Gift dilemma: Change hotels for $100 FHR credit or 1 hotel only?

[MikeM]

Hi all,

looking into a trip to shanghai as a gift to my partner. Fine Hotels has some great deals: i.e. Regent, Mandarin, Shangri La. Do you think its worth changing hotels every 2 days for a 100 USD credit with FHR, or is this way too much. Was thinking of a 8 night trip, 4x hotel changes in total.

[Froggee]

I would say it depends on your partner.

Mrs Froggee would be highly unamused if I even considered doing such a thing.

But, put it another way, if $50 a night really moves the dial then I would have thought there would be more than a $50 difference between the cheapest and most expensive of these options.

It might be worth moving once if you a re looking at exploring different parts of the city.

But as Mrs Froggee keeps telling me, everyone is different. You know your partner better than I do!

[JDB]

@MikeM – my wife certainly wouldn’t tolerate all the aggro of packing/unpacking and moving hotels. It would also waste a whole lot of holiday time particularly if you are planning any day trips from the city. If you were determined to split stay I would split between the Pudong side and the Bund side.

We are regular visitors to Shanghai and while things have picked up there post covid more than Beijing and other cities, tourism is still well down so it’s very easy to negotiate rates significantly lower than any FHR rate even allowing for the F&B credit. It will also give you a wider range of hotels to choose from.

It’s very much a matter of personal choice, but after trying out most of the top hotels we have stayed at the Grand Kempinski four times and are returning next month. The location is great, right on the river and by the ferry terminal to cross over to the new North Bund riverside well. My wife says the massage place by the terminal on the other side is tip top! Rooms are large, and so many have spectacular river views. Service is excellent. It’s not perfect but nor are any of them! It’s very good value I think partly because the brand just isn’t so well known.

For us the Shangri-La (a brand we like and will use elsewhere on this trip) hotels in Shanghai are rather pedestrian and not ideally located. The Regent (ex Four Seasons) is a good hotel but in a fairly rubbish location. Mandarin is on the river, very close to the Kempinski and good but not as Mandarin as we would expect! I wouldn’t stay in the Jing’An area where there are quite a few hotels.

[JDB]

@MikeM – my wife certainly wouldn’t tolerate all the aggro of packing/unpacking and moving hotels. It would also waste a whole lot of holiday time particularly if you are planning any day trips from the city. It will also give you a wider range of hotels to choose from. If you were determined to split stay I would split between the Pudong side and the Bund side.

We are regular visitors to Shanghai and while things have picked up there post covid more than Beijing and other cities, tourism is still well down so it’s very easy to negotiate rates significantly lower than any FHR rate even allowing for the F&B credit.

It’s very much a matter of personal choice, but after trying out most of the top hotels we have stayed at the Grand Kempinski four times and are returning next month. The location is great, right on the river and by the ferry terminal to cross over to the new North Bund riverside well. My wife says the massage place by the terminal on the other side is tip top! Rooms are large, and so many have spectacular river views. Service is excellent. It’s not perfect but nor are any of them! It’s very good value I think partly because the brand just isn’t so well known.

For us the Shangri-La (a brand we like and will use elsewhere on this trip) hotels in Shanghai are rather pedestrian and not ideally located. The Regent (ex Four Seasons) is a good hotel but in a fairly rubbish location. Mandarin is on the river, very close to the Kempinski and good but not as Mandarin as we would expect! I wouldn’t stay in the Jing’An area where there are quite a few hotels.

[Peter K]

Mrs K would not be happy at the thought of moving so many times.
We find it takes a day or so for a room to feel like home anyway.

However, as it’s a gift for your partner, you want it to feel like a gift. Something that feels like it’s done with them fully in mind and not feeling like it’s what you want but presented as for them. Note, I’m not saying that is what you are doing, but how it will be perceived. With an itinerary like you are suggesting, Mrs K would perceptively ask me what deal am I trying to achieve rather than being delighted at the thought of a gift trip.

So my advice, for what it is worth, is to ask them what they would like. You could say that you could stay in one hotel if they prefer, but if you stayed in more than one then you can get x benefits. Their opinion, and tone of reply, will tell you what you need to know as to the best way to plan the trip.

[ukpolak]

I thought I’d read about the offer also working on a Supplementary Platinum and so you could (try) booking consecutive nights but with different cards to try multiple £100 credits (book night one with one card, then night two with the other but without actually checking out – of course ask reception when you arrive). I cannot vouch for this.

