Tarntawan Hotel milestone

[vinapu]

On almost every trip I use that approach of booking  some hotels well in advance and some just before departure including some bookings when I'm already there  and showing at the door without reservation  so can say I did some research on the subject and results are the same like yours - very inconclusive.

Apart from high  of highs season like second half of Dec , first half of Jan and week around Songkran there are always rooms available so no danger of sleeping on the street or very expensively when arriving without reservation but I did  notice very few  spectacular last minute savings although they do happen but usually in higher end places and are very short lived.

( few years ago  just before going to bed I got e-mail  from one of our members that Raya has spectacular discounts on Expedia , I'm glad I acted immediately because in the morning offers were gone and it was something like 45 $ for huge Executive room with breakfast for 2  which rarely goes for less than 90-100 $ ).

On another hand if somebody feels strongly about staying somewhere ( or definitely NOT staying somewhere  ) my advice would be to book as soon as acceptable price will be available to avoid disappointments. If one doesn't really care as long as lodging is within desired area and price range than last minute bookings may produce some savings

Additional perks like free breakfast appear more often well in advance than in last minute offerings.

Thing to watch is free cancellation as often for 2-3 $  more we can have that option, handy is something better will present itself ( my case in Tarntawan in Nov 2013 when I cancelled earlier made booking and booked the same type of room there for enough savings to bother ) 

Another one is to look at all offers  of the place as not necessarily cheapest one  is the best, sometimes for literally few $ more  one may get better class room with free cancellation and free breakfast instead of bare bones non -refundable offer in ' superior' room . (As we all noticed 'superior ' in many places means " superior to sleeping on the street" )

[Londoner]

I paid Agoda £22 pn at Tarntawan for a September stay seven weeks ago; the price is now over £40. Ergo, book early? Well, no. A year ago, Chiang Mai's Amora's Agoda's price actually decreased after I'd booked.

Vianapu is correct; some prices are very complicated and some of the bigger hotels have an array of rooms with different designations that are hard to understand.  Breakfast, in my experience, is always worth paying for with the room price. I booked a room at a Krabi hotel in May- rather more expensive than usual- and , seduced by an apparently cheap deal, didn't pre-book breakfast. Buying  it daily was expensive and in the long-run, cost me a lot.

[ggobkk]

The Tarntawan is offering airport transportation as part of its pricing. BUT ONLY for those booking directly.  The booking sites have slightly better (lower) pricing but don’t include the airport ride.  The hotel website indicates there is a spa!  Reader, are you sure that was a water tank you saw arriving? (Lol).

i was pricing hotels as my end of the month trip to Hong Kong looks to be a less than attractive destination as several of my friends are going to be out of town or have advised me to come at another time.

As my ticket to HK is of a code that won’t return all of what I paid,  my revised plan, will put me into HK airport and I’ll catch a flight to Bangkok and spend three nights and then reverse the whole thing.  

Now back to hotel shopping...noticing The Raya is noting that many of its offering have windows that are no longer windows but “features”...wondering if these are the rooms that might have faced Twilight if it was still there...then again, they could be on the floor that’s been under construction on the floor under the reception level. 

So much to discover...

[lotus123]

On 7/31/2019 at 11:14 AM, floridarob said:

Those are signs of poor management, ESPECIALLY at these small properties. My "claim to fame" as a hotel GM was raising guest satisfaction scores and  REVPAR (revenue per available room)...whereas many managers concentrate on ADR (average daily rate). Also because of my management style, reduced employee turnover...happy employees = happy guests (normally)

Many employees are lazy and find it easier to say, book on Agoda, Expedia, etc... than to do the actual work or look for a manager to approve the lower rate.

On average is a 20 % commision and waiting 45-60 days to get paid, front line employees don't care, however, a manager should.....I sake my head when a manager declines to honor the lower rate and says book online, smh

This is a fascinating insight for me, who's never worked in hospitality. Thanks for sharing.