I travel a bit for work. We have an online booking system so hotels.com / booking.com are irrelevant.
Which chain of hotels is best to use that will give me a free nights accommodation after multiple stays across the country.
Which Hotel Chain for Free Nights after Multiple Stays?
carlost82 on 11/02/2020 - 22:58
Comments
Thanks @themindsettraveller. I'll check the pricing on Hilton/ Marriott. I think they may be out of our price cap normally bit you're right they have hotels in nice places that could be redeemed.
Usually just staying in capital cities, late check-out and breakfast aren't super desirable.
I tend to use the Holiday Inn Express chain when travelling (I like the free breakfasts), so use the IHG rewards scheme. As TheMindSetTraveller stated you will basically get points for stays, and the point can be redeemed for free bookings or lower prices.
IHG include Intercontinental, Crowne, Holiday Inn, etc , so there's normally a good choice of Hotels in most cities.
Me too,used them extensively in the UK & Eire.Have bucketloads of points still to use up.Always book through their websites though.Never had any issues worth worrying about,have been upgraded quite a few times.Recently stayed in a couple of their new hotels(Holiday inn) Newcastle & St Mary’s in Sydney(Western subs,yes I know it is “Ferrellville”)Nice rooms..
Thanks I'd heard about IHG rewards so will investigate this further.
Hotels.com gives you 1 free night after 10 bookings (and stay). The free night is an average of the price you pay for the first 10 and you can use the amount (from free night) to pay partial booking amount also on your 11th Booking.
As the OP said, his work (like mine) use a booking platform so hotels.com isn't a solution for him.
Which is a joke because the booking platform price is usually higher + they tack on their own booking and/or admin fees!
Let me book the cheapest wherever and give me the difference into my payslip 😜
Update - apparently you do not get rewards if you do not book directly through the hotel / IHG, so no rewards for me at the moment. Open to other ideas?
Most of the larger hotel chains will earn points (rather than actual free nights).
Keep in mind there are other considerations, like 1. which hotels (in a chain) are in the locations that you go to 2. how easy is it to qualify for higher status which gives other benefits (upgrades, breakfast, late check outs etc) 3. which locations / aspirational hotels would you like to use those points and 4. do you have a hotel brand preference (in my situation, I prefer to stay at W, St Regis, Conrad or Waldorf Astoria properties)
I have been top tier status with both Hilton and Marriott - they have their pros / con, and they have decent coverage in Australia. For me guaranteed late check out is my favourite benefit, then upgrades, then breakfast.
I find earning points with HHilton the easiest. Many of their australian properties however are pretty bland, business type hotels but at least those points can accumulate quickly and are redeemed for pricey properties like Conrad/Waldorf Astorias in The Maldives, French Polynesia or Japan.
Marriott on the other hand have W properties in Australia (Brisbane, now Melbourne, soon Sydney - again). They're my fav hotel brand but yours might be different.