Comments on: Are Washington-area hotels profiteering from “historical moment”?

By: goldie

goldie — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:28:49 +0000

the great part of this whole historical mess is that he is not the first Black president has the whole world be messed up by PC ? his mother is white so living in my nieghbourhood in detriot that makes you mixed race or other unprintable things depending what area of town you live in. is it wrong to piont this out he is 1/2white and 1/2 black .–( funny all my friends in nortehn va want to get away from there for that day after all you wil not be able to get to work.

By: Carver Farrow

Carver Farrow — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 08:34:27 +0000

@Rob

By that same logic, you would never go to a sporting or theatrical event unless you had top notch seats

There is a qualitative difference between the experience of seeing something live versus on television. There is an energy and excitement that corresponds to a live event that television lacks.

By: Rob

Rob — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 19:05:43 +0000

So the people who are the 2 millionth person in the inaguration line will see what? They’re going to spend hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars just to say, “I was there.” I can say the same thing through the marvel of television and will see/hear way more than they ever will. Stupid, that’s all I can say.

By: Deb Smouse

Deb Smouse — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 05:52:16 +0000

I stayed in hotels in DC 90% of May through October for business. Concerned my project would bleed into January, I asked the hotel if I needed to go ahead and make reservations. This was back in JULY – LONG before the election was decided – and was told that Inauguration Week had different rules – a minimum 3 night stay – paid in advance.

Yes, the hotels ARE taking advantage of the historic moment, however, I don’t think it’s anything new from prior Inaugurations. However, hotels should stick to their agreements…

By: Hehe

Hehe — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:08:32 +0000

I love the part where the President Elect is reponsible for the reallocation of rooms to those staying longer (paying more tax) – already for the money grab!

By: Don

Don — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 03:36:10 +0000

This explains the flock of inquiries coming into cities up to three and a half hours away from the District! I’m afraid, though, that people booking that far out might be better off watching the event on TV from their hotel rooms.

By: Chicky

Chicky — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 18:33:58 +0000

Jasper, that’s why I have a television: I’ll be watching from the relative comfort of my living room or office. If someone gave me a check for $1 million to go to DC, I’d consider it–but not otherwise. LOL.

I agree with you, Carver. Once the reservation has been made, IMHO, that’s a contract between you and the hotel. It’s set in stone. Or should be.

By: Susan

Susan — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:08:28 +0000

My daughter’s college group was similarly screwed. The professor booked 20 rooms back in June 2008. She booked direct with the hotel. She called to reconfirm after the election and the hotel had “lost” the reservation and at that point was sold out. So sorry, out of luck. The gruop is now booked to stay an hour outside of DC at a Super 8.

By: Carver Farrow

Carver Farrow — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:50:26 +0000

Of course this is a historic event. To suggest otherwise is downright stupid. The first non-Caucasian president of the US is being sworn in. It would have been historic had Hilary Clinton won as well.

I have no problems with hotels jacking up the rates to whatever they can get. I also have no problem with them making onerous cancellation policies.

BUT!!!. It is completely unethical to change the terms of the reservations once it’s been made in good faith. Its probably legal, but a terribly unethical business practice.

This also shows the limitations of booking through 3rd party websites. For the life of me I don’t understand why people do it.

By: David

David — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:34:58 +0000

A ‘Historic Event’, yeah right! Everyone in the Washington D.C. hospitality business knows that every eight years in mid-January is an inauguration of a new President (four years if the previous President screwed up enough to be not-re-elected for a second term).

The only reason this event is ‘Historic’ is because the hospitality industry has seen how many people are interested in this years event, and have decided that they want to make much more money than they first expected. If you go back far enough, this has happened before, I’m sure.