Wiirachay

Here's the deal: I'll be joining a 3-5 person consulting team in city x that has been staying at the same hotel (West Des Moines Marriott) for the past year and a half. They've always checked in on Mondays and left Thursdays or Fridays. I'll be there for about 6-7 months.

The regular rate is $159/night and the corporate rate of the client is $109/night. Do you think it would be reasonable to ask to get the room for the entire week for the same price as staying there for 3-4 nights/week? I'm dreading the idea of having to pack and repack every week.

Thanks.

- Pat

sabruzzo

I have negotiated monthly rates at hotels when I am on projects lasting several months. If you can get a few people to stay at the hotel for an extended period of time, the hotel will usually do it. Also, when you reserve a month at a time, they don't have to charge tax. So for cost justification, figure the total cost of a nightly rate vs. a monthly rate without tax.

whirledtraveler

At the very least you might be able to get them to hold your bags without significant charge. That is what I would do. Luggage is such a pain.

CPRich

I just received a proposal for my team at a local Marriott, and the discounts started at 100 person-nights per month, meaning about 7-8 people on a 3-4 night average per week. But that only got a 10% discount off the client rate. Asking for 7 nights at the price of 5, factoring in lower weekend rates, is about a 20-25% discount, for which they needed 250 nights/month

A few years back, we tried negotiating a rate where we had 25-40 people at a local Marriott, looking for the deal you are looking for - provide the room over the weekend so we could leave our stuff - the best they offered was 10% off rates and a single room to store all of our luggage - meaning we still had to pack/unpack every week. I ended up getting an apartment instead. They were the only real game in town, and was across the street from a Fortune 10 world HQ, so the client rates were already quite low.

I don't know the Des Moines market, but a full-serve Marriott at effectively $80-$85 per night is a bit optimistic for 4-6 people.

BigLar

Well, I'm not at a full serve Marriott (Fairfield Inn), but it has everything I want and I get it at or below Priceline. Plus points and status, of course.

If they do Priceline (check BFT), I'd start there. If they take it, they get more of the money (like 100%) than they'd get from PL. After all, you're not talking about a one-nighter.

Pickles

At the Grand Hyatt in Seoul I did the same kind of gig for a few months, leaving Korea and returning every week. Upon checkout, I would tell them that my stuff was still in the room, then they would get it and store it for me until I came back next week. Then when I checked back in they would deliver it to my new room.

Then again, this was the GH and not the Des Moines Marriott. Many, many FFNs too.

prncess674

If you negotiate a deal that means you are there for over a month at a time many hotels will not award points on such stays. learn to pack efficiently. when I am on long term projects in the same city I usually leave a duffle bag with the bellman and then bring any dry cleaning to cleaners on my way to the airport. This minimizes my "take home" items. I rotate out certain things when I pack my "take home" suitcase.

HappyTrekker

I think this really depends on the hotel, and who the general manager is. I just talked to a coworker of mine who has been staying at an MCO Courtyard for three months (by himself, not with a group or anything). When he went home for Thanksgiving, they offered to store his lugguage at no charge. When he went home for Christmas for 10 days, they offered to comp his room so that he didn't have to move anything out. He's in a King Suite (which the hotel only has a few of) and the hotel did sell out around the Christmas holiday time (I know, because I couldn't get a room there), so I was really surprised that they did it for him, for 10 straight days. And he's there on a government rate, too, which is lower than their lowest regular single room rates.

Snoopyo

I had success negotiating a 30 day rate that was $20 less the already low AAA rate but since it was Dec to early Jan, the occupancy at the hotel was low and they had lots of rooms. It ended up once I calculated the number of nights I was there versus away, the monthly rate was about $200 higher so the client perferred for me to stay flexible.. BY this is at an airport area Hyatt.

MatthewClement

The Revenue Manager is who you want to talk to. They'll be authorised to make the best deal.

If you're not authorised to make deals on behalf of the other travellers, make sure you enlist the support of whomever is. Multiple guest nights is what keeps a hotel in business, particularly in the off-season. Use this to your advantage, even if you can only get six-months a year.

The Revenue Manager is there to make deals like this. Even if the property doesn't have a RM, I guarantee there'll be a regional Revenue Manager who will be happy to cut a deal.

fcrit

If you're sure you'll have solid weeks then you can negotiate a Monday-Friday rate, but you may want to try to bid out an expected number of nights over a set time (i.e., 250-350 nights in the next 12 months) so you'll have more flexibility.

For a four year project in FLL, each year we bid the predicted number of nights to 4-6 hotels near the site. No one asked for a guarantee on the number of nights, just a projection. All four years we were able to get a full service Marriott for 10% off on low season, which was OK, but at 50-60% off for high season, which was unheard of. They did reserve the right to lock us out for special events (i.e., Orange Bowl or Super Bowl), but that only happened a couple of times. If we were doing a quick weekend trip home they would store shoes, toiletries, etc., and we did the local laundry thing over the weekends.