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| Ritz Carlton San Francisco |
Oh cool, the Ritz Carlton is only $250 per night. Oh wait, never mind. With taxes, resort fees and everything else, it’s in the mid $300’s, and there goes that. It only took a pandemic, a $250 billion dollar bailout proposal and years of IT support, but Marriott Bonvoy has finally handed customers exactly what they wanted, or at least – something they wanted.
A simple button, which shows ‘all in’ hotel pricing.
It’s not going to keynote any CES address, but Marriott Bonvoy has added a button to its website, and Bonvoy mobile app, which allows potential guests to see all in pricing for their stays, rather than the ever frustrating pricing before taxes, and those unforgivable resort fees.
Yes, finally, the price you see will be the price you get. You’ll just need to make one tap first.
If you don’t search hotels frequently, you may be less familiar, but hotels think it’s fun to lure you in with a price which doesn’t actually exist, by hiding a significant amount of taxes and fees until the final booking screen, in hopes that you just give in to the great powers of persuasion.
They’d rather disappoint you when you’re ready to press book than have you scroll on by because it looks pricey. This happens with virtually every online travel agency, and also on direct bookings with all hotel chains. Here are a few examples of this brilliant Bonvoy button in action.
Here’s the old frustrating way of searching…
Ooh, this looks like a great price, but…
Where it’s not the price you pay, just a price you see. But there’s hope…
They’ve done it. By selecting “show rates with taxes and all fees” you’re actually able to see what you’ll pay per night without hassle. Bravo, Bonvoy! Go forth…
As you can plainly see, you see a price, and then it’s not until you’re excited and ready to book, that they show you the meat factory. You realize you’re actually looking at something $50-$100 more per night, and that changes the proposition entirely. Ugh.
Nonetheless, Marriott has finally cracked the code, and may be the first hotel group to increase their TripAdvisor ratings by half a star before guests even arrive, by not frustrating them endlessly before they do. This works on both desktop web and mobile app.
If you’re on the Marriott Bonvoy mobile app, just tap the settings in the top right corner, which brings up the selection tool where you can select the all inclusive pricing.
This is one small button for Marriott, but one giant leap for travel booking kind. In a global crisis, every little helps, and Marriott is making it a lot more fun to look for hotels, knowing that the hassle of finding out hidden fees awaits is behind you. One tap, and it’s the price you actually pay. It’s the button we finally deserve…
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