A damn shame/ripping of Srs.

Old Aug 21st, 2000, 09:50 AM
  #1  
Jeff
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A damn shame/ripping of Srs.

I have for some time been surfing for the lowest rates for trips for both me and my mom. When I check out sites like Expedia and Marriott, I find that the highest rates, bar none, are the AARP rates. They are even significantly higher than the regular rack room rate. There seems to be no explanation other than ripping off seniors. I even asked the Marriott sales rep who could not give me an answer when I asked why the regular rate for the Melville Long Island Marriott (10/20- 10/22) was $159 regularly; $179 with breakfast; and $229 AARP rate. You can try any day, any hotel and Marriott will have the same discrepency. This has been going on for years. Why is this????
 
Old Aug 21st, 2000, 10:30 AM
  #2  
John
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I've NEVER seen a case where AARP rates are higher than rack rates. In fact, RACK is the "published", or highest, rate category that exists at most hotels. Special rates like AAA, AARP, etc. are usually discounts off of this rate. They are usually not, however, the lowest rates offered by the hotel. For instance, weekend and corporate rates may be as low or lower than any other special discount programs. So, it's entirely feasible that a hotel (let's just pretend here!) has a rack rate of $250, AAA/AARP rate of $225, corporate rate of $219, summer rate of $199, and weekend rate of $99. If you ask for the AARP rate, it will be MUCH higher than the weekend rate...

In short, it's been my experience that AAA (I'm a member) RARELY offers the lowest rate and I think AARP would be the same thing!

 
Old Aug 21st, 2000, 10:32 AM
  #3  
Bob
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If Marriott doesn't give good senior discounts, then why do you even bother with them? Shop elsewhere.
 
Old Aug 21st, 2000, 10:33 AM
  #4  
lisa
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Jeff: You're right, it's always good to check all available rates and not just assume that special "discounted" rates like AARP, AAA, government, etc. are necessarily the lowest. The worst offenders in this category in my opinion are car rental companies, which claim to offer "corporate discounts" but if you check, the corporate "discounted" rate is usually higher than the regular rate. This is sometimes true of "government rates" on airfare and train tickets as well. Whenever I check into rates, I ask about various discounts, and then when they quote me a rate, I always ask, "and is that the lowest available rate or is there another rate that's even better?" You can't take for granted that any of the discounted rates are the lowest. Unfortunately many people don't know this and so they end up paying more than they have to.
 
Old Aug 21st, 2000, 10:35 AM
  #5  
huh
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I never heard of such a thing. I tried to get a room at the JW Marriott in D.C. a few years ago and the lowest rate (AAA) I could get was around $189/night. I asked if they had any lower rates and she said if I was an AARP member the rate was around $72/night...Now that's what I call a discount.
Have things changed?????
 
Old Aug 21st, 2000, 10:44 AM
  #6  
JoAnn
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We've found that calling the individual hotel, instead of the 800 # we can get better rates. We also joined the Comfort/Quality Motels 'Guest Privileges for Seniors. Costs nothing, but we get very good discounts. A Senior couple checked in behind us in GA, and they paid about $15 more than we did for the same room. We think that plan is very good.
 
Old Aug 21st, 2000, 01:01 PM
  #7  
Anon
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I researched a property once and checked into their discounts. The AAA and AARP discounts were exactly the same and could not be combined. Since we have been members in AARP (6 years), they haven't saved us a cent on anything. Even checking their car insurance and such is ALWAYS higher than what we're paying already.
 
Old Aug 21st, 2000, 03:36 PM
  #8  
George
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Perhaps this will be the beginning of an examination of AARP; this organization is not all it's cracked up to be, and this is but one example.
 
Old Aug 21st, 2000, 03:43 PM
  #9  
Jeff
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Boy, John is passionate about his case without checking. I gave an example of the LI Marriott but just to be safe, I ramdomly checked another hotel. For the World Trade Center Marriott for the second weekend in September, the AARP rate was significantly higher.

What I don't understand, though, is that people like John justify ripping old people off by saying that it's ok for the AARP rate to be higher than any normal other rate. With hotels like Marriott, the weekender rate for a weekend is merely their normal rate for that day. With most Marriott rates that I checked, the AARP was usually at least $50 more than the rate that you and I would receive without really trying. My advice to John, play around the Marriott site for a while and come back.
 
Old Aug 21st, 2000, 04:28 PM
  #10  
xxx
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Jeff, your complaint seems premised on the notion that seniors are the only group not capable of checking rates carefully before booking a hotel. I get an ABA discount. Sometimes it is the cheapest, sometimes not. That doesn't mean hotels are trying to "rip off" lawyers. So why do you assume that an AARP discount should operate differently?

Not all seniors are addled, you know, and if they cannot figure out how to do some simple comparison shopping, then perhaps the court should appoint a guardian to handle their affairs.
 
