Misleading pricing on Marriott.com
#61
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They don't use "FROM" like that any more. It only says from before you select a particular room/rate. The room/rate pricing just says "$X/night" even though the rate may vary per night during the stay.
#62
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: EWR
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I have thought it to be just a case of poor design rather than being intentionally misleading.
I have learned now to click through the nominally higher priced hotels to find out the overall cost of the stay. This is especially important for longer stays, where there is a greater opportunity for daily price fluctuation.
I have learned now to click through the nominally higher priced hotels to find out the overall cost of the stay. This is especially important for longer stays, where there is a greater opportunity for daily price fluctuation.
#63
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: BDU
Programs: DL:MM, Marriott:LTT
Posts: 8,779
I have thought it to be just a case of poor design rather than being intentionally misleading.
I have learned now to click through the nominally higher priced hotels to find out the overall cost of the stay. This is especially important for longer stays, where there is a greater opportunity for daily price fluctuation.
I have learned now to click through the nominally higher priced hotels to find out the overall cost of the stay. This is especially important for longer stays, where there is a greater opportunity for daily price fluctuation.
You state "I have learned..." and my guess is most of us on here have, but how many people who do not travel as often as we all do are going to know to do that? Most real people aren't on hotel sites daily.
#64
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Occam's razor seems to have been globally replaced by victim mentality.
#65
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You don't need to "know where to look" - there is literally no way to book the room without proceeding to the page that show exactly what everyone is requesting.
#66
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This is nothing. I've been around a while to see a lot of different approaches. The worst being a site that picked the highest rate and only presented that for every day of the stay. Needless to say they probably got tired of being overlooked by guests that were price sensitive and not blindly booking stays where ever regardless of price. Personally, I check the entire stay and every combination of days to find the lowest price and book two, three, or more rezzies if needed to save some bucks. Just like the grocery store, sometimes that six-pack isn't cheaper than six singles.
#67
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: England - UK
Posts: 512
AmEx doesn't participate in dynamic currency conversion. Normally when you pay with AmEx (at least the USA varieties), you sign for the charge in local currency. Then AmEx converts the amount to your own currency (based on interbank rates) and you pay the bill in your own currency.
With a USA based card, if I book a hotel room in London, it's really priced in British pounds (not USA dollars for Americans) and my contract is to pay the amount stated in pounds. The hotel bills me in pounds, charges pounds to my credit card, and it itself paid by AmEx in pounds. AmEx itself converts the amount in pounds to USA dollars and I pay my bill in USA dollars, from my USA checking account.
When I book the hotel in London, I set the (usually SPG or Hyatt) website to show me the prices in British pounds and print the confirmation in pounds (and expect my email confirmation to also show the price in pounds). If I phone to make a reservation, for example through FHR, I always insist that the agent tell me prices in local currency (British pounds in this example), not dollars since the binding contract will be in dollars. Also, I never book prepaid rates or go through OLTAs, priceline, airline website offers for hotels, package tours, etc.
ADDED: A couple countries are exceptions. When I last visited Russia, they maintained a separate "currency" (and defined official exchange rates) for foreigners which international chain hotels (and some stores specializing in imported luxury items) used. International hotels in Argentina tend to contractually define their prices in dollars for foreigners and then convert to local currency at the time of checkout. [Argentina also has a recent law saying that certain travel expensive such such as tours and plane tickets must be paid in hard currency.] Turkey seems to define prices in dollars in some places but in Euro in other establishments. There was a time when inflation in Israel was so bad that many shops had prices marked in dollars and converted to local currency at the time of purchase, using that morning's exchange rate, but one paid in local currency (whether in cash or by credit card) unless one could negotiate a deal for paying cash in foreign currency. There are also cases near borders or with many tourists where shops openly advertise that they are willing to accept foreign cash, usually at exchange rates they post (for example, US$1 = CAN$1 at times for convenience if you drive across the border and don't bother too change money), but other countries (Russia officially, East Germany in the past) forbid locals to transact in foreign currency. Some countries forbid their citizens/residents/businesses to hold foreign currency or maintain bank accounts in foreign currency without special permission. Obviously enforcement varies.
