Booking different rooms at the same hotel?

Hi all,

I have a question about booking online through a hotel's website:

Can I just book different room types on seperate (but consecutive) nights and then hope I will get one room assigned for my entire stay at check in?

There are so many different room types (I mean, same standard room, but different towers, views, type of beds, smoking/non-smoking, etc) and every night a different room type comes out as the cheapest. While non of the rooms are ever sold out.

Why I ask is because when I check for my entire stay, the average price per night for even the cheapest room is more than double the price than when I check day by day and each time pick the cheapest room (which then will be a different room type).

I don't mind which room I end up in at check in, as long as I can stay in the same room the entire trip, or even change room ones, for example half-way my stay.

I only ask because, even though there are so many types of rooms with various prices, below on the page in fine print it says that the room type is not guaranteed, as rooms are only assigned at check in. Which makes me believe that it will be easy at check in to book me in the same room for my entire stay.

What are your thoughts and experiences on this? Thank you for any advice!

 

I did separate bookings in same hotel in consecutive days before and they let me stay in same room. Not in Vegas though. Just to make sure, I did go down and have them officially check me out and check me back in on the day I'm supposed to switch room. I think it's in their discretion but if you do that, be prepared to transfer rooms meaning check out at 12 then check in at 3-4 just in case they take it literally. If you're staying several days, I would not do it on a daily basis. If you split your stay in say 2-3 reservations, front desk may help you but doing it on daily basis, they might get pissed as it requires some work in the back end I believe. Choose the best room for day 1 as they might just let you stay there but again be prepared to move. If you're doing that, I suggest booking direct and don't go thru online travel sites as hotels have more control of your reservations if you book direct. Just some suggestions.

 

Thank you, Drc!

 

We tried something similar, but ours was a comp offer and then a myvegas room comp. We did stay in the higher end room from the comp but only after paying an upgrade fee for the one night. May be they will be more flexible if you have actually paid for the room. They also told us on check in that we would have to check out and check in with new keys, but when we went down to do that, they said we didn't have to.

 

Are you talking about Las Vegas? Which chain or hotel?

Let's say you look and find that the base standard room is the cheapest one for that night, but then for other nights it's not. This would probably be the ideal situation - when the room you're OK staying in is the cheapest one on the first night. So you go ahead and book other room type(s) for other night(s) of your stay. Your arrival is in two or three months

You could run into these problems:

1. Multiple reservations - multiple deposits. That's not a huge problem as long as you can carry the cost of the deposits.

2. You get there and check in, and tell them, BTW, I have additional reservation(s) for other room type(s) for other nights, but I really just want to stay in the same room, and I'm good with the base room.

Operationally, that's not a problem at all, they can do whatever they need to do in the reservations system to just put you in the same room for all the nights and apply your deposits. They cancel the other reservations but don't charge you a late cancellation fee. In that situation, they just block you into that room and you don;t have to check in/out or get new keys at any point.

BUT - technically what you are doing is extending your first reservation to X number of nights. So what they may want to do is charge you the current rate for that room, whatever that rate happens to be while you're standing there. Not the rates you booked two months ago for the other room types. And not the two-months-ago rate for the base room.
Now, that may come out in your favor, or it might not.

 

Thanks, Patman!

 

Hi Chuck,

Thanks for your input, very much appreciated!

I'm going for 19 nights and have the first week booked already via a 3rd party, together with my flights. For the rest of the trip I had other arrangements, but that got cancelled, so now I have to book an additional 12 nights.

I usually book everything long in advance, taking weeks or months to compare options and to find the best deal. Now it feels kind of last minute and I'm getting a bit nervous, cause I'm worried that it will be a lot more expensive than I counted on.

The first week I'm staying at Harrah's and I would like to stay there for the remaining trip as well (not fond of moving), but if it will get too expensive - especially together with resort fees, grrr@#$ - I might consider Gold Coast for example.

On the Harrah's site they have a promo for the nights I need, but every night another room type is cheaper (for example king- or queens- bed etc).

For the first week I have a Carnaval room, with 2 queens and smoking.

 

For 19 nights, I strongly suggest you move to another one after the first week, no matter how you hate moving.

 

HI lady! You might also try booking online, then call the next day and tell them you have multiple reservations, but you'd really like to stay in one room, and see if they can bundle/make a note. We've piggybacked comp and non comp nights for a longer stay this way.

This way, you're giving them time to tag the rooms as one stay. If you try it at checkin, when there's a line 20 feet deep, and other rooms are almost sold out, they might be less accomodating. Another advantage to calling ahead of time is, I'd they CAN'T do it, you have time to cancel.

