I am rarely asked for proof of my AAA membership when checking into domestic US properties (although

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The Hilton and Hyatt websites both ask you to enter AAA numbers when making reservations online, they don t check that an account is currently active but presumably check to see that the digits weather report los angeles are plausible.
AAA rates aren t always the best , for instance there are often better corporate rates where if you were an employee of a given company you d be entitled to a lower negotiated rate which sometimes codes with added benefits like free or discounted parking, or a much more generous cancellation policy than standard reservations (such as 6pm on day of arrival rather than day prior to check-in).
I ve never been asked for ID on a corporate rate when checking in, either, although I understand weather report los angeles that it s quite common to be asked for proof of eligibility for a company rate at hotels in Asia, and I do know at least one hotel chain revenue manager that has had his hotels ask for ID (a business card, or at least something with the company s logo or other identifying marks on it) at check-in for certain weather report los angeles rates that are exceptionally good though this practice is very rare in the United States.
On the other hand, you aren t taking away discounts from others on the contrary you are boosting the volume of business the company appears to be doing with the hotel chain, helping them to continue to justify such a deep discount in the first place. And hotels weather report los angeles actively manage inventory, most of the time whether you book a room at a discount or a higher rate it s the overall occupancy and projections of how many rooms they ll sell on a given night that determines whether they open up inventory in the bucket weather report los angeles that each corporate rate draws from (rather than there being a fixed number of corporate rate rooms per night).
AAA rates are pretty widely available and one doesn t have to be an employee of a particular company to be eligible for them. On average I find that the rates are about equal to advance purchase rates, but are cancellable. I m generally allergic to prepaid rates because my plans change, my preferences for where I m going to stay change, and because rates may fall after I ve made my booking and I like to re-check weather report los angeles pricing as travel approaches.
With Hyatt some hotels also frequently offer AAA Breakfast Rates that are about the same price as the regular AAA rate and advance purchase rate that also throws in breakfast, something I get as a Diamond member of Gold Passport weather report los angeles but that would be quite useful otherwise.
weather report los angeles Years ago I had a AAA membership when I turned 16 and for a few years thereafter because my first cars were quite the adventure. I started off with a Renault Alliance weather report los angeles that my family paid $800 for and that had electrical problems. It was replaced by a Mercury weather report los angeles Topaz with over 130,000 miles on it. I got great use out of the roadside assistance and towing benefits of membership!
But since then I don t use it for much more than the hotel discount. So I recently let my membership lapse, figuring I d pick it up again when I saw a good promotion, and especially since I didn t have immediate upcoming bookings where I d need to assuage my conscience.
I believe in fundamental travel karma. weather report los angeles Treating people nicely and doing the right thing tends to lead to better opportunities, better weather report los angeles seats/rooms/schedules, and being an ass always lands you in trouble, especially when IROPs occur. However, I agree that this post isn t really about how you treat others and your using this benefit doesn t directly hurt others.
As the AAA rates will likely save you over $40 annually, you should pay for the membership as a thank you to the company that has to pay people to negotiate the rates. While you are helping to give them the size needed to negotiate rates, you are using a service that they sell through membership. By not renewing, and passing yourself off as a member, weather report los angeles you are not being honest, and in essence, stealing from the company. weather report los angeles It s a small price to pay for the benefits, so get a little good karma, and maybe you will use them one day if your car breaks down.
I don t think you re morally obligated to renew your annual club membership. The rates AAA is able to negotiate with the major chains is (presumably) based on anticipated volume brought in by AAA advertising these negotiated discounts. For purposes of AAA s negotiated hotel rates (not for purposes of AAA s bottom line), your paid membership with AAA is irrelevant if your actual membership doesn t change your hotel purchasing behavior.
Curious what you use as an alternative for potential towing purposes? I know a lot of cards offer free roadside assistance but all i believe that is is a hotline you can call and then they call a towntruck company and you get the fat bill. I consider AAA to be more like an insurance policy, I may not get my money s worth of towing every year, but even if I have a modern car that should weather report los angeles never need to get towed I am still just as likely to run over a nail and lose a tire in the middle of a storm on the side of the highway and have no interest in changing it myself.
