“This promotion is a joke. I’ve been keeping my eye on the price of a room at the Hyatt Waikiki for this December; after reading your post I just checked it again. The price I was seeing for the past few months was $790 (including taxes) for two nights (advance purchase, ocean view, club access). Guess what? The price has now suddenly risen to $943 for the same room. In other words, it’s gone up 20%. So not really a deal at all.”
Please Give Examples of Price Increases Prior to Sale Offers
That paragraph you just read was posted in the Comments section by Frank — who is a reader of The Gate — in response to this article which I wrote earlier today that featured a promotion through which you could save up to 20 percent on room rates at participating hotel and resort properties of Hyatt throughout the world, which in and of itself could potentially be a good deal…
…but if what Frank alleges is true, then that sale is purposely deceptive at best — and although I cannot specifically remember a particular incident, I have either heard or read about similar tactics in the past by companies which attempt to fool you into thinking that you are taking advantage of a bargain by increasing their prices enough to offset whatever “sale bargains” they offer for a limited time.
I constantly strive to alert you of deals and promotions from travel companies and their frequent travel loyalty programs as often as possible — regardless of whether they provide me with affiliate links — so that you can save as much money as possible during your future travels…
…but to completely track and vet them out is virtually impossible for me — due to the number of hotel and resort properties, flight routes, rental vehicles and myriad other factors.
This is where you come in.
Summary
Please post in the Comments section below any examples — with evidence, if at all possible — of offers, sales and promotions with which the companies that executed them intentionally increased their prices prior as a deceptive means to fool consumers into purchasing their services or items in their inventories, as I am really growing tired of companies doing what seems to be anything they can to extract as much money from their customers as possible.
Photograph ©2016 by Brian Cohen.
