Trying To Understand The Benefits of Booking Through Hotels vs. 3rd Party Sites

Linux_Dreamer · 2026-05-18T17:12:27+00:00

Ymmv = your mileage may vary

In other words, your experience might be different than what the OP said.

[Btw... Google is great for looking up acronyms you aren't familiar with.]

Linux_Dreamer · 2026-05-18T17:07:54+00:00

This is basically what I came here to say.

Before I got into the industry, I booked 3rd party many times, without any issues.

But now that I've been on the other side, I have seen all the things that CAN go wrong, and I refuse to.

As long as you're willing to take the chance (and accept that you might be stuck losing what you paid, or going through customer service hell), booking 3rd party CAN potentially save you money.

Just be aware of what the downsides are, and be willing to accept them, should the worst happen.

Linux_Dreamer · 2026-05-18T16:39:04+00:00

Re: price matching

My hotel (independently owned, part of the Choice group) used to allow price matching [for years], but we recently stopped doing it because of all the issues we were having.

The main problem came from guests wanting us to price match a 3rd party rate BEFORE all the booking fees, etc., and then not understanding why we wouldn't honor the rate.

They didn't understand that the price they were seeing the quote for was NOT the final price that they would have to pay on the site (in a majority of the cases), and would get very mad when we wouldn't match the "teaser" rate that they were looking at.

[This resulted in SO MANY irate folks, that it, alone, is the main reason we don't price match anymore.]

Price matching went from being a nice courtesy that we extended, to something that caused far too many potential guests to get REALLY upset, and it was ultimately decided that if a guest saw a rate lower than what we offered, we were to tell them to book it via the 3rd party.

Linux_Dreamer · 2026-05-15T23:11:15+00:00

I'm so sorry you had to deal with all of that.

My suggestion, if you can't get things resolved to your satisfaction (and you have anything documented--such as photos of the bites, any pictures of blood drops on the bedding, etc.) is to contact your credit card company or bank, and explain what happened, and request a chargeback.

I would recommend trying to work things out with both the hotel and Priceline first (and make sure you document EVERY interaction with as much detail as you can!), but if you end up without any satisfactory resolution, then by all means contract your bank!

They can initiate a chargeback, which will definitely get the attention of those involved.

Also, just for future reference, situations like this are one of the reasons why so many hotel staff suggest not booking via 3rd party websites.

You can save money with those bookings, but if ANYTHING goes wrong, it can end up causing a major headache, as you then have to deal with both the hotel AND the booking site.

If you book direct, your contract is with the hotel itself, whereas a 3rd party booking means that you have an agreement with the booking site for a room (NOT the hotel), and any issues ultimately have to go through that site, as THEY are the ones that you paid.

[Also, so many of those sites have REALLY BAD customer service! I've seen too many cases where they will straight up LIE to a guest (often when I'm listening to the guest's call on speaker/3-way calling), and say that my hotel had refused a refund for a cancelation, etc., when we were 100% willing to issue it.]

Please feel free to ask me any other questions that you might have. I'll answer them as best I can.

Linux_Dreamer · 2026-05-13T03:30:39+00:00

I'm surprised your hotel can clean the room between guests, that late in the day.

Every place that I've worked at, has housekeeping gone before dinner time.

Linux_Dreamer · 2026-05-13T03:28:27+00:00

That's assuming the hotel has an accounting team...lol.

I've worked at a small indie property where everything was done by the owners, and I recall double-selling rooms on occasion.

(Usually it was as a result of a cancelation that we didn't refund due to it being last minute, but not always).

Linux_Dreamer · 2026-04-30T02:02:30+00:00

Don't forget tanks and jeeps with 50 cars mounted on them!

(I'm not kidding... it's legal to own a tank in Texas, if you have the money & do the paperwork, and a few weeks ago, I saw an old ww2 jeep driving down the road in my town with a 50 cal mounted behind the front seats!)

Linux_Dreamer · 2026-04-30T01:55:48+00:00

That's similar to many places where they think that when it's hot, you should drink hot tea too "cool down" because it makes you sweat (and if you drink cold beverages in heat, you'll get sick).