Good luck, have a great trip, and I think if you follow up the reservation with a call (or email if you're in Europe), merging separate reservations should be fine..like Chuck said, you just might have a deposit on all!

PS, You can also book the room and watch prices, and call in for an adjustment if it drops. Just make sure to have them email you a rate confirmation for the reduced rate or get a confirmation code...as you always want something in writing. I've done this too.

 

Thanks a lot, Multifarious!

I really like you're idea to call and cancel if they can't bundle my reservations.

 

Yes, that's an idea I didn't think of. That would take away the risk of price shifting between now and then.

The whole situation sounds a little strange to me in terms of pricing. I think in multi's scenario, since you'd have to call, you might just skip the 2nd reservation, and just call now and get it sorted. I usually end up talking to CET's reservations agents at least once before every trip and they've usually been pretty good, even when I am throwing in offer codes and such. I think it shouldn't be too difficult for them to sort it out.

Of course if you do have the 2nd reservation booked when you call, you do have a little more leverage, because you can nicely threaten to cancel it.

Good luck!

 

Yes exactly what I thought.

 

Wait a minute.. 19 nites!!!!! WOW

 

I don't gamble on the last day though. Lol, only kidding. I really see it as a holiday and Vegas is the only place I want to spend it. Also, it takes almost 24 hours traveling (door-to-door) to get there and the price of the flight doesn't change when I stay longer, so I might as well add a few days. Hotels in Vegas are cheap compared to other places.

 

One other thing I thought of - some MLife properties have recently started displaying "Run Of House" as a room option, and I think it's sometimes priced a few dollars cheaper than the basic room. "Run Of House" translates to a combination of "whatever's available" and "whatever the front desk feels like."

Even though Total Rewards doesn't display this online, I think it's probably a standard option for reservation agents to use at almost any hotel. So if you end up calling, you might ask about that if the conversation gets bogged down. If they'll book you on that, then you won't know what kind of room you'll have until you get there, and there's a possibility it'll be in a really poor location, but it'll lock you in. And if they did stick you in a really really bad room, you could probably go the next morning and ask them to have mercy and move you (without changing the rate).

 

This I will do. That sounds like my best option. Thank you! I probably best write an email, cause then I have their answer in writing.

Just to make my "problem" more visible, I made some screenshots. This is the calendar overview for part of my dates (can't get them all in one shot, but doesn't matter):



Now, if I divide the 12 days in two chunks of 6 days and take 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 as an example, then it would be a total of $317 is average p/n 52$83, but when I select those and get the full price, it looks like this:



Is $390 and $65 average p/n.

So that's where my question came from, if I can book all nights seperate.

***

Will write an email to Harrah's saying something like:

I have already booked a week (dates/room type) at Harrah's and unexpectedly have to add another 12 days to my stay. I would preferably extend my stay at Harrah's and I like the prices on the calendar on your website. But online I am only able to book 11 nights maximum and if I select a specific room type (even when taking the cheapest), the total price comes out a lot higher, than when I add up the nights on the calendar. Can you please quote me a price per night for the following dates (add dates), for your "Run Of House" room? I don't mind which room type I end up in at check in, as long as I can stay my entire trip in one room. And especially to not have to move to another property after the first week at Harrah's. In the last case I will probably cancel my first week at Harrah's, so I can stay the entire duration of my trip at one location. But as said before, I would prefer to stay the entire trip at Harrah's, as I'm really looking forward to my first stay at your hotel.

Have to polish it up still, but do you think it has the right tone?

 

I think Chuck is correct. That first screen is their "Run of House" price. Your second screen is an upgraded room even from a basic 1 King room. When you go on the site if you click on the rate calendar for each specific type of room it seems to match up exactly. I also noted that I couldn't get those prices this morning. Seems like they have gone up and in the case of the Carnaval 2 Q Strip view, I'm getting $458.

 

Yes totally true! When I get the calendar up, each time I refresh the page, different prices come up. It seems totally random.

 

I'm also considering to move to 4Queens for a week or so and then move back to Harrah's (or another hotel center Strip) for my final 4 or 5 nights (and final weekend). But although I love the Downtown area and Fremont Street, I have never stayed there and I'm not sure I would enjoy it. So far I have only stayed on the Strip. Any thoughts?

 

I think the tone of that email is fine. You might want to give them your existing confirmation number.

Is your total stay ending Nov 27? Because I do see they have wacky prices on Nov 30 and Dec1 for some reason.
This screen shot is with me not logged in.


I also see a diff in what is displayed on the offer calendar and what I see if I select 11/22 - 27. This is the cheapest room, Mardi Gras Pool View. Some nights match and some don't.