Hard to get a bedroom

[the_traveler]

My wife and were on our way from ROC to FMD, and we'd arrived (in a bedroomon on the Lake Shore Limited) in CHI, about on-time [10:10 AM]. The Southwest Chief was scheduled out at 2:45 PM, and we were sitting around in the Metropolitan Lounge for a spell. On this particular trip we had booked a roomette from CHI to FMD and back a few days later.

At about 2:15 PM I turned to my wife and asked: "What would you think about upgrading to a bedroom on the Southwest Chief?" She looked at me and said: "I thought you'd never ask."

We schlepped over to the Amtrak desk and proffered our tickets, then asked if there were any bedrooms available on our dates of travel. She looked into the computer and said "YES." I asked the difference in price. The agent looked at me and grinned. She said: "it's almost even-up." We grabbed the bedrooms for the whole trip [$16 upgrade] from CHI to FMD (both ways) for that price. The naps were certainly worth it. :lol: We don't do well napping in a roomette. hboy:

Unless the bedrooms were low bucket, you could have done better waiting a few more minutes!

When you ask inside the station - even if the train is sitting outside - the agent must sell the bedroom at the current bucket. However once you step aboard the train, that same room drops to the lowest bucket!

 

[rrdude]

My wife and were on our way from ROC to FMD, and we'd arrived (in a bedroomon on the Lake Shore Limited) in CHI, about on-time [10:10 AM]. The Southwest Chief was scheduled out at 2:45 PM, and we were sitting around in the Metropolitan Lounge for a spell. On this particular trip we had booked a roomette from CHI to FMD and back a few days later.

At about 2:15 PM I turned to my wife and asked: "What would you think about upgrading to a bedroom on the Southwest Chief?" She looked at me and said: "I thought you'd never ask."

We schlepped over to the Amtrak desk and proffered our tickets, then asked if there were any bedrooms available on our dates of travel. She looked into the computer and said "YES." I asked the difference in price. The agent looked at me and grinned. She said: "it's almost even-up." We grabbed the bedrooms for the whole trip [$16 upgrade] from CHI to FMD (both ways) for that price. The naps were certainly worth it. :lol: We don't do well napping in a roomette. hboy:

Unless the bedrooms were low bucket, you could have done better waiting a few more minutes!

When you ask inside the station - even if the train is sitting outside - the agent must sell the bedroom at the current bucket. However once you step aboard the train, that same room drops to the lowest bucket!

Dave, it's $16 dollars, for the whole RT, how much "better" could they have done? I gladly paid $50 to upgrade on the Cardinal, while in the Club Acela, knowing that I wouldn't have to deal with the whole issue on board, with the [unkonwn] conductor........

 

[the_traveler]

You're right! I missed the $16!

 

[Sbaitso]

I find that bedrooms on Sunset limited is very affordable, but on Empire Builder or Silver Series, they are very expensive.

I have to say that the prices are incredibly consistent on the Silver Star from what I've seen watching them on Amsnag. I haven't compared them to other lines because I don't use them, but I'm always hoping to be able to catch one of the deals that I see mentioned for other lines and so far have yet to see any sign of them. My hope is that somehow it means the line is doing well and they have enough riders without pushing to attract more, but that's mainly cold comfort for myself.

 

[D.P. Roberts]

you'd think a bedroom would roughly cost twice what a roomette does.

It doesn't. At least in my experience, a bedroom is usually three times the cost of a roomette.

Fortunately, due to the work that has been detailed in this thread, we can take a quantitative look at that claim. For trains 97/98, a bedroom is almost exactly twice the cost of a roomette in nearly all cases. (at low bucket, at high bucket, the multiple is more like 1.7) It's a little more variable on the Cardinal, since Amtrak prices those 2 bedrooms a little more aggressively, but even in that case the cost of a bedroom never exceeds 2.4 times the cost of a roomette.

I'm just going by the actual trains I've tried to book - (cross country on the Southwest Chief or California Zephyr, during peak summer travel season). For example, Train 3 in early August (the date I'm looking at is 8/8/11) currently costs $307 for a roomette but $1025 for a bedroom! So, it would cost us $614 for 2 roomettes (assuming I could get two at that bucket price) vs. $1025 for 1 bedroom - a savings of over $400 EACH WAY for essentially the same amount of space.

I checked several other dates (July and August on Train 3)

6/17: $417 vs. $1421

6/27: $417 vs. $1223

7/11: $417 vs. $1223

7/18: $417 vs. $1223

7/25: $417 vs. $1223

8/1: $307 vs. $1223

8/08: $307 vs. $1025

The differences drop in value before and after the summer traveling season. I didn't check the return trips - it could be that the discrepancies aren't as big then. Either way, it looks like I'm going to pay roughly three times more for a bedroom than for a roomette.

The frustrating part of this is that on a cost-per-square foot basis, bedrooms shouldn't be that much. They're basically twice the size of a roomette. Well, they're one foot longer. ... On the other hand, two roomettes should technically include meals for 4 instead of 2, so you'd think a bedroom would roughly cost twice what a roomette does.

It doesn't. At least in my experience, a bedroom is usually three times the cost of a roomette. As other posters have said, that's just supply and demand. ... It would be cheaper, we'd have views out both sides of the train, sit facing any direction we'd like, have two good berths with window views, etc. I'm not sure we'd ever really do that, but we'd pay for 2 roomettes before we paid for 1 bedroom.

And interestingly enough, the Amtrak Guest Rewards chart usually indicates a 50% premium for a bedroom. For example, a 2-zone roomette costs 20,000 points, but a 2-zone bedroom costs 30,000 points - not 60,000, as it would if it were "real money".

So you would not mind paying 60,000 points?

Tell you what - why not just send me the "extra" 30K you saved?

Also remember that those same 30,000 points can be used for a bedroom that is low bucket (say $259) or high bucket (say $1,057)!

I'm sorry, I guess my post didn't make sense. When paying cash, it's usually a lot cheaper (for my trips anyway) to get two roomettes than to get one bedroom. When paying with AGR points, it's the other way around.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you're paying with AGR points, a bedroom is 1.5 times the price of a roomette. If the research in that other thread is correct, and a bedroom (when paying cash) is normally twice the price of a roomette (and varies between 1.7 and 2.4), then Amtrak is undervaluing bedrooms in AGR points - or overcharging for roomettes.

So here's a thought - perhaps the reason that bedrooms are so popular is because Amtrak's frequent travelers are hogging the bedrooms when redeeming points? If railfans normally accumulate points when riding coach or paying for roomettes, and then redeeming their points for the exorbitantly priced bedrooms, then the AGR system is causing (or at least contributing) to the problem. So, it's all of YOU PEOPLE WHO ARE RUINING THINGS!

Not that I wouldn't do the same. I just got my AGR Mastercard a few weeks ago, and all my bonus points kicked in! By next summer, I should have enough points to hog a 2-zone bedroom on the Zephyr for myself, booked as late as possible.

 

[ThayerATM]

You're right! I missed the $16!

For $16, I wasn't about to ask. I figured she might look at her numbers again and find a higher figure. :lol: