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This post is just a quick PSA that may be a reminder for some or totally new to others, but I just ran into the issue again this morning and thought it could possibly help someone save a few bucks. Here’s the deal: when you search for rates at Marriott properties, it’s always a good idea to actually click on individual properties to look at room types rather than relying on Marriott.com to show you the best rate in the main search results because the headline rate shown in search results isn’t always the best rate.
This just happened to me today, but I’ve seen it many times before. I input a location and dates and got a list of available hotels and what are presumably their “best rates”. On the main search results page, it said that rates at this particular property were starting at 234 Euros per night.
However, when I hit “continue” on this property and clicked through to the page listing room types and prices, I saw that 234 was the standard rate. There were “package” deals available from 209!
That’s a difference of 25 Euro per night — which makes a difference of more than $130 on this particular stay.
This will obviously vary from one situation to the next. You won’t always find better prices after clicking through on a property. However, I’ve seen this happen quite a number of times before. Sometimes I might use the AAA rate and the search results page will show the AAA rate even though there is an even cheaper flexible rate (which I wouldn’t know unless I click through).
I decided to post this because if you were comparing this property to another one that costs 220 Eur per night on the main comparison/search results page, you wouldn’t know from that search results page that this property is actually cheaper for the dates entered unless you clicked on it. Again, I wouldn’t say that this is common, but it’s happened to me enough times that I now know to only use the rates in the main Marriott.com results list as a rough estimate. I always click through on each of the properties around my price range to see if one has unexpected savings in store.
Also keep an eye out for best rate guarantees. I’ve noticed rates on my bookings fluctuating pretty significantly lately. I just saved about 28% on an upcoming 5-night stay thanks to monitoring Marriott.com for price drops, but I’m also keeping an eye out in case rates drop on any third party sites in the coming days.
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What if you are using the app?
That happened to us at the Renaissance Naples. One night wasn’t available with points and the package rate was over 100 Euro cheaper than the published rate, and included breakfast.
Go figure.
Yep, you always have to scroll down the pages for the lower rates. Then you have to make sure you check the cancel/refund options with your rate. Then don’t forget to see if the rate includes the resort fee, parking fee & taxes etc.
Don’t for get to check the AAA or Senior Rates as well. I have found great rates this year using AAA.
I would add that most hotels will offer specials that are viewable on their page, but not showing in rates or packages. I’ve recently seen “offers” appear on site page and later in the body of the Bonvoy App for these previous searches – these rates require entering a promo code and do NOT generally appear in the search results. Quite deceptive if you ask me.
Which hotel was this? Why did you hide the hotel name?
I typically don’t share detailed info about upcoming stays, particularly when traveling with my kids. Some bloggers have had people mess with their reservations before, etc. But the exact property doesn’t really matter — like I said, I’ve run into this many times before — running into it today just made me think to post about it.
Ah ok. Makes sense. Thanks for sharing that tip!
You do have to be careful with those deal/package rates as more times than not they tend to be non-cancelable and non-refundable.
Good point that you should always check the terms. In this case, the 209 rate had the same flexible cancellation policy: 48 hours in advance. But I made sure to check because you’re 100% rate that they can be nonrefundable.
ive also seen the rare case where a fully pre-paid package that are typically non-cancelable/non-refundable allow cancellation with refund which is nice.