For years, I was proud of the fact that I didn’t have any hotel status and wasn’t beholden to any limits when picking out hotels.
At the time, I searched the internet for cheap rates through whatever site I could. That’s how I found many different places to stay in New York. We stayed at The Distrikt when it was part of Choice Hotels and even stayed at the Waldorf=Astoria on a mistake rate. That’s also how we stayed at B&B hotels like the J. Palen House in Cleveland while we visited the A Christmas Story House. I wasn’t limited to finding a place to use a free night certificate or which hotel had the best breakfast for Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite guests.
Now my searches for hotels are based on which hotels I need to use for free nights. If I’ve already spent all of those, I look for places to use hotel points. If both of those are done, I’ll see if there are any places that would be a good redemption to purchase or transfer points.
But what if I didn’t have to think about any of that? How would I search for hotels if hotel loyalty status didn’t matter?
I’d look for the place with the best price for the highest quality hotel with the most amenities.
Why is that not what I’m doing right now?
For many of the hotels we stay in, I don’t lose anything by using my credit card benefits and free nights.
I might stay at a Holiday Inn Express with a free night IHG voucher that costs $49 from the co-brand card. This is no worse than the Hampton Inn at the same exit, which would cost $119.
But what if I’m looking for a hotel in a big city and spending 85,000 Marriott Bonvoy points instead of spending $350 for a really cool hotel? If I never was worried about earning Bonvoy points, then I could stay wherever I wanted. Sure, I’d still stay at the Goldener Hirsch in Salzburg, Austria and be glad to pay for the room through Virtuoso. But I might be missing out on a great place if I’m only going to stay at a Hyatt Centric property as a Globalist because of the amazing breakfast and suite upgrade (and yes, I know there are no Hyatt hotels in Salzburg, but I liked the example.)
It’s hard to imagine a world without worrying about hotel loyalty programs. The benefits of having a co-brand or luxury card are seemingly too good to refuse. Getting a 50K free night for $150 is a no-brainer until you realize that free night puts you into a prison of only looking at hotels in a single program.
I’m deep into the system right now, with several cards in various programs, each offering a free night for paying a small annual fee. It’s taken me a while to get here, and getting out sometimes feels as difficult as escaping Shawshank.
Want to comment on this post? Great! Read this first to help ensure it gets approved.
Want to sponsor a post, write something for Your Mileage May Vary, or put ads on our site? Click here for more info.
Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and sign up to get emailed notifications of when we post.
Whether you’ve read our articles before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!
This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.