SmilingBoy

SmilingGirl is on a business trip, and staying in a 5* Westin in Germany. I will join her for a weekend away, and will stay in her room tonight. This morning, she wanted to let reception know that I would be arriving tonight when she won't be there, and that they should give me a room key.

They then told her that this is only possible with a surcharge equivalent to the price of her room.

Is this a normal practice? The room may well be sold as a single room, so I would have accepted some surcharge covering the breakfast and towel cost, but to double the room price?

I have never seen this, and am surprised that they would get away with this.

The price for her room is €89 (I assume corporate deal), by the way, and they currently sell a double room on the internet for €103.

Any suggestions or comments?

SmilingBoy.

Unimatrix One

What you describe is quite common in Japan, where hotels almost always charge per person and not per room. (Family vacations are ridiculously expensive for that reason.) But I thought all other countries used the "per room" pricing system. Is Germany different??

SmilingBoy

Not really, they do sometimes have single rooms for single occupancy (which is probably the one where SmilingGirl is staying), but there is only a small difference in price compared to a double room.

Example: For tonight, the hotel in question charges (incl taxes) EUR119 for a double room with breakfast, EUR103 for a double room without breakfast, and EUR93 for a single room without breakfast. This sounds normal and reasonable for Germany. However, this suggests that an additional person in a single room should be EUR10 for the room and EUR8 for the breakfast.

SmilingBoy.

ozzie

Just because it is standard pratice in the US to charge the same for single or double occupancy, does not mean it is standard practice across the world. Single occupancy in many European countries is cheaper.

SmilingBoy

Yes, but not double the room.

After speaking with the manager, they dropped the surcharge from EUR89 to EUR15. Much better.

SmilingBoy.

MIKESILV

That I find pretty hard to believe for one who lists his location as Brussels.

The doubling of rates for two stayers is so common in Europe ( and some resort Hotels in the US and Caribbean) that when I book I make sure to check to see if it impacts my stay costs everytime.
One advantage of the HH program is that " spouse stays free" is specifically listed in the T&C.

mike

mario33

While I agree that surcharge for 2nd person in the room is quite common, I have never seen a case when its actually doubled. Must as well book 2 rooms and leave one vacant , then 2 person get stay/night credit (and 500 platinum points) !

motytrah

I've found that the double rate is quite variable. It seems almost based on profit. The better the the single rate is the worse the double rate is. Nothing deflates a hotel managers day that someone with a special rate that is exempt for the double surcharge. (Certain Pre-Pays, FAMs, etc).