Tired of being underpriced, perhaps, by Internet quotes on their hotel rooms? The Kimpton Group has decided to fight back and with results. They're guaranteeing a match for any price found on a third-party travel Web site. Consumers just phone 877/536-0580 or 800/KIMPTON and quote rates found on the other sites, and Kimpton Boutique Hotels promise to honor the quoted rate.
They've been price matching Web rates upon customer request for over a year. Now Kimpton is promoting it to all customers on the hotel group's own Web site.
The Internet Price Match Guarantee is based upon the rate being available on the third-party Web site when guests call the toll-free number. It is not valid on rates published on the Web site in text or found before that day's date on the Web site. Most important of all, the guarantees excludes rates on "opaque" Web sites such as Priceline.com and Hotwire.com.
The Kimpton Group includes hotels and restaurants, and is based in San Francisco. The hotels are of the boutique variety, frequently coupled with chef-driven restaurants. Operating since 1981, the company now has 37 hotels and 31 restaurants across the US and Canada. Among the most popular hotels are the Monaco in Seattle, the Burnham in Chicago, the Palomar in San Francisco, the Sky in Aspen and the Topaz in Washington, D.C. Also well known are the Vintage Plaza in Portland OR, the Sheraton in Tacoma, the Monaco in Denver, the Pacific Palisades in Vancouver BC and the Summit Lodge in Whistler BC.
Additional hotels include, in San Francisco, 15 other properties, the best known of which is the Sir Francis Drake; Seattle's Alexis; and Chicago's Allegro. The group plans to open new hotels in Washington, D.C., Cambridge MA and another in San Francisco between November 2002 and the summer of 2003.
For more information on the guarantee, which pops up when you make run through an online reservation menu, or on Kimpton Hotels in general, visit their Web site, www.kimptongroup.com.