Several people in the world do not have a full grasp on how website can offer cheap hotel rates to their clients. The rates usually are even cheaper than the hotel is offering directly. Are these websites safe to use, and will you actually save money?
I actually own one of these cheap hotel rates websites, and I can tell you for sure that it is the real deal. There are a lot of factors that actually go into sites providing rates below the hotel's price, but I will break some of them down for you so that you can see how we offer cheap hotel rates.
First of all the sites offering cheap hotel rates buy in bulk. We guarantee a hotel that we will fill a certain number of rooms each night of the year. This takes some heavy forecasting. We look at when events are in the area, when people are traveling to the area and then increase our quantity.
We have contracts with the hotel that require them to reserve our rooms. In return since we guarantee we will fill their rooms, they offer us a discounted rate. This is the wholesale rate, which is even less that the cheap hotel rates displayed on our site.
We then take the wholesale rate and mark it up enough for us to make a profit, and yet still sell the room at a rate less than the hotel will. Since we pay for these rates at the time we get them, the cheap hotel rates you see are only available if you prepay for them. This is because we already paid for them, and to guarantee the room will not be sold out from under you.
There really isn't a catch to these type of websites. You do have to prepay, but more and more hotels are charging a deposit to guarantee the room anyway. You can save a lot of cash if you buy in advance with websites like mine. Plus almost any site offering cheap hotel rates will match a competitors price if you find it cheaper. This is because each of these sites is working towards a market share, and loyal customer base. - 16492
I actually own one of these cheap hotel rates websites, and I can tell you for sure that it is the real deal. There are a lot of factors that actually go into sites providing rates below the hotel's price, but I will break some of them down for you so that you can see how we offer cheap hotel rates.
First of all the sites offering cheap hotel rates buy in bulk. We guarantee a hotel that we will fill a certain number of rooms each night of the year. This takes some heavy forecasting. We look at when events are in the area, when people are traveling to the area and then increase our quantity.
We have contracts with the hotel that require them to reserve our rooms. In return since we guarantee we will fill their rooms, they offer us a discounted rate. This is the wholesale rate, which is even less that the cheap hotel rates displayed on our site.
We then take the wholesale rate and mark it up enough for us to make a profit, and yet still sell the room at a rate less than the hotel will. Since we pay for these rates at the time we get them, the cheap hotel rates you see are only available if you prepay for them. This is because we already paid for them, and to guarantee the room will not be sold out from under you.
There really isn't a catch to these type of websites. You do have to prepay, but more and more hotels are charging a deposit to guarantee the room anyway. You can save a lot of cash if you buy in advance with websites like mine. Plus almost any site offering cheap hotel rates will match a competitors price if you find it cheaper. This is because each of these sites is working towards a market share, and loyal customer base. - 16492
