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Book Direct
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It’s easy to assume that everyone knows you’ll get a better deal, price and/or an offer if you book directly with us on our website www.lehmannhouse.com or by calling. This is not so when booking through an Online Travel Agent (OTA), such as Booking.com, Airbnb, Expedia—even Tripadvisor is now an OTA. Did you know you pay a 12% "service fee" for using Airbnb’s site? Use our site to book—there’s no service fee!
Recently, there’s been a lot in the press regarding the deceptive tricks used by OTAs to persuade people to book through them. They promise many things, including that they provide the best price. But what that means is it’s the best price across all of the OTA’s. Often—and we do this—bed and breakfast establishments will take the commission percentage we would have paid the OTA and apply that to the room rate for guests who book direct. I would rather put that money in my guests’ pockets, than in the coffers of the OTA’s.
For instance, when you book direct with me, you have the best price on the market, together with our much acclaimed breakfast. Should you book with an OTA, you don’t get such a good price. One of my lovely guests that came recently, had a room-only booked through an OTA, with no breakfast—and for a higher price than he would have paid to book directly through me that would include breakfast!
Also, when we run special offers, wonderful packages with extra perks, these are not available to those who book through OTA’s.
Another case that occurred this past weekend is, it’s the anniversary of a very lovely couple. Their children bought them their stay here. They booked through an OTA. They wanted me to do something "extra special" for them. I would love to, but the cost of that is already more than consumed by the commission I am paying to that OTA, because they did NOT book direct.
So, my suggestion to you is, book direct!. Make sure you are on our web site before you do. Many guests think they’re on my website, when in fact they are on an OTA web site. The OTAs have the budget to buy our names on Google, so, though they appear to be us, they are in fact hijacked to the OTA’s web site. Though unethical and deceptive, it's legal.
So, here’s what you do. . .
When you’re looking for where to stay on your next break, by all means use the 3rd party to find the hotel of your liking.
Instead of staying on the comparison site, go on the hotel’s own website--an easy search on Google. This gives you a much better idea of the what it's like, the facilities and experience you’ll get.
Then just book direct online or give them a call.
In a nutshell, click here to BOOK DIRECT for the best experience at the best price.