Hello fellow travelers In RS's Rome book, he states that certain hotels (Oceania, Aberdeen, Sonya) will give discounts to his readers, and an additional discount if payment is in cash. When I email the hotels, they respond to my request for availability, but completely ignore my question regarding RS and cash discounts. Is this a topic that hotels choose not to discuss in emails? or are they trying to avoid discounts?
What has your experience been in trying to confirm a price on the rooms? Thank you.
Posted by
Pa and Italy
4152 posts
I would email them again and specifically ask about the discounts for cash and the discount mentioned in the book. Let them know that if they cannot or will not answer these questions you'll be happy to book elsewhere. Donna
Posted by
Morrison, CO, USA
893 posts
I haven't used those particular hotels, but I have emailed hotels in Rome and Venice and told them that I heard about their hotels on the RS helpline and asked if they gave a RS discount. I was told yes on one occasion and one hotel told me that if I had a copy of the RS book that I would get a discount. That hotel happened to be in the book. The first one was not. Many, many hotels offer a cash discount, I don't know why they wouldn't respond to your questions.
Posted by
OP
na
75 posts
Thank you Donna and Mimi, I found this experience very strange. The first hotel I contacted was Hotel Oceania, I stayed there for 1 night last Nov, and at the time I didn't ask about a discount. I didn't think I would be entitled to a discount since I photocopied pages from the RS book, I didn't bring the entire RS book with me. And I did pay in cash but didn't inquire about a cash discount because it was only a 1 night stay. This year I plan to stay for 3 nights so I emailed Oceania and asked about availability. They responded the following day by offering me their Summer room rate and instructed me to send them my cr card # if I wish to reserve the room. I asked if there was a difference in paying by cash or credit card. They replied that they accept credit cards (which didn't answer my question). I again asked if there is a RS discount or a cash payment discount. There was no response. I wrote another email to say that I was offered a Summer room rate for a stay for the first half of Nov (typically considered low season), are there any other rates available, cash discount maybe, and what their cancellation policy is. Again, silence. Infact I have receive no further emails from them.
The second hotel I contacted was Hotel Sonya. I asked for availability and RS or cash discount. They wrote back that they didn't have any rooms available. When I tried booking a room through their website, it actually showed avail. rms under the reg rate & RS discount. I checked several times over 2 days - each time it showed avail, so I booked a room. Reservation Asst emailed me to stay the hotel was full, but soon after I received an automated email confirmation w/ conf #. Since the person took the time to email me I asked that they reconfirm that they cannot accomodate me. Since they have my cr card number I would like final confirmation that there are no rooms available.
Posted by
OP
na
75 posts
(cont'd) The last hotel I contacted was Aberdeen. They confirmed availability, and their website clearly states their cancellation policy. When I asked about a discount, they said that I could not combine a RS room rate with a cash discount. Only one or the other. They asked that I book the room directly through their website. Not offering both a RS discount and cash discount is fair. And I appreciate that I actually received a clear response from them. The other two hotels seemed to be skirting the issue.
Since RS promotes the hotel discounts I thought it was appropriate to ask about them. I guess in tough economic times some hotels would rather charge full price and loose a customer rather than honor a discount agreement with RS.