cheweydan

I will be traveling to Europe for three weeks in June, and have been watching the value of the dollar plunge, and the cost of my vacation greatly increase.
I have made all of my hotel reservations, and am looking for some advice.

I am considering contacting each hotel with the following offer.

I will pay for the full cost of my stay now (3 months in advance, and at the current exchange rate) in return for a discount on the room price. (maybe 10-20 %)

Benefit to me- A reduced rate, and no more worrying about the dollar.

Benefit to hotel-Getting my money 3 months in advance.

Question number one: Is this a good proposition on my part?

Question number two: What do you think the chances are that a hotel would agree to this?

Looking forward to your thoughts, or your experience on these matters.

Thanks

Chewey

Sue_xx_yy

I've sometimes booked hotels on an arrangement that is not only prepaid but nonrefundable. So you should be prepared for a counteroffer that includes the 'nonrefundable' requirement - and if so, you would want at least a 30 per cent discount. Note that such deals are usually available only if the hotel is looking hard to fill their rooms - which they are unlikely to be in June.

In the event they want the whole payment to be nonrefundable, you'd want to a) be pretty confident you will be satisfied with the hotel once you see your room and b) be darn sure your plans won't change - or be prepared to swallow the costs if you are forced to postpone or cancel your trip (or buy cancellation insurance, which is pretty expensive in and of itself.)

When I've done prepaid deals, it has always been for a chain hotel,as opposed to a small independent one, and the offer came as part of a special promotion as opposed to something I negotiated myself. Also as I said before, the promotion came during the shoulder or off seasons, never the high one, but you might get lucky. Either way, make sure, absolutely sure, that you understand the terms - and save the paperwork for your records. (You might also hear from people who have used Priceline, but as I have never used this, I won't speak further about it.)

If you don't 'know' the hotel well, make the payment by credit card, and not more than 90 days prior to your intended stay, to be sure that the CC company would go to bat for you in the event of any problems (e.g. hotel trying to reneg on the offer and demanding additional payment once you got there, etc. etc.)

Personally I think you'd be entailing a lot of risk to do this for the entire holiday, and in your shoes I'd look around instead for cheaper hotels that you pay on check-out, in the usual manner. Or you could try an apartment, many people here have done that. You could even try camping if cost is a real issue. good luck!

jeremygil

If they don't accept your offer then you may see if you can get a discount if you pay cash, many smaller hotels will offer this. I've stayed at several that will give 5-10%.

Becca

Okay, I'm curious as to whether this will work! I'm headed to Greece in May, and I'd love to try something similar. Will you let us know what happens (whether the hotels accept the offer and what they did for you)?

Ackislander

If you don't have faith in the value of the dollar three months out, why should they?

What are they going to earn on your money in 3 1/2 months? Enough to compensate them for the risk of holding dollars? Doubtful.

What if you paid in euros/sterling now? That might get someone's attention.

ira

Hi C,

Many hotels will offer 5-10% discount for cash.

Your offer of advance payment for a 20% discount might be acceptable.

Depends on hotel, venue and season.

It's worth a try.

You will, most likely, be locked into a nonrefundable agreement.

OTOH, what if the E drops, as it did over the last 2 days?

AAFrequentFlyer

<b>Ackislander</b>,

what are you talking about? of course the bill would be settled in local currency. It's not like the op will send US$ in a white envelope.

I agree with <b>Sue</b>,

nothing wrong with prepaying and getting a little discount. The chains offer this option on their websites but the discount comes with a &quot;price&quot;. Usually it's non-refundable rate, so be prepared to take a hit if something goes bad with your trip. Other that than, go for it.

cheweydan

I have noticed some hotels offering americans a discount for paying cash in response to the dollars plunge.

So I was hoping for some pity on their part in offering a discount. I would not however be able to carry that much money to pay all my bills in cash.

I figured if the dollar did reverse it would be fine as the rest of my spending(tours,food,transportation) would be with a stronger dollar.

Are there any other possible negatives such as the inability to contest a charge to the credit card after 90 days?
Thanks
Chewey

Ackislander

AAFrequentFlyer wrote:

&quot;Ackislander,

what are you talking about? of course the bill would be settled in local currency.&quot;

It says that where in the original post? He is talking about paying at the current rate of exchange, not something you would ordinarily say if you were paying by credit card because that is a given.

&quot;It's not like the op will send US$ in a white envelope&quot;

No, but I have sent bank drafts and international money orders.

Fortunately, his latest post clarifies the matter. If he can tie up the money and is certain he can make the trip or insure against a loss if he can't, hey, go for it!

AAFrequentFlyer

No matter how the hotel would be paid, CC, money order, etc...it will be in local currency at today's rate, so I still fail to see the point of your post. Tme money order would be cashed as soon as the hotel got it. The hotel is not going to hold the MO until the op arrives.

Now, if that's what the op is thinking then perhaps the op needs to wake up. You can't just &quot;promise&quot; to pay in cash at today's exchange rate and have the hotel agree to it. A pre-paid res means just that. Pre-pay and the hotel will discount the rate but in most cases, if not all, it's usually a non-refundable rate, so if something goes wrong with your trip, you're SOL.

JoyC

AAFrequentFlyer is correct. If you want to pre-pay your hotel, they will usually give you a discount but the catch is your reservation is not only non-refundable but also non-changeable. I have prepaid some of our hotels for our trip in June last November when the &euro;=$1.42 but they are all non-refundable. Luckily I have trip insurance.

Christina

Ask away, but I think it's kind of tacky and wouldn't expect a great reception at a hotel where you did that.

