Bob
Orlando,#2Consumer Suggestion
Fri, January 09, 2004
Your kidding Right ? Nick, if you have worked in hotels for 20 years and make those comments, you must work for some losers. First of all, I agree with Scott 100%. 30 % of my business comes from wholesalers. I can assure you that they all visit the property at least once a year and the larger producers do so 2-4 times. Interenet providers like Expedia & Hotels.com do so as well. I have had both companies do inspections at least once a year. There are a ton of internet providers that wont do inspections but the producers always do. They have too much to lose if they dont. Your comments regarding giving them the worst rooms is so typical. If you have ever run any quality type of hotel then it does not matter what rooms they get. All the rooms should be guest ready all the time and able to pass any type of Q.A. inspection unannounced. I couldn't operate any other way. Of course you would preserve your premium rooms that you would sell at a higher rate for your sales effort. You can however make these available to a wholesalers, interenet providers or anyone else at higher rates. You get what you negotiate. If you can sell the same room for more, you always would. Keep in mind that the Expedia's of the world were set up with the idea that they would fill your hotels rooms that would otherwise go vacant. You give them what you need them to sell and that's it. Anyone giving them low low rates is missing the boat. Revenue managers and D.O.S.'s dont know what they are doing ? If you have people in these positions that don't have a clue you are in huge trouble. Anyone worth a rats a*s is all over maximizing revenues and knowing how to do it. You are setting yourself up to fail miserably if your key people are the wrong people. Can't compromise on people. A & B employees only anything else is unacceptable. Finally, Wholesalers and Expedia don't pay ? Are you serious ? If you dont establish the guidelines and follow up on payment thats your fault. Why would you continue to do business with these people. Shut them off. Don't you get a credit card from the guest for incidentals ? You have lots of options. It sounds like whoever you are working for or did work for has or had no internal controls and no organization whatsoever. I can tell you Expedia pays on time and they are as regular with their payments as anyone. If you establish relationships with your clients, know them personally and know how to keep those relationships strong, you'll never have a problem. I have a 6 figure a/r balance and none of it is older than 45 days. Based on your comments, you have alot to learn for being in the business for 20 years. Know your top accounts. The way to make yourself valuable is to secure the relationships you have with your revenue producing clients PERSONALLY. You then become a very valuable asset because if you walk out the door, your employer should fear that the business will go with you. I'll leave you with this: People do business with people the know,TRUST and like. If you move to another hotel, you should have total confidence that those accounts will move with you. How many hotels go out and steal a D.O.S. from another because of the business he or she brings with them. - ALOT. Quality accommodations, service and people will always create a winning formula for success.
Nick
Chicago,#3Consumer Comment
Fri, January 09, 2004
I have worked for hotels for over 20 years and I have NEVER had a wholesaler inspect a hotel. I have worked in Washington DC, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Nashville, Minneapolis, NYC. All they do is send a form for us to fill in. AAA and MOBIL inspect us but never a wholesaler. EVERY hotel I have EVER worked at will guarantee a room TYPE. Two Beds Or One King. ALL Front Office Systems are built like this. They don't guarantee smoking or floors or that they will be next to each other but they WILL guarantee a room type. IF you book thru THEM. A wholesaler agreement says Hotel will provide a room. Do you know what rooms WHOLESALERS get? The worst ones. As a revenue manager why would I EVER put an EXPEIDA customer who pays $63.00 (that's what EXPEDIA charges Starwood in chicago). When other than Priceline and Hotwire it is the cheapest. If you pay more you are entitled to and should get more. The limited view rooms SHOULD go to EXPEDIA and the like. That is called MAXIMIZING revenue. Something many rev managers and DOS know little about. You should never have Upsells because you train your people to sell those first. And with correct training they do. I worked as Six Sigma and we showed a tremendous increase by taking Rev Mgrs and DoS (dir of Sales) and showing them how to properly max their rooms. All they care about is getting 100% so they get a bonus. Wholesalers often don't pay hotels. Most people are lucky cause if Expedia don't pay I don't give the guest checking in the room. It happens a LOT. Espeically with Priceline. We are on the phone as the guest is trying to check in and Priceline doesn't care that they are late sending payment. Remember you pay Priceline, Priceline pays hotel. Expedia is the second worst (after priceline) offender. Take you chances...
Scott
VANCOUVER,#4Consumer Comment
Fri, August 15, 2003
".....The second problem with booking through wholesalers is that they have never seen the property. Their descriptions do not reflect changes that have been made, full lists of amenities or accurate room descriptions. You may be surprised that the "Ocean View" hotel that you just booked a room in is actually 3 blocks from the beach, and you can only see the ocean from one of the upper floors. If you decide to book a room online, at the very least, research the property that you want to stay at and know what you are paying for....." I am a hotel sales and marketing director and I can assure you that the MAJOR online companies (Hotels.com, Expedia, Destina, AAA) do in fact come and site inspect our properties approximately every 12 to 18 months. In fact I have had all 4 product managers here this year. Furthermore, the information provided regarding the property on these sites is provided by the Product Manager who does the site inspection and is a reflection of their visit good and bad. We at hotels are given very little leway for descriptive and are not allowed to use words that may leave our description open to interpretation. JUST THE FACTS. For properties who just come online with an online company, they will be visited within 3 to 9 months of coming online and quite often their descriptive is taken from their national brand website until such time as an product manager can come visit.
Kim
Gilbert,#5Consumer Suggestion
Thu, August 14, 2003
and never had any problems. After reading this maybe I should think twice? Thier rates are usually lower than the hotels direct websites. I have always had good servide through them. i would think that these wholesalers help fill rooms that might otherwise go empty, since you can view a wide range of hotels at all different prices, and smaller hotels and chains could easily be overlooked by the consumer, but these wholesale websites give them some exposure. I want 1 website that gives me good prices and hotel info, instead of quoting out from 10 different websites. It also helps when there are user comments too. just my 2 cents.
Bob
Orlando,#6Consumer Suggestion
Wed, August 13, 2003
I would agree with most of what you said BUT disagree with a few comments. First let me start by saying I have operated hotels for over 20 years in major markets as well as thrid tier cities and resorts areas. I am all to familiar with wholesalers and the internet companies that you listed certainly are a form of wholesalers. Your comment with room types such as double doubles etc is a little off base. Any reservation regardless of if you book direct, on line, travel agent etc is a REQUEST. Unless specifically noted for example "Guarantee a king room" and it is verbally executed and documented at the point of reservation, then it is simply a request. Hotels will honor every request possible. Why would a hotel make your reservation for a king and then give you a double ? More than likely the king is not available when you check in and it does NOT matter how long ago your reservation was made. Problems do happen and I have been in the position where a plumbing problem forced us to close 40 rooms and guess what, no kings were available. It happens. If a hotel simply does not give you the room type you want but has the ability to do so, then thats a poorly managed hotel. The only other issue I have regarding your comment is the information that describes the hotel. You mentioned some of these wholesalers have not even seen the property. While that may be true, any wholesaler that does not inspect a hotel that they are going to work with, is making a huge mistake. HOWEVER, the vast majority of the amenities and descriptions of the hotel are provided to the wholesaler BY THE HOTEL. The information from the hotel should be accurate. If it is not, then the hotel is just as much to blame as anyone since you should be making sure that your hotel is properly and acurately represented. I agree with you 100 % that you are far better off booking with the hotel. The guest has more options as does the hotel. The third party internet providers wont be around a few years from now. Most hotels guarantee that you'll find the lowest internet rate on their websites and the major franchise hotel companies require it. The quicker we get back to dealing direct with the hotel, the better off everyone will be.