twofortheroad

Last March, I googled for eternity looking for Shanghai hotels on web sites and found nothing good. We were looking for mid April. I had first printed prices from the hotels we wanted--Marriott, Four Seasons, Westin. The best price was the B & B rate at the Four Seasons--with weekend & weekday rates equaling about $290 a night. Ready to reserve, I went to FS site and this rate was gone and all that showed was a suite for many $$$.

We decided to try for May. The first week in May is a national holiday, with lower hotel prices, but not not the best time for a visit. The original B & B rate at the FS was available May 9 on, so I booked for 13 nights before it disappeared again, knowing I could always cancel 24 hours before with no penalty. This was a last minute trip.

We decided the first 7 nights in Shanghai then Suzhou for 3 nights. That left us with 3 nights (fri, sat, & sun) back in Shanghai. Every night I checked web sites for low weekend rates. This payed off with a $171 weekend rate at The Westin.

I would suggest booking a hotel you can cancel if the price looks good and then constantly checking the hotel web sites for special offers.

Walter_Walltotti

I have often found, particularly to Thailnd, that booking direct with Kuoni.co.uk, the travel agent to be very hard to beat.

They have huge buying power in Thailand and their offers of upgrades, free nights, comp breakfasts etc add superb value. Obviously you don't have hundreds of hotels to pick from, but they offer a good selection of the well known 3, 4 and 5 star hotels.

One note however is if you are just buying the accomodation from them and not the whole package they charge you £25 admin fee.

I think our best buys through them were in 2005 5 nights at the Kowloon Shangri La in an Exec Harbour view room for £500 with breakfast included.


Earlier this year we got 3 nights at the Anantara in Northern Thailand for £100, again including breakfast, and a week in Phuket at the Dusit in an Ocean Front room for £250 with breakfast.

KimJapan

I've recently been working with a Virtuoso agent who has gotten me some excellent prices with good inclusions and upgrades. They only work with luxury hotels, but for example, the Peninsula's own rate for a deluxe suite room with breakfast, roundtrip transfer, 1 dinner for two, comp minibar consumption and late checkout is $550.00/night minimum 3 nights. Virtuoso rate for a deluxe suite room with breakfast, 1 afternoon tea for two, and upgrade at check in to next level of room (so depends what you book when you upgrade) and late checkout is $400.00 per night, no minimum stay. The airport transfer, dinner and minibar are not worth $450.00 (savings over 3 nights)...so the Virtuoso rate is very good. Neither rate includes tax. Through Virtuoso you can of course book rooms as well as suites, but the savings is not as big.

The Virtuoso agent also saved us 30% off the price of a 2 bedroom suite at the Portofino Bay Hotel in Orlando for next February...extended family stay for 2 nights...and the Virtuoso rate includes an upgrade if available (to what I don't know), breakfast, and a lunch for 2 people. I did not pay a fee for the service.

ekscrunchy

Thanks for the information!
Kim, did you use the Virtuoso agent to book the entire trip or just hotels? Will they book only hotels for a traveler or do you have to buy a whole array of services from them as well? I will continue to check websites; right now the Raffles Beijing (ex-Beijing Hotel) has some deals since they just re-opened; ditto Le Meridien Shanghai. Being mildly obsessive, my first thought is to book the hotels now, but I see that waiting is often the best strategy with China.

KimJapan

I used the agent just to book some hotels. We stay in a range of places, and the Virtuoso agent only deals in the luxury properties. In some cases, the hotel itself offered a better deal, but in others, Virtuoso benefits and price were a much better deal. You can get an idea of what the Virtuoso prices and benefits are by looking at www.whatahotel.com - but note that this agent charges a $35.00 fee per trip for booking hotels. The agent I used did not charge a fee, but does not have a website that lists hotels and prices.

ekscrunchy

Thanks, Kim. I looked at the site. I also noticed that, under certain hotels (Four Seasons Shanghai), they bump you to a central reservation system that tells you that the price can fluctuate between booking and arrival. this does not seem to be true of Peninsula Palace, though. I will investigate using one of the Virtuoso agents...see if I can dig up some names here in NYC. Or, if you would like to share the name and number of the one you used, I would appreciate it. When is your trip to China?

Thanks again, Kim.

KimJapan

I used www.coastlinetravel.com in CA...I was referred to them when I requested information from Virtuoso.com. You really need to contact a Virtuoso agent to get the true price and benefits, as the website I gave is only a general idea, and does include some properties like Four Seasons, that are not Virtuoso members.

I'm not going to China. We're going to Florida in February and Singapore, Cambodia and Thailand in August.

StanKase

I have found Four Seasons not to discount to agents of any kind except if you are on a group tour and FS is getting say 20 rooms or more then they probably discount to the tour operator and you get a bit of the savings. Some FS hotels offer packages where an al a carte of the items would add up to $50-$100 total. Some of the resorts in low season give you a free night if you pay full rate for 4 or 5 nights but that's about it based on staying at the 9-10 FS we have stayed at over the past 5-7 years.

twofortheroad

The Egyptian TA I used for 2 Four Seasons in Egypt for 12 nights gave me a discount of $600 less than the web site. I think if you can find a TA who does volume repeat business, you can get a discount.

Scotters

The four season hotels in Bangkok and Chianh Mai offer their rooms to travel agents at reduced rates. The standard rate including taxes but no breakfast is 265 in high season for Bangkok. Agents rates are as low as 214. However the hotels fri/sat rate with breakfast at 211 is the best to be found.

ekscrunchy

Thanks, KimJapan...I will contact them as soon as I get my dates in order...