Oct 3rd, 2007
Room at the Inn
`We sometimes stayed at a caravanserai — a sort of rough inn. Only one room was allowed for one family, and for one night — no longer. No light was permitted at night, and there were no beds. Sometimes we were able to have tea, or again a few eggs, a little cheese, and some coarse bread.’ Bahiyyih Khanum, telling Lady Blomfield the story of the journey Bahá’u'lláh and His family from Tehran to Baghdad in 1853
The EBBF conference was a mine of information on all things related to work, business, corporate social responsibility, business ethics and work life balance. It was great to see old friends and make new ones. The speakers brought experience and humour and wisdom to the conference and the workshops were useful and fun! De Poort Conference Centre is a great place to stay - deep in the forest with lovely walks all around - not that I actually went on any walks - too busy talking with friends!
The manager of De Poort, EBBF member Ben Wolters, offered some insights into how to run a conference centre and this turned out to be just one of several sessions that used the hotel industry as an example of what the speaker was talking about. So not only did I learn about business ethics and social responsibility, I also learned a lot about staying in hotels!
Here are some of the facts I learned:
* `Big’ hotels tend not to have set prices for their rooms. Room prices vary and fluctuate across the week, the season and even the time of day.
* The price of rooms rises in the afternoon as the rooms fill up. A hotel does not want to fill all of its rooms in the afternoon so increases the price of the rooms to lower demand.
* However, if the rooms do not fill up in the evening, the hotel will lower the room price to sell the room. The reason for this is that the hotel needs to maximize the number of rooms let each night - if the room is empty overnight, they get no income from it but still have to pay staff, electricity, etc. So they will try to get any price for it. So if you are flexible and need a room in a good hotel late at night, you are likely to get a very inexpensive price for it.
* All the good hotels in the area know the prices the other good hotels are charging for their rooms during the day.
* If you book a room in a good hotel on the Internet, it is likely to be MORE expensive than if you call the hotel, explain your situation and book it directly. You can check on the Internet first to see if the price quoted there is cheaper than the one you get on the phone and then book accordingly but the hoteliers’ advice was always to call and talk to the hotel to see if they can give you a good price.
* It is always worthwhile talking directly to the hotel and explaining your situation, e.g. that you are looking for a reasonably priced room, that you will arrive late or leave early, that you have special needs, etc.
* Price is not the only thing you can talk about if you call. You might get a better room, an upgrade or some additional feature.
* Good hotels give a lot of attention to detail and want to distinguish themselves on their customer service. So they like to get feedback from guests.
* Hotel managers tend to rather fanatical about the appearance, cleanliness and orderliness of the hotel - which is good for the customer, in my opinion.
I should say that none of this seems to apply in many of the hotels and B&Bs I have stayed in - except for De Poort and Acuto, I should add. But from now on I am going to try out these tips!
What is your experience?
Technorati Tags: Baha’i, EBBF, De Poort Conference Centre, Hotel Panoramica Acuto, hotels
This is very helpful information, Wendi. I wonder if it applies in London? And, I assume one is less likely to get a good deal in a big hotel in areas where and at times when there is high demand.
I had not realised just how flexible the pricing of hotel rooms could be.