I don't stay at hotels that offer discounts for staying in cash, so that is some other kind of place where I don't stay. However, I have gotten about 20 pct discounts for completely prepayment of a hotel bill in advance. It ALWAYS is nonrefundable when they do that, and any place that has had that option usually makes the option clear on their website. Those are the cases where I've done it.

I think the chances are close to zero for a hotel to give you a discount for prepayment if you still want to have all your options of cancellation up to the last minute with full refunds. Furthermore, in some countries are are now probably meddling into laws that they may not want to get into. I mean, it's fine for you to say something, but hotel regulations may say otherwise.

If you aren't concerned about them getting annoyed with you or thinking you are crude, you have nothing to lose in asking those.

Sue_xx_yy

&quot;So I was hoping for some pity on their part in offering a discount.&quot;

I think you were closer to the right track in your opening post, when you sought to have benefits to both parties. Pity shouldn't enter into it, either from them to you, or you to them. You are conducting a business transaction, not soliciting (or offering) charity.

You ask about disadvantages other than the 90 day thing and the credit card. As we have been trying to stress, the main 'cost' to you is that in the only cases I, and apparently others, have heard of, prepayment has been part of a 'nonrefundable' contract. If you think about it from the hotel's point of view, you can see why: there is no advantage to the hotel in being prepaid if they cannot then go ahead and spend the money to address their immediate cash flow needs. They could not do this if there were any question of their having to refund the money to you, say in the event of your cancellation. In other words, for them to simply act as a kind of banker for you the customer is no benefit to them.

A nonrefundable prepayment is not so much a currency speculation as the 'selling' of your right to a cancellation policy in return for a discount. As for currency speculation - which is what a few people here sometimes try to do by buying euro in advance, on the expectation that the dollar will continue to fall - is always a dicey game. If you could truly predict what direction currency values were going to take, you would be able to make a very nice living advising millionaires how to invest their money, instead of worrying about how to finance your own modest tour of Europe!

I can only repeat that your best option overall if you want to reduce your costs, is by downgrading your accomodation and other aspects of your trip. (Cutting costs by shortening the trip does not appear likely at this late date as I get the impression you have already booked your air ticket.)

Dukey

Personally, I don't think it is the least bit &quot;tacky&quot; and they may or may not go for it...one reason why not is simply that they may feel they can easily fill that spot you might otherwise vacate with some other &quot;tourist&quot;..perhaps one from Europe...but I agree it is worth a try.

AisleSeat

What you are suggesting is what is done frequently with third party vendors like Hotels.com or Priceline. You book and pay for your hotel now and then you go later.
I have heard people say that they get a better deal by dealing with the hotel direct and I don't know if this applies with big or little hotels.

cheweydan

Thanks for all your replies.
I think I will try for the discount rate, and then check into travel insurance to cover any cancellations.

I've seen many posts on here advising against speculating about the dollars future value.

But I think waiting to find out what the exchange rate is going to be in 3 months is the same exact speculation.

Its true no one &quot;knows&quot; what the value of the dollar will be in the future, but locking in at a rate i'm comfortable with and not checking the exchange rate on a daily basis would be a great benefit.

It's sort of like buying a plane ticket at a price you like, not knowing what it will cost in the future.


And no change in exchange rate will make me cancel my first trip to Europe. Im just happy to save a couple dollars when I can.

Thanks again for all the responses

Chewey

QueScaisJe

What if you are unhappy with the accommodations? What if the hotel &quot;loses&quot; your reservation? My thought is that giving the hotelier all the money upfront is a tad risky unless you have some prior assurance of the quality of the rooms and of the management.

azedge

Traveling to Europe in June, July and August is risky without reservations. I have been going there almost every year for the past 25. We are going there in August and in February I completed our reservations there. Some of the hotels we had stayed at previously were already booked. Several others required full payment in advance with no refund. Despite the loss of value for the dollar, Americans still are going there.

My reason for saying all of the above is, you may already be late with some of the hotels if you have not booked your reservations by now. I don't think I would have a problem with your proposal to pay the full cost now, and ask for some exchange break. Twenty per cent seems high , but what can you lose. If you have confirmed bookings at these hotels, the worst they can say is no. Give it a go. If you have stayed there before, and they know you, it might help. There is a four star hotel in Vienna, that seems to be booked most of the time, but when we want to stay there, I send them an email and tell them all the websites say you are full, are you sure you cannot accommodate us for the usual four days in August, and they come back and say ok, or tell me they need to change my dates a few days. Good luck.

azedge

I might add that the hotelier is not getting a great deal with you paying in advance. Most of the hotels will be full at that time, and they will have no problem filling your rooms with others. Lastly I would guess that some might take it, but most would not.

Becca

Should you try it? Absolutely. I just did based on this thread, and it worked for me.

I e-mailed the Belvedere Hotel on Mykonos where I was interested in staying four nights during the last week in May. I e-mailed the hotel directly - not the Small Luxury Hotels Group of which it is a member.

The offer I made was whether the hotel would provide me a discount if I paid in full now. The best price I had come up with online on several booking websites, including the hotel's was 165 Euros per night for a garden view room.

This morning I received an e-mail back from the hotel saying they had rooms for 108 Euros for a standard room and that if I booked by this Saturday, they would provide me a complimentary upgrade to the 165 Euros/night room PLUS would provide me one of my nights free. In exchange I must pay 30% upfront and 70% the day I check in, and the 30% is fully refundable up until seven days prior to my arrival.

I think this is a great deal. Instead of paying 660 Euros for four nights, I will be paying 324 Euros for four nights (three nights plus one free) for the same room category. Of course, the only risk I run is that the dollar continues to plunge, but at least I can get my money back up until one week in advance.

Though you may have a bit harder time since you are traveling in June, I say go for it! I'm going to try this with all the rest of the hotels I need to book.