Friends and Family rate (CARLSONF) - requires employee name
 

the carlson friends and family rate , code CARLSONF, is now bookable for 2010.



Mod note:

See also http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hotel...ends-rate.html

do you need any documents to proof you're a friend of an employee?

i have not yet stayed myself at that rate, but when you read the rate description, it does not say you need proof.. i feel fine to use it..

-No points/miles awarded
1 night minimum stay required.
Special rate offer is available to all employees, affiliates, partners, franchisees, friends and family of the entire Carlson organization including, Carlson Marketing, Carlson Wagonlit Travel, Carlson Restaurants Worldwide and Carlson Hotels Worldwide.-

Carlsonf as fixed flatrate from $70-$80
 

Officially the carlson family and friend code "carlsonf" is bookable until the end of 2010.
However the code works for bookings until the end of 2011.
The rate is fixed now depending on brand at $70-$80 +tax, resp. 70€-80€, which means savings of up to 80%.
Do I run into any problems when using the code for 2011 bookings?

If the rate is bookable, then there should not be any problem.

Hello,

is there any Carlson employee which can help me with a signed "special internal form" for the Family & Friends Rate? I think there will not be any problem due to the information at FT, but I have read of some hotels which request for this form (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/14419355-post79.html) and I do not want to get a problem at check-in.

If you are interested I can offer you some F&F discounts of another hotel (Europe, South America) chain for your support.

Thanks

Hmm... I am not against taking chances/risks, booking wrongly entered deals (see my other post where I booked for 10% of regular price), exploring loopholes... However, IMHO what you are proposing is pure form of fraud and should not be tolerated.:td:

Ehh. I think thats overreacting a little bit. Its the same thing going on in the FS thread where someone has an in with an employee that can book you thru him for the F&F rate. This is a Friends& Family rate, not just a family rate. The definition of "friend" is very broad, in his process of looking for said employee and communicating back and forth they could by definition have become "friends" by the time he faxes him over the form. I really don't see this case having any legs to stand on. Is it wrong, probably, fraud, unlikely and by your theory by booking an F&F rate with/without an employee form would be "fraud."

I agree with you that the legal definition of "friend" is very broad. However, it is important to realise that by making post similar to OP's post, can legally be interpreted as a solicitation.

Maybe I did not make my original post clear enough. IMHO, it is fraud publicly solicit for F&F rate and offering the same favour in exchange. Yes, if you become friend with someone on FT and that someone then offers you F&F deal (ideally privately, not publicly for everyone to see) it is OK, but this way it is not.

Take it this way - FT is being monitored by employees of involved companies. For example on Miles & More, there even is official Lufthansa employee "lurker". What do you think will be result of OP's post? They will harden the rules for F&F and as a consequence, each of us here will be losing...

He is soliciting a future "friend" for a rate whom he will then introduce to his "friend" for a rate. Technically you are right, but it is a very grey area and I highly doubt we would ever see any of these hotel corps. actually pressing the issue.

As for your last part I completely agree. I have no doubt that certain deals/tricks and so forth have been killed by lurkers of certain companies. Although, there is another thread in Hotel Deals on the same topic with a lot more hits/views than this that plenty of people have "misused" already for some time so I think that would be more responsible for the demise of this deal than this guys single post.

The "Friends and Family" rates have been made available to the public through forums like Flyertalk by employees of the various hotel groups themselves...this is certainly the case with the ICHG and the Fairmont.
There are only a certain amount of rooms released at these discounted rates so not every room at the property is being sold off cheaply. It's a good way for the companies to fill up rooms that would otherwise be lying empty during the economic downturn.
The Carlson group are probably rubbing their hands with glee at the increase in bookings this promotion has brought on......won't surprise me if they turn a blind eye to it all.

I only pray that FT is monitored by the employees of involved companies. They might actually learn something about their consumers, and attempt to improve or modify their travel products.

Unfortunately, the reality is that most are so focused on short-term profitability, that they have become detached from their customers and sites like FT.

Belive me they do. I know the person who used to be "official LH lurker" on Miles & More. She did fantastic and based on her relationship with FT and LH, lots of stuff has been achieved. Not always what FTers would want but often a lot. During the volcano crisis earlier this year, she was first point of contact between LH and most of the FT and this was officially sanctioned by LH. We often knew operational decisions before M&M and LH call centre staff, because she could post them as soon as she left meetings. She was even tweeting directly from those meetings.

So, yes the do monitor. Not all of them, but they do. And that's the reason why I am not big fan of posts where people clearly offer or seek something that is not exactly "kosher" or can sometimes be cosidered as illegal, fraudulent and/or inappropriate. These compaies will notice and will make sure that it will stop.

Yes, I'm sure they are wetting their beds in excitement at the huge profit they're reaping from $80 rooms.

$80 more than they would get with a empty room.....Wisen up, do you really think they would sell rooms for $80 if they were able to sell them for double that?

Why do you think Hyatt,Marriott, Sheraton, Hilton etc sell rooms via Priceline for even less than $80? $80 x 1,000 is a hell of a lot better than zero.