The price you pay

Business travellers experience a wide and perhaps inexplicable range of pricing when booking hotels. My recent trip to Portugal was no exception. I stayed at three properties – the Sheraton in Lisbon, the Troia Design Hotel near Comporta and the Dom Pedro Vilamoura on the Algarve. Booking was like having several spins of the roulette wheel – I wasn’t sure where the ball was going to land, I only knew my euros were going to disappear.

First, a note to see the best deals. The Troia Design hotel offered its lowest rate at €116, but the third-party website proposed €103 as I benefit from a 10 per cent Genius travel award. Genius is com’s loyalty scheme for customers who book twice within two years, and is well named because we all like to think of ourselves that way.