This post is about finding amazing cash rates for hotels. Forget about crappy hotel deals sites like Priceline, Hotwire, and Expedia and pick up some new tricks, for those who want really cheap hotel prices. Averaging $20 to $30 a night for 4 and 5 star hotels, like we did in Europe, is possible for anyone.
Many people are surprised that I continually say that I only go for deals that average out under $30 a night for 4 and 5 star hotels, and anyone could do the same or better.
The next comment I usually hear is about how we stay in cheap countries. The fact of the matter is that in the last couple years we’ve spent more time in Europe (or the USA) than all the other continents combined. We’ve stayed in expensive places, usually in 4 and 5 star hotels for under $30 a night.
Our average was actually under $20 a night and hopefully will be again. My main strategy is points from great hotel promotions. But since I talk about that enough, I decided I would give some other resources and ideas for getting similar prices without living out of IHG and Radisson hotels like we do.
Seriously, please forget junk like Priceline and Hotwire, or deals listed on sites like Expedia, or crappy OTA rewards programs like Hotels.com and Expedia rewards. There is a better option out there.
Skip forward:
- Roomer: “last minute deals” and “amazing deals”
- Mistake Fares
- Best Rate Guarantees
- Hotel Chain earning and burning deals
- Amazingly Cheap Hotel Redemptions
- MSing for Hotels
Roomer Travel
This is a cool website I hadn’t heard of until recently that allows people to sell their prepaid rooms that they can’t use to others. Sometimes you’re confident about your plans and book a non-refundable rate, then the plans change anyways.
The great part is that as the date approaches and the room hasn’t sold people decide it’s better to get some of their money back rather than none and sell for super cheap. I have seen downtown Marriott hotels in nice locations go for $30 this way.
And roomer makes it even easier by giving you a list of hotels sorted by the biggest discounts – on the amazing deals page. Here are some examples I found looking at the site right now.
3 star hotel in Reykjavik for $18 and 4 star in Sydney for $46. It doesn’t get much better than this for regular cash rates.
The problem (or maybe the awesome part) is that the site isn’t too well known, and therefore not a ton of people are putting their rooms up for discount. There are usually barely 100 hotels, usually 1 to 5 night stays, on the amazing deals page.
So this strategy either takes flexibility or luck. I’d like to try it out but so far it hasn’t fit my schedule. But I still keep an eye out. Worth checking, but all that to say; don’t just go searching for the city and dates you want and expect an $18 hotel. It’s not going to happen like that.
Mistake Fares
Mistake Fares are probably even more unlikely in terms of destination than Roomer. But the dates are often flexible. So if I do see a hotel in a place I might go in the next year, I book if it’s a cancelable rate.
I personally get alerts from all 3 of these and I must admit that the second two are like chasing unicorns and I’ve never booked one from 2 or 3. “Here’s a hotel in Cornwall, England on Feb 24th and 25th for $5.” Like, I can’t do that, don’t like the cold, and am not traveling anywhere for a 2 day hotel deal.
FlyerTalk has been really good to me but you have to have the patience to get tons of alerts for crappy hotel deals, ones that don’t apply to you, and people posting dumb things that aren’t hotel deals/aren’t supposed to be in the hotel deals forum – i.e. “anyone know of any deals for Chicago next weekend?” and what not.
Best Rate Guarantees
I’ve talked about this on the surface level many times before but BRGs are consistently the most hackable ways to get hotel deals.
See the Complete Guide to Best Rate Guarantees.
But if you want my quick overview on the BRGs to get the most amazing hotel deals, I’ll summarize 4 of them. The first two have guarantees that they’ll have the best rate or you’ll get your first night free.
First let me say that all these work the same way:
- Book on the website of the chain offering the guarantee
- Find a lower rate on a different website
- Fill out their “claim form”
- Wait to hear back on whether it’s accepted and discounted or not
IHG BRG – Find a lower rate, get your first night free. An awesome guarantee, as even if your stay is one night, it ends up being completely free.
