A coworker at the desk actually suggests using the third party sites to look at options & get a feel for prices in that area and then to book direct.

@krankarvolund7771

11 ай бұрын

I've had a class about hotels, and the teacher, who worked as hotel director for ten years in Paris, said pretty much the same thing, use the third-parties for browsing and checking the hotels, then go to the hotel site you want ^^

@Lioness99a

11 ай бұрын

That's exactly how I book hotels for holiday. I use Google maps alongside third party websites to get a feel for general prices and options, and then I'll book direct with whichever hotel I choose. When I was a kid, my Dad used to use third party holiday planning companies, until he realised he was being charged full adult price for me and my sister, when he could have been getting far cheaper plane and hotel prices if he did it all himself

@TwistyKitty

11 ай бұрын

Exactly this. And if you happen to find a cheaper price on a third party, most times the hotel will honor it just because we won't have the hassle of either of us dealing with the 3rd party and honestly we'll make more money off the room even at the discounted price.

@Hoodat_Whatzit

11 ай бұрын

Yes! This is exactly what I do as well.

@Kittie879

11 ай бұрын

That’s what I always do too

I remember when the hotel I worked at lost power for about 2-4 hours due to a storm. When we got back online, third party (Expedia ) websites had Overbooked by 150%. We spent the entire night apologizing to guests and trying to find rooms for them at other hotels in the area. It was NIGHTMARE!!

@Nonsequitoria2010

11 ай бұрын

Ug, been there, done that! One hotel I worked at came up with a workaround where if we were at 95%, we would book the remaining rooms with dummy reservations to remove them from the inventory. We'd either sell them to direct bookings or walk-ins, or release them for the audit. Out of order rooms could still randomly slip through sometimes, so this was a pretty reliable method.

@m.layfette6249

11 ай бұрын

@@Nonsequitoria2010 Same here. Many hotels have that same policy. It makes sense when you think about it. You're down to your last 2-5 rooms, Best to book them under random (employee) names then change it when a guest calls/walks in for a reservation.

@jbk0507

10 ай бұрын

That would have happened if they booked through the 800 number as well.

@jbk0507

10 ай бұрын

That would have happened if they booked through the 800 number as well.

@m.layfette6249

10 ай бұрын

@@jbk0507 Not necessarily. Most 1-800s to hotels are the Hotels Corporate offices and have much more direct Intel to your inventory. If they can't Guarantee availability they transfer the call to the Front Desk.

I've always treated 3rd party booking sites as a dedicated search engine for travel. I can compare hotels and flights across multiple companies and dates to seek out the deal that works best for me. And you're so spot on about all those sneaky "add on" fees! Even recently I thought I'd found a great deal for a flight that was hundreds of dollars cheaper so I gave the booking site a try. Made it all the way to the payment screen where suddenly that $300 savings added on over $400 in "fees". Went back directly to the airline and found the exact same flight with no hidden fees and saved myself over $100 and also peace of mind! This really is great advice even for those of us who rarely have a problem!

@hartmutholzgraefe

11 ай бұрын

"I've always treated 3rd party booking sites as a dedicated search engine for travel." I did the same with books back when Amazon was still mostly about books: use it as a catalog, maybe check reader reviews, then go to the neighborhood bookstore with a list of ISDN numbers I'd like to have ordered. The way book distribution works in Germany every book store can get you pretty much any German book still on sale within a day. It was only for international titles, esp. US titles on computer science topics, where Amazon performed best, with deliveries taking a week max. while even the large local book stores would rather be in the six weeks range ...

@IulianYT

6 ай бұрын

I never bought tickets via booking sites :) but use them to find routes/direct flights, and then check the airline site directly.

@QuikVidGuy

6 ай бұрын

And then there's the bit about using private browsing so that the third-party sites don't try to trick you by tailoring their results to your activity, because if they do you might not actually know which rooms or flights are the best to check out directly

As former flight crew, I will throw in the airline side of things on top of this: if you book a flight directly through an airline, you can guarantee that any layovers involved in non-direct flights will be long enough to get from gate to gate with plenty of time. 3rd party booking sites don't consider this, however. I can't tell you how many times we would begin our initial descent, and a concerned passenger would flag me down and say "Why aren't we there yet? My next flight is in 45 minutes and we just started descending!" "Yes, Karen, we're actually 10 minutes ahead of schedule right now. Did you book your tickets directly through United?". "No, I booked through ___". "Of course you did....."

@JaredJanhsen

7 ай бұрын

To be fair, AA loves tight connections. Before my company got acquired we just booked directly with airlines. AA first party itineraries are just as tight sometimes as they are via my corporate travel site.

@NYKevin100

2 ай бұрын

@@JaredJanhsen Yeah, but if a delay causes you to miss a connection on a single ticket, the airline will (usually) eat the cost of the rebooking. If you book two separate tickets, and miss a connection, you're screwed.

@scottbrown411

Ай бұрын

Yep, and I had a third party offer a charge for checked bags, ect...until you read the fine print, and it was telling the *airline* that you wanted to check bags...and you'd still have to pay the airline directly for that part...

I'm a 25+ airline reservation agent, and I so understand what you are saying about the third-party agencies. Especially the agencies that are booking international travel. The are the ones that are responsible for advising the passengers of what documents they may need, any vaccine requirements, fare rules, etc. which they can get from said website or calling in and talking to the agent for that third. And when something inevitably goes wrong with their reservation, all we can do is refer them back to the issuing agency. Customer service is SO fun, isn't it?

@dragontoothless4351

11 ай бұрын

I remember when I worked as a Gate Agent at IAD for United, we had to do a week at the check-in counter as part of the full experience during training. I had an elderly lady who was flying to France with her crated dog, and she didn't have a Rabies certificate with her. After about 20 minutes of trying to figure out a way of getting a copy of the certificate, we just had her sign a waiver at that point advising her that we would accept the animal into the hold, however, French authorities reserved the right to euthanize the dog if she could not produce a certificate after arriving and that it was her responsibility. Not sure what happened at CDG the next morning. Also... The number of times when working the Customer Service Desk, and having people tell me how much they paid for their fare, without knowing that I could see how much they paid in FastAir (United's Booking and Operations system back then). "I paid thousands of dollars for this booking that my card was only charged $180 for."

