"?