Booking through a third-party travel website can be appealing to save money, but it also comes with some drawbacks.
“When you book through a third party, you miss out on more than half of the actions we can take to help you,” said Chase Christian, the hotel’s director of rooms. 106 Jefferson Travel agent in Huntsville, Alabama. “If a trip is suddenly canceled, accommodation fees are often non-refundable, you may not receive loyalty benefits, and third parties may charge late fees for last-minute changes.”
These issues can usually be avoided by booking directly through the accommodation.
To understand this, Rhiannon Reynolds, Vice President of Operations, said: Innisfree Hotelexplains, “If the front desk staff has one king view room left and there are two guests waiting for a room, and one of them is a loyal Hotel Brand Rewards member who books directly and the other pays the hotel a high commission and books through Expedia, who do you think is more likely to get the king view room they reserved?”
