The term ‘hotel rack rate’ is often used in business travel management, but what does it actually mean?

The hotel rack rate is the price that a hotel charges for a room before any discounts have been applied. It is sometimes referred to as the published rate and is usually set artificially high, which means that discounts can look extremely generous by comparison.

If you’re working with a travel management company or a business travel agency, make sure any savings reports you receive don’t compare the hotel rates you’ve paid with the rack rate as this will be giving you inflated and inaccurate savings figures.