Several hotels chains offer ‘best rate guarantees’ to lure customers to book rooms on their proprietary websites. They say that if they don’t have the best rate, they’ll provide some compensation. Hotel chains find it very costly to have customers book through other venues, especially the major online booking services. So they say and do whatever they can to encourage customers to book directly with them.

Now Cendant hotels (Days Inn, Super 8, Ramada, Travelodge, Howard Johnson, Knights Inn, etc.) has come up with a new pledge. They’ll offer the best rate or the first night’s stay is free, up from their old 10% discount.