@TheAnimalmad

9 ай бұрын

Travel agent here 😅. They don’t make the fare rules easy on international flights. I swear I waste half an hour or so looking at them to make sure I put them in my customers paperwork properly. Cause I don’t wanna deal with them being sent back to me cause I messed up. What I really hate is codeshares tho cause airline A says it’s airline Bs problem and B says it’s A and my clients end up frustrated at me.

I currently work at a hotel and I just really wanna put this video up on our lobby TV and replay it over and over and over again. 😆

Can we please have this be a mandatory PSA for all guests that arrive at shmariott or tilton properties all over the world? It would make our job SO MUCH EASIER.

@jamesmcmahon9298

5 ай бұрын

And Myatt too!

Oh the stories I could tell you. Last weekend I had a woman argue with me about needing a credit card on file for her "incidentals" and when told that its on our site, she yelled at me and told me that she didn't have time to read the fine print.

@anothersquid

11 ай бұрын

And that's why we need lawyers.

@sw7366

11 ай бұрын

She was right. No need to read. She just needed to file a credit card!😅

@reginabillotti

2 ай бұрын

Why is she shocked? I have never booked anywhere that didn't require a card, major chains or mom-and-pop motels and BBs alike.

Third parties were the bane of my existence. We had a conference suite at our hotel, which was a giant living room with a big desk in it. Then it had a room off to the side. Unfortunately on third parties, they used pictures of our regular suites. We got so many people that came in and were sorely disappointed (not to mention angry with us, the front desk folks) that their suite was nothing like it was booked. Not to mention the fact that third parties will occasionally spoof their sites to look like the main chain and even outright lie/give misinformation to potential guests just to get the sale. Then we look like real jerks.

@lyndseydinokc

11 ай бұрын

same on the car rental side. I used that exact phrase.

@aightm8

11 ай бұрын

But the hotel controls the imagery used on the sites so that doesn't make sense

@DragonFlightRider

11 ай бұрын

​@aightm8 the more sketchy websites can just upload whatever images they want, they don't exactly "need" permission to upload the pics. Yes, the hotels can file a copyright claim/whatever claim against sketchy website, but that can take a while for the website host to take the incorrect/stolen images download

@aightm8

11 ай бұрын

@@DragonFlightRider yeh if you're talking about third third parties, websites who book via another large ota. But most of the time those smaller sites just scrape the content from Expedia or booking

@la_beatrice

11 ай бұрын

​​@@aightm8Exactly. The hotel "seems like the jerk" because the hotel is the jerk. The hotel feeds the information to the site and they have a contract, so if they are being "misrepresented" they are quite aware of what's going on. I have been using Booking for a long time and only had problems twice, both times with hotels that were a mess is general. Edit just to say that this is not the fault of the front desk staff, obviously, but the hotel is definitely in the wrong if they are advertising rooms with certain specifics on Booking or Expedia and then not following through.

First and last experience I had with third-parties was through Expedia for a "condo" in Maui. The pictures made it look like a paradise getaway and a nearly renovated room. We arrived at 1am, through a crummy flight we were forced into and arrived at the room which was stained, mold infested, and....gag a used band aid on the floor. Then Expedia tried to play the blame game with the "condo" contact. After two hours on the phone on my vacation wasting time, I contacted my credit card....did a chargeback, and got my own hotel for the rest of the week. Third parties are utter trash.

@LtPowers

11 ай бұрын

Wait, so after a single bad experience, you've extrapolated that to conclude that all such experiences are bad?

@mjbgdaad5624

11 ай бұрын

@@LtPowers Maybe 1 experience which reinforces 1000 stories on the internet.

@3drage

11 ай бұрын

@@LtPowers Booked directly after that experience and haven't had a single issue since. Amazing how that works. But I suppose there's always those idiots out there who love the pain of being burned twice.

@kandaffar2344

11 ай бұрын

How is that the third party's fault? The owner/manager is still responsible for maintaining and cleaning the room. They shouldn't be listing a stained, mold infested, room on a third party website, nor is it reasonable to expect third parties to inspect the rooms that hotels are offering to them.

@3drage

11 ай бұрын

@@kandaffar2344 You apparently chose not to read the part about spending hours on the phone while on vacation trying to get resolution. But keep making excuses.

THIS! I work at a hotel where a big portion of our guests are there for the hospital nearby and it breaks my heart when I can't change their reservations or extend them because they booked third party. I always tell guests to book direct If they going to the hospital and are unsure of future plans 😬

@countluke2334

11 ай бұрын

It's not that you can't, you don't want to. The moment the actual customer is standing in front of you, anything is possible. If you don't want to extend, that's on your company, not the third party.

@mjbgdaad5624

11 ай бұрын

@@countluke2334 if you dont have control of the original reservation or even the credit card #, no you cant do anything. Of course you can book them a whole new reservation that happens to start right after the original one. I'm not a hotel employee, just have common sense.

@countluke2334

11 ай бұрын

@@mjbgdaad5624 But that's the point: Why wouldn't they have control about the original reservation? It's their IT, isn't it? Somebody else can put an order/booking in their system, but if they don't have full control about their IT, that's on them. It should be easy to extend a reservation, mark a part as already paid and accept any payment method for the rest. If their IT doesn't let them, that's neither on me as the customer nor on the third party booking service, it's on them and on them alone.

