I called the International Hotel Suites in Calgary, where I was quoted $229 for a studio, the same price they advertised online. “I really can't spend more than $200,” I said. Did I have a CAA or AAA membership? No, I did not. Did she have any other packages? She clicked the keyboard. “I have a corporate package I can offer you. It's 8 per cent off the best available rate, and that includes breakfast.” The total was $210.68. I decided to push, and asked her if she could deduct the price of the breakfast from the room. After putting me on hold for less than a minute, she came back with a rate of $199 without breakfast. “No breakfast?” I whined, slightly. “I'll give you a favour,” she said. “I will give you a complimentary upgrade to our International Business Suite.” So instead of a 595-square-foot room with a queen bed for $229, I got an 850-square-foot, two-bedroom suite for $199.
Feeling good, I decided to try the Hazelton, which styles itself as Toronto's first five-star hotel. The best rate quoted online was $350. On the phone, asking for their best rate, it became $360, plus tax and a $9.50 communications fee, for a 600-square-foot deluxe king. “I'm sorry, but that's really more than I was hoping to pay,” I said. Out came a 500-square-foot superior king for $295. “My budget was actually $275,” I ventured. She couldn't go any lower, but when I persisted, she offered me an upgrade back to that original deluxe room at the superior rate, a $65 discount.
The scorecard: Five out of six hotels were ready to deal, and three offered me substantial discounts. What does this say about the state of hotels? “It's a sign of desperation,” says Gabor Forgacs, an assistant professor at Ryerson University's Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management. “There used to be some kind of minimum rate that they called the hurdle rate, and nothing could go under that – but these days, even that's not carved in stone.”
Forgacs suggests you'll have more luck with large hotels than small, and airport hotels rather than downtown ones. If you hit a wall, as I did at the Royal York, he suggests asking for freebies instead: breakfast, parking, papers, Wi-Fi.
None of these phone calls, it should be noted, lasted longer than five minutes. If you're not locked into a plan, chances are you can do better than you've been doing.
Special to The Globe and Mail
Do you have feedback or business travel questions? E-mail roadwork@globeandmail.com.
Follow Road Work on Twitter @BertArcher.
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How to get a cheap rate
* Try large hotels. It's harder to rent 1,000 rooms a night than 50.
* Airport hotels cater primarily to business travellers; business travel is way down. Do the math.
* Call last-minute. According to Professor Ted Whykes at Royal Roads University's hotel program, it's all about “the perishability of the product.” An empty room at 3 a.m. is worthless.
* If the person who picks up the phone can't deal, ask for a rooms division or front office manager.
* Be aware of any memberships you have to organizations such as CAA and the Canadian Association of Retired Persons and ask if the hotels offer discounts.
* Ask for a package deal, and then ask to unpack it. If the package includes breakfast, ask for the value of the meal to be deducted from the rate.
* If the price won't budge, ask for an upgrade.
* After you've finished, always ask for frills to be free. Today, there's no reason to pay for breakfast, parking or Wi-Fi.
B.A.