I’d read Vegas was another destination where this was possible and relatively easy given the close proximity of hotels down the Strip. £100 in one hotel, then move next door for another etc and less upheaval given proximity.

In any case and to answer your question – my wife would also go mad and the faff of packing / unpacking etc would lead us to just leaving our bits in our cases and never really settling in to enjoy things.

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

Change hotels every two days?

Unless you’re on a multi centre trip which requires it the just stay in the one hotel.

Packing and unpacking and then extra travel to /from the hotels will eat into the time you want to spend seeing the sites!

[tootsci]

I bought my wife some duty-free perfume earlier this year which was met with a raised eyebrow, and then I had to confess that while it was indeed a gift it was also so that I could get the Avios via Red by Dufry credited to my Iberia Plus account to ‘activate’ it. I think if I suggested moving hotels every two nights to take advantage of hotel credit, I’d get more than just a raised eyebrow…

[JDB]

ukpolak wrote:

I thought I’d read about the offer also working on a Supplementary Platinum and so you could (try) booking consecutive nights but with different cards to try multiple £100 credits (book night one with one card, then night two with the other but without actually checking out – of course ask reception when you arrive). I cannot vouch for this.

This is explicitly excluded in the terms by reference to the cards and the room occupants and obviously any hotel has an interest in enforcing the rule.

Also, (in my personal experience generally) but very particularly in the specific circumstances of Shanghai, anyone would be bonkers to pay the FHR rate. Hotels are quiet so very flexible indeed.

[ukpolak]

Thanks @JDB I stand corrected.

Ps – I did see your point above around rate negotiation – do you call or email directly to see what they can do?

I’ve only ever contacted hotels when booking to confirm certain details (eg arrival times) or make particular requests ahead of arrival. We did call a property in Majorca last year because we were making a booking for three rooms at the same time, and they did give a small discount relative to the online direct rate because of the bulk purchase, however this was done via contact with the generic central reservations team rather than the hotel direct. Thank you.

[BJ]

My partner absolutely hates changing hotels … which explains my passion for road trips 🙂

And I absolutely hate buffet breakfasts so if anybody can come up with a bright idea to persuade my partner it’s worth checking out before 9am to take breakfast elsewhere I’d be very grateful. I won a bacon roll on McDonald’s monopoly tonight so that’s one breakfast taken care of already.

[JDB]

ukpolak wrote:

Thanks @JDB I stand corrected.

Ps – I did see your point above around rate negotiation – do you call or email directly to see what they can do?

I’ve only ever contacted hotels when booking to confirm certain details (eg arrival times) or make particular requests ahead of arrival. We did call a property in Majorca last year because we were making a booking for three rooms at the same time, and they did give a small discount relative to the online direct rate because of the bulk purchase, however this was done via contact with the generic central reservations team rather than the hotel direct. Thank you.

It depends! Usually a bit of both. The key is to find the entrée which I liken to the opening chat up line to someone you fancy! Not something you can really plan, you just need the right words at the right time via the right channel. In the same way as it’s not usually going to work if you ask someone if you can sleep with them as an opening gambit, asking a hotel for a discount and freebies on first contact also probably won’t work. Research into all the types of rates and offers the hotel has on its own website or offers via other channels is a good start to see what they can offer. I’m always interested if the hotel has attractive offers for a two night stay with lots of inclusions which gives a good clue as to what underlying room rate they are looking for.

If I recall correctly from previous posts you have a young family which for us was an important time to find the best accommodation for children to be nearby and comfortable but also for the parents to be comfortable and have privacy, essentially as if you were at home. Speaking to the hotel directly we discovered that not only do they offer far better prices but sometimes have family friendly accommodation not offered even on their websites and can talk you through everything you specifically need to know that isn’t necessarily on the website resort/floor plans, like feeding arrangements, babysitting, children’s activities or laundry and pre-allocate your rooms and upgrades at the time of booking. Whatever type of intermediary you book through you not only lose the personal element but you are paying extra for the disintermediation!

A sine qua non for any direct booking is to say something nice about the hotel and/or that it has been recommended by xxx, really hoping to be able to make arrangements for your stay, bit confused by all the different rates and allude to what you need/want etc. etc.