I have used this to get free nights at many InterContinental hotels. For example the IC San Juan, IC Budapest, IC Vienna, IC Nairobi, IC Dusseldorf, IC Austin, and more. Read more about IHG BRGs.
Choice BRG – Find a lower rate, get your first night free. Same as IHG but I tend to do it less because my success rate is lower and I might as well choose 5 star hotels like InterCons.
Hilton BRG – Find a lower rate get $50 off ($50 off bill internationally, get a $50 amex gift card in the mail for domestic BRGs). $50 off a bill doesn’t sound as cool but there are $50 to $60 hotels all over. I actually got a Hilton in Wales for $9 a night doing this. Plus there are many Hiltons in eastern Europe, and all over Asia that can be had for similar prices.
Best Western – Find a lower rate, get a $100 Best Western gift card. This is pretty incredible as you can use a gift card to pay for a hotel that you’ve BRGed. It could potentially be an endless circle of BRGs. I’ve been too lazy or preoccupied with other things to invest in the original stay. Read more on Best Western BRGs.
Again, check out the Complete Guide to Best rate Guarantees as you’ll see that this can apply to booking sites and just about every hotel chain. However, it’s most amazing with these 4.
Hotel Chain earning and burning deals
Club Carlson 2-for-1 Rate
Club Carlson has a rate available for its gold/concierge members (gold is an easy status match and comes with the credit card) for 2-for-1 weekend rates, and even 4-for-2 (starting on Wed/Thur). This is only available in Europe, Middle East and Africa, but one of Club Carlson’s strengths is its presence in this region of the world.
This is a pretty amazing deal on its own as it’s already 50% off, but the fact that you earn points makes it even better. It’s basically a buy one get one free, so half of the nights will show up as paid rates.
We’ve earned a fair number of points on paid Club Carlson stays. They’ve had promos for 50,000 points, 30,000 points and triple points. You could potentionally pay for 1 night and get one free with the 2-for-1 rate and get enough points for another night.
The problem with this rate is that its availability can be pretty bad in peak times. In winter it was super great. Hotels are already cheap for winter and then I got 50% off. However, it seems to have terrible availability even looking at some of the same hotels for the spring. Plus, it doesn’t seem to have good availability booking ahead either. That being said, it is definitely worth checking on your next Euro trip.
IHG’s Big Promos + PointBreaks
The most deadly earning and burning hotel combination is no doubt with IHG. For the last many quarters they’ve had one of the best hotel points earning promotions. It’s possible for anyone to get at least 50,000 points in 3 paid nights.
And on the other side they have one of the best hotel redemptions and best redemption promotions – PointBreaks. They pick a couple hundred hotels every couple months to go on the list and be available for 5,000 points a night.
Now combine the two. Pay for three nights -> earn 50,000 points -> redeem the 50k for 10 nights during PointBreaks. 13 nights for the price of 3. This is how I roll.
The PointBreaks list is hit/miss but that’s okay. It hasn’t helped us with any trips in the last 8 months but last year when we went to Europe with my mom it seemed to be everywhere we were going.
Amazingly Cheap Hotel Redemptions
I just did a post on this that I’ll let do the talking here: Amazingly Cheap Hotel Redemptions.
The concept is simple, using your rewards points for category 1 and 2 hotels can save a ton of points. It’s rare that they are in a good location so I tried to make a list of all the cheap hotel redemptions in hotels/places that I would actually spend time.
It’s true with basically every chain but here are a couple of examples. 30,000 SPG points could go to 1 night at a top tier hotel or 10 nights at a category 2 hotel on weekends – and there are tons of good SPG category 2 hotels. A great redemption!
Or take 95,000 Hilton points- that is 1 single night at a top tier hotel or 19 nights at a category 1 hotel.
Browse the list to see if your destination has a steal, or if your currency has some locations you’re interested in.