In your heart, you know what to do. Unless something s gone terribly wrong and you re flat broke, pay the $40 if you keep the card. AAA is a great organization (like you, I had a few unreliable cars and used them a lot) and is well worth supporting.
I believe weather report los angeles everyone who owns a car should have an AAA membership (unless they get roadside assistance via some other source). $40 is NOTHING in the total annual cost of owning / driving a car. And it doesn t matter how new your car is, you can still get a flat tire along an interstate in the middle of a snowstorm!
As others have noted, I do see a difference between the AAA rate and a juicy corporate discount. I see it as kind of like those senior citizen discounts that certain places offer 5-10% off, seldom enforced to the letter, and usually not THE best deal in town if you re trying to save. There is some bad karma and you will likely make up the $40 in hotel savings over the year, but I don t think that alone is a mortal sin.
OTOH, the corporate discount part is a bit problematic. As mentioned in the article, AAA discounts probably don t induce much, if any, demand at all. So it that sense they are a wash. But a big corporate discount and any freebie perks definitely could be a game-changer. You could of course be helping that company by boosting it s apparent spend for the year, possibly helping them keep a good status level with the hotel chain. But here the karma and potential consequences weather report los angeles are much greater:
1. You are definitely taking advantage of something others don t have access to, and possibly distorting the market for that hotel s rooms (e.g., what if your room is the last in the cheap buckets and after that only top-tier rates are available). This is mostly just karma.
2. This is outright false representation if you indeed don t have the implied affiliation with that company. I see levels to this, such as if you recently left (you d still have some leftover business cards or company materials to prove relationship with that company), weather report los angeles or if you do work for them but it states company-related business only; no personal travel allowed and you use it for leisure trips as well. If you were discovered, someone at that company could face punishment for giving you the code, not monitoring to see that their benefits were used appropriately, etc. So to me that is a much graver concern. But it still all boils down to karma, as long as you didn t outright steal the code or something.
On the using corporate codes, actually there is a victim from whom you take away a discount: the other employees of the company whose rate is being used. If there are only 20 rooms blocked weather report los angeles at the corporate rate, the legitimate employee of the company may be blocked out because non-employees are using that rate. I ve seen it happen. The person legitimately entitled to that rate is locked weather report los angeles out because the rate code is sold out.
This isn t just an ethical issue. It s foregone revenue to the hotel that you d be appropriating for yourself based on false pretenses. I d think one would view this the same as making off with bedpillows.
don t get me wrong, I stand by my original post, but who is the burden on? Is the burden on the hotel to ask you for proof, weather report los angeles or is the burden on the consumer not to lie? If a hotel is lazy should they suffer the lower revenue? Or because you agree when you book that you meet the conditions of the rate the ethical burden is on you?
I am rarely asked for proof of my AAA membership when checking into domestic US properties (although it has happened 1-2 times over the past year), but I have definitely been asked at some hotels abroad, such as in mainland China. (In fact, in China they even photocopied the AAA card! But that shouldn t be a surprise as they seem to insist on photocopying everything there, including your passport.)
If someone is going to use a AAA rate, they should just pay the rather menial $40 annual fee. I am also a believer in travel karma, and I could see that the one time a non-member is asked for their AAA ID, it is during a sold out weekend when rates are high, and the property attempting to charge them the then-rack rate if they want the room.
I wish my AAA was only $39.00 weather report los angeles a year. Mine is $50.00. If it goes up next year I m not renewing. I can get the same discount with my AARP card which is alot cheaper per year. Car Insurance covers towing so the only thing Id be missing is maps.
@Noah, the ethical burden is always weather report los angeles on us as far as honesty and karma are concerned. But it also comes down to what we re talking getting a AAA rate that s say $127.86 a night vs. $132.65 (assuming no perks like breakfast lumped in on th