‘Best rate’ is often not, so take advantage of that guarantee

These days, nearly every major travel website has some sort of “best-rate guarantee” for hotels booked on their sites, but they are not a panacea for consumers.

As always, the devil is in the details.

Here’s how best-rate guarantees work: Let’s say you book a hotel on Site A, then find the same room cheaper on Site B. You usually have 24 to 48 hours after your initial reservation to return to Site A and file a claim. (Many sites have a link to an online form.)

Some sites restrict competing rates to those available only online -- meaning you can’t claim a refund if you call the hotel directly for a better rate -- and may exclude rates from “opaque” sites such as Hotwire and Priceline. Most sites offer, at the very least, to compensate you for the difference.

To try to drive online consumers to their sites, hotel chains have jumped on the best-rate guarantee bandwagon.

“What suppliers are trying to do is encourage their brand-loyal customers onto the supplier sites,” said Josh Feuerstein, vice president of hotels for Travelocity. “That is their lowest cost of distribution because there is no third party involved.”

In December, Hilton announced a best-rate guarantee program for customers booking online with any of its official, Hilton-brand hotel sites. Not only will Hilton match a better rate found on any other booking channel (not just online), but it also will come with a $50 American Express gift certificate.

“In our business, it’s all about trust,” said Tom Keltner, Hilton Hotels’ president for brand performance and franchise development. “If you book with us and we failed you in some fashion, we’re going to make it right, and it shouldn’t be a trivial amount.”

Keltner says Hilton so far has honored about 300 claims a month, or $15,000 in gift certificates. A hefty sum, but a fraction of Hilton’s monthly revenue of $600 million to $700 million.

Cendant, whose hotel chains include Days Inn, Super 8, Ramada and Travelodge, launched its best-rate guarantee two years ago and was pleased with the increase in conversion of online shoppers to buyers, said Peter Strebel, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Cendant hotels. Beginning Saturday, the 4 million monthly visitors to Cendant’s sites will find an even sweeter guarantee: a free night’s stay if consumers find a better rate elsewhere.

Still, online travel consumers do report some ambivalence about best-rate guarantees. Nearly a third would consider not booking on a site if it did not offer a best-rate guarantee, according to a January study by Forrester Research, an online travel research company in San Francisco. Yet 19% think such promises are empty.

Such cynicism is easy to understand when prices for the same hotels and dates vary so widely. In a quick sampling for a late June stay at the Hilton New York, I found rates -- all covered by best-rate guarantees -- of $219 a night (Orbitz), $229 (Travelocity) and $265 (Expedia). Hilton’s site offered a $219 rate without the fees or advance payment requirements of third-party sites.

What’s a consumer to do?

* Shop around. There is not yet one-stop shopping on the Internet. I found a lower rate for a Ramada (a Cendant brand) in early April on Orbitz that wasn’t available at Ramada.com.

* If you find a lower rate after booking online, make sure you follow the rules of the guarantee and be sure to make a printout. (The rate must be available, not simply advertised, for the same dates, hotel and room type.) The sites will try to duplicate the fare online, and if they cannot you can fax them your results.

Contact James Gilden at www.theinternettraveler.com.