@katie775star

11 ай бұрын

Im sorry that you feel that my comment meant that I don't care for customers. I 100% do and often bend over backwards ESPECIALLY for our hospital stays. However if you could somehow design a perfect system for reservations I'd highly encourage you to work for IT. You'd make good money! And honestly I really wish there were better systems in place. I hope you have a good day count Luke 😊

@yuzusorbet1169

10 ай бұрын

​@@countluke2334 I think the point is about understanding the limitation that comes along with the choice and accepting it when you make that choice. In this case, it would be if you book through 3rd party, then there are a lot of things hotel cannot do. Base on your suggestion, what about the legal issue? Hotel have a contract with the 3rd party, if they just offer customer a room in a different period they're breaking their contract with the 3rd party, how can they protect themselves? "the rest" can be a pain in the ass. I guess the amount customer paid is not exactly the amount hotel can get, so now the accounting team, or other party need to get involved to check those bank records and see how much they received, and you also need to explain to the customer why you can't deduct the whole amount they paid for. Audit problem? You have a new records and marked part of the amount as paid, the customer won't be charged twice but will it be double counted by system into sales thay way? Of course, IT guys can makes a lot of things possible. It's going to cost a lot though, again, I guess. But they are definitely not responsible for a customer's change of plan and the fact that they booked through third party and it's not the use case the system was designed to handle in the first place.

Something I've seen pop up in my Scottish travel groups on Facebook is the fact that Booking has screwed A LOT of hotels over by not paying them for the rooms they've reserved, and then expecting the hotels and B&Bs to make it right when the guest arrives and is told that there isn't a room available to them due to non-payment. This alone has made me swear off ever using a 3rd party site to make reservations.

I just happened on to you purely by the grace of the KZread Algorithm. I watched a couple of videos and now I'm hooked --- and a subscriber! I retired a little over a year ago from 35 years in the Construction Engineering business. I've put in my share of hotel stays. I finished my career with 9 months in Texas followed by 4 months in Oklahoma. I relate to every skit you've posted that I've watched so far. I've stayed in everything from 40 year old Holiday Inns that still had the decor from the 1980's in the lobby to overpriced Hilton's from Seattle to Boston. Love the channel! I look forward to more stories and skits! Great job, Jessica!

Truth my soul sister!! Third party bookings are the absolute worst. The amount of times I have to tell people this, you paid the third party and the third party paid us so, I can not charge $100 deposit directly. If something goes wrong and they are unhappy with something I have to explain I can not give your any kind of discounts or refunds BECAUSE you did not pay us the third party did, sorry. And my favorite is they booked the wrong date with the third party and want me to change it. Nope can’t touch that reservation with a 10 foot pool cleaning pole! 😂

@NanicaX

11 ай бұрын

This! Too many times customers want to change their reservations dates or have booked the wrong date but since it's through a third party, all I can do is tell them to contact the third party since the hotel is unable to update the reservation. And this confuses the customers to no end... "What do do you mean you can't do anything?"

Ugh I feel this to my core, 3rd parties are such a pain to work with. Often times people will look at a third party website thinking it's the hotel's website and then call the front desk to confirm the price and when it's a different rate get mad and confused.

@juttazimmermann2984

11 ай бұрын

Prepaid are the worst

Really good information here. When I was younger with kids, I used a third party once and it seemed that I had a room booked that would fit my family. Nope. I was so embarrassed. The front desk was super nice, explained what I had actually booked, and since there were rooms available that could sleep 4, they gave me one. I was super happy. That was the last time I booked third party. I wasn't ever going to be surprised like that again, nor was I going to make the front desk people's jobs harder.

I booked a room with two beds through Expedia, and got given a room with just one bed. When I complained to Expedia, they said room types are just suggestions to the hotel and not guaranteed?! That's... a bold statement! By that logic, could they say: "Yeah, we charged you for a suite, but we can only give you a ditch next to the parking lot."

@DeathnoteBB

11 ай бұрын

I mean that comparison is illogical, they gave you a room not a ditch. That’s just the eternal issue with third-party, you’re paying for A ROOM, not THE room it shows you. Idk who to complain to to change that though

@danyellsmithy

11 ай бұрын

I can't tell you how many times a third party overbooked a room type and I couldn't do a thing about it when a family shows up and all we have are single king rooms. Ugh.

I always try booking directly through the hotel. If I can't call the hotel (don't want to get charged for calling internationally), I'll book directly through the hotel's website

@HariSeldon913

11 ай бұрын

No matter who I book through, I always look at the website for the hotel/resort to check all the policies and amenities.

@sw7366

11 ай бұрын

What I hate are the hotels who only use 'central' booking.

@HariSeldon913

11 ай бұрын

@@sw7366 'Central booking'... Isn't that where you end up when the police say they're taking you 'downtown'?

@sw7366

11 ай бұрын

Very funny. But I was serious. Some hotels now use a remote booking service which answers as if they were the front desk. Some will admit it if you ask properly.

@keltdavies8792

11 ай бұрын

What I don't like, and it has happened, is when you go to the hotel's website, book through it, and when you get to the hotel, they claim you booked through a third party.

I worked at a hotel for less than a year, and I've been yelled at multiple times because the third party they booked through didn't actually book a room, so they had nowhere to sleep. And being the overnight worker, it didn't leave them with many options, especially if we were fully booked.

so, i had to book a hotel&flight combined through BA. however, i followed your advice when you spoke about this on tiktok, and emailed the hotel directly asking a couple of things. they've already added what i needed (sofa bed made up and a certain room for a disabled party) to my booking. so contacting the hotel really does work!

Wait? Having a next to the elevator or ice machine is bad? I always love when I get a room next to the Ice Machine! It means I don’t have to walk to Mordor to get ice.

@kohakuaiko

6 ай бұрын

It can get noisy, I think. I just want a room that doesn't have bedbugs

@xefirah8753

5 ай бұрын

❤ me too! Next to the elevator means that I have no neighbors, playing the TV loudly in the middle of the night!

