>Does this work differently than calling the front desk? I tried that a few times over the years and never got a price improvement over the online brokers or the hotel website itself.
That depends (now) from a lot of factors and until not so long ago the contract with booking.com didn't allow to publicize lower prices than what was on the booking.com site.
But it depends also on the hotel (how it is organized, if it is a chain, etc.).
Think at the front desk employee as an unsupervised/lazy employee of a largish organization.
You book through booking.com, it means less work for him/her and no change in his/her pay (but less revenue for the hotel).
I have had more than once conversations on the telephone with the front desk of an hotel, where they just told me to "go book online".
If I have no time I simply choose another hotel, if I have some spare time I call again and talk to the director about the matter.
Now think at the front desk employee as someone that has an interest in the income of the hotel (directly or indirectly) , the amount of work is the same (as there is not any "web reservation center" or the like) whether your booking is made by means of booking.com or directly (at the telephone and possibly with a confirmation e-mail) and he/she has the possibility to increase - even if slightly - the income of the company.
That depends (now) from a lot of factors and until not so long ago the contract with booking.com didn't allow to publicize lower prices than what was on the booking.com site.
But it depends also on the hotel (how it is organized, if it is a chain, etc.).
Think at the front desk employee as an unsupervised/lazy employee of a largish organization.
You book through booking.com, it means less work for him/her and no change in his/her pay (but less revenue for the hotel).
I have had more than once conversations on the telephone with the front desk of an hotel, where they just told me to "go book online".
If I have no time I simply choose another hotel, if I have some spare time I call again and talk to the director about the matter.
Now think at the front desk employee as someone that has an interest in the income of the hotel (directly or indirectly) , the amount of work is the same (as there is not any "web reservation center" or the like) whether your booking is made by means of booking.com or directly (at the telephone and possibly with a confirmation e-mail) and he/she has the possibility to increase - even if slightly - the income of the company.