[StartHere] Hotels.com: Merchant hotel vs Agency hotel vs Venere Hotel

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Hotels.com

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  pauly on 27/01/2011 - 22:47

  Not sure about the cashback schemes on hotels, but are the hotels you're looking at cheaper than wotif.com rates after cashback?

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    moooooooo on 28/01/2011 - 00:15

    Thanks for the reminder about wotif but yes, I've checked them there as well and they are cheaper through Hotels.com with the current 10% discount.

    I'm just trying to double-dip and go through MBC as well.

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      moooooooo on 11/03/2011 - 00:29

      For the record, I used the coupon at http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/38078 and found that MBC did not allow double-dipping. I made 5 transactions that evening. 4 allowed me to enter the code but 1 did not. The only transaction that has been credited is the one that did not permit the code.

      They also offered only 1% back on the transaction (wow! a whole $2.90!). According to the advice at MBC for Hotels.com, their Moneyback rates are:

      • Merchant Hotels: 6% on a confirmed online booking
      • Agency Hotels: 1% on a confirmed online booking
      • Venere Hotels: 1% on a confirmed online booking

      Thus, Il Perseo in Florence must be one of the two latter hotel types. Note that I couldn't get a better price at Expedia (they didn't have any discounts there) so 1% at Hotels.com is better than 0% at Expedia but I do feel a bit slighted that Hotels.com proposes their advertised 6% moneyback rate when there's no way to tell whether you're really only going to be getting 1% back.

      Or 0% back, given the discount code prevented any moneyback… :-(

      Next time, assuming Expedia and Hotels.com have a sale at the same time (which has happened before), I'll likely choose Expedia who offer 6% back with greater transparency.

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        tboyle on 31/03/2011 - 14:49

        Did you lodge an enquiry with moneybackco? I went through moneybackco and used the same 10% off coupon for 2 hotel bookings.

        The transactions didn't automatically show up in moneybackco, but I ldoged an enquiry for both and have had them approved (2 months later) - got the full 6% back.