Ever turn down a discount?
 

Just checked into a hotel paying a rate of around $119. In conversation I mentioned I was doing work for the local government office and the hotel person said "oh, you qualify for our govt rate which is $77". I thanked her and took the discount. In hindsight, taking the discount doesn't help me at all. My company pays my expenses, I don't get any % for saving the company and I lose out a little bit on my 2% cashback for my credit card and I think get fewer hotel points due to a lower price.

Have you guys ever turned down a discount for the reason I mentioned (losing a % of cashback or getting less points/miles?

Yes, incurred personal cost/reducing personal savings for the good of the corp.

Hotels: Never been offered a lower rate at the hotel, but prior to arrival booked rates that were lower than the corporate rate. (This can be a more involved discussion as some corporations need to hit occupancy goals to keep corporate rates).

Airlines: Drove to further airports to save (corporate) money on flights that connected through the same airport that I'd preferred to originate from.

You may even find a way to tactfully mention to your boss how you saved the your company $40+/night (don't forget taxes).

yup.
I refuse coupons that I have applied to rentals because later I saw that I wont get miles if i have coupons...
so in that case yes...
In the case of getting the higher rate, be sure that your boss sees who charges more vs less... so it will be in your plus to save $$, especially in today's environment...

Never quite been in that position.. but I can say with confidence that I wouldn't allow my company to overpay by $42 a night so that I could pocket 84 cents. I do know that many on this board would do it for a nickel, however.

Never. If I can save the company money, and it doesn't hurt me, it's best for all.

Off to the TB forum.

Just the last week I booked a trip through corporate travel website. The next day my co-worker was booking the same trip, and the price (for the same booking class) went down $300. I called the agency and asked to check if the ticket had no-cost 24-hours cancellation. The travel agent then rebooked the ticket and it saved money to the company. Would I do it if the cheaper fare opened up in a lower booking class that would qualify for less miles? Probably not...

bargains
 

Absolutely. I once received a coupon for a discount on travel in North America on NWA. The prices looked reasonable to me. I called the number and the agent found schedules that worked for me. At the last minute I inquired how much the trip would cost without the coupon. About $80 less!

It's unbelievable to me that someone would think that saving money for their company isn't good for them. I would hate to have a job (or employee) like that.

Penny wise pound foolish to do that.

I always try to get the lowest priced cost for travel - within reason. I'm not going to take the 3 hr layover to save the company $100. But if I am offered a discount, you bet I'll take it, even if it means fewer points/miles/cashback.

At some point you will inevitably have that $2000 flight or $500/night hotel room or the $500 dinner. If you have a history of being frugal, a 1 time extravagance will most likely be looked at, just as that, a one off. But if you're constantly racking up the most expensive hotel/airline options, you'll most likely be scrutinized.

There needs to be a balance.. can't live for the points, as loyalty programs are a perk, not an entitlement.

Saving $$$ is project one.. loyalty points are project number two.

Shouldn't do everything for the sake of collecting points or saving money neither.

There has to be a balance, and a willingness to adjust personal prohibitions and habits to making a better life for yourself and others.

For example, why drive accross town, just to save a few bucks, when its' more convenient within the vicinity?

Like Acien said, it's all about balance. That being said there are still people that will drive across town for gas thats 5 cents cheaper.

I think that some loyalty programs are designed to do just that: motivate employees to go for more expensive options in order to maximize gain to the detriment of the employer/customer who is paying.

When it comes to travel for work, all I ask for is "reasonable". Don't make me endure stupid connections and I will do my best to keep the expenses low. Make me stay to a hotel that is far away and otherwise inconvenient and I will not take the lower rate if offered. Employment is a partnership that works best when both parties are happy.

yeah when the rate excludes breakfast

In your case, no I would not turn that down (there's a thread in another forum about corporate rates that are sometimes offered when they ask who you are visiting, I always accept those).

Would I stay at a Best Western that has bullet proof glass all around the check in counter to save the company $40 a night? Not a chance. But I would never turn down a discount offered at checkin because I would rather have the two extra points or whatever at the end of the trip.

Keeping my travel budget low can mean the difference between making one or two more trips that year or not, I'd always go for the extra trips.

Often decline (smallish) discounts/promos when asked for personal info or if there are too many hoops to jump through (e.g., requirement to participate in surveys, etc.).

..Which brings me to about 100 unsolicited market calls for cheap travel.. I've refused all of them. ^

Once Enterprise Rental Car offered me a 10% discount on pre-paid gas. I got on my pda and went to www.gasbuddy.com to find the local price of gas and determined that I was better off not buying the pre-paid gas in the first place. Does that count?

I once turned down a raise. It was a small raise, but just enough to knock me into the next tax bracket which actually had me taking home 20 dollars a month less. I was told I was the first person in company history to actually request a lower pay rate.

You pay taxes on a non-marginal basis???

I suspect that this is more common with airline tickets. Employees told to buy a coach fare might chose a fare class that is more likely to result in an upgrade. There are many ways to play this game, such as planning to buy tickets closer to the date of travel so that the lower fare buckets are gone. But in my company, supervisors receive a quarterly report of travel expenses and it's easy to discern who is spending more than probably necessary.

As a manager of staff who travel almost 100%, I think taking discounts is definitely the way to go. It's my responsibility to keep my team within a budget and any effort on their part is appreciated. I agree with the others, though, that it's about balance. I don't expect them to stay in the "Hotel Camas" next door to the facility simply because it's 100 pesos a night.

