Reliability of Last Minute Travel

[MIChessGuy]

I am considering Last Minute Travel to book a pretty good rate at the Radisson Resort Orlando-Celebration. During LMT's booking process, they mention that this Radisson charges $8/night resort fee, which is contrary to the hotel's own website which lists a $20/night (ouch!) resort fee. I suppose it is possible that LMT has negotiated the resort fee down for its members; however, this is not stated explicitly and I am concerned that LMT is just wrong about this Radisson's resort fee.

Any LMT people out there who have booked this hotel? Or have any feedback on LMT's service generally? I just signed up and this will be my first booking.

 

[robinb]

I would assume that LMT has bad information and I would be prepared to spend $20 per night extra on a resort fee. If it's really $8 you'll be happy but if it's $20 you'll already know in advance.

 

[writerguyfl]

I'm a former hotel Revenue Manager. With virtually all wholesalers like LMT, the hotel is responsible for maintaining property information. That includes mandatory resort fees. (With tens of thousands of hotels, it would be impossible for LMT employees to input and monitor each hotel individually.) If the resort fee is listed incorrectly, that's on the hotel, not LMT.

I think robinb gives good advice. I'd count on the $20 resort fee. But, I'd certainly print out a hard copy of information shown on LMT. You may be able to get them to honor the $8 fee.

As for LMT, I've never used them, but I do have a friend that does. She's booked through them 5-6 times in the past couple of years. She's never had a problem. But, she's also never needed to contact them, either. So, it's hard to say how their customer service would be in the event a problem needs to be resolved.

 

[MIChessGuy]

Thanks for the advice. I'm inclined to agree that the correct resort fee is probably the $20. It's unfortunate that all of these additional fees which have sprung up in recent years (resort fee, parking fee, "energy surcharge," theme park shuttle fee...) have made it so difficult to get any value from third-party booking sites. I used to do a lot of Priceline bidding, for example, but the risk of getting stuck with these extra fees forced me off that site. And the sites that try to warn you about the add-ons seem to be wrong half the time. I wish there was some requirement where these hotels wouldn't be allowed to play these peek-a-boo games.

 

[HeatherC]

I would still book it but take a screenshot of the $8 fee so you have proof as a backup if they try to charge you more.

 

[MIChessGuy]

I would still book it but take a screenshot of the $8 fee so you have proof as a backup if they try to charge you more.

I think the Radisson staff would just say that they aren't responsible for errors on a third-party booking site. I'd need to obtain a written assurance from the Radisson itself before check-in, which is just too time consuming a project for me. I'll probably keep checking LMT now and then for similar deals that do not involve any made-up fees, and certainly not $20/night.

 

[robinb]

You can also try HotWire or Priceline. Here is a website that will help you decipher the hotel you'll get: http://www.betterbidding.com/

 

[DPickering]

I am considering Last Minute Travel to book a pretty good rate at the Radisson Resort Orlando-Celebration. During LMT's booking process, they mention that this Radisson charges $8/night resort fee, which is contrary to the hotel's own website which lists a $20/night (ouch!) resort fee. I suppose it is possible that LMT has negotiated the resort fee down for its members; however, this is not stated explicitly and I am concerned that LMT is just wrong about this Radisson's resort fee.

Any LMT people out there who have booked this hotel? Or have any feedback on LMT's service generally? I just signed up and this will be my first booking.

That hotel will likely be cheaper on lmt' members only site lmtclub.com. $50 to join but I've always been successful finding promo codes for free membership just doing a Google search.

And yes, I've recommended this site twice today, I don't work for them, it's just a good site IMHO.

 

[MIChessGuy]

That hotel will likely be cheaper on lmt' members only site lmtclub.com. $50 to join but I've always been successful finding promo codes for free membership just doing a Google search.

And yes, I've recommended this site twice today, I don't work for them, it's just a good site IMHO.

I should have clarified that it was the "club" website I was using, which I had joined free using one of those promo codes. I didn't realize that there was another non-club version of the site. In any event, I checked the Radisson again at lmtclub.com and it still shows the (wrong) $8.00 resort fee.