Q – My wife and I really appreciate your approach and so we come to you with a question that’s been on our minds for months. You could say we are frequent world travelers. As COO of a large company based in Boston, I travel overseas an average of two times per month. We take three weeks of vacation every year, always enjoying top grade accommodations and services. I am a seeker of high-end services, hate skimping, but the accountant in me demands that I ask “How exactly do you get the best pricing on a top-end hotel room or suite? What is the secret? Is it online, web site, calling direct etc? 
A – The goal of this game is make the consumer feel that he//she has the best rate whenever and wherever they book. In fact, any price that you receive online or from a travel agent is likely to be high because any advertised or available onside pricing is, essentially, being offered to the general public. Hotels do not want their rooms sold online so they routinely require high cancellation policies and assign online bookers some of the worst rooms in their inventory. Hotels want you to book with them directly but they have to offer the same pricing to anyone who contacts them. They cannot offer pricing that will alienate their regular guests.
The bottom line is that anytime anyone quotes you a hotel price, online or offline, you can be pretty certain you are not getting the best price. The best hotel prices are secret, they are never shown to the guest. These room prices are called “Contracted Rates” and tour operators in the country where you hotel is located have negotiated special pricing available through the tour operator or wholesaler. So when you visit Spain and you have arranged a complete itinerary using a Spain-based tour operator, through your travel consultant, you will receive your itinerary with the hotels and it will all have one price. The confidential rates, lower than what you could ever find elsewhere, are incorporated into the itinerary. In that way the hotel fills lots of rooms at the lowest possible price without upsetting the majority of guests who did not book through an in-country wholesaler and, consequently, paid more for their room.
Sorry for the long explanation, but your question required it. Bottom Line: If you actually know the price of your room and have seen it in writing, you are likely paying more than you should.
