4 Big Benefits Of Booking Directly at Independent Hotels

By Joanne Cunningham, Director of Sales & Marketing at Dunes Manor (Ocean City, MD)

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When planning a business trip or vacation, travelers may prefer to stay at an independent hotel - which is a single location hotel that’s independently owned and run - rather than a chain or branded hotel, such as hotels that are affiliated the Hilton, Hyatt, or Wyndham companies. The trick to getting the most for your money when setting up your reservation at an independent hotel is by booking it directly with the hotel, and not through a third party reseller website.

These resellers, known in the business as OTAs (online travel agencies), include such leading websites as Expedia, Hotels.com, Kayak, Orbitz, Hotwire, and Trivago. While OTAs can sometimes deliver some per night cost savings at independent hotels, travelers who book their trips using OTAs are losing out on valuable perks by not calling the hotels to make their reservations. Working directly with a hotel reservation agent will provide you with up-to-date booking information so that you can design a stay that’s customized to your specific needs.

Here are four benefits that travelers can secure if they book their stays directly with an independent hotel:

1. FLEXIBLE CANCELLATION AND RESERVATION POLICY - When it comes to cancellations or making changes in your reservations, the OTAs can be very rigid: some won’t allow you to make any changes to your booking without a significant penalty fee. Independent hotels have extremely guest-friendly cancellation/modification policies, and in many circumstances, guests can cancel or make alterations within 24 hours of their reserved arrivals.
2. SPECIAL RATES - When working with a reservation agent at an independent hotel, ask if there are special room rates for guests who book direct. These discounts are frequently hidden from OTAs and not posted online. There may also be hot deals that are available during non-peak times of the year and that wouldn’t be available to the public or reflected in OTA pricing.
3. SPECIAL OFFERS - Guests who book direct can inquire about including breakfast in their reservations, or if there’s a room upgrade available for the dates of your stay, or if you can have an extended check-out time. Savvy hoteliers train their reservation agents to recognize the value of a stay that’s booked directly, and they encourage their staff to provide extras to these guests. You cannot claim these bonuses if book through an OTA.
4. LOYALTY POINTS - Many independent hotels offer exclusive loyalty points and discounts for returning patrons that book with them directly. You can’t receive these perks if you book through OTAs. While the number of points and savings can fluctuate depending upon the time of year and room availability, independent hotels recognize that the guests who book directly should be understood, appreciated, and rewarded for their efforts.

It can be very tempting to book your stay at an independent hotel using an OTA: when compared to the per-night rates listed on a hotel’s site, the OTAs’ per night rates can occasionally offer some slight savings. However, to gain access to a variety of valuable and experiential benefits that an independent hotel has available for its guests, and there are many of them, it’s always better to book direct.