From: cd651@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Wally L. Blume)
Subject: Hotel Hints
Reply-To: cd651@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Wally L. Blume)
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 92 06:10:21 GMT


Since I work for a major hotel chain I thought I would post a few hints
  here about hotels and so forth to make travel al little less painfull.

1) RESERVATIONS
   Generally there are 2 kinds of reservations, 6pm and GTD. A 6pm simply
put tells the hotel that if you aren't there by 6pm then cancel the
reservation. Most hotels will hold a 6pm until about 11pm unless they are
filling up fast then they will sell the rooms. A gauranteed reservation
is secured by a credit card and is held until arrival, but if you don't 
up the card is charged anyway, unless you cancel 24 hours in advance.
If you are travelling by car and feel you may have to stop enroute for the 
night MAKE RESERVATIONS, never assume there will be a vacancy somewhere
along the road. Many people find themselves frantically racing down the 
highway trying to find a place to sleep, some try to persuade a hotel
clerk to make a reservation at a hotel 20-50 miles up the road. The
computer registration may be made but the hotel may still be out of rooms
even if this short notice is GTD. In which case the hotel may give you 
a card for a discount the next time but that wont get you a room when 
you need it.

2) Making a reservation is as simple as calling your local branch of the
hotel you wish to stay at. (i.e. if you want to stay at a Holiday Inn in
Tampa Fl. the Holiday Inn in Des Moines can make the reservation.)

3) Discountes should be requested at check in. Always anounce that you are
AAA, AARP, Senior Citizen, or what ever at checkin so the appropriate 
discount will be afforded. Never ask for 2 discounts, if you are AAA and
AARP then ask the clerk which is the cheaper rate, no hotel that I know of
will allow you to have two discounts.

4) At most mid-rate hotels the porter goes home at 11:00pm, if there is
something wrong with the room after that there is only one person there
and he/she can't leave the desk. Check to make sure there are plenty of
towels, sheets, and the AC/HTR all work as soon as you check in. Ussually
the clerk will assign you another room but sometimes there aren't any
available. And roll-aways are out of the question past 11:00pm.

5) Trying to split your bill between 2 credit cards, or a credit card and 
cash really complicates checkout.

6) If you are getting more than one room you can refer all of the charges
to one room, this sounds simpler but is ussually not. It is easier
to get each room seperately and pay for them all seperately using the
same credit card or cash or whatever, this way you have a seperate bill
for each room and any extras show up on the room from which they were
charged.
                       Hope this helps...
-- 
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
   /   / __  /  /     |         Wally Blume         |"God does not play dice
  /   / _ / /  / /_/  |      Internet address:      |  with the universe."
 /_/_/ /_/ /  / __/   | cd651@cleveland.freenet.edu | -- Albert Einstein
Newsgroups: rec.travel