To add clarification.. I refuse discounts if its so far out, it doesn't suit my needs.

Same here. I travel like I'm spending my own money. If I can save, I do. What did the OP lose? 84 cents and a couple of hotel points?

just to clarify, i did take the discount.

Some discounts are not really discounts, like "wild card" deals on rental cars that sneak in class creep..basically selling you a rental on a compact, calling it a midsize, and charging you slightly more than the compact price. They have just moved a compact car for more than compact value by making you think you are getting a compact price on a midsize.

Others require subscriptions, while still others are simply markup tricks.

There are different levels of savings and personal inconvenience one needs to incur in order to get them. And there is different amount of vested interest in the company bottom line. Two opposite extremes as examples. As a consultants on a one-time gig for a client, I would probably just do what is most convenient for me and would not incur any inconvenience to save money for the client. If I am a manager and need to encourage wise spending for the team, I would lead by example and be frugal in my travel spending.

just to play devil's advocate, would you be willing to forgo all airline and hotel points to save $5 for your company?

At the rate at which I travel, absolutely. And I demand as much from the rest of my team.

If you are extracting additional personal benefit out of the higher price, I would think the most ethical approach would be to pay the difference yourself out of pocket.

^^^

And to tell you the truth, I was contemplating the forces of discount versus miles, and decided a while back, that I shouldn't be worshipping a loyalty program, rather the program should meet my needs.. I haven't had trouble flying to Hawaii for 8 years in row with my family, nor, have I had trouble flying to SoCal, YVR, Florida on points.. and I've always taken a discount over miles.

my bachelor's was in hospitality and in my revenue management class; i distinctly remember our professor warning us of giving frequent business travellers a lower rate without them asking for it...

"if you have a guest that stays with you quite frequently for business, and you have a special rate for frequent visitors; do not give him this rate until he/she asks for it, as they will be upset that they will lose their airline miles"

he was very absolute about this i remember :rolleyes:

I thought that you would only have to pay the higher tax rate on the portion of income that went into the next bracket- not on your entire income. :confused:

You'd forego miles to save $5? Really?

What's to justify to taking the points than the savings?

The economics of it is really, you're paying $5 for the points.. so unless you get more than 500 points, I don't see how its ethical to incur additional company expenses, unless you're donating the points back into the company.

I guess I see ethics differently from you. It's not always the most ethical scenario to take the cheapest option, IMO. The company is asking me to leave my family and home for a few days, I see nothing wrong with getting some benefit from it.

All airline and hotel points? I *always* get more than 500 points.

Here's a scenario. Let's say I'm flying MSN-MSP-LAX-SYD and back for my company. I'm offered a ticket for $1700 or a ticket for $1695 that earns no points or miles. Are there people here that would actually buy the $1695 ticket? Are there managers here that would expect their employees to forego the miles to save the company $5? How about $100 on such an itinerary?

I *always*, *always* fly my preferred airline. I don't even shop around unless the price seems over the top. MY boss has frequently said, "Fly your airline -- I don't care if it costs a little more." Same with hotels.

$5? No. $100? Yes. It's 6% the cost of the ticket. It's the same reason I ask my staff to fly out of IAD instead of BWI when the cost of the flight is less than a round trip cab fare (~$200). Sticking to one airline can be much more expensive when you have a dept of full-time travelers. Of course, it's also the reason I'm second tier in every major US airline FF program and top tier in none. :td:

With the change in scenario.. $5 for $1,700 ticket, vs $5 for hotel room.. the way I see it should be a cost benefit analysis to whether it may be worth it or not. If your corporate policy, your company is ok with you paying more for some points, then you'll need to get parameters to how far you should go with it.

On a personal basis, and within my own company, I always get the discount ahead of the miles.. unless the economics show that its worth getting the miles ahead of the discount. However, if you company's policy is to get the best price regardless, then you should ethically follow company policy.

I'm going through the decision whether to keep an AMEX gold card, as well as a Platinum AMEX card within the family. Fees paid for has benefits, but the gold AMEX has same benefits pretty much as my Visa Infinite Gold. I will have to tally the bonus points extra earned on the AMEX gold card if I'm going to keep it past the 1 year trial period, because the first year is free and of course that's a no brainer.

The point is, doesn't make sense to go for the points at all cost.. Its' got to make sense. I'm sure if you save your company money, your cost savings habits will reward you in your personal life, or through your company down the line.

My company gives me a budget of X.

Therefore, so long as I stay under or at X, it should be no concern of their if I got a discount or not. They were prepared to give me X and I am within budget if I do not exceed it. So the $200 dollar flight vs the $230 should not matter.

However, I used to get funny looks when they found I was in F much of the time. They did not understand how airmiles worked. They simply thought I was being haughty. I could point out that I paid coach price for each F ticket, but it didn't matter.

However, I still come in below budget compared to my colleagues who insist that WN saves them money and fly coach all the time.

So long as the parameters in latitude is abided by, there shouldn't be an issue with the expenditures. Its value for the money, can be justified with the superiors, and its been approved, I don't see it to be a problem.

i'd much rather save the cash and keep my personal business expenses lower then get points, this way i don't have to raise my prices and compensate for a higher overhead in turn generating more customers and using those profits to pay for the ticket/hotel/meal whatever it may be.

vicious cycle but not quite as vicious as this mile chasing game...