"Southport, family motel, July 31, one night, two adults." I wrote that on a sticky note and put it on my laptop screen so I wouldn't lose track, then opened three tabs and got three different prices for the same room.
The first was one of the big travel booking websites, the kind everybody uses, and it said $139 before tax. The second was the motel's own website, which said $124. The third tab was blank, because the third price came from picking up my phone and calling the front desk. That price was $112.
Same room. Same night. Twenty-seven dollars apart.
Why the prices are different
I work the front desk at a dental office, so I understand a little bit about what happens on the other side of the counter. When you book through a big website, the motel pays that website a commission. For a small family-run place, the cut can be sizable, so some of them raise their listed price on those sites to cover it. When you book on the motel's own website, they still pay a fee to whoever runs their booking system, but less. When you call, they pay nothing. Some places pass part of that savings on to you, if you ask.
Not every motel does this, and some big chains have rules that say the price has to be the same everywhere. But small independent places, especially in little coastal towns like Southport, often have more room to work with.
What I said on the phone
I was a little nervous calling, honestly. I don't like haggling, and I didn't want to haggle. So I kept it simple and polite.
I said, "Hi, I'm looking at a room for Friday, July 31, for two adults. I see it online for $139. Is there a better rate if I book directly with you?" The lady who answered said, "Let me look," and came back with $112 plus tax. She said they always give the direct rate to anyone who calls, they just don't advertise it.
While I had her on the line, I asked a few more things. Did the $112 include any extra fees? It did not; only the room tax was added. What were the cancellation terms? Free until 48 hours before, which was better than the website's non-refundable rate at $139. Was there a quieter room away from the road? She put us in the back. And could she send a confirmation by email? It came within ten minutes.
That last one matters. If you book by phone, always get it in writing.
Booking direct isn't perfect. You lose the convenience of seeing all your bookings in one app, and if something goes wrong there is no big company to complain to. You have to trust the motel. But for a small family place with good recent reviews, I'm comfortable with that. If it's a place I don't know, I check reviews first, and then I call.
The motel itself was clean and plain, a single-story row of rooms near the water, with two rocking chairs out front of each door. The owners' grandkid rode a bike around the parking lot all evening. We walked the waterfront at sunset, watched the ferry come in, and sat on a bench eating ice cream like we had nowhere to be.
What Southport cost
Southport is about 105 miles from our house near Maxton, a straight shot down US-74 and over toward the coast.
- Motel, 1 night, booked by phone: $112
- Room tax: $14
- Gas, about 7.4 gallons at $3.09: $23
- Food (a fried shrimp supper, Saturday breakfast, ice cream): $47
- Total: $196
Booking through the big website would have cost about $30 more with tax, and the room would have been non-refundable. This was the weekend before our Outer Banks cottage, the one big trip we'd planned all year, so every dollar we didn't spend on Southport went straight toward that.
Wes's verdict, when I told him about the three prices, was short. "So you saved twenty-seven dollars by being polite." Yes. Yes I did. I'm calling first from now on.
