We see hotels as simply a place to rest your head in between adventures. It has to be spotlessly clean but we aren’t (usually) looking for the Ritz!
If you travel with work, hotel loyalty schemes mount up quickly and don’t cost you or your employer a penny.
However, be warned… I used to collect IHG Hotels via their Priority Club scheme and quickly gained Ambassador status. The benefits weren’t anything to shout about, sometimes I got an apple on checkin or a free newspaper, but the points system used to be very generous. After advertising for years that points never expire, in 2016 they suddenly changed their mind. At the time I had over 200,000 points on account and just months to use them. The moral of this story is, don’t stockpile… enjoy the rewards!
We personally collect hotels.com rewards now and have enjoyed dozens of free nights. We are at their top tier Gold status which they claim unlocks ‘secret’ prices, but I’ve seen the same prices when I’m to logged in too, so I’m not convinced. Bascially, hotels.com take the average of every 10 nights you book and give you the value as one ‘reward’ night. You can therefore collect rewards equivalent to a 10% bonus on both chain hotels and independents! Couple this with Top Cashback (mentioned below) whose cash back rates vary through the year from 4% to 12%. Overall with cash back and rewards you could be getting 22% off!
When you have chosen your hotel, check into Top Cashback. If you don’t already know it SIGN UP NOW! Basically you visit Top Cashback search for the company you’re planning to make a purchase from and if they are partnered they’ll give you free cash back. This can vary from just 3% on some brands, and up to 15% on others.