The term “rack rate” is used in the travel industry, it indicates the price of a hotel room if the traveller was to deal directly with the hotel rather than a specialist that does hotel booking in Australia on behalf of their clients. If a person walks into the hotel and wishes to book a room for the night, the price could easily be two to three times as much had the same room been booked through a travel agent. The spread may not be two to three times depending on the time of day however, it may be possible to argue for a far better rate if you go in late at night and the desk clerk does not think the room can be rented to anyone else. Under those circumstances, the hotel will be of the opinion that some revenue is better than no revenue at all.
The hotel management is fully aware of the economics of the industry and they often negotiate far better rates with companies that do hotel booking in Australia. These companies will block book a large number of rooms and then offer them to the travelling public through the internet at a far better rate than they would ever get directly from the hotel. The hotel will earn less revenue by doing deals of this nature but it does guarantee that the rooms will generate some cash whether they are occupied or not.
Beating the rack rate:
It is easy to beat the hotel rack rate; even if you are booking the hotel on the same day that you need the room. There are many companies that advertise these services on the Internet, it is a simple matter to visit one of these web sites, enter the name of the city where you want the accommodation, the dates, and the type of accommodation and book it using a credit card. The traveller only has to print the details and hand them to the desk clerk at the time of check-in.
If you do not have the opportunity to do this beforehand, use the free Wi-Fi offered by the hotel, find a booking site and use the Internet rate in your face to face negotiations for the same rate.