MSing for Hotels
The art of buying gift cards on credit cards that earn lots of points and cashing them out could still work for hotels.
| Co-Brand Credit Card | Category Bonus | Transfers | Category Bonuses | $ to cat 1 | $ to top tier | |
| Hyatt | Hyatt | 1x | Chase | Ink Bold 5x | $1,000 | $6,000 |
| IHG | IHG | 2x Grocery, Gas | Chase, Citi | Ink Bold 5x | $2,000 | $10,000 |
| Hilton | HHonors Surpass | 6x Grocery, Gas | Amex 1:1.5, Citi 1:1.5 | Hilton Surpass 6x | $833 | $15,833 |
| Club Carlson | Club Carlson | 5x everywhere | Club Carlson 5x | $1,800 | $14,000 | |
| SPG | SPG | 1x | Amex 0.33:1 | SPG 1x | $2,000 | $35,000 |
| Marriott | Marriott | 1x | Chase | Ink Bold 5x | $1,500 | $14,000 |
The biggest problem with this chart is the Ink Chase partner thing. I would never transfer Chase points to Marriott in the first place, and right now earning Chase points at office supply stores on the Ink isn’t as easy as it used to be.
The best options to me are Hilton, Club Carlson and maybe SPG.
Hilton Surpass has 6x at grocery/gas and 5k point category 1 hotels. A great combo. At a 1% loss that’s $8.33 for a free night.
But both the Surpass and Reserve earn 3 points per dollar everywhere! As I’ll say with Club Carlson in a second, that’s super easy and it makes places I normally wouldn’t buy gift cards, like Simon, a reasonable option.
Club Carlson at 5x everywhere is a killer deal too. $1,800 spend to get a free night at non-bonus category locations like Simon is reasonable. If you have an easy method, it’s definitely worth the spend with Club Carlson. Easy and less than 1%, I’d say you should always do it (given that you don’t have a better card to be using), especially before the deval.
Realistically right now with simon and BlueBird you can do .6% cost/gc fees and double the value with the bogo, which you can book with until June 1. Makes two nights at a category 1 $10, or $18 at a category 2.
SPG is only 1x but free nights start at 2,000 points. Realistically, I’d redeem for category 2 hotels ranging from 3,000 (on weekends) to 4,000 points. But at 1% $30 to $40 for a free night is more than Club Carlson, so I tend not to care too much about SPG right now.
Conclusion
My hope is that there are enough amazing options here that you can score something on your next vacation. I assure you that $30 a night at 4/5 star hotels isn’t because we’re special or because we only travel to specific locations; it is entirely because we have the methods listed in this post at our finger tips.
And at the end of the day, you always have rewards programs to get free nights. Free nights from credit card sign up bonuses or spending.
![Nick of FM on #40kFarAway [TIF Podcast]](https://travelisfree.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/travel-is-free-podcast-nick-40K-120x86.jpg)
Great list! How does points earning work when using Roomer, though?
Not too sure. They claim to specialize in transferring the room to your name. But I haven’t tried yet, I assumed it would work. But I’m guessing it’s YMMV. People are using different booking engines to resell from, and all kinds of things. Room could be direct or from priceline. But I’m not sure how it works.
dude, if you really MS at simon like you say, you can’t really be writing .6 a year after it went to .8- it’s impossible to make that ‘mistake’- every trip to simon is a reminder that at .8 many cards no longer make sense there. also, ignoring actual costs is a fantasy-based approach to MS that reduced credibility. there is gas to simon and walmart plus MO costs (.069 plus gas to buy and liquidate), wasted trips due to the kiosk down and simon out of cards- something that has happened twice this year. unless you have an endless supply of bb/rc’s then, for your full time travel, you’re buying a lot of mo’s. REAL cost of simon net net is .95 to 1. which is 50% higher than you write her and in the past.
you’re truly awesome at routing, selecting airline programs and some hotel stuff- best blogger i’ve found. but when you write about MS, it seems from a novice standpoint where you don’t actually do it yourself.
as for MSing hilton at 3x- you better have one of the very few cat 1/2 stays coming very soon to do that. hilton now changes categories once every month or so and with about a week notice. if they raise any of this small handful from 2 to 3, then 3x MS isn’t worth it.
I agree that going to Simon malls for MS is novice. It’s not my general MS advice, but is is a way to make use of non-categorized bonus card (like Club Carlson). I’d rather 5x and at lower costs and higher scale.
