Rate deals and ethics

[mcmbenjamin]

So I am planning my October Australia/South Asia/SQ EWR-SIN non-stop/HKG/BKK trip. I came across a topic over at FlyerTalk that exchanges Hilton corporate rate codes. Putting those numbers when booking yield a much cheaper rate than my corporate rate. Hell one include breakfast and taxes and still is cheaper than our base rate.

So my question. Would it be bad and/or (too) unethical to use their rate code? What harm could it cause? Has anyone else done these sort of thing?

Go ahead use the codes [y] and tell us what they are so we can use them too lol.

I'm sure Hilton will still make a profit; so everyone wins:D Having said that, I probably wouldn't but I'm just too picky really;)

VS.

[RichardMannion]

It's an interesting ethics discussion. We are allowed to use our corporate rates for hotels and car hire for our own personal use.

Car Hire is one to watch out for though as I have been asked to provide ID of my employer before when renting but not every time. Hotels don't really care to be honest, and it also in some ways help when it comes to rengotiation the year after when they look back at the number of Corp nights that have been used.

Thanks,
Richard

Are corp rates cheaper than the cheapest publised rates that you get on the hotel websites? I work for a reasonably big (90,000+ peeps) corp but we don't get corp rates alas!

[Decker]

Sometimes - sometimes not. I looked for a night at a Sheraton recently using a large corp rate and was quoted £95. Removing the corp rate got me £54.

[ChuckC]

Agreed that there is an ethical question, Ben. One way to look at this is whether the corporate rate that is being talked about is or has been in the public domain for some time. If so, I think I'm where Richard is: you might ask yourself whether the benefit to the hotel chain is not greater having the rate floating around in cyberspace, likely resulting in more reservations albeit at a reduced rate than the hotels would have received but for the leaked info.

If your conscience still pricks at you, no one is forcing you.

Chuck-

[mcmbenjamin]

Excellent points Chuck and Richard.

Maybe helping out the company too...
Well I am going to book the corp rate and if they ask I'll play dumb. There is a ~$120 a night difference plus includes breakfast so there is a real benefit. The rate code is up on few sites and has been there for some time. They could have changed it if either Hilton or the company cared.

Thanks to all.

[Bazz]

I believe it is actually a criminal offence in the UK. Gaining pecuniary advantage by deception, is what they call it. Probably hardly ever enforced and almost certainly not for something so trivial but it would fall within the scope of the law because you are depriving the hotel of revenue by claiming something to which you are not legally entitled.

As Decker said, sometimes these codes can have the opposite effect. It's always better to do some research without any codes or mix codes and coupons and run the same request to see which combination comes up with the best result.

Originally posted by Bazz
I believe it is actually a criminal offence in the UK. Gaining pecuniary advantage by deception, is what they call it.

Phew - only ever done it in the US where it yielded a USD30 a night difference...

Actually, I have done it in the UK but only the where the client corporate rate is less than our corporate rate. This is then passed on to the client as a lower expenses charge..

Paul

Sorry guys, I'm of the view that not only is this ethically wrong, but also criminal ...

... oh OK fooled you!

I've never used them myself but have thought about it in the past. I have however heard of some hotels asking for a business card on check-in as a way of validating (my tip would be to say "we're a subsidiary").

I did try it all with car hire once though (punched in about 20 options and discounts). I ended up using my American Airlines discount codes which not only was perfectly ethical, but also got me the best rate!