Hotel deals should make you happy. They should inspire you to travel. They should tickle the part of your brain that wishes you were Christopher Columbus. Ok – maybe the part of your brain that wishes you were the love child of Christopher Columbus and Coco Chanel – exploring the world, in style.

However, there’s one major problem and it’s that some hotel deal sites (particularly the mainstream ones) aren’t really being honest when it comes down to hotel deal pricing. 

The Big Lie - Rack Rates vs. Best Available Rate (BAR)

The Rack Rate

Most of the time you’ll see in gigantic, awful font “30% OFF!”, and you think to yourself, “Wow, 30% off. That’s a great deal.” But unfortunately what they don’t tell you is that in most cases it means 30% off the rack rate. What is the rack rate I hear you ask? Well, in very simple terms it means the rate that pretty much nobody ever pays (except for maybe on New Years Eve).

The Best Available Rate (BAR)

Hotels also have a Best Available Rate (or BAR), which is the actual rate that they sell at, and the rack rate which they usually don’t sell at except for the absolute highest of the high season. This just creates a lot of confusion for no real apparent reason for consumers. 30% off the Best Available Rate is a great deal, whereas 30% off the rack rate may not be. A lot of deal sites claim these very competitive rates, but what they actually mean is a certain percent off a price that you would never pay – so don’t believe these inflated claims. 

Do Your Homework

What you should compare is the sales rate versus the Best Available Rate, and sometimes you will find that the deal is actually not a deal at all. Some sites try to also make their deals appear more attractive by showing a rate that is per person, and then in fine print it says you have to have a minimum booking for 2 people so you basically have to double the rate that they are showing. Ugh.

Death And Taxes

The other thing to watch out for is the taxes and fees that are slapped on top of the rate that you first saw. If you compare the members-only price on ImpulseFlyer to other sites, make sure you compare the rates inclusive of taxes and fees to get the real comparison, which typically on all other sites they will only show (sometimes very sneakily) right at the end of the booking process. We have a whole other post on why that’s wrong. You can check it out over here »

These sorts of tricks continue to plague hotel deals sites – and we don’t like it. We don’t like it one bit.

How Is ImpulseFlyer Fixing This?

At ImpulseFlyer, we show our members-only rates inclusive of taxes and fees upfront so there aren’t any surprises, and we don’t use false percentages about how much you are saving. We work sleepless nights to make sure our deals are real deals that will save you money even BELOW the Best Available Rate. Our approach to pricing is straightforward and transparent and our promotion of that price is subtle and honest.

After booking your next holiday with many of these other sites, you end up looking like you just came from the dentist after getting all four wisdom teeth pulled out.

Book your next luxury holiday with us at ImpulseFlyer and you’ll feel like you just came out from a 2-hour massage at an award-winning spa. And that’s the way it should be.

If you’re not aready a member of ImpulseFlyer, get your free account with the link below:

Apply for a free ImpulseFlyer membership »