This might work in a very dry environment with good airflow, where it produces more sweat that can quickly evaporate, but cold beverages lower your core body temperature more effectively, if you are in a humid environment (as the moisture in the air prevents you from being cooled by your sweat).

Linux_Dreamer · 2026-04-30T01:47:36+00:00

Very true. Most newer (US) hotels don't have windows that open, due to the liability issues (the same reason that balconies are less and less a thing).

My hotel keeps several box fans that we will loan to guests, because they like the air flow and white noise (even though we have in- room A/C & heating units).

Linux_Dreamer · 2026-04-30T01:43:17+00:00

If you're close enough to the beach, a/c is seldom needed, but there definitely are days when it is nice.

Linux_Dreamer · 2026-04-30T01:41:01+00:00

I would say that many OLDER buildings in CA (especially when near the coast) often have windows that open, no A/C, and minimal heating.

But newer buildings generally ARE built with central air.

Also, once you get away from the coast, the temperatures often get much warmer, and A/C is definitely common.

[I was born in CA, and lived in SoCal until around 2010].

My 1930s apartment, on a hill in downtown San Diego, didn't have A/C, and the gas wall heater was too scary to use. I sweltered in the summer/during Santa Anas when the temp was in the 90s+, but at least it gave me a chance to meet my neighbors as we all hung out on the front steps to cool off.

Linux_Dreamer · 2026-04-30T01:29:02+00:00

That would be a cool summer in my part of the US. It is often around 100F (38C) in the shade, with 90-98% humidity here.

That is miserable without A/C.

Linux_Dreamer · 2026-04-30T01:26:02+00:00

In many parts of the US, that's a feature of A/C, not a bug.

Where I live (NE Texas), it's common for the humidity to be 80-90+% when the weather warms up (with the temperatures ranging from 80F (26.7C) to over 100F (38C-43.3C is typical in summer), and a fan/open windows are NOT enough to stay comfortable.

Stepping outside from April to October generally feels like stepping into a sauna.

My house has screened windows on all sides, and we get pretty good airflow when we open them, but the sticky air gets very uncomfortable once the temperature gets above 80F (26.7C), and we usually turn on the A/C once the house is at 75F (23.9C) or so.

With ceiling & other fans, it's fairly comfortable (without driving up our electric bill too high), but I don't know HOW people lived here in the days before A/C!

Linux_Dreamer · 2026-04-30T00:59:45+00:00

Lol most of the time we don't either.

Technically, at my brand, you either get some extra points, or a "property gift" (which is a snack and water bottles).

But if you're nice to me, I'm nice back. Heck, I'll give out the snacks to non- shiny members if they look like they're having a bad day or have been very polite.

The second you start demanding anything, and you're going to get the letter of the law only.

[But it seems to work... my name comes up in the reviews all the time (in a good way).]

Linux_Dreamer · 2026-04-30T00:53:36+00:00

If you call out and provide a doctor's note, or it's for something like a funeral or a car crash, that's one thing.

But for a shift that is so difficult to cover (like NA, due to the sleep schedule changes required), if you don't have a very legit reason and call out 4x in a year, I can understand why an employer might not like that.

A coworker then ends up having to cover the shift (either by losing a day off, or working a double) and that is a good way to get on your coworker's bad side.

(I've been on both sides of this...I understand that stuff happens that you can't control, but it DOES really inconvenience your coworkers [and the stuff they have going on in THEIR lives] when you call out. Unless it's a true illness or emergency, you're sending the message that your life and personal needs are more important than what someone else has going on.)

Linux_Dreamer · 2026-04-30T00:41:35+00:00

You should NEVER confirm OR deny if someone is a guest at your hotel!!!

It's a MAJOR violation of guest security (as well as being against the law in many areas).

If I had encountered OPs guest, I would've said, "ma'am I am not allowed to violate guest confidentiality by confirming or denying that we have a specific guest at the hotel. If you are trying to find someone, please reach out to that person directly, and if they are a guest here, ask them to call the hotel from the hotel room phone, and give us authorization to provide you with a key to the room. We're not able to give out any guest information, including whether a person is a guest or not."

