Frequently when a hotel bundles services in with your rate your rate you’re going to pay a lot for very little. Those ‘romance packages’ may cost an extra hundred bucks a night and give you a bottle of $4 Andre and overripe strawberries at check-in.
If you want the Andre and strawberries you’re better off arranging them separately with the hotel (or doing it yourself).
Ryan emails me about a food and beverage credit offer for Hyatt Place and House House bookings made by August 31 for stays through October 31.
- If you could literally get the best rate and a $20 or $25 credit on your folio that would be a nice deal.
- But you have to book the ‘Food and Beverage Offer Summer 2018’ rate (offer code FBCRDT). You can expect to pay more to get your money back in the form of a credit.
Hyatt Place Lobby
I pulled up a one night stay at the Hyatt Place Arlington Courthouse in Northern Virginia. I figured a one night stay would make this calculation simple, since you don’t need to divide the food and beverage credit across nights to figure out whether or not it makes sense.
What I found was a rate $20 higher than BAR, and $38 higher than the cancellable ‘member rate’, to get what in this case is a $20 credit.
I searched for a 2-night stay at the Hyatt Place Marathon/Florida Keys to see what it would cost to get a $25 credit.
You’re paying $13 more a night than BAR (‘Standard Rate’) or $26 for your stay plus tax to get a $25 credit. It’s $20 more a night than the cancellable member rate, and $31 more per night than the prepaid member rate.
So why would anyone do this? If they can stick their employer with a room rate bill, I suppose, but aren’t able to reimburse drinks or snacks. Hyatt isn’t offering a ‘good deal’ they’re offering a way to hide unreimburseable items in your room rate.
Terms and conditions:
Offer valid for reservations made in advance between 07/09/2018 and 08/31/2018 for stays from 07/09/2018 through 10/31/2018 at participating hotels. Must request offer code FBCRDT at time of booking to qualify for package, which includes: $25 F&B Credit per stay . Package inclusions are subject to availability and must coincide with guest’s stay at participating hotels. All guests must be at least 21 years of age and/or of legal age to consume alcohol in the jurisdiction where the hotel is located to receive alcoholic beverages. No credits may be used towards alcoholic beverages. A limited number of rooms are allocated to this offer; reservations subject to availability. Offer not valid with groups, conventions, other promotional offers, tour packages or special rate programs. Rate is per room, per night, based on double occupancy and excludes service charges, mandatory resort fees, applicable taxes and other incidental expenses. Additional charges may apply for additional guests or room type upgrades. Guest is responsible for all charges not included in package. No refunds for any unused portion of package. No substitutions nor replacement services or products offered for package inclusions. A portion of the rate for this offer may reflect taxes, service charges, gratuities, and third-party charges for certain included items, and those costs are not eligible for Hyatt Gold Passport® points. …$20 credit
Offer valid for reservations made in advance between 07/09/2018 and 08/31/2018 for stays from 07/09/2018 through 10/31/2018 at participating hotels. Must request offer code FBCRDT at time of booking to qualify for package, which includes: $20 F&B Credit per stay . Package inclusions are subject to availability and must coincide with guest’s stay at participating hotels. All guests must be at least 21 years of age and/or of legal age to consume alcohol in the jurisdiction where the hotel is located to receive alcoholic beverages. No credits may be used towards alcoholic beverages. A limited number of rooms are allocated to this offer; reservations subject to availability. Offer not valid with groups, conventions, other promotional offers, tour packages or special rate programs. Rate is per room, per night, based on double occupancy and excludes service charges, mandatory resort fees, applicable taxes and other incidental expenses. Additional charges may apply for additional guests or room type upgrades. Guest is responsible for all charges not included in package. No refunds for any unused portion of package. No substitutions nor replacement services or products offered for package inclusions. A portion of the rate for this offer may reflect taxes, service charges, gratuities, and third-party charges for certain included items, and those costs are not eligible for Hyatt Gold Passport® points.
Yes, this is common practice. Same with the double points or extra points from IHG. They are terrible, but some people pass them to their employer.
I’ve found bonus IHG points before at $5/1000 which is a good deal for points, especially if I need elite qualifying points. But I’ve also seen them at more than double that price.
F&B is only 50% deductible on business and unless you spend a lot, you may end up using your per diem deduction anyway. This way it’s 100% deductible, maybe? And you still get your full per diem?
PSA: I’m assuming this doesn’t show on the folio as a package deal but if it does and I saw a trend of this for an employee, they’d get fired in short order. It’s usually not worth anyone’s time to try and second guess an employee booking something fast and not getting the “best” rate but booking this stuff takes a little extra effort. Usually when someone gets fired for things relating to these types of thing it’s something small that gets flagged and then someone starts digging back (months or even years) at past expenses. As far as deductibility because it’s a credit i’d think it would be okay (reasonableness test should still apply) but again if it were a package of bundled services I think the technically appropriate thing to do would break off meals from lodging but I’d love for a tax expert to opine.
The worst is the “strawberries and champagne” or “movie and pizza” rate. Those generally offer the deal upon check-in, meaning you get it once. Why would anyone pay a “strawberries and champagne” for each night of their stay if they only get it once?
Ditto to 8bb8b8. Here and there, maybe you can get by. A few points not worth my job.