[ChrisBCN]

As an alternative to what JDB says, my approach is to say ‘I really love x about your hotel, and have seen a rate on booking.com (or wherever you find the best rate) of X – I would prefer to book direct, what would you be able to offer?’

The slightly more direct chat up line works for me 😉

[John]

The question presupposes that you actually want $100 of stuff from the hotel, which will probably cost $50-$75 outside the hotel. Unless you’re going to walk it changing hotel also incurs costs.

We used to frequently change hotel daily to maintain Hilton status, but now that we primarily stay with IHG where it isn’t needed, we are enjoying not having to change hotel.

[JDB]

ChrisBCN wrote:

As an alternative to what JDB says, my approach is to say ‘I really love x about your hotel, and have seen a rate on booking.com (or wherever you find the best rate) of X – I would prefer to book direct, what would you be able to offer?’

The slightly more direct chat up line works for me 😉

@ChrisBCN – I take my hat off to you then! I would add though, that I’m looking for them to undercut significantly the cheapest online prices as not only are those are commisionable, but they will have a raft of cheaper non published rates for corporates, local travel agents or people etc.

Also, as per @John I don’t really want the $100/stay credit, I would rather have that sum taken off the rate per night and spend the money as I wish. More importantly, dealing with a hotel directly is not only about the money but their ability to offer you guaranteed benefits up front such as multi category upgrades and others (expensive to buy and valuable to me but not so costly for the hotel to provide) not offered via any of the indirect booking channels.

It’s not going to work every time nor probably when there’s a huge event in town etc. and different hotels work in different ways. One we used to visit regularly simply wouldn’t discount from its advertised prices anywhere but after a bit of probing, I discovered that while that was their policy, they were quite happy to add very valuable inclusions like dinners, rounds of golf, spa, excursions etc. just so long as the headline rate on the confirmation was the official rate.

[ukpolak]

Thanks @ChrisBCN and of course @JDB.

I was never very direct (which I regretted whilst at uni!) but slowly slowly catchy monkey seemed to work out when in the big world of work and had more of a long term horizon, marriage included!

You’re spot on with the children and tbh it’s our main driver nowadays – rooms with some sort of divider or better still, a bedroom contained within, all of which takes time to locate through searching hotels and then observing layout pics to see if they’d work for us.

Will try the contact us approach. I do think engaging in some relationship and rapport building has value, and I’d have no issue returning to properties if they work out, ie ongoing custom for them.

Thank you again!

[ChrisBCN]

JDB wrote:

I take my hat off to you then! I would add though, that I’m looking for them to undercut significantly the cheapest online prices as not only are those are commisionable, but they will have a raft of cheaper non published rates for corporates, local travel agents or people etc.

I concur! I didn’t say I accepted their first offer… If it is a rate that undercuts other prices, and/or includes other things I value (maybe free breakfast, parking, kiss under the mistletoe..) then I might accept. If not, I treat it as an opening gambit and go back to them with a counter offer. All done graciously and with profuse thanks and compliments of course.

[JDB]

ChrisBCN wrote:

JDB wrote:

I take my hat off to you then! I would add though, that I’m looking for them to undercut significantly the cheapest online prices as not only are those are commisionable, but they will have a raft of cheaper non published rates for corporates, local travel agents or people etc.

I concur! I didn’t say I accepted their first offer… If it is a rate that undercuts other prices, and/or includes other things I value (maybe free breakfast, parking, kiss under the mistletoe..) then I might accept. If not, I treat it as an opening gambit and go back to them with a counter offer. All done graciously and with profuse thanks and compliments of course.

Excellent! As you and @ukpolak have identified, hotels remain very much a personal relationship thing so nicely works far better than any expensively acquired intergalactic hotel loyalty number and/or booking through some third party. In the context of the above, I laugh when I read here of people flashing their membership and the receptionist being well unimpressed as the guest insists they can see upgrade rooms available on the website etc. Hotels have the equivalent of restaurant tables by the loos for those guests.

[CJD]

I can’t think of a bigger waste of time on holiday than changing hotels within the same city.

I’d want to be relaxing, taking in the surroundings of a new city and exploring what that city has to offer, not having in the back of my mind that we still haven’t checked into the new hotel and need to unpack all our stuff all over again.

Particularly for the sake of a $100 credit which I might not spend anyway, given one of the things I love about exploring new places is food, so I’d be incredibly unlikely to want to stay within a Western chain hotel for dinner when I can explore a city like Shanghai instead.