Ok, I actually worked as a Night Auditor in a 5 star hotel in Russia and our hotel would NEVER overbook, no matter the season. In case of our hotel, we had a special program that would warn the booking department and front-desk officers that a certain category was running low on rooms and if a certain room types was sold out they'd close all sales (3rd party and direct). And if the guest paid for a certain category, they would get that category, no matter what

@mrs95shenny

11 ай бұрын

Smart

@czarcoma

11 ай бұрын

Great! You're just did your job and what was expected of you. Congrats!

@maryjackson1194

10 ай бұрын

Yes, but in Russia, foreign travelers without multi-entry visas had to tell the authorities where they were staying...and if someone didn't get a room, they wouldn't be able to book elsewhere. I was in Moscow for two weeks with a two-day trip to Kazakhstan in the middle. I asked my admin to split the Moscow reservation into two; she ended up just cancelling the second half. When I returned to the hotel, the desk clerk was appalled and told me it was impossible to stay without an advance reservation on my papers; they had space but she thought I was violating the law. I showed her manager my multi-entry visa and explained the confusion, and they let me stay.

@fromtherussianpointofview

10 ай бұрын

​@@maryjackson1194 In reality, hotels in Russia have to report all the people who come from outside the region, Russians or not (except for the citizens of certain countries which is funny because they would not register a person from Kazakhstan but require registration from a Russia who comes from the neighbouring region). The only difference between Russians and foreigners is that they can register Russian citizens in a special program that processes everything automatically while foreigners have to be put in manually into a different program + the foreigners have to pay a fee. And I can safely tell you that foreigners can easily stay in the hotels without any previous reservations. I had all kinds of foreigners come in to me and ask for a room. No problems whatsoever, provided they have necessary documents. Most likely people who worked with you were new employees and simply didn't know how to process foreign guests or it was hotel policy of sorts 🤷‍♀

Jessica, I feel every word you said. I am on the graveyard shift, where I have no manager until the next day....the explanation you have to give to guests to understand is sometimes painful.

I was fortunate to not have a bad 3rd party experience in the past, but after hearing from influencers and hotel employees about how it all works, I've switched to researching through the 3rd party sites and booking direct. I do see a difference in how I'm treated when booking direct. Not that the treatment was bad with 3rd party bookings, but just better with direct bookings. I would have never known without KZreadrs like you!

Another reason to book direct is that a third-party site may not be able to offer convention rates, or get you into the block of rooms for a special event.

@lorireed8046

10 ай бұрын

You realize the hotels give certain rooms to these 3rd party websites, right? The Hotel promises these certain rates and rooms through these 3rd party websites. Plus, the hotels will leave a certain amount of rooms JUST FOR these 3rd party websites. While claiming they are not at fault. LOL

I almost always get a better rate when I book directly on the hotel website. 3rd parties used to be way cheaper but not so much anymore. The only time I've used a 3rd party website recently was in an emergency situation where my car broke down and my father was going to use his credit card to pay for my room that was out of the state.

@Green__one

7 ай бұрын

That is the opposite of my experience. Third party has always been cheaper for me, and hotels have always refused to match the price while booking direct. I have zero sympathy for hotels complaining about third-party sites when they refuse to match the price offered by those sites.

I second your take. I once called a hotel to book a room in Niagara Falls, Ontario. When I got the email confirming my reservation, it was in Niagara Falls, NY. I called the hotel, explained what happened and asked them to fix the problem. At first they said that I had gotten the good rate because I agreed to no canceling. I explained I wasn't canceling, I just wanted to stay in Canada and the person I spoke to booked us in New York state. It took some time and a lot of patience, but they did move the reservation. It was a big hassle though. To make up for the big hassle and their mistake the offered me and amazing deal on a stay at their resort in Orlando and passes to the Sea World parks. If I had booked through a 3rd party we would have been out of luck.

While this may be true, you have to remember that these problems arise when things go wrong (and Jessica and her fellow front deskers get yelled at). For every one of these, there may be hundreds of satisfied third-party bookers who are happy enough with their rooms, don't change plans, and are glad to be realizing real savings (and they often are real savings!) And yes, travel is an area where of course plans change but you have to evaluate the risk/reward, just as whether you should always book fully refundable airfare or book a more restricted ticket at a much cheaper rate.

@marykuettner752

11 ай бұрын

I have to say that after 4 out of 5 having minor to major problems I gave up. Not saving enough money to make it worthwhile. I joined a major chain's reward program and saved twice as much with a much better experience.

@ScottHess

10 ай бұрын

I mean, yes, but … often enough, when it goes right, you save a few bucks, then when it goes wrong your family is sitting spread out in some strange place while someone spends three hours bouncing back and forth between the third party and the property/provider as each blames the other. Travel is stressful enough already.

Thank you for these videos. I wish we can send guests this video rather than argue with them about these issues!

@Cafeallday222

11 ай бұрын

Trust me, we want to know too!

I worked briefly for Expedia so I understand the credit card conundrum. Maybe this is country specific but many hotels and especially home stays do not have their own website, so it's impossible to book directly. And from my own experience with hostels, they often say to **use Booking** because they cannot offer a better rate even if you want to book directly (this happened in Malta). Love your shorts, Jessica. Super entertaining and informative. ❤

I really appreciate this informative video. I also appreciate that you say that you, too, may book through a third party site if all you are looking for is a roof over your head. Oftentimes I don’t want to spend extra on a room to be sure I get the good view or whatever; I’d rather spend the money on the experiences I’m in the area to create. But as I get older, there are times the view is worth it.

This is really eye opening. I've only ever used third parties to book rooms because I thought it was just more convenient and wasn't really any different compared to booking directly. I think I'll have to keep this in mind next time I take a trip.

@leahbrooks1270

11 ай бұрын

3rd parties are the devil lol. Everything she said and then some.

@rm6176

11 ай бұрын

Thank you

@bradlevantis913

7 ай бұрын

Trust me. Join hotel rewards programs. You will be treated extremely well.

