Are HRS prices per person or per room?

HRS prices are always per room and night, that is, per single or double room. In this respect, HRS differs from travel operators' catalogues and tourism Web sites, which always quote their prices per person. Any separately-quoted price for breakfast is, of course, per person per night.

Do I have to eat breakfast at the hotel if breakfast is marked separately rather than included in the price of the room?

No, you are not obliged to do so. You can always decide at your destination whether or not to have breakfast. However, if breakfast is included in the price of the room, you do not qualify for a price reduction if you don't eat breakfast.

Are the room prices quoted on HRS guaranteed for that particular booking?

Yes, HRS has only fixed prices. In this sense, we are unique. There are no seasonal or date-specific prices. All the room prices that are shown for your chosen hotel are also guaranteed for your booking. These prices are stated in the accounting currency laid down by the hotel, that is, in the currency in which you will pay for your stay. This may, however, differ from the currency you select for showing the price of the hotels listed.

If you book a longer stay, different prices may apply for specific days if they qualify for weekend, seasonal or special rates, for example. In this case, the price shown in the hotel list is the average price. The individual daily prices can be found on the hotel detail pages.

What exactly does "guaranteed availability" mean with regard to rooms?

This is the positive, qualitative difference between HRS and other such services: All the rooms shown for your chosen region really are available and the prices are guaranteed!

The HRS database checks all the hotels in your chosen region or at your chosen destination to see which rooms are available at which price at that particular moment! The HRS system shows you the cheapest, most up-to-the-minute room prices available for booking through HRS that second. In addition, many of the individual hotels can only be booked through the HRS system.

In order to expand the range of services on offer, HRS also uses external systems. However, since these are not connected directly to the HRS system, they cannot be standardised and compared in the same way as other HRS partner hotels. Hotels bookable via external systems are displayed according to the HRS principle "from the cheapest upwards". The details pages of selected "third-party" hotels also contain information from the external system, such as prices, descriptions of the rooms and any special cancellation conditions.

Can I rely on the booking and be sure that the hotel is notified?

Yes. This process is automated and logged by the HRS system. The entire booking procedure is based on detailed rules laid down in contracts between HRS and the individual hotels. However, if there is a misunderstanding or disagreement, we would kindly ask you to call us, and we will sort out the problem for you immediately.

HRS Köln / Cologne
Tel. +49 (0)221 2077 600, Monday-Saturday 7am-midnight, Sunday and public holidays 8am-10pm.

HRS Paris: +33 (0)826 962 962
HRS London: +44 (0)870 243 0003
HRS Shanghai: +86 (0)800 988 0058

Do dates relate to the customer's time zone or local time at the hotel?

Travel dates and times always relate to local time at the hotel at the travel destination. So if a person in Britain books a hotel room in Shanghai for the night of the 12th to the 13th of a particular month, this relates to the 12th in Shanghai, not London.

What happens if I arrive "late" at the hotel? Will I be charged?

That depends on the type of booking. There are two possibilities:

1. Free cancellation of your reservation if you don't turn up:

If you know that you will be arriving at the hotel before 6pm, you can make a booking in which the hotel will definitely reserve the room for you until 6pm local time. We call this a "standard booking".

If you do not arrive by 6pm without informing the hotel, your reservation is automatically cancelled free of charge, in other words, at no cost whatsoever to you. From 6pm onwards, the hotel is permitted to give the booked room to another customer. Having said that, all our partner hotels would be pleased if guests told them that they wouldn't be arriving, even if they have made a standard booking.

If you can't arrive at your hotel before 6pm, that's no problem either. The hotel just has to know. In this case, simply inform the hotel directly about your late arrival. You'll find the hotel's telephone number on the reservation confirmation.

2. Possible charges for non-arrival:

If you can't arrive at the hotel before 6pm local time, you should make a booking that ensures the hotel reserves the room for the entire night. We call this a "guaranteed booking". If you do not arrive at the hotel or fail to cancel your booking by the given deadline, the hotel will be entitled to charge you for the room it could otherwise have given to someone else. Most hotels ask you for your credit card number to secure guarantee bookings.

Does the list of hotels for the chosen dates always show all HRS partner hotels?

