---
title: "What is Rack rate? | Benefit Systems"
description: "The rack rate is a hotel's official undiscounted room price, used as the reference point from which all other rates are derived."
source: "aus dem gebauten HTML abgeleitet"
---
# What is Rack rate?

The rack rate is a hotel’s official undiscounted room price, used as the reference point from which all other rates are derived.

Also called: Best available rate.

## How it works #

Almost nobody pays it; what sells is the best available rate, which sits below it and moves daily. The difference decides how a points redemption is judged: valuing an award night against the rack rate overstates what the points are worth by a wide margin. The benchmark is always the price that would genuinely have been paid in cash.

## Not to be confused with #

The rack rate is not the same as the best available rate: the rack rate is the fixed ceiling, the best available rate the lowest openly bookable price on the day.

## In German #

The German term is Listenpreis. [German version of this term](/de/glossar/listenpreis)

## Related terms #

- [Rate parity](/en/glossary/rate-parity): Rate parity is the agreement that a hotel offers the same room price across all distribution channels and does not undercut the agencies.
- [Opaque rate](/en/glossary/opaque-rate): An opaque rate is an offer where the provider is revealed only after booking, such as an unnamed hotel of a given class in a given district.
- [Hotel award category](/en/glossary/hotel-award-category): A hotel award category is the price tier a loyalty programme assigns to a property, from which the points price per night follows.

## Articles that use this term #

- [Book direct or through an online travel agency?](/en/knowledge/direct-vs-ota)
- [How do hotel award categories work?](/en/knowledge/hotel-award-categories)
- [Why your hotel bill is higher than the rate you booked](/en/knowledge/resort-fees)
- [Does hotel status actually get you upgraded?](/en/knowledge/hotel-upgrades)