Rumor: The End of LNF?
 

A friend of mine who works at Marriott told me that they are considering eliminating the program. When I asked why, he said that no one uses it. My friend had never heard of it until about a year ago when I told him about and he has been at Marriott for 5 years. He said no one at Marriott even knows anything about it.

Well we know it's not true that no one uses it. It's probably the reverse. Used too often.

Marriott used the 'no one uses it' excuse to get rid of BOGOs, when they said previously that GMs didn't like the BOGOs because they were used too much ;)

Methinks the latter was more accurate & if LNF goes away, it will go away for the same reason.

Cheers.

And as LNF goes away, so do many of my personal stays.

since Marriott tends to be a follower, vrs a leader, until the other major brands discontinue their BRG programs I wouldn't put much value in this rumor, but then again stranger things can happen...........

agreed.

Not sure LNF costs Marriott that much and it is good PR for them. Folks are essentially getting a better price and Marriott get's the 3rd party price less the commission the 3rd part vendor would keep.
I can't believe they would eliminate the program when others keep it.

the LNFs are basically a guarantee (of best price) which is backed by a financial incentive...........if Marriott CXLs this guarantee, whats next, all their other guarantees (with damage provisions)????

I think your friend is misinformed.....this is so central to the way MI (and other hotel companies) do business today I can't see it going anywhere....

I don't know if you want to explain what aspect of Marriott's operation your friend works in, but it seems to me that LNF is only related to the online booking part of the operation, and there's no need for most people in other aspects of Marriott's operation to know "anything" about it. No one handling housekeeping, restaurants, lounges, etc, needs to a bit about it, and all the front desk people need to know about it is that it's a valid rate, period.

Do you frequent any airline forums enough to know that the least relaible sources of information about changes coming to the airline program are pilots and flight attendants? So why would "random" people working for a hotel program be any more reliable?

Then there's word "consider". UA has "considered" getting rid of Economy Plus an innumerable number of times. (It reportedly got very close once or twice.) Yet here it still is, and now copied by its two biggest competitors.

Many companies constantly re-evaluate all sorts of things on a recurring basis. This periodic routine re-evaluation can be misinterpreted by people not familar with it.

Claiming nobody uses it is flat out wrong. A quick review of the boards demonstrates just how wrong that statement is.

there are many uses for MI in keeping LNF around....the guest facing one is huge but there are other reasons too (it can and does get to be used as a big stick with hotels at times that aren't following the SOP's)

If nobody used it, keeping it would make sense. The goal is to get people to book on the Marriott site, where Marriott doesn't have to pay commission to a third party for the booking. By guaranteeing the lowest price on their site, they convince people to visit their site to book nights. If nobody used the benefit, Marriott would essentially have a free incentive. It would make no sense to get rid of the benefit in that case.

Their occupancy rates are up this year and they may see LNF claims as a drag on room rates?

That may be, and that would be a reason to discontinue the program. The OP indicated this exchange with his source, "When I asked why, he said that no one uses it." That makes no sense, which makes me question the trustworthiness of the statement. How can we rely on his source for the program being discontinued when the source offers a reason that makes no sense? If nobody used the program, Marriott would be able to brag that its site offers the best rates, thus drive business to its site, at no cost.

What if a friend told you the Moon was about to start to smell because the cheese it's made of is going bad? We know the Moon isn't made of cheese, but should we still believe the Moon is going to smell soon?

please socrates tell the story. I am sooo bored this week. I want to hear what happens to hotels who are naughty. I asked you last time to tell a story and never heard back. Plzz tell the story

Only reason I could see it going away is if its one of those blind MBA decisions where they just look at one aspect of the dollars and don't take into account the additional goodwill and extra revenue driven towards Marriott because of the LNF stays.

For example, I've booked stays at Marriott where I would've gone to another chain because the LNF made the hotel in line with the competition rates. I've also had others stay at a Marriott using LNF and because of their experience, now frequent the hotel chain. I wouldn't have directed them to Marriott if the program wasn't in place to get a better deal.

also, take into consideration that when an LNF is approved that the hotel is not paying a commission to the comparison website company...........

I'd actually wish they extended the program to RC. I feel cheated when many RC are available much cheaper (sometimes by hundreds of $) on other sites. The end result is I stay at other chains.

I don't even need the lower price, would be fine if the higher one was just consistently available across the board. It's the uncomfortable feeling of being "punished" for booking directly. RC bean counters might cook up some justification from their perspective but that doesn't work for me, I just stay elsewhere.

LNF generates extra revenue
 

Because Marriot's BRG is relatively hassle free in its operation, it has generated a lot of goodwill and actual business. Modifying it will invarially cost Marriott a lot in overal scheme of things. But as someone said above corporate executives in US are known to be self-destructing types across many industries. So anything is possible.

In case anyone that matters at Marriott is reading this, I usually go out of my way to give Marriott my business (even when LNF is not possible) simply because of two items:
a) they were one of the first one to establish property-wide non-smoking policy
b) found their LNF balanced and relatively pain-free

Now, first criteria is no longer exclusive to Marriott. If they take away second one then Marriott is as good as other comprative chain (at least to me).

Highly doubt this is going anywhere... Best Western just reinstated their BRG program with a $100 travel card if you find a lower rate.

The End of LNF
 

I have never been able to find an lnf that would have been of use to me. That tells me that generally I know the best place to go is their website. I still keep looking making a little game out of it BUT. If they were to get rid of it that would be a huge it to me and a reason to start looking elsewhere

I've never been able to find them, either, but have you tried posting your request to the thread on this board? i have had other FTers find the better rate for me. There are some people who frequent that thread who have amazing abilities to find lower fares. If you haven't tried that route, you should!

+1

Some properties are very difficult or impossible to find a LNF rate.

Others take some time and effort and know-how, but the lower rates are out there.

Search the LNF help thread to see if people have had success with the property you are interested in.

I've used LNF for 6/6 of my last stays for a savings up $400+... it generally takes me 3+ hours to find them though. Just depends what your time is worth

That's impressive. I have only been able to find them for about 10% of my stays.

I've saved over $1K in the last 12 months alone. Tokyo, Hong Kong, Okinawa, Kauai, Hawaii. It does take time and sometimes a few tries. Sometime there is nothing - I came up 100% dry this July for Las Vegas.

I'll say it again - this smells of an internet rumor (there are times I call friends in Bethesda and ask about these things - I really don't see a need on this one)...I don't see it going away

As far as someone wanting me to tell a story - I'm not exactly sure what that's suppose to mean

i think someone was referring to what you posted up thread:

"but there are other reasons too (it can and does get to be used as a big stick with hotels at times that aren't following the SOP's)"

I agree that a BRG isn't going to go away given other hotel chains have BRG programs. Whether it was amended a bit is the only change I could see & doubtful that will happen. But if it does it won't be because no one is using it ;)

Cheers.

well honestly Marriott would love it if no one used it - it would mean hotels weren't making pricing mistakes through the various distribution channels.....but as it is MI needs it to ensure the brand doesn't lose any value over silly mistakes

Not all third-party rates are pricing mistakes. Many are attempts to appeal only to "leisure" travelers with the obscure third-party rates, assuming that people booking "business" stays will only book either at Marriott or at "major" third-party booking sites.

The most obvious example is the multiple cases of LNFable rates only popping up at certain sites when the work day ends, and going away the next morning (on weekdays) when the next work day starts. Those rates therefore tend to be LNFable only if you book on the weekend (before Sunday morning), since that's the only "non work day" time that last more than 24 hours needed for an LNF claim to be processed (and thus needed for the rate to stay there). It's so obvious to me that these hotels are intentionally putting out these rates only at these hours because they want to offer these rates primarily just to "leisure" travelers.

I know of hotels where I file LNFs repeatedly (only booking on Saturdays now!) and the rates stay there week after week after week after week (but only outside of work hours), so it's simply because these hotels haven't found any other way to offer one rate to "leisure" travelers and another rate to "business" travelers.

Marriott.com doesn't seem to do variable pricing based on time of booking, so these hotels that want to do it have to go to third-party sites that support that feature.

What is LNF?

8-years on FT, a handle of "travelexpert" and over 1700 posts so this is a joke, right????????????

deleted

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marri...rsion-brg.html

LNF stands for Look No Further.

BRG stands for Best Rate Guarantee.

Unnecessary & unhelpful comment.

However, sdsearch has answered the question which I'm sure travelexpert appreciates.

Cheers.