Thank you for the explanation concerning this topic (I know better now). I will admit, I had to do some very fast searching for hotel/motels (I wasn't sure what was available at the time) for a trip I made to Houston after I had been away for so long (my hometown). Luckily, I found a Days Inn with the accommodations I needed for the time I would have to be there in the area. Yes, I did use some of those sites to price match, because I was going to incur a very large cost (my mother's funeral). Once I got to the establishment, I explained everything to the staff, and that not everything was finalized yet as far as when everything concerning my mother hadn't been completed on the coroner's end (I'm sorry to sound trite (definitely not meant that way), but it was very complicated procedures concerning her demise and her burial, dealing with my emotions, family, police and funeral home). I "guesstimated" that maybe it would take a week (it took a week and a half) before I could leave. I kept the staff up to date on everything, and I could not meet more helpful people than the staff at Day's Inn, Baytown, TX in 2013.

Thank you for bringing notice to this problem, I work in a company that has multiple hotels on different locations through the country and third party website's are usually advertising stuff that isn't always true so that is always a awkward situation when guest's make a check in at the hotel

Back a few decades, we had similar issues with travel agencies. As soon as we’d sell out of nonsmoking, they’d start calling central instead of us and booking smoking rooms with a note of “nonsmoking, if available”. They’d tell the customer that they were confirmed for nonsmoking…. And fun would ensue at check-in during a full house.

ALSO: call the hotel and ask them to price match if you see a better rate on a third party site - the hotel I worked for would greatly prefer to give a small price match discount versus pay a third party the same (if not more) cost in fees for selling the room for them. not every hotel will do this but enough do that I recomendable giving it a shot!

@asortdcookie

10 ай бұрын

I've tried this several times, with a success rate under 50%. Hotels usually refuse to meet the 3rd party price. I'm usually not making a reservation more than a few days in advance, so maybe it works better if you're able to plan weeks/months in advance.

@toddkes5890

10 ай бұрын

Hotel might want to see what the price is after fees instead of before fees, before the hotel would think about price-matching

@Green__one

7 ай бұрын

I have tried this many times, and never, not once, has the hotel been willing to price match the third party. I'm offering to save them the commission, and book direct which they all claim they want. Never have they taken me up on it. Hotels keep complaining about third parties, but I have zero sympathy for them when they refuse to price match the third party site and actually make more money.

She is so right! Everything she said is absolutely true. OTAs are problematic to say the least. And they keep jacking up their commissions. Unfortunately we get about a third of our reservations from them so we dont have much choice.

I just had a fantastic experience w a third party this past weekend. We got a great room w a view. I have never had a view before. 🤷‍♀️ To me it feels like hotels fill rooms in an order that is convenient for cleaning staff and in the order of each arrival. Not caring what room is actually given as long as it matches the reservation. Also I booked through the 3rd party and paid at the hotel. The 3rd party just saved my reservation.

I will say that as a customer, 3rd party websites do offer a convenience that the hotel website can't. If I'm booking a vacation, I can book my airplane ticket, rental car, and hotel all at the same time in the same place. It will also give me several options so I can easily see what options are available in my price range.

Last time we booked a hotel third party the hotel ended up being fully booked, and even though we had requested a non-smoking room, we were put in the smoking wing. Lesson learned.

@Nonsequitoria2010

11 ай бұрын

Yep. 3rd parties don't always update inventory instantly, so the hotel you want that's listed as having 4 rooms left may have been sold out for an hour or more to people who booked directly.

@cm99camper

11 ай бұрын

Some third-party booking sites resell cancelled reservations for up to 48 hours afterwards even if the hotel has sold out of inventory. They don’t care even if the hotel has said that they are sold out. I’ve worked in hotels for over 20 years and this is my biggest struggle with third-party booking companies

Third parties also show you the cheapest dates of travel, even when you put in a specific date. I've twice had issues of arriving at the hotel and the reservation being made for 2-3 weeks later despite having triple checked the information when I put it in. Then having to cancel that booking and having no choice but to pay the same day prices for the hotel! The staff at the desk were apologetic but there wasn't anything they could do. Now I always only use direct websites.

Thank you so much for this information! I booked a flight and hotel combo through a third-party booking site last year, and everything went okay. However, because I fell in love with this particular chain of hotels (the staff were absolutely my saving grace on a day when pretty much everything else had gone wrong) I became a rewards member and the next time I needed a hotel I booked directly through them. Knowing this, I will continue to do so, and with my flights as well. Also, something I always do (and teach my kids to do as well) is make sure I'm extra kind to the staff! Our most recent stay required us to wait over half an hour to check-in, because the hotel had been overbooked and the single desk clerk was having to manage moving guests around, along with checking-in those who made reservations, like myself. When she got to me and apologized profusely, I simply told her it was fine. It was quite obvious that it was a situation out of her control, and we were happy to wait in the lovely lobby. The look of appreciation and relief on her face was profound! I wish more people would understand this.

I have learned so much useful infomation from your videos. I recently had a " Third-Party Booking" fiasco on an out-of-state trip. I have not had to book a hotel in over 5 years, so I am a little rusty on the process. I do wish I had seen this video PRIOR to my excursion. Thankfully, Jillian, the amazing Front-Desk Clerk at my hotel, addresed the problem, made all necessary adjustments to assure my stay as planned, and turned my entire stay into the perfect experience. It may have helped that I was not in any way a Karen, just a Senior Citizen that needed a little help. I will NEVER go Third-Party again, will always book Direct. And I look forward to having my Hospitality Person as someone like you, or the aforementioned Jillian. 💕

Watching this I'm so glad I've always booked directly through the hotel website - plus sometimes I've been upgraded randomly as well so can't hurt 😅

Just discovered your channel yesterday and am very much enjoying the parodies and helpful tips.

Excellent advise. Last time we booked via a third party there was a problem with the room. It took too much energy and frustration to get the hotel to fix the problem. Since then we have always booked directly with the hotel. Either using the hotel’s website. Or by calling the hotel directly. Much happier results. Thanks for confirming what I found to be true.

