FAQ
FAQ
Are HRS prices per person or per room?
HRS prices are always per room and night, that is, per single or double room. In this respect, HRS differs from travel operators' catalogues and tourism Websites, which always quote their prices per person. Any separately-quoted price for breakfast is, of course, per person per night.
Do I have to eat breakfast at the hotel if it is included in the room price?
No, you are not obliged to do so. You can always decide at your destination whether or not to have breakfast.
Are the room prices quoted on HRS guaranteed for that particular reservation?
Yes. All the room prices that are shown for your chosen hotel are also guaranteed for your reservation. These prices are stated in the accounting currency laid down by the hotel, that is, in the currency in which you will pay for your stay. This may, however, differ from the currency you select for showing the price of the hotels listed.
If you reserve a longer stay, different prices may apply for specific days if they qualify for weekend, seasonal or special rates, for example. In this case, the price shown in the hotel list is the average price. The individual daily prices can be found on the hotel detail pages.
What exactly does "guaranteed availability" mean with regard to rooms?
The HRS database checks all the hotels in your chosen region or at your chosen destination to see which rooms are available at which price at that particular moment! The HRS system shows you the most inexpensive, most up-to-the-minute room prices available for reserving through HRS that second. The HRS system is the only place you'll find this large selection of privately-run individual hotels.
In order to expand the range of services on offer, HRS also uses external systems. However, since these are not connected directly to the HRS system, they cannot be standardized and compared in the same way as other HRS partner hotels. Hotels reservable via external systems are displayed according to the HRS principle "from the most inexpensive upwards". The details pages of selected "third-party" hotels also contain information from the external system, such as prices, descriptions of the rooms and any special cancellation conditions.
Can I rely on the reservation and be sure that the hotel is notified?
Yes. This process is automated and logged by the HRS system. The entire reservation procedure is based on detailed rules laid down in contracts between HRS and the individual hotels. However, if there is a misunderstanding or disagreement, we would kindly ask you to call us, and we will sort out the problem for you immediately.
HRS can be reached 24 hours a day, seven days a week. All the telephone numbers of our international offices and the specialist HRS departments can be found by going to the HRS homepage and clicking on 'Contact' and then 'Overview of contacts'.
Do dates relate to the customer's time zone or local time at the hotel?
Travel dates and times always relate to local time at the hotel at the travel destination. If a person in Britain reserves a hotel room in Shanghai for the night of the 12 to the 13 of a particular month, this relates to the 12 in Shanghai, not London.
What happens if I arrive "late" at the hotel? Will I be charged?
That depends on the type of reservation.
1. Free cancellation of your reservation if you don't turn up - Standard reservation
If you know that you will be arriving at the hotel before 6 pm, you can make a reservation in which the hotel will definitely reserve the room for you until 6 pm local time. We call this a "standard reservation." Here you do not have to provide your credit card details.
If you do not arrive by 6 pm without informing the hotel, your reservation is automatically canceled free of charge, in other words, at no cost whatsoever to you. From 6 pm onwards, the hotel is permitted to give the reserved room to another customer. Having said that, all our partner hotels would be pleased if guests told them that they wouldn't be arriving, even if they have made a standard reservation.
If you can't arrive at your hotel before 6 pm, that's no problem either. The hotel just has to know. In this case, simply inform the hotel directly about your late arrival. You'll find the hotel's telephone number on the reservation confirmation.
2. Possible charges for non-arrival - Guaranteed reservation
If you can't arrive at the hotel before 6 pm local time, you should make a reservation that ensures the hotel reserves the room for the entire night. We call this a "guaranteed reservation." If you do not arrive at the hotel or fail to cancel your reservation by the given deadline, the hotel will be entitled to charge you for the room it could otherwise have given to someone else. A valid credit card number is required to secure a guaranteed reservation.
Are there any advance payments or restricted cancellation conditions on HRS?
Only in exceptional circumstances, and even then only if the hotel offers HRS customers an extraordinary price reduction. These are tied to specific conditions. This applies, for instance, to HRS Hot Deals or special room rates for which an advance payment obligation is part of the booking conditions stated in advance. The booking can therefore only be cancelled to a limited extent or not at all, and the hotel charges an advance payment to your credit card straight away. This type of booking is always a guaranteed booking and therefore only possible by providing your credit card details. Of course here too confirmation of your booking, of changes or of cancellations are always sent to you by HRS.
When might I need my credit card to make a reservation?
Under certain circumstances, hotels may ask you for your credit card number in order to secure a reservation, e.g., if you will be arriving late, during trade fairs or peak seasons, or at (holiday) destinations in which canceled rooms are difficult to fill with "passers-by" in the same way as hotels in cities can often be. Nowadays, it's almost standard practice around the world to provide your credit card number. HRS uses the latest encryption technology (SSL) to transfer credit card details.
Where do I pay for the room I reserve?
In general this is done directly at the hotel. However, this does not apply to HRS Hot Deals or special room rates for which an advance payment obligation is part of the booking conditions stated in advance. If an advance payment is required, this is made not to HRS, but always to the hotel, which is also responsible for charging your credit card.
How can HRS get such super prices?
HRS has been an ideal free global sales channel for hotels for many decades. With thousands of reservations every day, numerous cooperation agreements with Internet portals, airlines, international industrials and more than 20,000 companies from all sectors directly linked to the HRS system, HRS represents an important of revenue for hotels.
