In a case of tastes differ, I find it cute and clever. My employer’s current preferred brand has the banal Hilton Honors.
Des Moines tends to affect people that way.
Jack Reacher has great success negotiating low room rates at hotels/motels, sometimes paying $20 or so just for an hour or two to use the shower and maybe get a quick nap. Of course, it probably helps if you are as large and mean-looking as Reacher.*
*in the book, not the movies. I doubt Tom Cruise could intimidate anyone into taking $5 off a night’s stay.
OTOH, they pay a fee to Expedia, Orbitz Expedia, Travelocity Expedia, etc. if you book online. I’ve called up some (small, independent) places & they won’t go a penny below the online price. They don’t get the concept of cutting out the middleman, give me a few $ off & them saving by not paying the fee. Well then, the heck with 'em, I know I’m going to be better off w/ Expedia if something goes wrong than with some little roadside motel two states away so I’ll book it online & let them pay the fee.
They are most likely contractually obligated not to undercut their resellers. Back when I worked in the industry we could match the pricing if we could view the lower rate but that was the best we could do.
None of the incidents I’m at describing involve any third part booking sites. I was looking up prices on Marriott.com or 1-800-best-western (or whatever that was 25 years ago).
Actually that brings to mind a question, in these franchised hotel chains who sets the prices on the chain’s website?
He depended on the venality of the underpaid clerk at the front desk.