Booking.com via Cashreward Is a Joke!

BuddhaBoy on 18/10/2023 - 19:25

Hello, I'm not a frequent user of Cash Rewards, but a tempting 12% cashback deal on Bookings.com caught my eye, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Just a note, I hold Genius Level 1 status on the Booking website.

Before confirming my accommodation on the Booking website, I took the time to check the prices on the hotel's official website. The cost was slightly higher, but it came with the benefit of a flexible cancellation option, which I found to be a great offer. At this point, I was using Safari as my browser.

Curious for further comparisons, I used a different browser, Chrome, and performed a Google search for price comparisons. After searching for the same hotel and dates, I found a list of providers such as Expedia, TripAdvisor, and Booking.com, all displaying prices significantly lower than the actual price (almost $300 less). Clicking on Booking.com via Chrome, I meticulously compared the page side by side with the one from the Cash Rewards website.

On the Booking dot com via Cash Rewards website, it showed a price $600 higher (just an example), but claimed to offer a $60 Genius discount (BS!) and a cash reward of $200. However, this cashback would only be transferred after 60 days following the completion of the hotel stay. I repeated this process with multiple hotels and encountered the same results, leading me to the decision to book directly via the hotel's website.

In summary, my experience with Booking via Cash Rewards was disappointing, as it appeared that the prices were inflated, making it less favourable compared to booking directly with the hotel.

General Discussion

Related Stores

Booking.com
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Cashrewards
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Third-Party

Comments

  • randomusername2017 on 18/10/2023 - 19:33
    +1

    OMG Scam Alert

    ACCC on speed dial.

    • BuddhaBoy on 18/10/2023 - 19:58

      It sure is. False advertising!!!

  • Simoneee on 18/10/2023 - 19:33
    +3

    Booking directly with the hotel is the best option in my opinion

    • BuddhaBoy on 18/10/2023 - 20:00
      +1

      💯 agree. Worth paying slightly more.
      Interestingly, a hotel I booked directly, came $1k less than what booking dot com displayed after genius discount and cash back rewards!

  • hasher22 on 18/10/2023 - 19:35
    +3

    In most cases cash rewards / cash back offers for hotels is mostly a scam IMO.

    I only use shop back and I booked a few hotels in Asia but whenever shop back is activated, especially for Agoda, the price would jump up making the cash back less if I were not to use shop back.

    For example, if a hotel for 1 night is $100 without shop back but I activate 5% shop back, the hotel price is now $120

  • knasty on 18/10/2023 - 19:37
    +1

    I always check with/without the CR link activated but in my experience there's only been 1 occasion where booking without CR turned out to be cheaper (ie. it was an app-only discount). So it's definitely a case of compare the pair but I wouldn;t call it a joke based on 1 experience.

  • MS Paint on 18/10/2023 - 19:39
    +6

    This is old news. I'm talking precovid news. Time to move on.

  • [Deactivated] on 18/10/2023 - 19:39
    +1

    I just did a grocery shop list for the week and found HEAPS of items that were either more expensive or cheaper in Woolies & Coles.

    In summary, my experience with both Woolies and Coles online was disappointing as my preference is to just have to do 1 shop at 1 supermarket yet the ever changing prices means I have to go to both to save some money. So RUDE!

  • valuer on 18/10/2023 - 19:46
    +1

    Sounds like supermarket 50% off claims.

  • jv on 18/10/2023 - 20:11
    +1

    Were you born yesterday?

    • fantombloo on 18/10/2023 - 20:17
      +2

      Member since Aug 2016, so no, at least 7 years old.

      • jv on 18/10/2023 - 20:19

        at least 7 years old.

        Based on their username, that could include several lifetimes due to reincarnation…

        So my question still stands…

        • fantombloo on 18/10/2023 - 20:29
          +2

          No, you specifically asked were you born yesterday, not reborn yesterday.

