I thought he was a good bloke until I met him!I lost respect for Dick Smith many years ago.
If anyone is clever enough to figure out how to post on an online forum like AFF, then they already clever enough to check the actual hotel site for a comparison. Otherwise its a great insight for travel rookies.Dick Smith has released a video where he unloads on foreign booking sites.
If anyone is clever enough to figure out how to post on an online forum like AFF, then they already clever enough to check the actual hotel site for a comparison. Otherwise its a great insight for travel rookies.
Hotels in Australia and overseas do themselves no favours at all. I'm currently booking a 4 night stay In Paris at a hotel called Le Cinq Codet and am getting a price of AUD $1786 booking directly through the hotel versus $1589 on Booking.com. Both include breakfast and are non refundable.
The hotel mentions a few extras for booking direct but upon closer inspection I found most are included in the Booking.com rate anyway. It's no wonder that consumers follow the path of least resistance. It often pays to do so.
AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements
Hotels in Australia and overseas do themselves no favours at all. I'm currently booking a 4 night stay In Paris at a hotel called Le Cinq Codet and am getting a price of AUD $1786 booking directly through the hotel versus $1589 on Booking.com. Both include breakfast and are non refundable.
The hotel mentions a few extras for booking direct but upon closer inspection I found most are included in the Booking.com rate anyway. It's no wonder that consumers follow the path of least resistance. It often pays to do so.
We had an issue where we were already staying in a hotel (in Stockholm) and needed an extra night of accommodation. I looked on Booking.com where we had originally booked and the price for the next night was about 20% higher than what we had originally paid, so we went to talk to the front desk thinking they would be cheaper. We were told if we wanted the room it would be even more expensive by another 10% to go with them direct than if we booked the Booking.com price! I was astounded, and told them what it would cost me if I used my phone right there to book online, and they didn't care!
We went somewhere else.
Indeed. Perhaps that's one of the upsides of booking sites? At least there's competition through (a) various sites willing to forego some of their commission to pass it on to consumers with lower prices, and (b) all the hotels see what others are charging and compete with each other (even if that's via the big booking sites).
"Slightly off topic but I find that wineries do the same thing with their pricing in that you can sign up to their clubs or mailing list and buy direct, only to find Dan's have the same product 20% cheaper.