Hotels.com The Best Deal? (Because of Loyalty Program)

Lsitdowndisco on 03/07/2018 - 00:15

I've had a particular way of booking hotels over the past few years which has served me well and saved quite a bit of money … or so I thought. Recently, I've been seeing people going crazy over getting 12% cashback deals and so forth on sites such as Expedia. But I thought what I was doing was a better deal, so would love to have feedback!

Firstly, I search booking.com for a hotel I'm interested in based on price, quality, location etc. I then try and find that same hotel on hotels.com (which I believe is basically a reseller of expedia stock and therefore has the same listings). The reason I choose hotels.com is because of the free night after 10 nights stay loyalty program which is in effect a 10% discount. When you add your cashback to that, you currently get 14% off the listed price and at times it's been 20% (when quidco had some amazing cashback offers).

Of course, hotels.com prices are sometimes higher, but I also sometimes find that hotels.com has free cancellation when booking.com doesn't. So that small price increase that sometimes happens to me on hotels.com is easily offset by the loyalty program and ability for free cancellation that I seem to get more often there.

One negative from hotels.com that I find vs booking.com is that they have far fewer hotels listed. So I sometimes can't find the hotel I want on hotels.com and have to book through booking.com anyway.

So I guess the question is, why would you use expedia or booking.com unless you got a 14% cashback or some sort of equivalent price difference? Or am I just completely getting the maths of this wrong?

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Comments

  • capslock on 03/07/2018 - 00:35
    +3

    Cheaptickets is an Expedia company and I normally use them to get an instant 16% discount using their never ending discount coupons. My view is why bother staying 10 nights before I can get a 10% discount when I can get a larger discount instantly.

    I only use booking.com (or their alternate brand Agoda) if they have a hotel I really want to stay at which is not listed with the Expedia group.

    • MeesusEff on 03/07/2018 - 01:30
      +1

      I have booked a few from Cheaptickets and Orbitz for my upcoming trip using the 16% off coupons, but put my Aussie number as a contact. The coupon says for US residents only, do you think they would follow up on it? 🤔

    • follow on 03/07/2018 - 07:52

      Thanks! They're so much cheaper than others

    • kalakaar on 03/07/2018 - 21:00

      Can you please share some codes

    • sitdowndisco on 07/07/2018 - 11:53

      Thanks for the tip. I just tried it out and for one hotel and no coupon code can be entered and for a different hotel, the coupon brings the price down to exactly the same price as what the effective room price is on Hotels.com after you factor in stay 10 get 1 free. In which case you'd probably go with CheapTickets.

      But Hotels.com has cashrewards/shopback/quidco support which for me makes it a better deal.

      I'm going to keep checking Cheaptickets vs Hotels.com as I book more hotels and finally find out which is cheaper.

      • Peck on 07/07/2018 - 12:19
        +1

        Note that sometimes Hotels.com has double rewards nights offers (on a minimum booking of 2 nights).
        On the very odd occassion Cheaptickets has an 18% or even rarer 20% off code.
        Cashback for Cheaptickets is now 2.5% through Ebates.
        I use Citibank plus for Cheaptickets bookings so that there are no foreign transaction fees or loss on exchange rate.

        • sitdowndisco on 08/07/2018 - 13:01

          OK, thanks for that. Didn't know about the cheaptickets cashback. I did my calculations again and found a $50 hotel room coming to about $1 cheaper with cheaptickets vs hotels.com when you account for all discounts, cashbacks and free nights. In which case I'd prefer cheaptickets!

        • Peck on 11/07/2018 - 09:11
          +1

          @sitdowndisco: If you go through referrals for joining Ebates and spend at least $US25, you also get $US10 credit for joining up from a referral code.

  • djkelly69 on 03/07/2018 - 01:12

    The reason I choose hotels.com is because of the free night after 10 nights stay loyalty program which is in effect a 10% discount. When you add your cashback to that, you currently get 14% off the listed price

    While I don't doubt it has been working for you, isn't it supposed to be one or the other, cashback or free nights?

    • SirFlibbled on 04/07/2018 - 15:24
      +1

      Nope. If you use a coupon code you don't get the free nights but if you use a cashback site you get the cashback and the free nights.

  • dylo on 03/07/2018 - 07:07
    +1

    I used Hotels.com for a long time until I finally realised they were marking up all the time and I would get the same room significantly cheaper booking direct.

    • GourmetFoodie on 03/07/2018 - 08:19
      +1

      I agree. Booking direct often gives you the best deal.

  • Peck on 03/07/2018 - 17:13
    +1

    My approximation is that free nights work out at about 8% rebate as the value excludes taxes. NOT 10%. EG Buy 10 nights of $100 (including taxes) and you will be entitles to 1 free night of approx $80.
    You can get free nights as well as cashrewards. However if you use one of their 8% off deals sent by email, then you have to click through that email and therefore cannot go via cashrewards, and those nights do not count for free nights.

    • bargin424 on 11/08/2018 - 10:02

      Would you still get a free night if you go via cash rewards in general?

      Are you able to accumulate free nights, or does it get consumed at the next booking?

      • Peck on 11/08/2018 - 11:52

        Yes, however if you use a Hotels.com discount code eg 8% off then you will not get a free night credit, and you might not get the cash reward.
        You need to accumulate 10 credits (Usually that means stay 10 nights) before you can redeem a free night.
        You are not compelled to use your accumulated free nights, however check the expiry T & C's.

  • focused77 on 04/07/2018 - 20:38

    I haven’t seen it mentioned much, but there is a relatively new startup called SnapTravel that searches and shows its deals via facebook messenger (might be a deal breaker for some) but i’ve used them to book accomodation in Guadaljara at the end of the year so time will tell, on the particular hotel i was looking at they saved me $30 compared to Hotels.com but they do have better deals.

    They will even call the hotel on the day of your arrival and try and get you a free upgrade.
    https://www.snaptravel.com

    Feel free to google it and see what other people have said about it. Another arrow in the ozbargainers quiver.

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