  • ddhar on 18/10/2023 - 20:21
    +1

    I've been recently skipping the cashback options when using Booking.com, Agoda, etc. The final price invariably works out cheaper.

    This one baffled me though. Looking at a hotel in Prague with a $100/night price. Turned on CR for Booking.com and the price jumped to nearly $250/night. wtf.

    • jv on 18/10/2023 - 20:34
      +1

      Turned on CR jumped to nearly $250/night. wtf.

      That is to pay for Tightarse's commission…

  • DingoBilly on 18/10/2023 - 20:33

    I was curious as I'm planning a trip to Japan so did comparisons on the booking.com website vs. hotel directly, and couldn't verify this at all.

    If I go via booking.com direct the price is the same as if I go via cashrewards website to booking.com is the same price as if I go and try booking.com via Shopback. I did this for a new booking as well as comparing to old bookings I've already done and found the prices pretty similar. Prices are also similar to the hotel directly. Also tested on a different browser/incognito just in case a cookie was tracking me/changing things.

    The hotel directly is almost always more expensive, so booking.com is definitely cheaper and convenient. I suspect you may have been selecting different options by mistake or getting very confused.

    • BuddhaBoy on 18/10/2023 - 20:50

      Nope, same hotels/resort, same room, same bed size (eg King), same view (garden), same dates, same options (breakfast included), same occupants etc.

      Did this multiple times as I have 3 weeks and 3 different accomodations to book and that baffled me.

      • DingoBilly on 18/10/2023 - 21:01

        I'm curious - would you be able to share the hotel? I'd be keen to try myself and see what happens. Happy if you want to message me directly.

        Wonder if it's a location thing or what it could be in that case.

        • BuddhaBoy on 18/10/2023 - 21:49
          +1

          Ok done. Sent you the details.

  • Clear on 18/10/2023 - 21:23
    +2

    As we always say it's not Cashrewards themselves increasing the price - it's Booking.com. They plaster it everywhere that you've clicked through an affiliate partner, so some "exclusive" offers do get a price increase as Booking.com don't want double dipping on discounts sometimes.

    Now the real thing to be worried about is that Booking.com have had an undeclared breach of some kind. Hotels are sending messages through Booking.com saying the payment failed and give you an almost legit looking URL to click through to pay. It's a scam and plastered all over the travel subreddits. It's particularly bad for those looking to travel to Japan.

    • QF99 on 18/10/2023 - 21:51

      Got one of those scam messages from booking.com through a hotel in South Korea. Lucky I ignored the message as it did look pretty legit

    • Cheaplikethebird on 19/10/2023 - 10:01

      Yeah and hasn't this security hole been a thing for years? I remember hearing about it at least a year ago and there's still news articles popping up now about scams surrounding it. No way I'm putting my CC info through their payment portal.

  • Youfah Mizzum on 19/10/2023 - 10:12

    I have experienced both what @DingoBilly says and what OP says. Sometimes direct is cheaper, sometimes booking.com is cheaper, sometimes CR with booking.com is cheaper (taking the cashback into account). Often CR with booking.com is inflated as OP found.

    It just requires some due diligence when making bookings to take your time and check all options. I also hold membership with hotel chains and they sometimes provide a further 5% or 10% off.

    I recall many moons ago I rocked up to a hotel without a booking and asked for their best last minute price on a room. It was quite pricey IIRC so I hung about in the lobby, jumped onto one of those aggregators (booking.com I think - might've been Expedia?) and got a room for well over $100 off what the concierge said. Walked up and said, "hey I can book a room for $x on booking.com, can you match it?" "Nope". So I just booked via booking.com and got a room there anyway.

  • lainey13 on 19/10/2023 - 23:59

    I've seen this before, basically ANY link you click through from a cashback site has the risk that the price shown to you is MORE than if you'd just gone straight there.
    Never EVER shop/browse from the cashback site, do all your research first and then click through, and always double check the price then!

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