Ask HN: Why don't hotels let you pick your room? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Why don't hotels let you pick your room?

#11

Post by asbestoshft » Tue, Jun 17, 2014, 2:35 AM UTC

mvid wrote: post #6

User9812 wrote: post #4

That seems like a good idea, and I could see hotel visitors wanting to select a room overlooking the parking lot (to watch a vehicle), or wanting to be on a particular side of the building (avoiding highway noise), etc. People have all sorts of little preferences, so I think that feature would get a lot of use. They also like being familiar with a room, so I could see them booking the identical one on their next trip…

I read almost this exact question on reddit a few months ago, and here is the answer someone else gave: Hotels don't cater to vacationers or casual travelers. They cater to business travelers. Business travelers who aren't using their own money, can expense everything back to their company, and don't really only care about convenience. Hotels know this, and prey on it. Airbnb/hostels don't cater to business travelers…

I've tried searching reddit and google for this question on reddit but I can't find it. Do you have a link to that question on reddit?

Re: Ask HN: Why don't hotels let you pick your room?

#12

Post by User9812 » Tue, Jun 17, 2014, 3:05 AM UTC

asbestoshft wrote: post #7

mvid wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read almost this exact question on reddit a few months ago, and here is the answer someone else gave: Hotels don't cater to vacationers or casual travelers. They cater to business travelers. Business travelers who aren't using their own money, can expense everything back to their company, and don't really only care about convenience. Hotels know this, and prey on it. Airbnb/hostels don't cater to business travelers…

I did a quick google and found http://www.ahla.com/content.aspx?id=35603 which says that 40% of guests are on business and 60% are leisure travelers. This data is for the the USA for 2012.

Seems believable. I just caught an interview on television earlier today with the CEO of a luxury worldwide hotel, and he said leisure clients went up from about 35% to 45% in the past decade, so it's a growing focus for them.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't hotels let you pick your room?

#13

Post by avalaunch » Tue, Jun 17, 2014, 3:06 AM UTC

asbestoshft wrote: post #10

asbestoshft wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren't most of these things something that a hotel could charge customers? You want to check in at 1 PM instead of the standard 3 PM, OK, that is more money? You want to be able to cancel up to 12 hours before check in, OK, that is more money? We can't guarantee you can't get bumped out of your room just like airlines can't guarantee that you won't get bumped off your flight. It seems like almost all of the same issu…

I meant you might get bumped out of your room and even the hotel if you decide to stay another day for which you don't already have a reservation. If you have a prior reservation you can't get bumped. Well, maybe you can. I've never heard of that happening with a hotel but I assume they do overbook and somehow they deal with it.

It's called 'walking the guest' and it happens somewhat frequently. Hotels always overbook when they can and normally it doesn't cause any issues because there are almost always enough cancellations and no-shows to compensate. But it does happen and probably more often than you'd imagine. Typically the late night arrivals will be the ones getting walked, especially if they're only staying for a single night, and even more so if they booked through a third party site like Priceline. I am not sure if it's legally required or not but the hotel that is walking you will usually set you up in a nearby hotel and pay for the first night. Of course if the nearest hotel with an opening is 20 miles away, this could be quite frustrating.

Edit: If you are going to be arriving late, call the hotel in advance and let them know and you greatly decrease the likelihood of getting walked as they will tend to walk someone before you instead.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't hotels let you pick your room?

#14

Post by ebeliah171 » Tue, Jun 17, 2014, 1:03 PM UTC

Assuming everyone here is very aware of Hipmunk (YC S10), but right around the same time that Hipmunk launched with flights there was a hotel startup called Room 77, founded by some travel bigwigs including Brad Gerstner, that unveiled at Launch Festival (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH2b7IUx_14). Room 77 was trying to tackle this exact problem (http://www.tnooz.com/article/room77-has-a-view-to-shake-up-o...).

However, Room 77 just recently announced a licensing deal with Google that indicates somewhat of a pivot to mobile with a portion of their team joining Google (http://skift.com/2014/04/07/room-77-taps-google-for-an-exit-...).

As a lifelong student of hospitality, former hotelier, and now cofounder in a hotel startup, it's highly unlikely that we'll ever see hotels letting travelers pick their own rooms. This would be a logistical nightmare with preparing rooms, early checkins, late checkouts, stayovers, etc. In Vegas forget about it; there are days when a hotel will turn over 1000+ rooms and it would be impossible to do so in an orderly manner. First to checkout are the first cleaned and the first available to whomever is at the front desk. Plain and simple.

Inventory in other hotels can get tricky with numerous bed types, room types, room view upgrades, etc. It sounds like a great idea for travelers, but a nightmare for hotels who would have to deal with irate guests if they didn't get their desired room.

Commodification is a thing right now with hotels (think of all those upsells on planes like extra leg room; a company called Nor1 - http://www.nor1.com/ - is working on streamlining hotel related upgrades) and the 24 hour stay (not so much technology behind this one, it's built into their property management systems). So if you check in at 6pm the first day you have to be out by 6pm the next day (or whatever time you checked in). If the 24 hour thing works, pre-checkin room selection might stand a chance and get built in to as a part of the upgrade process (I'd imagine it'd encourage you pick a better view or room type and for a fee).

Re: Ask HN: Why don't hotels let you pick your room?

#15

Post by jackvalentine » Tue, Jun 17, 2014, 1:38 PM UTC

csbrooks wrote: post #5

What happens to the person staying in that room who decides at the last minute to stay an extra day?

I presume they would have to move rooms, same as if that type of room were fully booked out and they decided to extend their stay - they'd be required to move to a different type of room.

Re: Ask HN: Why don't hotels let you pick your room?

#16

Post by wikwocket » Tue, Jun 17, 2014, 8:32 PM UTC

ebeliah171 wrote: post #14

Assuming everyone here is very aware of Hipmunk (YC S10), but right around the same time that Hipmunk launched with flights there was a hotel startup called Room 77, founded by some travel bigwigs including Brad Gerstner, that unveiled at Launch Festival ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH2b7IUx_14 ). Room 77 was trying to tackle this exact problem ( http://www.tnooz.com/article/room77-has-a-view-to-shake-up-o... ).…

You nailed the reason: inventory management. It is much easier to manage rooms as equivalent fungible commodities than as special unique offerings.

Granted, there are a lot of related industries that do offer guests this privilege: theater/opera tickets, tables at fancy restaurants, luxury car rentals, etc. But these are usually luxury offerings, where they can afford to charge more (and charge premiums based on your selection) to offset the greater cost of management.