With a USA based card, if I book a hotel room in London, it's really priced in British pounds (not USA dollars for Americans) and my contract is to pay the amount stated in pounds. The hotel bills me in pounds, charges pounds to my credit card, and it itself paid by AmEx in pounds. AmEx itself converts the amount in pounds to USA dollars and I pay my bill in USA dollars, from my USA checking account.
When I book the hotel in London, I set the (usually SPG or Hyatt) website to show me the prices in British pounds and print the confirmation in pounds (and expect my email confirmation to also show the price in pounds). If I phone to make a reservation, for example through FHR, I always insist that the agent tell me prices in local currency (British pounds in this example), not dollars since the binding contract will be in dollars. Also, I never book prepaid rates or go through OLTAs, priceline, airline website offers for hotels, package tours, etc.
ADDED: A couple countries are exceptions. When I last visited Russia, they maintained a separate "currency" (and defined official exchange rates) for foreigners which international chain hotels (and some stores specializing in imported luxury items) used. International hotels in Argentina tend to contractually define their prices in dollars for foreigners and then convert to local currency at the time of checkout. [Argentina also has a recent law saying that certain travel expensive such such as tours and plane tickets must be paid in hard currency.] Turkey seems to define prices in dollars in some places but in Euro in other establishments. There was a time when inflation in Israel was so bad that many shops had prices marked in dollars and converted to local currency at the time of purchase, using that morning's exchange rate, but one paid in local currency (whether in cash or by credit card) unless one could negotiate a deal for paying cash in foreign currency. There are also cases near borders or with many tourists where shops openly advertise that they are willing to accept foreign cash, usually at exchange rates they post (for example, US$1 = CAN$1 at times for convenience if you drive across the border and don't bother too change money), but other countries (Russia officially, East Germany in the past) forbid locals to transact in foreign currency. Some countries forbid their citizens/residents/businesses to hold foreign currency or maintain bank accounts in foreign currency without special permission. Obviously enforcement varies.
#68
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People claiming the "FROM" absolves Marriott of any trickery claims haven't been paying attention, they've definitely changed how the website works recently.
Here's a quote FROM 298/night:
OK, so we click on that hotel to see the rates:
FROM has disappeared, that rate is offered at 298/night. Of course, the total looks a little suspicious, but at least it's shown there!
Now if you select that rate, you'll see Marriott switches to a nightly average, which is of course higher than the 298/night that was claimed on the previous screen.
And note that the actual per-night charges are hidden, you have to manually expand the summary to see each night's charges.
Now, to marriott's credit, this is better than it was a few weeks ago, but they're still playing a bit of a shell game here. They could quite easily be more consistent in how these rates are displayed when a customer is looking at multiple choices.
Here's a quote FROM 298/night:
OK, so we click on that hotel to see the rates:
FROM has disappeared, that rate is offered at 298/night. Of course, the total looks a little suspicious, but at least it's shown there!
Now if you select that rate, you'll see Marriott switches to a nightly average, which is of course higher than the 298/night that was claimed on the previous screen.
And note that the actual per-night charges are hidden, you have to manually expand the summary to see each night's charges.
Now, to marriott's credit, this is better than it was a few weeks ago, but they're still playing a bit of a shell game here. They could quite easily be more consistent in how these rates are displayed when a customer is looking at multiple choices.
#69
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I have thought it to be just a case of poor design rather than being intentionally misleading.
I have learned now to click through the nominally higher priced hotels to find out the overall cost of the stay. This is especially important for longer stays, where there is a greater opportunity for daily price fluctuation.
I have learned now to click through the nominally higher priced hotels to find out the overall cost of the stay. This is especially important for longer stays, where there is a greater opportunity for daily price fluctuation.
The problem is that few people know to do this. It's not only unfair to hotels that are more expensive for the first night, but causes those who pick based on the price they see to pay more than necessary for those hotel nights.
#70
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 946
I'm using the updated (post-combination) Marriott and SPG apps. In my searches, pricing now shows as average nightly rates for both legacy Marriott and SPG properties on both the Marriott and SPG app interfaces.
I hope this stays - I consider it to be the removal of a totally unnecessary irritant.
I hope this stays - I consider it to be the removal of a totally unnecessary irritant.