Tuesday, May 12, 2009

62% Price Increase and Hotel horrors!

In these times when we're all trying to cut our expenses both in making our work and the expenses to do art fairs, in the hope that we'll be able to keep our work affordable, I was just notified of CheckInn card's decision to raise their nightly fee by 62%!!! Actually, I wasn't notified at all. I discovered that my bill was bigger than I expected and then I contacted them.

They are a reseller of low end hotel rooms that I've been using for a few months, trying to save money on travel. The way they make their money is to charge a fee for every night you use their discounted hotel room rates. Perfectly good system which I've enjoyed using, even though some of the hotels have been a little sketchy to say the least! But raising the fees by 62% in these times is ridiculous!!!

The last hotel I stayed in with them was a Red Roof Inn in St. Louis MO. I don't normally take pictures of the hotel furniture but these chairs were so gross, I felt like I needed to document them. The hotel wasn't cheap to begin with and now to find out I have to pay even more than I expected, well, I'm not happy.

Plus this is proof that just because I love the Red Roof Inn in Troy MI, does not mean I'll love all locations. And this room cost almost twice as much... And that's with using the CheckInn card vs. reserving online for the Troy location.

Boo hiss...

2 comments:

Patricia Hecker said...

Yuck..........I am really not seeing much value in some of these discounted services. Check Inn upped their prices and gave little notice and I don't see much value in it at all.
After 911 hotels wanted our business. In todays economy, better rates would go a long way to lubricating a stuck economy............

(Housekeeping should tend to that chair!)
Someone may have realized their bill and bodily functions took over!

victoria said...

We have had very good luck with Checkinncard.com, and we did get a separate email from them warning us of an administrative increase. (I agree with you, it's CRAZY to raise their rates right now)

In using their service, I've noticed that the hotel choices really are like a box of chocolates, and you do have to do a bit more research on what is available (i.e. go to the travel sites and look for reviews on the hotels listed. In doing this i discovered that there isn't a single checkinncard.com hotel in the East Lansing Area that I want to risk my $ on!)

One thing we've found helpful is, I travel with the book open in my lap on the way to our show destinations and make notes in the margins as we pass through the different cities listed while looking at the specific exits. Did they look safe? Did the hotel look new? etc... Of course, this is only easy if you are the passenger (Scott does all the driving).

I have found that Checkinncard.com is quick to take care of any contested charge. We were double charged by a hotel in Florida this spring, and CLC jumped right on our complaint and took care of it in 24 hours.

The biggest bargain (I hope!) I've found with them this year was a room at the Extended Stay for A2 for only (drum roll...) $35 a night! (plus the $8 in admin fees).