Thank you Jessica for your wonderful personality and all the tips you teach. You're an amazing person

I ALWAYS get better rates booking through the hotel rather than third party. Plus most hotels happily will accept my special requests like "higher floor" or "not on the highway side", and I can ask them to guarantee that I not get a pet friendly or smoking room (allergic). Skip the third party sites.

as a child growing into an adult, thank you for things like this. Your videos are enjoyable and educate me so thank you so much

I work in the hotel industry in Orlando as well! I love hearing all your hotel stories because I got some similar stories myself. I know a bit of how hotels work behind the scenes, but I never got a lot of the pristine details like you're giving us.

The hotels also promise that it will be cheaper to book direct, but you need to check various websites and challenge them to actually get a cheaper rate.

@TwistyKitty

11 ай бұрын

Just like she mentions in the video, after all the 3rd party fees and service charges, you're still likely to spend less booking directly with the hotel. It might not be a major amount but you will have a lot more flexibility as a guest with what we can offer you if something bad happens. And you really don't have to "challenge" the hotels, we can check the rate online ourselves with whatever 3rd party you're seeing, though honestly most often the prices guests will claim they are seeing aren't even for the correct dates so...

I used to use a 3rd party to book hotels but it didn't take me long to figure out it was easier and, as you said, not really cheaper to book that way. I also found more options by directly to the hotel website. That's the only way I book now. Love your videos. 🥰

This is such a great video to educate us consumers on booking third party, thank you for this. I have learned this painfully over my travels. Book direct, be it hotel or flights. If things change in your travels so much easier to resolve if booked direct. Again a great Vid , thanks for sharing

I used to book through Expedia all the time. I stopped 7 years ago after one of the hotels I booked in California through them said they didn't have a reservation for me. The rep from Expedia tried talking to them, but ultimately the hotel wanted to charge me double the price. Expedia gave me my money back, but offered no other help. It was 10pm and I had to get to the airport by 6am so I wasn't willing to pay that much. I ended up sleeping in my rental car at a gas station. I now book directly through the hotel's website.

I just want to say I love your patience and sweetness when explaining all the behind the scenes of hotels!!! I love you so much❤❤❤

OMG...yes! I work in airline reservations for a major, legacy carrier and we cannot STAND when the third party, not just online booking sites, but travel agencies too, misinform customers on what they are buying or sell them the most restrictive fare without advising them they are, and then they complain to us about what they booked. It's like when you book that restrictive fare with us, we ensure you are 100% SURE you want to proceed with these restrictions and have to purposefully click to accept them. And then we are the bad guys when we have to advise them what they booked and can't grant them this or that.

I work in the ticketing industry for a Theater, and I can't tell you how many times a Patron needed to exchange or just needs their tickets sent to them and cannot because they purchased thru a third party. One poor lady bless her heat wanted to see the show so bad she paid over $900 for tickets that we were selling for $75 plus $5 fees then could not go on the day she books and needed to exchange (with us free exchanges if over 48 hours' notice and $5 per ticket if under 48 hours' notice up to 1 hour before curtain) and we could not. They told her NO EXCHANGE NO EXCEPTION.

What is missing is the old world of good travel agents... My Mom spent 25 years as a travel agent from the early 80s to the mid 2000s. An experienced, knowledgeable travel agent is worth it when you're booking things because they had access to the back end reservation systems that Expedia and the like do not expose. They also can pick up the phone and call the hotel or airline or whatever and verify specific needs in advance. But they went away because airlines didn't want to pay commission anymore, so travel agents had to start charging fees to the customer and people didn't want to pay. People would book $5,000 trips and my Mom would charge $50 for her services, and people would complain. Yet she would know the real world of travel and could help them avoid mistakes, which Expedia does not.

When I went to London, I had a room next to the elevator booked on a third party website. It was great because I didn’t have to walk far, or carry my luggage across the hotel floor :) And I always sleep with earplugs so I’m not bothered by the noise.

When you call a hotel directly, ask them for any specials they have going on or what’s their bottom dollar on a room with a queen bed. Or do they have a senior discount those are a lot of things my other sister used to do this usually got some good deals. If they say we have this room for $120, then she’ll say OK that sounds good but are you sure there’s not a special it’s a little better than that blah blah blah. And she’s always cheerful and nice and kind talking to the hotel, so people responded kindly, too❤❤❤ She facilitated many trips for me, and her daughters and her friends and such. We all miss her terribly.❤❤❤

I use the 3rd Party sites to search for the hotels that have availability and to look at the reviews. Once I decide on a hotel, I always go direct to the hotel and book there. I learned much of what you said through experience. I ended up with the worst rooms when I booked through a 3rd party and it was always sketchy if the hotel actually got my reservation. Lessons learned a long time ago.

This is incredibly helpful!! It makes so much sense. I worked in the movie theater industry for over a decade and third party sales are also a pain there. People don’t understand why they can’t use Fandango gift cards in person 😅 some people are understanding, but other people feel embarrassed/angry and take it out on the people that work there.

This is so true! I got a really good rate through a third-party one time, but they insisted that I pay immediately which was seven months before I took the trip. So that month, my grocery budget was gone! It was a really difficult month and when I asked the hotel about it seven months later, there was nothing they could do. I’ve always gone through the hotel ever since.

And a lot of hotels do price matching to third parties. So, before you book with a third party, call the hotel and ask. You might be surprised. The last time I booked through a third party, I didn't get the room that I booked and ended up sharing a bed with my teenage son. When I complained to the front desk, the gal looked me dead in the eye and said, "You booked through a third party, you're lucky you have a room at all." Most of the hotels I've worked for have had a policy that if we were overbooked, it was the third party bookings that were going to get cancelled first - that even walk-ins will get priority. And yeah, third parties are great - until they aren't...

