My mom wants to, as a gift, send someone on a trip and take care of the flights, hotel, etc. Flight obviously won't be a problem, but do hotels usually let you "pre-pay" the reservation and then the person staying just pays incidentals? I imagine she should just call the hotel to find out, but wanted to get some insight first so she doesn't feel like a fool when they tell her no way for some reason.

I did this at a Hilton. It was nearby so I was able to talk in person- not sure how they'd handle it over the phone. I was able to choose whether to pay just the room rate or everything charged to the room (including meals). Worked very smoothly.

Pre-paying is the norm when you book hotels through travel websites - which is often cheaper than booking direct. The drawback with using these sites is that you will sometimes get an inferior room because you paid a lower price.

I have never pre-paid when booking direct with the hotel, but seeing hotels are used to the principle of prepayment I see no reason why this should be a problem.

It totally depends on the hotel you are using. Hilton, for example has lower rates they call net direct that are only good prepaid. Travelocity and expedia are prepaid rates, etc. She can also call the hotel and just put it on her card, or get them a gift card to use, something like that if they say they won't take a prepaid (though I find that hard to believe they would turn it down).

American will even let you purchase gift certificates for a flight for some set fee for the US, a higher one for other places, etc, so they can pick the date and times they want to go, sometimes they are a good deal, sometimes not.

[QUOTE=Aviatrix]Pre-paying is the norm when you book hotels through travel websites - which is often cheaper than booking direct. The drawback with using these sites is that you will sometimes get an inferior room because you paid a lower price.
[QUOTE]
I've used hotels.com three times now, and I don't know if I would necessarily say you get an inferior room. Each time, the room was perfectly fine and was what I expected. (It's one of those, you get what you pay for kinda things). If you used priceline.com, then you won't know what you're getting.

I'd say go for it. Just be aware of the T&C, especially if it is not booked through the hotel itself (or their website). Often you can't cancel or their is a penalty for travel rearrangements.

Personally, I'm doing a similar thing where I am flying my parents from ABE to SFO for a week to celebrate their 50th bdays this year. I'll have the flights arranged, car rental paid for, and just give my parents a wad of cash to pay for the hotel once they get there.

Good luck!

Two years ago I wanted to treat my nephew and niece to a weekend away from the house. I called the Sheraton Weehawkin in NJ and made the arrangements over the phone with my cc. No problem at all.

Starwood also has prepaid "internet" rates, to compete with Orbitz, Expedia, and others.

For a lower prepaid rate, why not use Priceline or Hotwire?

I think all the are non-refundable.

companies book and prepay rates all the time. They frequently are refundable.

The problem with pre-paid hotel rates is that they are usually non-refundable non-changeable rates. If for some reason you want to change the dates or cancel you loose. The alternative is getting a gift certificate. Hyatt offers certs on their website, https://www.certificates.hyatt.com/C...rts.asp?navH=1, and I'am sure other chains do to. This way you are free to choose dates as needed and still be able to change if the need arises. Airlines also offer gift certificates. http://www.americanairlinesincentive...m/giftinfo.asp

You can also prepaid a reservation easily on most travel website. I have been to Bangkok with a colleague earlier this year in January, and the cheapest sofitel rate we found was on United.com. So, we pre-paid the money through the website. I think they allow the room to be cancelled, but you have to pay a cancellation fee. The policy is different from hotels to hotels though, so you better check. Also, it differs from time to time, say Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong requests a week's notice if you're canceling a booking on New Year's Eve.

Call a travel agent and ask about packages. You can prepay the hotel and perhaps add transfers or a city tour depending on the city. Another option would be a gift certificate from AAA that could be used to pay for all hotel and air.

It varies. I've had inferior rooms on a few occasions, on other occasions the rooms have been perfectly fine. I was really just going by what seems to be "accepted wisdom" among my friends. I will concede that "accepted wisdom" isn't always accurate.

If you don't want to go for a 'pre-pay rate', but still want to pre-pay, there are hotels that will let you do so, if you send a letter or fax confirming. I've had to do this a couple of times for customers and colleagues (IC Budapest, Meridien Vienna) and had no problems.

If you do go for a pre-pay rate, it depends on the hotel. I've been at some where you definitely get a dodgy room (Hilton Amsterdam springs to mind), and others where a smile gets you an free upgrade (Meridien Vienna - my current favourite hotel...)