This is because of momentum. The online travel websites have established themselves among a portion of the population. As a result, in competitive regions, hotels have to play the third party travel website game, which means offering their rooms cheaper there, otherwise their competitors will get that business if they choose not to offer it. However, as I noted below, if you call directly, and offer to pay the hotel directly 5% less than what Expedia or whoever is offering you a room, they should take the money, unless they are incompetent. I would ask to speak to a manager if the lowly desk clerk doesn't accomodate.
The larger hotel franchises are combating this with www.roomkey.com, which is a direct link to the hotel.
As for credit cards, all major hotels (Choice/IHG/Wyndham/Hilton/Accor) have systems that comply with credit card standards. Credit card numbers should not, and I have never seen them, printed plainly on any piece of paper. They are not even visible to most employees, only managers, if proper procedures are followed. They are forwarded to hotels as a security deposit because sometimes the third party websites are not paying, the guest is, and the hotel then pays the travel agent. In this case, the hotel needs the guest's card info to authorize the card after the cancellation period has expired, so that the hotel has a guarantee of being able to collect the money.
>I tried, and the link is down. Most of the hotels don't even have websites, let alone online reservations. There is a reason customers go to expedia in the first place.
In America, most hotels certainly do have websites, via their franchise. If they don't, I'd advise looking up their phone number (google, tripadvisor), and calling them.
Online travel didn't establish themselves, it was failure of the hotel industry to do competitive online booking. It still is a failure, i get better prices through hotels.com. Also if I book through the hotel directly, some hotels tack on $20 to $30 resort "fees", they'll match hotel.com and when you get there, you get nailed with bogus fees. There is absolutely no reason to book through a hotel directly.
I have seen the proper procedure violated. I don't think hotels need to comply with PCI, so that safety net isn't there. I am a bit paranoid and I can't just count on people being good and competent.
> In this case, the hotel needs the guest's card info to authorize the card after the cancellation period has expired, so that the hotel has a guarantee of being able to collect the money.
Won't work with me. I do all online payments with a virtual credit card. The virtual credit card is linked with my actual credit card and I can reset the limit of the card as often as I like. If I am buying a hotel room which lists itself as X per night and I am buying it for 2 nights, I reset my limit to 2*X and make the booking. If you try to slap extra charges on me, the transaction will be denied.
In a similar vein, if I don't turn up, I will simply reset my limit to 0. The hotel won't be able to charge me.
The larger hotel franchises are combating this with www.roomkey.com, which is a direct link to the hotel.
As for credit cards, all major hotels (Choice/IHG/Wyndham/Hilton/Accor) have systems that comply with credit card standards. Credit card numbers should not, and I have never seen them, printed plainly on any piece of paper. They are not even visible to most employees, only managers, if proper procedures are followed. They are forwarded to hotels as a security deposit because sometimes the third party websites are not paying, the guest is, and the hotel then pays the travel agent. In this case, the hotel needs the guest's card info to authorize the card after the cancellation period has expired, so that the hotel has a guarantee of being able to collect the money.
>I tried, and the link is down. Most of the hotels don't even have websites, let alone online reservations. There is a reason customers go to expedia in the first place.
In America, most hotels certainly do have websites, via their franchise. If they don't, I'd advise looking up their phone number (google, tripadvisor), and calling them.