Hoteliers can always react flexibly to current occupancy levels and market conditions, i.e., they can undercut the already super prices by offering super reductions. In this way, HRS prices can become even more attractive to HRS users at any time. Prices can only go up in exceptional circumstances, for instance during major trade fairs or extremely busy seasons, the main aim of the increase being to ensure that the hotels on the HRS system are available and have vacancies.
How can HRS make any money if this service is free of charge?
HRS partner hotels pay a "fee" in the form of a commission on all overnight stays, though not on changes or cancellations. The HRS price is the hotel's original price with no surcharges whatsoever. HRS insists on completely transparent prices and provides a comprehensive overview of available hotels - worldwide.
Can I use HRS for spontaneous, last-minute trips? Can HRS support my desire to remain flexible at all times?
Absolutely. That's what the HRS system was created for. You remain flexible until your intended arrival date. This flexibility also includes the option of reserving without a credit card, canceling reservations right up until the arrival date, and changing travel dates and/or travelers free of charge.
Neutrality and transparency: does this principle also apply to the ranking of hotels in the search results list?
Of course they are. The „HRS recommends“ hotel list is based on clearly defined, objective criteria. In order to offer the best possible search results, our system takes many criteria into account on a daily basis, which are all relevant to the customer. The criteria are, for example, attractive room rates, free-of-charge additional services, customer satisfaction and many more.
All hotels are treated equally and sorted by the same criteria. It is not possible to influence the HRS ranking through a higher commission or special agreements, for example. It is you as a HRS customer that profits from this consequently transparent and neutral sorting: A hotel can only attain a higher ranking by improving its customer orientation. Beyond that, you still have the option to change the ranking of the hotel list individually by sorting by room rates, distance, a price cap or if you only want to have Top-Quality-Hotels displayed.
What does “HRS recommends” mean?
We have completely overhauled our hotel list so that you may find your ideal hotel even faster. The new “HRS recommends” filter option is based on relevant information provided by the customer and offers you ideal hotel recommendations. For this, not only the price is used for sorting the results’ list, but many other criteria are taken into account. Attractive offers, flexible booking conditions, a high customer satisfaction, free-of-charge services such as Wi-Fi or parking facilities and an optimal hotel representation are counted amongst these criteria. You will find those hotels offered to you first which best match the customers’ preferences. All hotels are treated equally and without exception and are always sorted according to the same objective criteria.
How does the “Top Quality Hotel” seal work?
The „Top Quality Hotel“ seal offers our customers an additional orientation while in search for the right hotel. You will find this to be a reliable basis for your booking choice and will – at a glance – discover which hotels stand out from the search result due to their special customer orientation.
For this special listing a hotel has to meet the following criteria: free-of-charge additional services, positive customer ratings, a high recommendation rate, flexible booking conditions and of course a price guarantee. Through regular quality controls, we can ensure that only hotels which fullfil these important criteria may carry the “Top-Quality-Hotel” seal.
Does the list of hotels for the chosen dates always show all HRS partner hotels?
No. The number of hotels always varies because you are shown only those you can reserve immediately. It might be two hotels, or it might be 300. It all depends on how many of them currently have vacancies. You are therefore shown only those (as well as all the important hotel information) that want reservations - and you can reserve them directly at the most inexpensive current guaranteed HRS price.
By what criteria do you classify hotels with HRS stars?
Our hotel experts know thousands of hotels the world over. But it would be impossible for us to visit more than 250,000 hotels. For this reason, the HRS star-rating system is also based on other sources of information, published ratings and official grades for the hotels. And if a hotel rates itself, this is checked by HRS, where possible, using our own grading system.
However, the key factor in classifying the hotels offered through HRS is always the experiences of and assessments by our customers. That is why many years ago HRS developed a system (now expanded), which customers can now also use online to give their personal assessment of hotels they have stayed at. These customer assessments also form part of the HRS star-rating system.
When can I evaluate a hotel?
Only after you have booked a stay through HRS and actually spent a night at the relevant hotel. Our hotel evaluations (from 1 to 10 points) therefore reflect the experiences of HRS customers only. That's what makes them so special, and differentiates HRS hotel evaluations from those you can find on more general evaluation portals on the Internet.
What evaluation criteria does HRS take account of?
General aspects: The atmosphere at the hotel, its facilities, cleanliness, the wellness area, and value-for-money.
Rooms: The size of rooms, the facilities in the rooms, the noise level, the quality of the beds, and the bathrooms.
Staff and gastronomy: The friendliness of reception staff, the helpfulness of hotel employees, and breakfast. Also included are the feel-good factor, complimentary services provided by the hotel for HRS customers, and whether the hotel really matches its description.
HRS also classifies the evaluations is receives by user groups: private travellers, business travellers, young couples, elderly couples, families with young/older children, groups, and conference delegates. This differentiation also provides pointers that facilitate your choice of hotel depending on the intended purpose. Overall grades are only issued once a hotel has received at least five evaluations. All HRS evaluations are less than two years old.
A selection of personal comments by HRS guests is displayed. In the interests of fairness, hoteliers also have an opportunity to reply to comments by guests. These hotel evaluations have now become an important yardstick for hoteliers' standards and encourage them to keep improving their services and quality. More than 2 million evaluations speak for themselves.
Who's behind HRS?
Robert Ragge (1937-), the founder (in 1972) and managing partner of HRS, and his son Tobias (1976-), the managing director.