The economic crisis forced many to abandon travel, or significantly reduce spending on holidays. This turned out to be especially relevant for tourists coming to Moscow: if foreign hotels began to reduce prices and develop programs to attract guests, then Moscow hotels did not even think about such measures. Moreover, some hotels have even increased their room rates. The attitude towards the client has also changed little: for the sake of interest, we called about a dozen 2 * and 3 * hotels. In about half of them in the voice of the administrator one could read the absolute indifference and even unwillingness to communicate with the guests, and in two we came across a complete lack of politeness on the part of the hotel employee. Note that mid-range hotels are the most demanded among clients. But potential tourists are unlikely to want to pay a large sum for the disgusting quality of service. A separate point is time and money costs: imagine that you live in another city or country, and you need to call 10 hotels - by intercity / international communication.
But there is a more economical option: booking through a travel agency. You just call - the manager does the rest. Tourists, who are faced with such an opportunity for the first time, sometimes get scared that they will be thrown, that they will have to pay for services, that they will not be accommodated in a hotel. To check if this is true, our correspondent contacted the City Reservation Service "Aldiana Service". For the purity of the experiment, we decided to actually book a room. And here are the common myths we've dispelled:
Myth 1: booking services are paid.
Reality: the services of the city reservation service are free. You call, list your requirements for the hotel and room, answer a few additional questions. You are offered several options, you choose. In an hour - maximum two, the manager will call you back and inform you whether the hotel confirms the reservation or not. If yes - you pay for accommodation, if not - the manager offers other options.
Pros: through the agency, you can book a room at a lower price than at the counter. Through partnerships, you can be offered a good discount. In addition, some of the rooms are bought by the agency: the hotel will tell you that there are no seats, and the reservation service will offer free rooms in the same hotel.
Myth 2: money will be taken, but the room will not be booked. Then look for this company.
Reality: only companies listed in the Unified Federal Register of Tour Operators have the right to conduct tourism activities. To be included in the register, a company must have financial support of at least 500,000 rubles (domestic tourism). In addition, hotels are not interested in concluding an agreement with small unknown companies, since there are large partners (for example, the same “Aldiana Service”), which ensure good occupancy of the room stock.
Pros: if you need documents for accounting, you will be provided with full reporting.
Myth 3: we will arrive at the hotel, and there they will say that they do not know at all who and what booked.
Reality: this is exactly the option that is possible with self-booking. As we were told in the City Reservation Service, they were contacted by clients who found themselves in such a situation. Booked on their own, confirmed the booking, arrived - and they turned from the gate. When ordering through a company, this is excluded.
Pros: in case of any problems, the client can always call his manager and he will figure out the situation.
Myth 4: the worst will be slipped.
Reality: the reservation service is not interested in working with hotels that provide poor quality of services.
Pros: The same goes for boarding houses and sanatoriums. The manager works only with reputable holiday homes and will not only select a good boarding house, but also offer different options. The Krasnodar Territory is especially popular now: it is cheaper than abroad, and the quality of services is the same. They will also offer treatment.
