HotelsByCity.com Update
In recent days I have been carrying on a dialogue with Anonymous regarding this entry last January to my Blog:
Lou Gelfand, who writes the "Talking Ethics" column twice a month in the Business Section of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, wrote about my HotelsByCity.com scam in yesterday's newspaper:When buying in person or online, shop around - and ask questions... Norman Larson of Ellsworth, Wis., is a retired University of St. Thomas journalism professor. He says he searched the Internet for a hotel in Burnsville and found HotelsByCity.com, where he spotted this ad: "Burnsville Hotels, 110% low rate guaranteed."Larson said, "My credit card was charged $84.24. ... But when I checked out, the receipt was $25 less than what I had already paid." So Larson went back to the HotelsByCity.com site for an explanation. Included in a long response was this:"Facilitation fee: We act as an intermediary between travel suppliers and consumers for the booking of a payment for travel accommodations. To facilitate the provision of travel accommodations to consumers, we enter into agreements with various travel suppliers which govern the booking of and payment for such accommodations through this website. The price listed for travel accommodations includes the amount(s) paid to the relevant travel supplier(s) in connection with facilitating your travel arrangements, as well as a service fee for facilitating such travel arrangements."Translation: We get a commission paid for by the consumer.The lesson is this: Whether you're shopping in person or on the Internet, "buyer beware" is still the best policy.
posted by Norman Larson at 5:17 PM on Jan 17 2006
Anonymous said...
This is a very normal situation, what your dealing with here, is a B2B relationship that was leaked to a consumer, the hotel pre negotiates a rate with travel suppliers based on volumes, so that they can sell it and earn a commission, this is not a rate that is available to the general public, it is a wholesale rate, the hotel then accidentally gives out an invoice with the wholesale rate to the customer. It would be like going to Best Buy, and the sales persona accidentally quotes you there "wholesale Price" or "cost" on a TV, it's not a scam, obviously sites have to make money, there are B2B relationships and B2C relationships.
11:55 AM
Norman Larson said...
Why does the travel supplier -- in this case HotelsByCity.com and, as I found out later, based in Canada -- advertise itself as the "official" Minnesota hotel site? And why does it say that it offers the lowest possible rate with a 110% refund guarantee if a lower rate is found?
8:11 AM
Anonymous said...
I looked into this guarantee on there site and found: the lowest rates are offered on all the save rate hotels, hotelsbycity.com also has other hotels, so not all the rates are guaranteed to be the lowest, if they are the guaranteed to be the lowest and you find a lower advertised price, then you just fill out a form, and get the difference back. As for being the official site, I guess anyone can be the official site for a state, not really sure how that works.
5:48 PM
Norman Larson said...
If you were not Anonymous, I would reply to you directly rather than post a comment on this Blog.Who are you? An apologist for HotelsByCity.com? Or some other scam? Weeks ago I looked up what you referred to as "there site" and found that there are so many conditions to their guarantee that it would be virtually impossible to have it honored. And how can anyone be an official site for a state? You said you are not sure how it works. Well, the way it works for HotelsByCity is that it is illegal, and the outfit ought to be prosecuted.
7:33 PM
Anonymous said...
oh dear! i just booked with hotelbycity.com and i printed a copy. it says i have to pay hotelbycity just 6.00 for the booking. also i noticed in the fine print this is the cost per day! (i only booked one day)thus 5 days would have cost me 30.00 to book. now i did not read the cost per day on there site? anyways , will let you know how it works out in a week or two.
10:05 PM
Norman Larson said...
When you are at the place that you booked through HotelsByCity.com, inquire as to what the cost of the accommodation would have been if you had booked directly with them rather than through the Web site of HotelsByCity.com.
Lou Gelfand, who writes the "Talking Ethics" column twice a month in the Business Section of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, wrote about my HotelsByCity.com scam in yesterday's newspaper:When buying in person or online, shop around - and ask questions... Norman Larson of Ellsworth, Wis., is a retired University of St. Thomas journalism professor. He says he searched the Internet for a hotel in Burnsville and found HotelsByCity.com, where he spotted this ad: "Burnsville Hotels, 110% low rate guaranteed."Larson said, "My credit card was charged $84.24. ... But when I checked out, the receipt was $25 less than what I had already paid." So Larson went back to the HotelsByCity.com site for an explanation. Included in a long response was this:"Facilitation fee: We act as an intermediary between travel suppliers and consumers for the booking of a payment for travel accommodations. To facilitate the provision of travel accommodations to consumers, we enter into agreements with various travel suppliers which govern the booking of and payment for such accommodations through this website. The price listed for travel accommodations includes the amount(s) paid to the relevant travel supplier(s) in connection with facilitating your travel arrangements, as well as a service fee for facilitating such travel arrangements."Translation: We get a commission paid for by the consumer.The lesson is this: Whether you're shopping in person or on the Internet, "buyer beware" is still the best policy.
posted by Norman Larson at 5:17 PM on Jan 17 2006
Anonymous said...
This is a very normal situation, what your dealing with here, is a B2B relationship that was leaked to a consumer, the hotel pre negotiates a rate with travel suppliers based on volumes, so that they can sell it and earn a commission, this is not a rate that is available to the general public, it is a wholesale rate, the hotel then accidentally gives out an invoice with the wholesale rate to the customer. It would be like going to Best Buy, and the sales persona accidentally quotes you there "wholesale Price" or "cost" on a TV, it's not a scam, obviously sites have to make money, there are B2B relationships and B2C relationships.
11:55 AM
Norman Larson said...
Why does the travel supplier -- in this case HotelsByCity.com and, as I found out later, based in Canada -- advertise itself as the "official" Minnesota hotel site? And why does it say that it offers the lowest possible rate with a 110% refund guarantee if a lower rate is found?
8:11 AM
Anonymous said...
I looked into this guarantee on there site and found: the lowest rates are offered on all the save rate hotels, hotelsbycity.com also has other hotels, so not all the rates are guaranteed to be the lowest, if they are the guaranteed to be the lowest and you find a lower advertised price, then you just fill out a form, and get the difference back. As for being the official site, I guess anyone can be the official site for a state, not really sure how that works.
5:48 PM
Norman Larson said...
If you were not Anonymous, I would reply to you directly rather than post a comment on this Blog.Who are you? An apologist for HotelsByCity.com? Or some other scam? Weeks ago I looked up what you referred to as "there site" and found that there are so many conditions to their guarantee that it would be virtually impossible to have it honored. And how can anyone be an official site for a state? You said you are not sure how it works. Well, the way it works for HotelsByCity is that it is illegal, and the outfit ought to be prosecuted.
7:33 PM
Anonymous said...
oh dear! i just booked with hotelbycity.com and i printed a copy. it says i have to pay hotelbycity just 6.00 for the booking. also i noticed in the fine print this is the cost per day! (i only booked one day)thus 5 days would have cost me 30.00 to book. now i did not read the cost per day on there site? anyways , will let you know how it works out in a week or two.
10:05 PM
Norman Larson said...
When you are at the place that you booked through HotelsByCity.com, inquire as to what the cost of the accommodation would have been if you had booked directly with them rather than through the Web site of HotelsByCity.com.
posted by Norman Larson @ 8:02 AM
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