What I completely don't understand is, I have tried calling hotels directly when looking at the hotels.com/expedia price, and asking if they can give me that rate directly or even a little cheaper. They never can. They always say "you'll have to book it through them" to get that rate. I've tried this at least a dozen times, always with the same answer.
Do these chains have some kind of written agreement with the websites where they are NOT allowed to undercut those prices, ever?
Do these chains have some kind of written agreement with the websites where they are NOT allowed to undercut those prices, ever?