Next to readers asking for load information, which is coming incidentally, finding and booking hotels is the next hot topic. The most common question I see is “I’m going to <insert city>, are there any hotels that offer airline discount?”
So the answer is always, well most of the time, Yes. The idea of hotel discounts for airline staff came about as the airlines have crews that stay at the hotels when they do layovers so the hotels gives the airlines a discount since they do bulk stays. Most hotels pass that along to all airline staff, but this is not the case for all. Also the discounts will only apply when loads for the hotel is not as high.
The discount received is typically transpired when you call the hotel, make a booking and identify yourself as a staff member from airline <x>. The rates are different for each airline usually, but not always. You may also ask for the travel industry rate which is sometimes different than your airline negotiated rate. Of course you need to have your Airline ID when you check-in to get the rate.
Some hotels allow you to book these rates online using a special code. These codes/procedures are given to you by your airline. Examples are Hilton, Marriott and Accor Hotels.
One thing to note is that sometimes the hotels have much lower rates than the airline staff rates and/or the travel industry rates. So you should do your due diligence so you find the right rate.
This makes it a little difficult to find the best rate. But our partner HotelsCombined helps as you can see the rates on all the sites, then you can call the hotel and check for the industry/airline rate and choose the rate that works best. It even gets more complex as if you want to get points and miles for your status program you have to book on the hotel’s web site and you can’t use the airline rate. Again this is not the case for every hotel, but most.
So here’s what to do:
1). Start at https://www.passrider.com/hotelscombined and check the rates; it shows you the rates from several different sites, sometimes the actual hotel booking site.
2). Contact (check on their site or call) the hotel to see if they have the airline/travel industry rate. If they have the best rate, book with them. If not, then book at Hotelscombined by choosing the Web site that works best in terms of do you want miles/points or not.
There are other hotel options and we will talk about those in another newsletter as I don’t want to over power you with too much information at once.
I hope this helps, hit reply if you have any questions.