@Green__one

7 ай бұрын

A lot? I have tried over and over and over again, I've never once found a hotel that would match the price of the third party. I have no sympathy for the complaints from the hotel industry about third-party sites when they refuse to price match them. Keeping in mind if they price match they don't have to pay the commission to the third-party site, so they've actually make more money.

Sometimes when traveling international small hotels might not have online to book, and the cost to call wouldn't be worth it. I did book 3rd party for the room with 2 beds. Got there and found it was a 1 bedroom room.

I'm one of those "well, *I*'ve never had a problem with third-party bookings" people so I kinda don't understand what what the issue is, but I'm not that fussed with views nor have I run into any problems big enough to where I'd want a refund. The few times I've compared prices it was cheaper on the third-party too, except for this one place that offered a discount if you book directly. But when I tried to book that didn't work...still went directly to support them as they were small and recently started. All in all, I don't see myself changing my ways but I still appreciate your insight so I can at least make informed decisions.

I always book through the actual website or by calling, especially when it comes to military/government rates,sometimes they don't have them on the website but the person at the desk can get you the rate ❤

The last hotel that I worked at had wildly different amenities on some of the 3rd party sites than what we actually had. We had a pool table. It got listed as a pool on their sites. Some said we had a spa, sauna, restaurant, bar, etc… we had none of those.

I learned years ago through several nightmarish problems to always use the direct site of either a hotel, car, or airline. I think most consumers don't know the third party doesn't have a B2B connection to the service provider and assume the information exchange between the two is complete, and a business relationship exists. Get stranded once with a kind on site agent to explain how the systems work is a priceless education. The key for any traveler is to shut the pie hole and open their ears and buckle up for an education.

Jessica, you are the best on the 'web!! As a veteran GSA of more than fifty (five-oh) years, you are speaking nothing but the truth. And don't get me started on the Trivago ads running these days - no way two different guests are told someone else's rate!!!❤❤❤❤😮

There is an almost zero percent chance that your reservation will be lost to the ether if you deal directly with the hotel and not a third party. I say this because I have actually had a hotel reservation lost to the ether when booking directly through the hotel. The hotel had to call the main corporate office for help. We were told that our reservation number caused a glitch in the system where it booked it twice and then cancelled one and then hid the other. It took close to two hours to resolve but the hotel got everything sorted out and gave us access to the concierge’s lounge for free, which had just reopened a week or two before our stay.

I couldn't agree with you more for the information you brought out in this video. I have had a lot of friends use third party sites to book reservations, car rentals, and airfare, only to find out that they were not getting what they wanted. Some of them never learn either. They'll do it again and again, with terrible results. Thank you for all of your wonderful, informative videos. Thank you so much for being so dog gone beautiful, too. As always, I can't wait for your next video. So until next time...bye, dear.

Literally my experience when I worked at a hotel! It is such a pain when the third parties give false info and cancellations are such a pain!

I work at a popular tourist stop, and our information gets scraped by third parties all the time. Usually not ticket sales, thankfully, but a lot of "Top ten things to do in X City" kind of sites give wrong information about our hours, our exhibits, etc. And then I have to be the one who deals with the angry guest who is like "but So and So Website said this was happening today!"

Night Auditor here....Preach! I get people making those after hours for the reservations and then have to tell them that check in is 2pm. My property's business day doesn't change until 5am.

I worked at a hotel in 2000-2003 or so in a small college town that bleeds maroon. When we got those 3rd party reservations, it was never for a King Smoking or Twin Non-smoking. The reservation was for a room and they REQUESTED King/Two Twin, etc. So the 3rd party website never saw our availability. We may have only 10 smoking rooms left and NO non-smoking rooms, and the customer would get SO upset. But we couldn't do anything about it. I would hope in the 20 years since I worked in the hotel industry that things have gotten better.

The last hotel I booked was clear on their website that upon check in there would be a $50 hold for incidentals. When I got there they had me initial each section and sign a form outlining the various charges for smoking, damages, and taking anything that didn't belong to me. I only book with ones that are upfront about the holds. I had no problem signing that form because they were being honest and upfront with their policies.

My experience is different. Using a third party is like having an authority over the hotel to protect me from malicious practices. Once I had directly booked a room in another country with my family, and when I arrived I was told the room is occupied right now, we had to wait 2 days to move in, until then we got a lower-standard room. In cases like this I can file a complaint on the third party website and they arrange the compensation. No wonder why hotels hate them. Another thing is I noticed rates are higher through third parties because of the fee the hotel has to pay for advertising on the third party website. Thus I usually book direct only with tried-and-true hotels.

Very true! I effin hate them!! When I worked front desk at a hotel it was a 5 star hotel and the third party bookings always had extra hidden fees and always had issues 🤦‍♀️

Thank you. I knew none of that. There was a trip I wanted that we had to cancel, but my trip partners all said 'book thru such and such' and then the fees racked up when I added more days and I got upset cuz I as supposed to pay for it all. We didn't end up going because of reasons, but I checked the hotel's actual website and you are completely right- it would have been cheeper to do multiple nights through the hotel. And I'm not sure I'd have trusted a third party with that much of my money anyway.

Former tour operator worker here. Please please PLEASE always keep this in mind for tours too!! TO tend to overbook their tours as they are scared of last minute cancellations, and guess what happens in those cases? 3rd party Guests get cancelled last minute WAY more than direct ones😭 (on a side note, my personal suggestion is to check with museums/venues directly about their internal guided tours, as they are guaranteed 100% and way cheaper!)

Preach! I had a *terrible* experience with Schmooking. Never. Ever. Ever. EVER. AGAIN!

The last time I traveled, I needed a room at the last minute. Using a third-party site, I found a pet-friendly room in a major city, at 10 PM, during tourist season. It was a decent property (usual rates around $200/night) and my price was about $80 plus the taxes (and deposit, which I got back, since I didn't bill any incidentals to the room, and the small dogs stayed out of trouble). This was intended as just a roof over our heads after we extended a vacation for one extra day. (This is consistent with Jessica's statement that using them for "just a roof over your head" is OK, as long as you understand the downsides.)

