WTF? Price at Hotel Barcelo

[SomebodySmart]

Hotel Barcelo is a big landmark in the capital, at Av. Máximo Gómez and 27 de Febrero. Well, I just went to barcelo.com and looked it up. The page for that property was showing a price for the Superior room at $92 USD. WTF? It was $72 when I checked a few hours ago. It seems I used the search engine duckduckgo.com and entered hotel barcelo santo domingo and the first one was an ad entitled Barceló Santo Domingo - Official Website and when I went in thru that, the room was listed at $72 USD, but when I go directly to barcelo.com the same room costs 92 USD.

And I thought I was clever checking the exchange rate! Check it out. Up at the top you can select your language and currency. I switched to pesos and it was showing 3630 pesos, which works out to about 65 USD. instead of 72 USD. Now it's up to 4081 pesos.

 

[Manuel01]

Bored ?

 

[CristoRey]

If it were me I'd book a basic room and offer a "propina" to desk attendant at check-in for an upgrade.

 

[Big]

The Barcelo group is going through reservation software changes and upgrades. Thats what they told me last week.

 

[keepcoming]

I have noticed that with Barcelo (or at least in the past) they have the "member rate" and then regular rate.

 

[RDKNIGHT]

you got your self a good price but I still prefer air bnb .... I hate getting bang with the taxes in the end.. and the over priced hotel food ..

 

[MariaRubia]

Hotels change their rates several times each day, depending on occupancy. Also, each time they change their rates, the booking sites like Booking.com and Hotels.com then do a revision and quite often this bumps them up the search order. Being number 1 in the search is the holy grail for hotels. So what will have happened is that Barcelo went in at 72 dollars for a few hours, bumped up their sales and when they reached a reasonable level of occupancy, they then switched back to their higher rates. Another thing to bear in mind is that sometimes taxes are included in rates and other times not, and taxes are 28% for hotel rooms. So you may see a cheap rate on Hotels.com without taxes and a rate on the hotel's site with taxes. And finally there's breakfast. That particular Barcelo is a long walk from anywhere serving breakfast, so it tends to sell very cheap rooms with no breakfast, and very expensive breakfasts as they know the majority of people will then buy their breakfast.

 

[AlaPlaya]

you got your self a good price but I still prefer air bnb .... I hate getting bang with the taxes in the end.. and the over priced hotel food ..

Instead you get with a cleaning and service fee.

 

[RDKNIGHT]

Instead you get with a cleaning and service fee.

no not the case ...

 

[playacaribe2]

Instead you get with a cleaning and service fee.

About half charge a cleaning fee.........and it runs on average over $100.00 per reservation.

I still like Air BnB, but use them a lot less than I thought I would. Most hotels are just to convenient to have to deal with the issues that have arisen with a lot of Air BnB's.........i.e., everything from keys that do not work, to non functioning electronics and AC, etc. Many times, but not always, just too much hassle for the savings.............

Respectfully,
Playacaribe2

 

[JD Jones]

For the most part, I'm perfectly happy with the way hotels have always treated me.

My biggest issue with hotels back in the day was their continental breakfasts, but I could always find a Denny's.

 

[NanSanPedro]

For the most part, I'm perfectly happy with the way hotels have always treated me.

My biggest issue with hotels back in the day was their continental breakfasts, but I could always find a Denny's.

Same here. I have not had any real bad experiences in hotels. In fact, none that I can remember. I do remember coming here as a tourist in 2017 and being caught in a hurricane. Everything was closed but the hotel made sure we were fed and accomodated with no extra charge. This was the Europa Antigua on Arzobisbo Merino. They are now Gran Hotel Europa but still have my undying loyalty.

 

[SomebodySmart]

And finally there's breakfast. That particular Barcelo is a long walk from anywhere serving breakfast, so it tends to sell very cheap rooms with no breakfast, and very expensive breakfasts as they know the majority of people will then buy their breakfast.

The breakfast buffet, all you can eat, was 955 pesos. Just saying.

 

[MariaRubia]

The breakfast buffet, all you can eat, was 955 pesos. Just saying.

I imagine this excluded 28% tax and was per person. So it adds US$ 44 to the rate for two people sharing a room. Which is more than half the original room rate of 72 dollars.

 

[Facepalm Supreme]

I imagine this excluded 28% tax and was per person. So it adds US$ 44 to the rate for two people sharing a room. Which is more than half the original room rate of 72 dollars.

Breakfast for mil pesos per person is about what I would expect to pay at a place like Affogato or even Flor de Café. I am not the type to "take advantage" of a breakfast buffet so it would just be a normal meal for me at basically normal prices.

I've stayef at tons of airbnbs, few Hotels.com.

Airbnbs have a lot of problems with them and you need to be a saavy shopper but I've had some great experiencea in great places for a decent price and they are far more private than a hotel is.

 

[AlterEgo]

We’ve stayed in lots of hotels in Santo Domingo, both the big ones and boutique hotels like Casa Sanchez in the CZ. We’ve booked online and direct. No issues.

A few years ago we were searching Airbnb for a place to stay in Dominicus/Bayahibe area for a week. After messaging with one guy, we found out he had a lot of properties there. We drove out there, met him, and ended up staying in a gorgeous 2 bedroom 2 bath apartment in Cadaques for $100 a night. Even a washer and dryer (we didn’t bother because we live here, but how great to fly home without a suitcase full of dirty clothes).

 

[JD Jones]

We’ve stayed in lots of hotels in Santo Domingo, both the big ones and boutique hotels like Casa Sanchez in the CZ. We’ve booked online and direct. No issues.

A few years ago we were searching Airbnb for a place to stay in Dominicus/Bayahibe area for a week. After messaging with one guy, we found out he had a lot of properties there. We drove out there, met him, and ended up staying in a gorgeous 2 bedroom 2 bath apartment in Cadaques for $100 a night. Even a washer and dryer (we didn’t bother because we live here, but how great to fly home without a suitcase full of dirty clothes).

Folks like you are the holy grail to the Airbnb folks.

 

[Facepalm Supreme]

"Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many."

First time I've noticed your signature JD. Too true.