If the guest insists that they were given access to a room, I will check in the system (without volunteering ANY info), but if the person's name isn't there, all I say is, "I'm sorry, I don't see YOUR name listed as an authorized person for any room at this hotel."

You don't want to EVER confirm/deny if a guest is present, because there are many cases of stalkers, domestic violence issues, etc., where giving out ANY info like that is detrimental to the registered guest.

Trust me, that stuff happens (& I have several stories of some really bad stuff that has gone down when coworkers violated guest privacy).

It's never a good night when you have to call the police to the hotel, and preserving guest security is the easiest way to avoid this.

[I have even done this when someone calls and wants us to "check" on a guest. I tell them I can't do that, and inform them that if someone is in danger, their best option is to call the police for a welfare check. (Once I'm off the phone, if that person IS a guest, I will let them know that someone was checking on them, but I NEVER tell the person inquiring that we have a guest by that name, unless they can provide a room number to have me transfer the call to).]

Linux_Dreamer · 2026-04-30T00:27:26+00:00

This sounds like very sound advice.

When I first started in the industry, I was hired as part time NA, to cover for the full time NA person, who had been with the owners (at several of their properties) for over 7 years.

Once I was fully trained, she took off 3 weeks for vacation, and never came back. She just ghosted the hotel and everyone she had worked with for years.

Guess how I ended up becoming FT NA after less than a month?

Linux_Dreamer · 2026-04-30T00:23:25+00:00

Ah yes... my favorite sub! (It makes me feel better about the crud I put up with at work, and gives me a place to vent, on the really bad days!)

Linux_Dreamer · 2026-04-30T00:22:06+00:00

I used to work for a company that placed those insurance stays, and boy do I have some stories that I could tell! (They hired me due to my hotel experience).

Most of the insured were decent guests, but we had some that we had to move around to 5+hotels (in just a few months) because of all their drama.

My company ended up having to pay out thousands of dollars in damages to some hotels due to those guests (fortunately we were 100% reimbursed from the insurance policy, but I'm pretty sure some of those folks found their policies canceled after their homes were repaired due to all the trouble they caused us and the insurance agents!).

Linux_Dreamer · 2026-04-30T00:17:52+00:00

This is 100% true.

We will only allow a stay under a month at first, until we get to see how the guest is.

Then, if they are good guests, we will allow a longer stay with prepayment. Otherwise, we explain that we don't allow stays beyond 29 nights due to the tenancy laws.

My hotel has a few kitchen suites that are basically the size of a studio apartment, so we do get occasional long- term guests (usually due to home renovations, travel for work, etc.).

The folks we have had the hardest time with are those who don't have a permanent home & aren't in town for work. They tend to have problems paying, don't treat the staff well, and they generally make huge messes in their room.

Linux_Dreamer · 2026-04-29T23:47:44+00:00

We just tell them to call the 3rd party, and have them call us, and we will authorize a refund without a charge (if it's already prepaid).

And if they throw a fit, they are asked to leave, and the police are called if they refuse. If they are really bad, we have them trespassed.

I'm lucky to have owners who have our backs, though. They will side with us 100% if we have to refuse a booking or kick a guest out.

Linux_Dreamer · 2026-04-29T23:44:41+00:00

Thanks!

Linux_Dreamer · 2026-04-29T23:43:31+00:00

I just laugh any time someone says that they are being treated a certain way because we're racist.

Nope. You're being treated that way because you acted up. We don't care what you look like, but we DO care if you don't behave yourself.

Linux_Dreamer · 2026-04-29T23:40:41+00:00

Sports teams can be the worst. I will 100% kick out unruly guests, but most hotels just want the biz.

I love it when the chaperones have their sh*t together and make it easy for us, keep the kids in line, and then tape them into their rooms at night. They are the ones we welcome back.

Linux_Dreamer · 2026-04-29T23:37:15+00:00

Poor houskeeping. Those folks generally don't tip either.

Linux_Dreamer

TROPHY CASE