Prices on Gronze for rooms

[Gigipete]

We are cycling and are two people, currently in Santander. We ideally want to book a double room. However we are finding the prices shown on Gronze are sometimes substantially higher when we make direct contact with the hostel. E.g 40€+ on Gronze per night 65€ in reality. It begs the question, how up to date are the prices?

 

[Kirkie]

We are cycling and are two people, currently in Santander. We ideally want to book a double room. However we are finding the prices shown on Gronze are sometimes substantially higher when we make direct contact with the hostel. E.g 40€+ on Gronze per night 65€ in reality. It begs the question, how up to date are the prices?

You are ideally situated to report on your own question, and please believe me when I say I am not joking. I recently looked at a website with prices for a parador - curiosity, not intention to book - and the regular price was less than €80 but certain dates took the same room cost to over €200. This only reinforces the need to check local and national calendars for feast days...
In general, experience as shared on this forum indicates that direct contact, likely by whatsapp, frequently results in better prices than any website.
I really hope that your experience is positive, and does not impact negatively on the wheeling experience of your camino!

 

[Tincatinker]

. It begs the question, how up to date are the prices?

Gronze relies on its users to provide updates to information. It is, like this forum, a community. And then, as @Kirkie says, this is a holiday weekend. Prices will be elevated.

 

[Jean Russell]

We are cycling and are two people, currently in Santander. We ideally want to book a double room. However we are finding the prices shown on Gronze are sometimes substantially higher when we make direct contact with the hostel. E.g 40€+ on Gronze per night 65€ in reality. It begs the question, how up to date are the prices?

I've found this too on the Santiago -Finisterra/Muxia route. Making a direct booking in some cases has been better than Booking.com but still quite a bit higher than the prices shown on Gronze.

 

[Jean Russell]

I have also found a significant difference on Booking.com for early bookings, the price rises considerably for booking nearer the time.

 

[trecile]

Last year I booked directly with an albergue a bit after Melide. I had been looking at it on booking.com. Then the day of my booking I got one of those "are you still interested in Property X" messages, and the price had gone down to lower than I paid by going direct.

 

[Molly Cassidy]

I find that, if the accommodation uses fixed prices on their own site, at quiet times it is almost always cheaper to use an aggregator. Likewise, at busy times you (usually) get a cheaper deal going direct. Sites like Booking.com use dynamic pricing which responds to demand.

 

[J Willhaus]

Yes, as mentioned the owner or responsible party has to update prices and info on Gronze so I always add a couple of Euros for inflation when budgeting. Eventually the price gets updated, but it relies on a humans to make the change.

 

[Dave]

Beyond the lack of owner updates (and trust me, it can be hard to get responses to requests for updates from accommodations), there's also the particular challenge on the Norte of huge price swings based on season. There are places that charge 35 euros for a double in the dead of winter that are able to push the price to triple digits in the peak of summer. That's why you end up with something like "40€+" where the "+" is doing a whole lot of work.

It's a funny thing. On the Via Podiensis, for comparison, prices are much more stable month-to-month. In fact, when there is a shift in price, it's often in the opposite direction--with gites charging a little more in the winter because they have to turn on the heat. By contrast, tourists flood the Spanish coast, so accommodation rates on the Norte surge accordingly.

 

[Hans-Georg Goebel]

We are cycling and are two people, currently in Santander. We ideally want to book a double room. However we are finding the prices shown on Gronze are sometimes substantially higher when we make direct contact with the hostel. E.g 40€+ on Gronze per night 65€ in reality. It begs the question, how up to date are the prices?

I've had the same experience a few times, the actual accommodation price was up to twice as high as stated in Gronce.
I reported two extreme cases to Gronce, but apart from a "thank you" no reaction or online change

 

[joramos]

I find that, if the accommodation uses fixed prices on their own site, at quiet times it is almost always cheaper to use an aggregator. Likewise, at busy times you (usually) get a cheaper deal going direct. Sites like Booking.com use dynamic pricing which responds to demand.