Yea, so personally I don’t do it much, of the $60k+ on a 5% card last month (hopefully double this month), I only added a little Simon to meet spend (on Virgin card), but it was only my second time. And I haven’t bought a money order in a while, so I don’t count gas into the cost. I find MOs to be time consuming and not very fun with scaling.
Either way, since I’m not driving to liquidate or buying MOs it’s safe to say my “real costs” are not the same as yours. Most of my MS is liquidated for free. These are my real costs, not sure what it would be called fantasy – even BlueBird, which is common knowledge, is free.
Sorry you find a mis-detail on Simon cards to be so novice, but I don’t really cover MS, or claim to cover those details fully. I mentioned it. I just made a chart with the amount of spend needed, because the “real costs” would vary. Seems everyone does different things – i.e. you like to pay for MOs. But based on my experience, there’s little need for MOs.
I’m not sure where you see monthly hilton changes. I have a post on category 1 & 2 hilton from last summer and none of them have changed. So no one reading this should be too worried about that as it’s not accurate.
I’m truly amazed. I cant even begin to fathom MS 60k+ in a month and then liquidating without the typical routes. I hope one day I run into you on a layover and have a chance to pick your brain.
I totally agree. I’m at 15k but that’s chump change compared to what Drew is doing.
here is a hilton link to definitely check every couple of weeks for Category changes:
http://hhonors3.hilton.com/en/earn-use-points/hotel/using/standard-room-rewards-update.html
this time they gave 2 weeks notice, last time it was like 5 days.
i MS 2 1/2x what you do, but you must know something i don’t insofar as liquidating. bill pay and MO cost money. unless you control 10 BB/RC/Serve, i have no idea how you can liquidate 60k/mo for free and without MO?!? further, if you MS Amex, which you can’t even BP @ WM, how do you convert those GC’s to pay Amex without MO?!? if you have a way, then i’m the novice, not you…
How do you spend $60k last month (potentially $120k this month) without MSing much (your words) yet living on an annual budget of ~$24k? Something doesn’t add up?! Do you have relatives that simply re-purchase all of your GCs at face-value or something?
I think Drew just meant he doesn’t MS at Simon much, not that he doesn’t MS much in general. He made a post a couple of months ago about planning to go big this year:
http://travelisfree.com/2015/02/27/traveling-and-msing-20k-cashback-a-year/
I have no idea how he’s doing it, but trying to MS $120k in one month just sounds like *wayyyyy* too much exposure to me.
I do cashback. I’m making more than 4% cash… Making money is quite within my cheapo budget.
If you dont mind me asking, how quick of a turnaround from when you purchase to when you get your money back out.
Good list mate, I am using all already so it’s good to know that i am on the right track, thanks
Maybe I should be asking for what other things you are using, since I just learned of roomer.
Roomer is a great site, definitely one that I check at least twice a day. It always surprises me how often I see rooms in Daytona Beach on there. I never realized how many people wanted to come here. But then again, I guess if the rooms are for sale on Roomer then people don’t actually want to come here after all ;-p.
Haha. Never realized how many people change their minds about going to Daytona beach. 😀
This is amazing. There’s so much great stuff here that I’ve never even heard of. Definitely gonna be giving them a try. Nice work!
Sweet. Am that this will provide some good saving opportunities.
These links quite honestly were a waste of my time…….
I assume this means you know even more about booking cheap 4/5* hotels. Would love to see some additional tips, so please share if you can.
JGM
Great post – thank you! I’ve learned tons of valuable stuff from your site in the last week or so. Regretting not checking out your site a few years ago when I traveling tons throughout E/SE Asia.
I got a question for you 🙂
When doing BRG, do you try to find a lower price on another site at the same time, and then book on the hotel’s own website? Wouldn’t that increase your chances of your BRG claim getting processed? Would like to hear about your strategy more specifically. Otherwise, you’re playing the lottery… Also, are there any websites out there that notify you of cheaper hotel rates, like there is for car rentals?
