Читать книгу X - Stefan Aarnio - Страница 40

STEFAN AARNIO

38

lence, and the front desk will say, “Yes, sir, we will send some up to you.”

Although the hotel is selling bottles of water at $8 apiece, by negotiating I will often get free water and many more bottles of water just by asking. The written word says bottles of water are $8 at that establishment, but in actual fact, you can get what you want complements of the house if you ask the right way because everything is negotiable.

After I receive my complementary water, I will call the front desk and ask for a complementary robe because I did not find a robe in my room. The hotel will comply and send me a complementary robe up to my room.

At the time of check in I will often ask “What is the best room you can upgrade me to today free of charge?” Very often the hotel will upgrade me just because they have nicer rooms than I have booked sitting vacant and empty. The average cost to operate and clean a hotel room for a night is $18, so it doesn’t matter to the hotel if they give me a regular room or a suite. You just have to ask.

On the back of the door in the hotel is a sign that says “Failure to check out by 11:00 AM will result in a $450 charge to your room.” Most people who read this sign will try their absolute hardest to avoid a $450 charge and will leave the room vacant by 11:00 AM the next day. The last hotel I stayed at, I called the front desk and asked “What’s the latest I can check out today?” The front desk replied, “1 PM, sir.”

I then asked “Can I purchase this room on a half-day rate to stay until 5 PM?” The front desk replied, “We do not do half day rates, sir.”

“Okay,” I replied; “what’s the latest I can stay today then, 5 PM?” There was a pause on the other end of the phone and the hotel staff said, “You can stay until 5 PM, sir, at no extra charge.”

The sign on the back of the door says that staying past 11:00 AM results in a $450 fee but because I negotiated, I was able to stay in the room until 5 PM at no additional cost.

You may be reading these last three examples about bottles of water, robes, and late checkouts at hotels and think to yourself, “Big deal, who cares?” and I agree with you. These are all small negotiations and small deals, but the point I want to make is that everything—and I mean ev-