ttrltb

Recently caved and joined AAA. With Hyatt you can request BAR rate or AAA rate in search results. Haven't been able to find this ability on SPG site or accurate (current?) "how-to" info on FT... Do you really have to search for a city, then check each hotel, one at a time, to get everyone's AAA rates? I've got to be missing a drop down list or something, probably staring me in the face.

Thanks!

WestLA-FF

If there's a drop down list, I've never seen it. Just have to slog through trying each property, AFAIK.

DivMiler

Try this:

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/prefer...ubs/index.html

It worked on a test case for Harrisburg, Pennsylvania hotels.

I got it by Googling "starwood aaa" .

RogerD408

... and heaven forbid you have a SET rate. Oh, and by the way, a property might have a couple of different AAA rates that DON'T show up if you ask for Automobile Association or special offers. Typically it's six different searches PER PROPERTY to try and locate the lowest price.

Personally, I set a threshold and once the rate drops below that, I book or look at another chain. It's too bad SPG is not unique here, and offers a search that will look to your profile and offer up ALL the rates you are eligible to use. Marriott comes the closest in allowing you to search an area using a special rate, but not all you're allowed.

Also, just tried that link for AAA searches and the primary results list does not show the lowest AAA rates. So you still have to drill down on EACH property to see what the are. Pretty useless, unless you just want to know which properties have a AAA rate but don't need to see how the rate compares to other properties.

ttrltb

Thanks, DivMiler! Is there anything google doesn't know? (Specifically, where I left my shoes that drunken night! )

Alas, while a definite improvement, still not exactly right. Searching via that page brings up the standard BAR rates in the search results, but if you click a hotel (I searched D.C.), it shows the AAA rate. So on the surface, no help, but at least it saves the trouble of having to select AAA from the dropdown list then resubmitting for each hotel.

Better, but is there a more logical, efficient method?

izzik

The best I can think of is if you search AAA's site under Hotel search.. it will show the AAA rate but you have to select the SPG hotels by first letter.

sc flier

^ I've never done that! I just gave it a try and used their Advanced Hotel Options to specify up to 6 brands that I want it to look for. By selecting 6 of the Starwood brands, they all came up at once. Searching is limited to a city or airport area, though, AFAIK.

Interesting results, too. I tested this out in NYC for 5/6/10 for one night. The best price that it offered for the Westin TS is $329 (rate plan AUTOHOT). I couldn't find that on spg.com under Automobile Club or Promotions. The best regular AAA rate on spg.com is $417. The best public rate on spg.com is $395 (non-refundable). However, the Senior Rate on spg.com is also $329. I could not find the AUTOHOT rate.

DesertRat

This is definitely an improvement SPG.com should make. But I don't think looking for just the AAA rate is a good idea because it's only the lowest, in my experience, maybe half the time at best.
In any case, just plain old searching an area works fairly well because the lowest rate showing (often a prepaid one) isn't usually too far off from the AAA rate in the mid- and lower-tier hotels. So search generally and then pick out a few lower ones from that, then pull down "automobile association," and see what comes up. and of course, go to "hotel specials" and see if there's anything else appropriate for your dates.

JFKSFOLAX_friend

Six is about right per property. It's particularly fun when you search on a city like San Francisco where there are many acceptable properties to visit. And, it is even more fun when you are staying a range of days and want to see if the rates vary by length of stay (and availability of C&P, etc.) on certain days.

Joy. It's such a user-friendly website.

Helena Handbaskets

How does one search for AAA rates other than the one that comes up when you select "Automobile Association?"

mahasamatman

Sometimes you get additional AAA rates under "Promotions & Packages" that don't show up when you search for "Automobile Association".

jbcarioca

I wish there were a way to search for an area coverage by any discount code. It is a mild irritant to search property by property, but all chains seem to make one do that. That's not specific to AAA of course.

NJUPINTHEAIR

Besides what Mahastaman notes, to really be thorough, you should also go to the hotel home page and click on hotel offers web page. There are offers there, AAA included, that do not show up under any of the normal drop down rates.

For example, some of the AAA Autohot rates for some hotels, are only disclosed by following the link on the hotel offers page. Another example is the $79 rate at the Sheraton Parsippany Sunday night stay rate. Even if you book under a Sunday, it does not appear under any of the drop down boxes, promotions and packages included. You have to go to the hotel offers page and follow the link there.

sc flier

Starwood Lurkers,
While still not exactly what jbcarioca is suggesting, might something like this be possible in a fashion similar to the way that rate calendars are displayed on the Starpicks webpage? I think that would go a long way toward alleviating the frustration that AAA members have faced. (Though I really preferred the earlier Starpicks calendars which displayed all the nightly rates without having to actually click onto each calendar with both a start and end date.)

Also, there are sometimes different types of AAA rates. It seems that some are based on a SET code, and I think that I would consider these to be the normal AAA rates. Some others are based on a rate type code such as AUTOHOT, though, for AAA rates which may have other terms or offers such as free breakfast or a hotel credit. Currently, some AAA rates are found under the Automobile Club option and others are sometimes under the Promotions & Packages option. Sometimes (but not always) they might be found under both options. Can you explain this? Is this the same rate entered twice in two different places? Or is this maybe due to the hotel's rate manager setting up the rate in a non-standard way? Does each hotel's rate manager specify under which option(s) the rate will appear?

If AAA is going to continue to be a separate option in the menu, is there a way that the reservation system could always find all AAA rates under the AAA option? As I poked around randomly for an example, I found that most of my selections have things separated as one would expect with AAA rates strictly under the AAA option. So maybe some effort has already been working to address this issue. If so, is there a driver that automatically enforces this such as a AAA flag/indicator on each rate, a naming convention on the rate plan type (such as all names starting with AUTO), or a specific SET code?

I did find one example (sort of) of an exception to the standard: The Westin Cancun for the night of 6/1/10 has all AAA rates show up under both of these menu options:
1. Automobile menu option rates
2. Promotions & Packages menu option rates

Honestly, those of us who are AAA members (and probably even many of us who aren't) would probably be perfectly happy to have all properties have their rates like the Westin Cancun where we can apparently see Promotion, Package, and AAA rates all in one place. Unfortunately, we can't trust that that will always be the way that they show up. (And seniors visiting this property still have to check under the Seniors option for AARP/Senior/RetiredPerson/Primetime rates.)

If Starwood is simply against the idea of mixing public rates in the same screen as membership rates (Auto Club, Senior), I think that many of us would at least be happier if all membership rates were accessible under a single menu selection. Even better, IMO, would be if a member could have an option on their profile to indicate that they are a member of AAA or other qualifying option so that those rates could always show up for them on their first search along with the regular public rates. (The lousy concept used for SET codes stored in a profile doesn't cut it, IMO. SET code users still often want to see the public rates.)

I don't think that any of us really understand why Starwood seems to be so determined to make it so time consuming to search the rates for which they are eligible. Certainly, some people don't bother looking beyond the first page of rates and book the lowest public rate (BAR, DAILY, LTO, etc.) that they see. But some people who only see those public rates will instead end up booking at a competitor who disclosed their lower AAA rates up front without lots of effort. And still others may have even been willing to spend additional money for one of the package rates hidden under the Promotions & Packages list.

Starwood Lurker

You are asking this of someone who has a problem with anything more mechanical than a paperclip. I am happy to pass along any ideas to someone who isn't as challenged as I am, but I really can't answer the question nor can I explain why things are the way they are currently.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]