Booking.com averages a mark-up of 15%-20% compared to what the same establishment charges. Spanish Regulators investigated and penalized Booking.com for their business practices in Spain (https://skift.com/2024/02/22/booking-com-hit-with-530-million-fine-from-spanish-regulators/). Furthermore, as a consequent, the EU has classified Booking.com as a "gatekeeper" that therefore must adhere to strict/er rules (https://finance.yahoo.com/news/booking-com-hit-eu-gatekeeper-125620170.html).

 

[Molly Cassidy]

Booking.com averages a mark-up of 15%-20% compared to what the same establishment charges. Spanish Regulators investigated and penalized Booking.com for their business practices in Spain (https://skift.com/2024/02/22/booking-com-hit-with-530-million-fine-from-spanish-regulators/). Furthermore, as a consequent, the EU has classified Booking.com as a "gatekeeper" that therefore must adhere to strict/er rules (https://finance.yahoo.com/news/booking-com-hit-eu-gatekeeper-125620170.html).

Despite the fact that booking.com charges accommodation providers a fee, as a customer it is often cheaper to book through them. I do like to go direct, but if it costs me €20 a night to do so, I won't.

 

[Hans-Georg Goebel]

Booking.com averages a mark-up of 15%-20% compared to what the same establishment charges. Spanish Regulators investigated and penalized Booking.com for their business practices in Spain (https://skift.com/2024/02/22/booking-com-hit-with-530-million-fine-from-spanish-regulators/). Furthermore, as a consequent, the EU has classified Booking.com as a "gatekeeper" that therefore must adhere to strict/er rules (https://finance.yahoo.com/news/booking-com-hit-eu-gatekeeper-125620170.html).

I am using Booking for over 40 years, even in my professional days, and have never had a bad experience, regardless of whether it was a cancellation or a refund of money already paid. With my bookings this year, I have to pay more than 80% of the overnight direct at the hostel, hotel

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I don't think it is easy for Gronze and other apps to keep up on fluctuating room prices as it depends on many factors and is not fair to expect perfection from those who manage the apps. Most recently, one of the pension's I needed the location for my planned stage, Gronze showed the booking.com price at €44 (although a + sign was added). I booked the room and it was €68...so be it. There are weekends, holidays that sometimes include extra days or a full week, festivals, popular months to travel, etc.

 

[lt56ny]

Albergue prices are pretty close to correct in Gronze and in albergues if it is off it is just a Euro or 2.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Albergue prices are pretty close to correct in Gronze and in albergues if it is off it is just a Euro or 2.

Nice for people to know that about albergue rates.
I was only referring to Booking.com offerings on Gronze.

 

[C clearly]

I think that Gronze is merely trying to give an indicator price that will allow you to see which places are more or less expensive than others. As others have pointed out, the fluctuations in price are so great that giving the whole range would be difficult and not very informative.

 

[lt56ny]

Nice for people to know that about albergue rates.
I was only referring to Booking.com offerings on Gronze.

I knew you were and it seems everyone in the thread was referring to bookings and pensions/hoste;s/hotels. Just wanted to let those people looking for albergues to have the info that I have seen. Thanks

 

[Tincatinker]

Here, rambling southern Italy, I’m struck by how unique in Europe Spains inexpensive, pilgrim friendly accommodations are. Whether on the Via Peuceta, or the Coast to Coast through Basilicata we have seldom found accommodation, double room private facilities, sub €100. Tourist season hasn’t really kicked off yet so availability is restricted. We’ve doubled our daily budget compared to any romp around Iberia. And I never, ever, want to eat pizza or pasta again. Meat or fish are a once a week treat. We’ve been securing apartments every few days so we can process laundry and cook some of the wonderful produce that’s available. And I will never complain about the increases in accommodation costs in Spain again. Nor will I expect those bargains to last forever. In fact, I think, I’ll just stop expecting Spain to provide me with cheap holiday

 

[trecile]

How far did you get in the purchase process on booking . com before you decided against booking initially, if you can remember!