Looking forward to your reply!
JGM
Thanks for the tips. However, I have to say I am not too impressed with roomer yet. I checked some dates for a couple of locations and the comparisons they show were for different hotels. For example, searching for Santorini 4 of the hotels showed anywhere from 50-80% off, but when I went to Kayak it was the same price and the comparisons they were basing it off was a different hotel (ex. 7/14-7/15).
Drew,
Great analysis! Thanks for sharing. I am learning a lot from your writings.
Which cash back cards are you using (AMEX old blue, fidelity, citi 2%..)?
Drew,
I am new to your site and the whole redeeming points for travel, but I have collected some points and want to take my family, my wife and 6 month old baby for a vacation this summer. I don’t know where to start and how to book the travels.
I live in the Philadelphia and the philly airport would be the most convenient but also can use Newark, or JFK if need be.
I have 55,000 chase UR points and my wife has 56,000 chase UR points.
We recently got the IHG chase card and she has 80,000 points while i have 380,000 points as I bought 300,000 points through dailygetaway as a colleague told me about that site.
I also have 50,000 barclays united/american airlines points and wife also has 50,000 points.
We want to either go to Hawaii or london or paris ( i say one or the other as we can take a train to either distination for a few days)
One of the things i am looking for is getting business class, and never having travelled business class, and with a baby we want to have some decent flying experience for a long haul flight.
Any help in this matter would be appreciated.
Hey Sid, I’d like to help as much as I can.
You mean US Airways/AA and therefore now all AA miles. So that’s 50k + 50k AA miles. And 110k Chase points that could all be United miles.
In any case, you should have enough miles to get a oneway there with United miles, and then another oneway coming back.
AA will chart 45k on each account and with United it will be 42.5k each. If I book from two different accounts I put one on hold then book the other, then issue the ticket on hold. But you could just call.
The big annoying thing is that airlines charge 10% of an expensive revenue ticket for infants. While I’ve never done it, I assume mommypoints has, and here’s a post on her blog: http://mommypoints.boardingarea.com/2014/03/10/guide-to-booking-award-travel-with-lap-infants/
But this could add $350 each direction because they’ll charge 10% of some stupidly expensive ticket.
Oddly enough, it bases it off of 10% of a revenue ticket and often oneways are way more than half of a roundtrip. So if you were to stock up on AA miles or something, you might be better off. Or top off on United miles.
This way you could book a roundtrip. Maybe this is too much detail, but more miles never hurts.
You could add the United Explorer cards 55k each (which would get you a roundtrip). Or get the AA 50k cards (which would also get you a roundtrip)
Best info for the AA cards is here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/citi-thankyou-rewards/1632562-citi-platinum-gold-aa-cards-bonuses-benefits.html#
And you can get the United 55k card. If you both did this, you would have 100k+ in AA and United each.
The other nice thing about booking a roundtrip with United miles is that you could book a stopover in London, Paris or Hawaii.
Just read the part about business class… Well, you could get both the AA cards and the United card and have enough points for oneway business/first tickets with each currency. You will pay $1,000 each direction though with the infant.
For hotels use this map to find IHG hotels: http://travelisfree.com/2014/08/04/complete-map-of-ihg-rewards-properties/
It might not be a good deal to use IHG points given that you probably paid a lot for those points… and hotels in India are really cheap.
So you paid about $30 per 5,000 points. So a 15,000 point hotel would be $90 worth of points via Daily Getaways, or a 20,000 point hotel would be $120 worth of dailygetaways points. And the hotels in India might only run $50 to $100 for a nice hotel. The Hyatt in Kolkata when I was there was like $80 a night and will be way nicer than a Holiday Inn, and it will earn points. Award stays won’t earn points. Then again, you’re probably unlooking to unload those points. But know that you’ll likely have ended up paying more for hotels if you use your dailygetaway points… but then again, you already paid. Not to be a downer.
Anyways, hpoe this helps clarify somethings. Let me know if you have questions.
The only time when these points work is when you have credit card that gives you miles for traveling, used placesuggest.com when traveling and got some free miles.