"Top Secret Hotels"
Last weekend I booked a "top secret" hotel with Lastminute.com
I was on their website because they were running a "when it's gone it's gone" promo and had an amazing 5 star hotel in Madrid with 50% off. I was on the site at 10:00 - the official start time - and was unable to find any availability at the advertised hotel so they were lucky to keep me on the site but I guess this is how they make money out of these promotions.
So, disappointed but not completely dettered I looked at their normal hotel search and was offered a "top-secret hotel". This was presented as having such a big discount the hotel didn't want it's name associated with it. You get told the hotel name on your confirmation email. I hadn't got a problem with that and was completely used to it having done plenty of allocation on arrival deals for beach holidays with the likes of Thomson. Also I had done something similar to the lastminute top secret hotel with a website called priceline a few years back where you could name your own price and London area and hotels would bid for your custom ( or not ).
The thing is with the lastminute.com secret hotel, apart from the star rating, they actually gave two clues about the hotel. One was the location description, the other was the supposed % discount. I used the location description to match the hotel from the list of "proper" hotels and the % discount gave me confirmation of my educated guess. The location was one I wanted as I was arriving to Madrid by train and this hotel was right in the train station so I thought it would be easy.
So apart from the % discount, the fact that I thought I was being clever by working out the exact hotel and the fact that the hotel happened to suit me had me hooked so I went ahead and booked.
However when I looked at the hotel official website (to try and find more information on charge for breakfast etc) I saw I could have saved another 10% by booking direct. Well done Lastminute.com - your canny booking process and branding managed to get you another sale. even a travel industry veteran like me who normally prides himself on getting the best deal. Fair play to you.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I know what you mean!!
ReplyDeleteIts surprising that there are no forums or such for sharing top secret hotel information, such as there is for Priceline and Hotwire.
Still, I have managed to get some good bargains before. In smaller cities where its easier to guess the hotel, you can be sure if you're really getting a discount or not before booking.