Qantas Hotel Price Promise

[qantas21]

Hello Fellow Members!

I seldom post on here but thought I'd give it a shot as I've been itching to ask:

How does Qantas determine an "Australian Registered Website" as per the hotel price promise policy? Expedia.com.au, hilton.com, shangri-la.com are all posting cheaper prices for rooms in Sydney tomorrow night.

I am keen to earn a voucher and 1000* bonus points but not so keen to book on qantas.com.au if I have to pay the full price?

Also, I only EVER stay at Sheraton on the Park in Sydney as it is what I know, but would anyone recommend hilton, shangri-la, Quay Grand Suites, Four Seasons, Interncontinental more so?

Thanks in advance for your help,

Jourdan

 

[Moopere]

You'd have to do a bit of legwork to find out where each competing website is registered. I'd start here:

DomainTools | Whois Lookup & Domain Availability Search

But the search won't end there, it will only tell you the registrar of the website name. You'll need to track where its located.

Its a bit ambiguous anyway. Do they mean that the domain name holder should be Australian? Or should the registrar be Australian? It sounds like the registrar needs to be Australian ... perhaps they only want a .au???

Seems like a baloney piece of marketing that they have no real intention of paying out on to me.

I couldn't be bothered myself. I'm all for up-front and easy to understand marketing. If you want to try and confuse me before I buy something then I probably don't want to buy from you.

Having said that. I guess if you can find at least one competitive website that -is- registered in Australia (once you find out from QF what they mean by that) then you only need to do the legwork once and could keep QF honest to their marketing for ever after

Good luck.

 

[Mal]

Having said that. I guess if you can find at least one competitive website that -is- registered in Australia (once you find out from QF what they mean by that) then you only need to do the legwork once and could keep QF honest to their marketing for ever after

The two I would think about using that could be easily justified:

Wotif.com: Hotels, Accommodation, Motels, Serviced Apartments, B&B - Online hotel bookings with instant confirmation
Book Cheap Hotel Deals, Budget & Luxury Accommodation | HotelClub

It would be extremely difficult for QF to wriggle out of "Australian Registered website" for either of those. I suspect what QF are really wanting is a site in Australia that has a local travel agency number.

 

[Sprucegoose]

Forget the points, get the best deal I say.

I stayed at a QF property (dec 10) and as yet I haven't yet received my 3 points for each $1 spent.

Will I chase it up? No. Will I use the QF website again for hotel bookings? No.

Will I let others know of my dissatisfaction? Yes, at every opportunity.

 

[ric_melb]

If you only stay at Sheraton on the Park why would you book on the Qantas site?
You wont get Qantas points for the booking and I doubt you would get Starwood points. Why not book at Starwood direct, who I'm sure have a best price guarantee.
The other hotels you mention all compare with the Sheraton, can be worth trying, but if you like Sheraton stick to it.

Sprucegoose; I stayed at two Canberra hotels in December, booking through Qantas. Points came through almost exactly two months later with 1000 bonus points for one of the hotels.
Why not take a couple of minutes to chase it up with Qantas, as it's Qantas that provides the points on such bookings, though note not all hotels are eligible for points.

 

[Limewood]

Gee what a marketing mess this offer is, talk about hurdles and having to do all the leg work, then hope for a refund after, what marketing genius thought this one up!, QF just be more competitive, it isn't that hard. Like others I could not be bothered.

 

[Moopere]

Gee what a marketing mess this offer is, talk about hurdles and having to do all the leg work, then hope for a refund after, what marketing genius thought this one up!, QF just be more competitive, it isn't that hard. Like others I could not be bothered.

Its much like the mess which is their 'partner' restaurants. QFF not willing to police the deal, restaurants not willing, in many cases, to pay the promised points. The customer is left to do the leg work and the chase up and so on. Just not worth it.

Goodness knows why QFF even goes down this road. I assume that they get some sort of advertising payment up front, because their interest in the whole matter evaporates completely when it comes to the actual deal. There are so many caveats and legalese mumbo jumbo its obvious they are not serious. This just leaves uncautious punters with bad experiences which surely can't be good for the QF and QFF brands.... yet no-one seems to care.