Best hotel rewards scheme?

Merroney

Hello,

I am starting to travel a lot in the UK with my work. I am able to claim back the cost of the hotel which means I can choose where I want to stay. The budget is not great and needs to include train travel and food. I usually get £150 per day day. I am able to get discounted rail travel for being disabled so that is a bit of a saving and frees up more of the allowance.

I was wondering, what would be the best scheme to join for rewards? I have been using Top Cash Back for booking but wondered how else I can earn points from this? I have googled it but can't seem to get a clear answer as to which rewards scheme would be best for me. I would appreciate any help people can give. Thanks.

richardw

If your preferred hotels are part of big chains like Marriott, Accor or IHG, look at their schemes. Headforpoints is good for more details.

Mistermeaner

i do alot of work travel and use hotels .com for all my bookings - one free night for every 10 away (based on average value of prior stays)

It's not quite free as there's normally a small surcharge

When booking make sure to include breakfast etc as part of your booking to keep the average value high (rather than paying for stuff separately at the hotel)

I use the free nights for family stuff; extending stays, city breaks or putting up the grandparents nearby when we go camping

i prefer this to the various loyalty schemes offered by the chains as it gives more flexibility for enjoying stuff outside of work vs getting the upgrades etc while working

phatbear

ignoring the fact that this is the Overseas travel section...…..


Anyway...….

The "best" hotel scheme is subjective.

I tend to stick to Hilton Honors, 130nights in Hiltons last year and have enough for diamond for the new year.

You will find that if you book through a third party, ie expedia, booking.com often the hotels will not give you points on top as they have already paid commission to the booking company, this is def the case with Hilton!

You need to consider the hotels in the immediate areas of where you will be staying, for example despite my preference for Hiltons in recent history I have been camped out in citys where the nearest Hilton is 30+ miles away therefore its pointless staying there.

phatbear

also be mindful of your employers t&c's for example the points I collect I am obliged to use any free nights I gain to offset the cost of the my stays for my company not for personal use.

Sharon87

hotels.com or ebookers are the best for me.

I find ebookers has a better cashback rate on Quidco and Top Cashback AND you can earn ebookers rewards - which can be used straight away. ebookers rewards aren't quite as generous as hotels.com free nights, but you can use them immediately off your next stay. You may get a couple of quid for one night's stay, which you could then use for money off your next stay, or you could save them up. Be warned they expire after a year of your stay. Hotels.com free nights do expire if you don't use the website for a year, so they roll over per year if you keep using the website.

I book loads of hotels for work and use these when I can.

peachyprice

I use Accor when I can, I usually save up enough points for a free weekend stay every six months or so.

Doshwaster

You really have to spend a lot of nights in a specific hotel chain to get any significant value out of their loyalty schemes.

If you travel to lots of different locations and stop in different hotels then the booking site schemes (Hotels.com, Expedia) will typically be better value. Don't forget cashback schemes if you book the hotels out of your own pocket.

Then there are the likes of Travelodge and PremierInn which don't do loyalty schemes and typically don't show up on the big booking sites.

badger09

Can you not simply join all those from hotels you are likely to use?:cool:

Mistermeaner

as above i favour hotels .com but still join all the loyalty schemes of the hotel chains themselves

as someone said above the chains won't normally give you the points etc unless you book direct but being a 'honours' member or whatever the equivalent is at the various chains normally gets you stuff like free wi-fi etc - generally flashing the loyalty card at the front desk can be beneficial with any requests you may have

its cheeky but even when I've booked through hotels .com I normally ask at the desk if they have any upgrades on or whether I can do a late check out (so if Im flying in evening I can nip back for a change and shower before flight etc)

Dont ask dont get !