Old Aug 21st, 2000, 06:40 PM
  #11  
John
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Jeff, what I merely said was what others are saying...the AARP rate is never guaranteed to be the "best" rate and isn't advertised as such. It's a lower rate than the very highest rate, and that's all it's supposed to be! I agree that Marriott perhaps isn't the chain for you. Why not look elsewhere? Perhaps other chains have better senior rates!

On a similar note, I have an Entertainment (50% discount) card I use every now and then. Sometimes it's a great rate, but other times the normal weekend rate is lower. I certainly don't feel ripped off!
 
Old Aug 21st, 2000, 07:22 PM
  #12  
Beenthere
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Okay, I tried the empirical approach. At the World Trade Center Marriott on the weekend of Sept., the lowest rate for a deluxe room, no breakfast, is military/government $189. The AARP rate is $223 with 21-day advance purchase or $370 without advance purchase. The corporate rate is $419. "The highest rates, bar none, are the AARP rates"??

John wasn't "justifying ripping old people off." Retirees aren't forced to use AARP rates any more than executives are forced to use the corporate rate. You shop around and take the lowest rate you qualify for. My 78-year-old mother, with no business education, knows that.
 
Old Aug 21st, 2000, 07:24 PM
  #13  
Beenthere
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Sorry for the editing mistake. Those prices are for the weekend of Sept. 23. (The second weekend in Sept. was sold out when I checked.)
 
Old Aug 22nd, 2000, 04:49 AM
  #14  
Bobbie
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I used be a reservations agent for Marriott (5 years ago) and the AARP was usually $10 - $20 less than the rack rate. But the rack rate is usually the most expensive rate and there were usually several other rates that were a better deal. At the property where I worked we quoted all regular available rates (i.e. advance purchase, breakfast packages, corporate), but any rate that required membership or an ID (i.e. AARP, AAA, government/military employee rates, a special company rate for IBM, Toyota, etc.) had to be asked for.

But I just want to say that as a group, senior citizens are one of the richest demographic groups and I don't see why they deserve a discount just because they are old. Now I know that there are a lot of poor seniors who struggle to make ends meet on social security and medicare, but a good many of them have nothing to worry about yet they are the ones who want to argue over getting a $10 discount. It used to burn me up when the senior citizens would roll in in their brand new Cadillac on their way to their vacation home in Florida and would be so tight. They are draining the social security and medicare funds that won't be there when I get older (I'm a Gen Xer.)
 
Old Aug 22nd, 2000, 06:40 AM
  #15  
Anon
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How do I pout this politely? Bull shit. Wait until you are old and trying to live and make ends meet on 1/4 the money you used to have. You'll be first in line screaming for you $10 off.
 
Old Aug 22nd, 2000, 07:28 AM
  #16  
asdf
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Have to agree with Bobbie. Yes, needy seniors or even middle-income seniors should get help and discounts, and no one ought to have to scrimp in retirement. But let's face it. As a group, seniors in the U.S. have a greatly disproportionate share of wealth. They own their own homes, while young families struggle, for instance. Why do seniors object so much to means-testing?
 
Old Aug 22nd, 2000, 09:04 AM
  #17  
Brian in Atlanta
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Anyone who retires and is unhappy with having to live on 1/4 of what they used to have has no one to blame for their situation but themselves. Should have saved more.
 
Old Aug 22nd, 2000, 09:34 AM
  #18  
Diane
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What a strange thread. Since I stay in hotels pretty often, I've found that Weekend Rates --in a city location-- (ONLY usually good for the weekend nights) are the lowest around. However, if you are traveling on business during the week, the corporate rate isn't much of a discount, sometimes the AARP rate is the same and sometimes less (as it was at the Marriott West Loop in Houston twice this past Spring). Certainly big-city weekend rates are probably lower than the standard, during-the-week AARP rate. DUH. City hotels are very often completely sold out during the week to business customers. On the other hand, we've used AARP rates on the weekend at the beach, which turned out to be a better deal than their summertime weekend rates (which are higher because those are their "peak" days in a limited season.)
 
Old Aug 22nd, 2000, 09:51 AM
  #19  
Anon
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Brian...some Srs don't have a ton of money saved because they spent it all raising ungrateful children like you.
 
Old Aug 22nd, 2000, 09:55 AM
  #20  
Sam
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1. Discounts are incredibly variable, from hotel to hotel and association to association. I have also discovered the AARP "discount" to exceed all other rates on occasion. Similarly, I've been quoted a "promotional" rate that was higher than any other.

2. If you work for a hotel or hotel chain, you see the traveling seniors who do, indeed, have all kinds of extra cash -- esp. on routes to and from Florida (Snowbird Lanes). But there are plenty, plenty, plenty who don't have Cadillacs and pay 60% of their social security for medications. My mother is one of those, and believe me she worked incredibly hard for her lousy $10-11K a year in social security. Talking about all those people you see in the hospital clinics and nursing homes as "draining" money from GenX'rs who have 40 years to save for their own retirement is not only unfair, it's downright ignorant and cruel.
 

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