No. The number of hotels always varies because you are shown only those you can book immediately. It might be two hotels, it might be 300. It all depends on how many of them are currently fully-occupied. You are therefore shown only those (as well as all the important hotel information) that want bookings - and you can book them directly at the cheapest current guaranteed HRS price.

How can HRS make any money if this service is free of charge?

HRS partner hotels pay a "fee" in the form of a commission on all overnight stays, though not on changes or cancellations. The HRS price is the hotel's original price with no surcharges whatsoever. HRS insists on completely transparent prices and provides a comprehensive overview of available hotels - worldwide.

Who's behind HRS?

Robert Ragge, the company's founder.

In what order are hotels shown in the list of hotels with vacancies for the chosen travel dates?

From the cheapest to the most expensive. That's because we're convinced that the price is the first and most important factor our customers consider when choosing a hotel. Only then are all the other important criteria shown. Indeed there are lots of ways that the hotels in the list can be ordered according to your particular interests.

Why does the list also contain hotels that are not exactly what I asked for?

HRS likes to show you the range of alternatives available so that you are completely free to choose your hotel, compare prices and benefit from an overview of the different hotels available at your chosen destination. This also shows that HRS is neutral and not biased towards or against certain hotels, whether justifiably or not.

This increases the number of ways hotels can be sorted and therefore gives you a better overview of what's on offer. The advanced search criteria set under "MyHRS" can be used to display hotel lists in your preferred manner. And here too we also provide alternatives. Our aim is for the intelligent HRS database to always supply you with the right answers. But one thing is certain on HRS: You are shown only those hotels that you can book immediately, no others.

How can HRS get such super prices?

HRS has been an ideal free global sales channel for hotels for many decades. With thousands of bookings every day, numerous cooperation agreements with Internet portals, airlines, international industrials and more than 10,000 companies from all sectors directly linked to the HRS system, HRS represents an important of revenue for hotels.

Hoteliers can always react flexibly to current occupancy levels and market conditions, i.e. they can undercut the already super prices by offering super reductions. In this way, HRS prices can become even more attractive to HRS users at any time. Prices can only go up in exceptional circumstances, for instance during major trade fairs or extremely busy seasons, the main aim of the increase being to ensure that the hotels on the HRS system are available and have vacancies.

Why are some prices shown in red or green?

It's simple: Whenever a hotel undercuts its annual average price (i.e. the average of the cheapest daily price quoted on the HRS system over the course of a year) by at least 15% or 25%, this price is marked in green or red respectively. This means: "This is a recently-announced, extra-cheap, limited offer by the hotel".

By what criteria do you classify hotels with HRS stars?

Our hotel experts know thousands of hotels the world over. But it would be impossible for us to visit more than 250,000 hotels. For this reason, the HRS star-rating system is also based on other sources of information, published ratings and official grades for the hotels. And if a hotel rates itself, this is checked by HRS, where possible, using our own grading system.

However, the key factor in classifying the hotels offered through HRS is always the experiences of and assessments by our customers. That is why many years ago HRS developed a system (now expanded), which customers can now also use online to give their personal assessment of hotels they have stayed at. These customer assessments also form part of the HRS star-rating system. So we want to know what you think!

Can I use HRS for spontaneous, last-minute trips? Can HRS support my desire to remain flexible at all times?

Absolutely. That's what the HRS system was created for. You remain flexible until your intended arrival date. This flexibility also includes the option of booking without a credit card, cancelling bookings right up until the arrival date, and changing travel dates and/or travellers free of charge.

Where do I pay for the room I book?

You generally only ever pay on-site at the chosen hotel, and always at the guaranteed rate shown on you reservation confirmation. That's why HRS never issues vouchers (which are often used by tour operators and for package tours). And because you don't pay HRS anything, there's no such thing as advance payment on HRS, and HRS does not debit anything from your credit card.

When might I need my credit card to make a booking?

Under certain circumstances, hotels may ask you for your credit card number in order to secure a booking, e.g. if you will be arriving late, during trade fairs or peak seasons, or at (holiday) destinations in which cancelled rooms are difficult to fill with "passers-by" in the same way as hotels in cities can often be. Nowadays, it's almost standard practice around the world to provide your credit card number. HRS uses the latest encryption technology (SSL) to transfer credit card details.