Passenger Trains > Amtrak Booking on the Computer, Changed A Little or What?

Just booked a multi-segment trip for mid October in California. Anaheim to Victorville Monday, Victorville to Emeryville Tuesday, Emeryville to San Jose then later that night Emeryville to Seattle in Business Class. What was different is that the site did not ask me for Trip Insurance as part of the booking. After the booking was completed it did have a page with the link to add Trip Insurance but it was not attached to the specific trip when opened. The other big difference or change was that the site did not ask if I wanted to make hotel reservations through Amtrak. Curious, if Amtrak dropped the hotel part of their booking or if this is simply because I booked a multi-segment ticket? Sometimes the hotel bookings through the Amtrak website had some good deals. 

Jim

I thought Amtrak was a railroad and in the business of moving passengers, not selling insurance or hotel rooms?

Airlines link to supplemental services such as car rentals, hotels, trip insurance and other incidentals.  Why shouldn't Amtrak?

Bookings done through such links result in a commission to the referring site.  Amtrak could use every penny to prop up the "profitable" Northeast Corridor.

DevalDragon Wrote:
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> I thought Amtrak was a railroad and in the
> business of moving passengers, not selling
> insurance or hotel rooms?

Southwest is an Airline, but they still ask if I need a hotel room and a rental car.
It's called marketing partnerships.

DevalDragon Wrote:
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> I thought Amtrak was a railroad and in the
> business of moving passengers, not selling
> insurance or hotel rooms?

Actually being able to book Hotels through Amtrak is still included in the Amtrak website. I noticed after I posted this but as stated originally the hotels and stuff did not come up automatically during or after the train part of the booking like it used to. As mentioned by others the partner offers with hotels are beneficial to all as Amtrak gets a kickback from the hotel, the guest gets Amtrak Guest Rewards points and the hotel may get a little extra business out of it. You use your credit card which gives points toward whatever. You get AGR points for something you would buy anyways, it is always something I look at.

Jim

tq-07fan Wrote:
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> Just booked a multi-segment trip for mid October
> in California. Anaheim to Victorville Monday,
> Victorville to Emeryville Tuesday, Emeryville to
> San Jose then later that night Emeryville to
> Seattle in Business Class. What was different is
> that the site did not ask me for Trip Insurance as
> part of the booking. After the booking was
> completed it did have a page with the link to add
> Trip Insurance but it was not attached to the
> specific trip when opened. The other big
> difference or change was that the site did not ask
> if I wanted to make hotel reservations through
> Amtrak. Curious, if Amtrak dropped the hotel part
> of their booking or if this is simply because I
> booked a multi-segment ticket? Sometimes the hotel
> bookings through the Amtrak website had some good
> deals. 
>
> Jim

I just booked for next month Chicago-Essex, Essex-Everett, Seattle-San Jose, Emeryville-Glenwood Springs, Glenwood Springs-SLC.
It asked if I wanted insurance for each segment.

Posted from iPhone

I've never visited Amtrak.com or Southwest.com because I wanted to book a hotel, rental car or buy trip insurance. I just go right to the source and book directly - I always get better deals that way.