Yesterday I was looking for an all-inclusive Jamaica vacation to book for two adults and one child. I went to Expedia, set my search parameters, and one of the most attractive matches was Hilton Rose Hall Resort and Spa:
Very attractive price (at least one-third less expensive than that of its other competitors in the area), great location, great hotel ranking/reviews. However, when I got to the checkout process I noticed this:
“Wow! Wait a second!” — I thought. $70 per night multiplied by 11 nights equals $770 on top of the final price I’m seeing! Wow… Then they aren’t really as competitive as I first thought.
Two points in this regard:
1) I went to the hotel’s official site to tried booking with them directly, and got exactly the same message:
Why not charge it upfront? Of course, I understand, this makes you look attractive on the list of all other hotels (on Expedia, Travelocity and other similar websites) that show you the full price up front, but what if someone doesn’t notice the “fine print”? What a disappointed traveller that would be!
2) Hotel room for 2 adults on the all-inclusive package costs about $1200:
That works out to be some $600 per adult. Now, for a 7-year-old child Hilton charges $770 on top of that?! Hmmmmmm…
Needless to say that I went with another resort in the same area. I did pay them more than what Hilton originally quoted me. But still it ended up being less than what they would charge me with their “$70 per child per night” policy. Hilton Rose Hall may want to rethink their pricing strategy.
Poor “marketing”. The advance disclosure of final prices could have been implemented through the use of two simple additional drop-down menus for children: 0-3 and 4-17.
Poor, and on the border with deceptive marketing really.
I like the idea of the two drop-downs, but I still have a problem with a 4-6 yr old child being charged as much as a 16-17 yr old one, and more than an adult.
It will create the disappointment to the customers. It may works in short term but in long run the hotel may see the customer becoming less and less