Book with Us Direct for a Better Lodging Experience!


Reward and loyalty programs are used by many businesses to encourage repeat business as well as to reward frequent customers.  This is a business tool that has become extremely popular over the last decade.  Even though this may be a newer tool for smaller businesses, this increasingly popular marketing tool has been in the hotel industry for a long time.  Its focus is to help create brand loyalty and reward loyal customers with discounts and perks.  If you travel often, you most likely use a hotel chain that has a rewards program that gives you points for every time you stay.  


At Fort Wood Hotels, we value our guests, which is why we offer a variety of lodging loyalty programs.  We have six different properties to select from when choosing a hotel in the St. Robert, MO area.   At Fort Wood Hotels, depending on your lodging choice we offer the following hotel rewards: IHG, Marriott, Choice, and Hilton Honors.  In order to maximize your rewards, many don't realize you can get the best hotel deals in St. Robert, MO when booking directly with our hotels versus using a third-party booking site.  In today's blog, we will review the three reasons you should book directly with Fort Wood Hotels rather than using a third-party booking site to maximize your hotel rewards.

What is Booking Direct versus a Third Party Booking Site?

Before reviewing the three reasons you should book directly with Fort Wood Hotels, we have to go over the difference between booking direct and a third-party booking site.  We know most travel is researched online and booked online.  However, some might not realize the difference between booking directly with a hotel versus using a third-party booking site. 

Booking Direct is when you find the hotel you would like to stay at and you pick up the phone to make your reservation or you go directly to their website to book a room.  You are booking directly with the hotel with no middleman. If you book online, you are using their hotel reservation system so you can see exactly what is available in real time.  

Third-Party Booking sites were created to show someone traveling all of their lodging options in one place.  If you are not brand loyal, you may use this site to search all hotels in one particular area.  This tool will bring up all hotels in that geographic area and then you can sort by ratings, price, etc.  Most people like options so this may seem like the most ideal way to shop.  You will use companies like Orbitz, Priceline, Travelocity, etc to get what you feel is the best deal.  You are not booking directly with the hotel at this point but using a third-party booking site.  They get their inventory by allowing hotels to load some of their rooms into their system.  Then for every room booked, the hotel has to pay the third-party booking site a fee.  



3 Reasons You Should Book Direct With Fort Wood Hotels Rather Than Using a Third-Party Booking Site!


Customer Service!


Book direct with Fort Wood Hotels and we can give you superb customer service!  Customer service is a huge factor in your overall traveling experience.  Let's say you book your hotel stay on a third-party site, arrive at the hotel only to find there is a problem with your reservation.  All of a sudden, your trip has turned upside down.  How does this happen?  Hotels have to upload their inventory to third-party sites and it is not always linked directly to their hotel reservation system.  Anytime, inventory is not synced 100%, it has a higher potential for mix-ups, overbookings, and situations to arise.  When booking with a third-party site, it will be almost impossible to get the situation fixed using their customer service, and they will encourage you to call the hotel directly.  Even though they encourage you to call the hotel directly, the hotel can't do much for the reservation on a third-party site. 


At Fort Wood Hotels, we have 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week front desk attendants available to help with any situation when booking directly with us.  Our goal is to find the best room for the best price for all of our guests.  There are many questions our guests ask that you won't be able to find when booking online.  Booking directly with our hotels is a guaranteed way to make sure your reservation is secure and will be exactly how you want it when you arrive.  

If you have a loyalty card with one of our hotels, we can make sure you take advantage of all perks while on your stay.  Some of our rewards programs offer lower rates only by booking directly with our hotels and not a third-party site.

Better Deals and Rewards!

Booking directly with us means you get the best deal! Hotels pay fees to the third-party sites so when you call us directly, we are more willing to price match.  We can also look at your rewards program and see how we can get you the best price using your program as well.  We also handle the loyalty programs on a daily basis so we will make sure you are taking advantage of all perks pertaining to the program. 


Better Rooms and Availability!

As mentioned above, most hotels only load a few of their available rooms into a third-party site.  This means you may be on a third-party site and the hotel you have a loyalty program with isn't showing hotel room availability.  This is the perfect time to call the hotel directly.  Most of the time, the hotels have availability if you call them direct.  Plus, they save their best rooms for direct calls rather than third-party sites.  They will work with you to make sure you get the best experience from start to finish.  This is not available when booking online with third-party sites.   




Next time you are shopping around to get the best hotel deal in the St. Robert, MO area, it is ok to see the prices being offered on third-party sites.  Just remember to then go directly to the hotel to book your stay.  In the long run, you will get better customer service, better availability, better room options and the best use of your rewards.  We are absolutely committed to ensuring that your stay is as special as the reason you are here. At Fort Wood Hotels we offer great brands in a great location. 






Make sure to follow all our social media channels:

Reservations: 573-451-3678

Sales Office: 573-451-3203

sales@fortwoodhotels.com

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