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- My checklist to save money on cash hotel stays.
- Best rate guarantee programs
- Examples of successes and failures
- How to file a claim?
- Which sites work and don’t work for best rate guarantee?
My checklist to save money on cash hotel stays.
Every time I book a hotel stay, I always do a few things that are guaranteed to save me even just a few dollars, but could even save me a few hundred as well. This is applicable to hotel bookings paid with cash, not points.
- First, I almost always book directly on the hotel website (Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt, IHG, etc.). You generally get the best rates for being a hotel loyalty member, and you earn points that can be used for a future stay, effectively saving for your next hotel stay.
- In addition to booking direct, I always use a shopping portal that helps you earn even more cash or points. You can get an extra 1% to 15% or more in cash back or points depending on the shopping portal and hotel chain. Popular shopping portals include Rakuten (cashback or points and is also my affiliate link), Capital One Shopping (cashback in form of gift cards), Capital One Offers (can earn points), RetailMeNot (cashback), or even airline shopping portals. This is guaranteed cash back/points earning. Sadly, Hyatt lasted just a week on the cash back portals but hopefully comes back soon.
- The third thing I do, which usually does not work, but can save up to an extra 25% off your entire stay if it does work, is using a price match program. The major hotel chains offer “best rate guarantees” where if you can find a better rate on a third-party site for the same hotel, same room type, same dates, and same cancellation policy, the hotel will match the better rate and give a discount. This is why I always check third-party sites for hotel pricing right after I book my room as it could save me even more.
- If you are staying at a more upscale hotel, it is also worth looking at booking through American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts (FHR) or through Capital One’s Premier and Lifestyle Collection Hotels. These are for more upscale hotels and could potentially save you 25-33% or more. Amex FHR, which needs an Amex consumer or business Platinum card to be able to book, has hotels that offer a third or fourth night free or other amenity-related offers, potentially making it cheaper than booking direct. Capital One also has a fourth night free on select Premier and Lifestyle and Collection hotels, which are bookable if you have a Venture or Venture X card.
- Finally, the last thing I do is sporadically check my reservation and the hotel pricing as the date gets closer. I almost always book a fully refundable rate, allowing me to change or cancel my hotel if my plans change, the current room price drops, or if I want to switch to a different hotel. If my current hotel rate drops, I will book a new room at the better price first and make sure it’s booked. Then I’ll cancel my older reservation with the more expensive rate.
Best rate guarantee programs
The three most popular hotel programs, Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott, all have a best rate guarantee program where you can save up to 25% off the already-lower price-matched price. For example, if the room is $300/night on Marriott’s site but find an identical room with identical cancellation policy for $267/night on a third-party site such as Hotels dot com, Marriott will match the $267/night rate plus an extra 25% off, making the room $200/night. Sounds amazing right? However, it is extremely difficult to find better pricing for the same room and cancellation policy on third-party sites. But, it’s still worth a few minutes of your time right after you book a hotel and can pay off big time!
Marriott’s Best Rate Guarantee lets you save 20-25% off the lower-rate you found or receive 5k Bonvoy points
Hyatt’s best rate guarantee lets you get 20% off your rate or 5k World of hyatt points
Hilton’s Price Match Guarantee will match the lowest rate and an additional 25% off
Some examples of success and failure
2 nights at W Union Square. Success!
2 nights at Sandbourne Santa Monica. Success!
3 nights at New York Marriott Marquis. Fail
How to file a claim?
Every hotel program has a section on their site to let you file a claim. However, each program has their own unique quirks ranging from excluding certain regions or properties, requiring you to book the room first before filing a claim, or only allowing a claim to be submitted online. Be sure to review the terms on each site before submitting.
Both Marriott and Hyatt require you to book directly on their site first and then submit a claim online within 24 hours. Hilton will let you call in and see if you qualify before you book!
Link to Hyatt best rate guarantee. (20% off or 5,000 Hyatt points)
Link to Hilton price match guarantee. (25% off room rate)
Link to Marriott best rate guarantee. (25% off room rate, 20% for Design hotels, or 5,000 Marriott points)
Link to IHG best rate guarantee. (Matches lower rate and earn 5x the rewards points earned up to 40,000 points)
Link to Choice Hotels lowest price guarantee. (Matches lower rate and $50 reward card. Int’l residents get free first night)
Link to Wyndham best rate guarantee. (Matches lower rate plus 3,000 points and )
Link to Accor best price guarantee. (25% discount except for Fairmont, Raffles, and Swissôtel, where you’ll receive a 10% discount).
Which sites work and don’t work for best rate guarantee?
Although it is generally pretty hard to find a rate that is lower compared to booking direct, there is bound to be a rate mismatch across the dozens of third-party sites. Talking with people who work across the various best rate guarantee teams, they noted they primarily match rates from the largest online travel agencies (OTAs) like Expedia, Booking, and Hotels dot com. I like to take a look to see what the rates are using Google, which helps aggregate pricing from multiple OTAs. However, some sites that I have had success with do not show up on Google such as Rocketmiles. Sites that generally don’t work are less reputable OTAs in my opinion, and even though they often are cheaper, presents the risk that you won’t have a confirmed reservation when you show up to the hotel.
| Sites that work | Sites that generally don’t work |
| Agoda | Algotels |
| Booking | BluePillow |
| Expedia | GoSplitty |
| Hotels dot com | Super |
| Orbitz | Traveluro |
| Rocketmiles | Trip dot com |
| Travelocity | Zenhotels |
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