darrvao777

I was always thought that everything in life is negotiable.

My husband feels this does not apply to hotels.

What is the forum's collective thoughts on this?

We have a room booked at a Kimpton property for Thanksgiving. We just received an email offering us a "custom upgrade" to a more luxurious suite for $2000/night.

I would imagine they would rather have someone in the suite rather than not. Is it considered poor form to try and negotiate a more reasonable price? For instance, $1000/night on top of the $400 we already paid for our current room?

ne52

Absolutely fine to attempt if the email is worded politely

writerguyfl

While I wouldn't consider it poor form, I don't think you will have much luck. You will need to speak with someone with the authority to enter into negotiations. In a hotel, that person is the Revenue Manager, Director of Sales, or maybe the General Manager. Depending on the property, it might be one of those people or all of those people. Your first hurdle is figuring out the right person with which to speak at this particular hotel. Generally speaking, none of those people accept calls or emails from guests. (When I worked as a Revenue Manager, I almost never spoke with guests.)

The second hurdle you face is the fact that negotiation with individual guests is time consuming. Simply put, the time spent haggling over a few thousand dollars could be better spent on the other aspects of the job. For example, a Director of Sales would be responsible for corporate contracts that results in tens to hundreds of thousands of revenue. As a Revenue Manager, I was responsible for room revenue of $1 to $2 million per month. If I had spent lots of time negotiating individual rates, I may have missed an opportunity to maximize revenue that would be worth much more than a few thousand dollars.

Finally, I'll say that with the exception of long-term stays (30+ nights) and anything rooms also involving meeting space, the chains with which I worked did not allow individual negotiations. We were required to have rate parity between our local hotel and the chain's official booking channels (website and Central Reservations Office). Chains don't want guests thinking they can find better deals by going outside those official booking channels.

That said, I have no clue how Kimpton operates. They may not have the same restrictions.

Jaimito Cartero

From $400 a night to $2000 is a pretty serious upgrade.

A real FT’er would try and get it for free, well, because he’s a Diamond member. And has a giraffe.

If they feel comfortable enough to offer the room upgrade by email, you could certainly counteroffer. If no deal occurs, try again when checking in.

Fyd

It's business, so negotiate away and politely offer a different price. They are welcome to politely say "no" if they don't like it...

Often1

"Hotels" is a pretty broad term. Larger chain properties are unlikely to negotiate with individuals rather than large corporate accounts, simply because it is too time-consuming to bicker over a couple of bucks here and there. Small non-chain properties may well negotiate.

If you are going to try, maximize your chances by calling the property and speaking with a manager. Typically reservations agents have zero authority and front desk staff as well.

In this particular case, I would call and ask whether there is anything in the $1,000 range and see if that might shake the suite loose. Some properties would rather let the room go empty than compromise a pricing structure, e.g. have a bunch of posts about how someone got a great deal and others are fine once they figure they won't get the $2K.