I'm new to the front end. I was in Housekeeping for years but now do night audit as well. I appreciate your knowledge.

Similar to this, I worked for several major cell phone carriers and our third party issue was always apps. Apple has over 1.6 MILLION apps while Google has over 3.5 MILLION but people think the AT&T guy should know how to work and troubleshoot ALL of them. Reps are paid on Commission to sell the phones connection to the network and that’s it. There’s no training on apps but people, especially the elderly, expect you to know and be able to fix all of them. When Facebook or Instagram go down, it’s a Nightmare. Email is even worse.

This does explain the last two rooms I booked on a trip back to the homeland..one was weirdly shaped and freezing, the other DID have a pool view..by looking over the roof of the floor under the room. It was odd but I never complained. And by booking through whatever airline I was dealing with it did give a discount on the tickets.

Thank you for sharing this info to help people to be more informed! ❤️💜

I never knew any of this and just always booked everything through Expedia since I was a teen. Until a few years ago my hotel randomly charged me $1400 while I was staying there in the middle of my stay. I went up to the desk and asked them what it was for and they said the third party payment didn't go through and they've always had issues with certain third parties. I was so confused and genuinely didn't even know that could be a problem.

Have worked at a lower budget motel for 19 years. No pets allowed for all 19 years. Somehow, Google maps had incorrectly listed our motel as pet friendly. Not sure if it's ever been corrected, but for a few years I'd have a few customers come through (I work the night audit shift) and flash their phones at me with the google map saying we were pet friendly, so I'd pull up our website and point out the 'no pets allowed' notation. Mostly they would just be huffy, and they did have a right to be, but honestly, we aren't Google and I as a front desk clerk have no control over what they put on their site. Also third party reservation sites have within the last few years changed the reservations to where they cannot be modified by the front desk clerk, which is hugely frustrating for me and the guests. So instead of me being able to quickly change a king to a double or smoking to non smoking I have to tell the guest to contact whoever they made the reservation with to change it. Super annoying!! They suck so much!

I always book direct, my thoughts are if I’m traveling and I’ve booked direct I will be protected if something happens to my reservation and get taken care of. If I book through a third party and the reservation is lost I could end up paying double since you have to pay in advance. I think your explanation on all of this is spot on, great video! I will always book direct and never complain about a hold, I actually plan extra money for trips for those incidental charges as I know I’ll get it back once I check out as I always use a debit card so you have to plan accordingly.

This was incredibly informative. U had this issue with a third party and needing a refund because they charged me twice. I tried to go through the hotel but they could do nothing and no one bothered to explain what you just explained. Now I know, thanks❤😅

$100 is standard. THANK YOU for making educational videos like this. I've said for some time now that I think we'd have fewer people called "Karens" in this world if things were actually as simple to get answers as advertised. I mean this in all of life's avenues.

I made a 3rd party reservation for a hotel and rental car several years ago. The rental car place was outside of the airport, and once we got there the place was very shady and required us to pay almost $400 more for a rental car even after we’d paid through the third party. We ended up returning to the airport to get a rental car from Enterprise, which is a company that’s always done us well and certainly didn’t disappoint that time either. When we got to the hotel, we were unaware of valet and concierge rates, which was unpleasantly surprising but the hotel staff were all amazing and we ended up enjoying our vacation despite those hiccups. However, from then on out, I never booked through a third party again.

I always book direct. The last is absolute proof why. My sister and I were going on a cruise to celebrate my 70th birthday and I collapsed about 100 metres from the ship. Sent 5 days in hospital. Cunard were fantastic, refunded me the all my pre purchased gifts, e.g. birthday cake, dressing gowns etc. before I came out of emergency. The same with the rail leg of our trip. Our insurance covered the rest without any hassles.

We had this issue some years ago while traveling to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The third-party site said it was a Family (style/size) room with a King bed, and an additional foldout bed from the sofa. It said that it had a mini kitchen. It said that it had a bath that was accessible. The latter was not, more the toilet did not work. There was no kitchen or sofa, and the Queen bed.. was self-explanatory. I went right back to the desk and asked for a refund... of course they said no. That was - in itself ok, I called my credit card company and immediately reversed the change, later submitting the "proof" of Fake advertising.

i do (more often than not) book 3rd party BUT, I always double check the info on the hotel site directly for current information/amenities/policies (especially if traveling with a pet), etc. Because you are right- those things can and do change, and its up to the consumer to verify the information, especially if it is something important to you. Also, you're right about the rate differences. Sometimes it is a better deal to book directly. bottom line: no matter what is important to you, verify the info on the hotel site directly.

My old job had me on the road near 100% of the time. I 100% agree, third-party booking sites are THE WORST. The savings just aren't worth it.

Over the years I have learned it's much easier to call the hotel directly and book through them. Sometimes little details like military discounts or other details get missed in the initial booking. When I've booked through a third party I learned that often the hotels hands are tied and they can't change anything, but when I book directly, it's much easier for the hotel to update my account and get the proper discounts and whatever. Not to mention that it's a much more personable experience to just call the hotel and talk to a real live human being instead of on an online order form. You also can get a feel for the vibe of the hotel by how they present themselves over the phone. (I've got a story on that note if anyone cares to hear it lol)

Thank you for this information. I work at an RV Park and we have several of these problems. You done well.

Third parties are great! They let me know most of the hotels in the area to call them directly for a better rate! Almost always, even when I travel in a hurry, I look up hotels on a third party and call directly. If it is a slow season, I sometimes get rooms half-off at pretty decent places! Most places have streamlined the booking process over the phone so that a room and a deal are secured a few minutes after they pick up. It's honestly way faster than putting in all your info and checking all the boxes on a third-party site after you pick a place.