Initially, the prices were the same, so I booked direct. But I guess that they had rooms to fill and released them at a lower price on booking.

I find that, if the accommodation uses fixed prices on their own site, at quiet times it is almost always cheaper to use an aggregator. Likewise, at busy times you (usually) get a cheaper deal going direct. Sites like Booking.com use dynamic pricing which responds to demand.

The crazy thing is this was a busy time - late May in the last 100 km on the Camino Francés!

 

[TravellingMan22]

Initially, the prices were the same, so I booked direct. But I guess that they had rooms to fill and released them at a lower price on booking.

The crazy thing is this was a busy time - late May in the last 100 km on the Camino Francés!

Thanks. This sounds like ‘retargetting’ a fairly standard digital marketing tactic. Basically going back to customers who have ‘shown an interest’ and using something (in this case, price) to get them ‘over the line’. Often targeted to those who have got ‘lower’ in the ‘purchase funnel’. So if you have carried out a search and clicked away fairly quickly you are not a particular likely prospect, but if you have gone down to one step from purchase, clicked away, you are a ‘hot prospect’, and they are ‘coming back to get you’. You are more likely to ‘convert’ and it’s cheaper!

Hence my question which may have seemed a strange one as I didn’t explain why I had asked it!

 

[dfox]

We are cycling and are two people, currently in Santander. We ideally want to book a double room. However we are finding the prices shown on Gronze are sometimes substantially higher when we make direct contact with the hostel. E.g 40€+ on Gronze per night 65€ in reality. It begs the question, how up to date are the prices?

Not sure the hotels/Albergues pay Gronze to get their hotels listed?

Not sure if Gronze pulls (updates) “prices” from these establishments and frequencies?

Not sure if these establishments push (update) their prices to Gronze.

Supply and demand influences prices. Such “economic forces” also apply to large operations” too.

Many “small” hotels/Albergue prefer to deal with customers directly and may offer better prices.

 

[DeansFamily]

Prices for accommodation are skyrocketing around the world, not only in Spain. Gronze is our go to but I've noticed how much their prices are out. I have notified them when the difference is considerable, but unfortunately "it is what it is" and I use Gronze more as a planning tool.

 

[J Willhaus]

Gronze has no relationships with the accommodations per their contact info. It is up to each owner/manager to update and report.

 

[mick53]

We are cycling and are two people, currently in Santander. We ideally want to book a double room. However we are finding the prices shown on Gronze are sometimes substantially higher when we make direct contact with the hostel. E.g 40€+ on Gronze per night 65€ in reality. It begs the question, how up to date are the prices?

Also some places offer pilgrim discounts if asked, you can't get discount with online bookings. If there number starts with 6 in Spain it's a mobile, and most are on Whats App
So using Google Translate you can send an English etc or Spanish message snd translate any replies.
Easy!! well almost....

 

[Joan Fiol (Gronze.com)]

In Gronze prices, the "+" sign means "from". Therefore, they are usually the low season ones.
There are tourist areas in which high season prices are 4 or 5 times the low season prices (and 20 times more expensive if it coincides with local party, such as Sanfermines, etc.).
Gronze is not an accommodation website, we only try to provide guidance. In the albergues we do try the maximum precision we can.
Gronze does not charge from accommodation or hostels.

 

[Pafayac]

Gronze is not an accommodation website, we only try to provide guidance. In the albergues we do try the maximum precision we can.
Gronze does not charge from accommodation or hostels.

Thank you for the service Gronze is providing !
It is very useful and your site is very well designed.

 

[peregrina2000]

Thank you for the service Gronze is providing !
It is very useful and your site is very well designed.

And I rarely pass up the chance to encourage forum members to send updates and corrections to the Gronze team. Every page on their website has a contact button, and they respond to your input and comments very quickly. I’ve seen information added to the website within minutes!