Do you think hotels should offer reduced rates, during the time of the Covid pandemic, due to having less services and amenities available?

I don’t really know if it’s up to us. It’d probably depend on the health of their individual financial standing. Prices seemed to be the same for places we went, with one place having a 150 dollar pet fee while others had a 20 or 50 dollar pet fee.

I think they’re hurting financially and will try to capture as much revenue as the market will bear to try to keep their heads above the water.

Well you can’t run a business by having a “going out of business prices.”

in my state 60 % of the restaurants that closed after March 15th are gone, closed forever.

Hawaii when you arrive there is a strict quarantine 14 days you stay in your room, food has to be delivered, they have fined people for leaving their room.

Hawaii’s unemployment March 1, 2020 was 2.6%; it was 23 % in May and now it is 13%. Hotels are at 14% occupied in August 2020 normal 80% you can’t pay the bills with those numbers so why who you drop the room rates. They pay property taxes, mortgages on the building and utility bills; those bills didn’t disappear with the tourists.

I am shocked they aren’t lowering prices. I have not looked up hotel rates. I guess it depends on competition and what they need to stay open and also what people will pay obviously. Some Orlando hotels had closed down at least temporarily, I don’t know if they are reopened now. They were hurt pretty badly during the lockdown I would guess. Interesting question.

I heard that airbnb was picking up a lot in businesses, I wonder if people are opting to have their own place and not the higher risk interaction in hotels? I would think people who rent their own places out would be lowering prices with fewer people traveling, but maybe not.

In Florida you can’t just close down a building, or say a section of the hotel, and significantly reduce the expenses, because you have to keep the space air conditioned to at least 80 degrees, I always recommend 78, and Florida just went through our very hot and humid months. The hotels can greatly reduce payroll though, by laying off housekeepers and lobby personnel and the people who work the breakfast areas.

In my opinion, as long as hotels are breaking even right now I think they should be happy. That’s assuming everyone is being paid a salary.

Dream on. They have very high fixed costs and franchise fees. Expecting a hotel to lower prices? No way.

You don’t really pay for the amenities though, you pay for the room. These amenities are just a little added extra to entice you to book into their hotel. Most people don’t even use them, but they cost the hotel very little to provide.

Some amenities are closed, such as the food courts and swimming pool, but extra cleaning and sanitizing is very expensive, so they can’t lower prices.

I just searched Marriott hotels in the Disney area and there are some great deals. We are moving into off season anyway, so that might be part of it, but it is cheaper than usual. Gaylord for $146 a night. Other moderate hotels for $60, $70, $80 a night. I think that is all before taxes, which are high.

That doesn’t sound productive. If a hotel is running at 20% occupancy and they lower their rate by half, they would need to double the occupancy just to break even. Remember that lowering the rate reduces the current occupants rates as well. So to make the drop productive they would need to increase occupancy to at least 50%. Given the reason for the failing business, I doubt that a lower room rate would have much effect on how many people are traveling. Right now it’s not the cost but rather the pandemic that is keeping people home.

I was in the hotel business for 30 years. Should a hotel reduce their rates during a time of a pandemic? No. What they need to do is set the expectations on the front end. If the pool is closed, then advertise it on their booking sites and why. If room service is limited, explain that during check-in.

A co-worker once got a call from a manager of one of the hotels in her territory that asked that the rates be reduced due to a forecasted snowstorm. The co-worker responded, “Okay, and if the rates are reduced, the snow will melt?” The point is that reducing the rate won’t bring in more business. If anything, it captures less valuable customers.

I admire all the busineses that are not price gouging.