When it comes to booking a hotel, you’d think it would be simple: pick the hotel you want and book it. But these days, that’s far from the case. With online travel agencies (OTAs), bank travel portals, shopping sites, and even airline booking engines all offering credits, bonus points, and promotions, it’s not always clear which option is best.
Why Booking Direct Still Matters
There are reasons to book directly with the hotel chain. Most major chains — Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG — only award loyalty points and elite night credits on direct bookings. If you have meaningful status, that can translate into upgrades, free breakfast, or bonus points.
But what if your status doesn’t unlock many benefits? Or if you’re booking at a brand where perks are slim? That’s when it makes sense to shop around. And if you’re staying at an independent hotel with no loyalty program at all, the decision becomes almost entirely about price, cancellation terms, and which portal or credit card perks you want to use. As Frequent Miler pointed out in their post on independent hotels, sometimes the smartest move is simply logging into every site you have access to and seeing what deal works out best.
The Competing Options
OTAs and portals can offer lower rates, additional rewards, or special credits depending on which card you hold. For example, I recently priced out a four-night stay at the Courtyard by Marriott Manhattan/Central Park and found a surprising spread in both costs and benefits depending on how I booked.
Here’s how the options compare:
| Booking Option | Cost (4 nights) | Extra Benefits |
|---|---|---|
| Marriott Direct | $1,130.53 | Bonvoy points + elite night credits; possible upgrades |
| Expedia (OTA) | $1,094.26 | Earn One Key points; flexible cancellation; occasional Amex Offers |
| Chase Travel Portal | $1,214.25 | $50 credit with Sapphire Preferred |
| Capital One Travel | $1,173.17 | Earn 10x points; $300 Venture X travel credit |
| Delta Stays | $1,094.26 | $200 credit on bookings when paying with an Amex Delta SkyMiles Gold Card |
| American Express Travel | $1,214.25 | 5x Membership Rewards points |
The Option I Picked
Looking at these numbers, the best fit for us would have been booking through Delta Stays. The price was lower than most of the other options, and by paying with my Amex Delta SkyMiles Gold Card, I could use the $200 statement credit. Since Expedia runs the Delta Stays platform, it had the same base rate as Expedia but with the extra perk.
But in the end, we didn’t stay at the Courtyard. Instead, I booked a room at the Kimpton Hotel Theta, part of IHG’s portfolio, for 189,000 IHG points plus $200 in hotel fees. Considering that IHG often sells points for half a cent each, this redemption worked out to an excellent value — and more cost effective than paying cash through any of the options above.
Final Thought
Choosing how to book a hotel stay isn’t clear-cut anymore. Between OTAs, portals, shopping sites, and direct bookings, each option comes with its own tradeoffs. The best approach? Take a few extra minutes to compare all the choices you have access to before you click “confirm.” Sometimes that means using a portal credit, sometimes it means booking direct — and sometimes the best deal is using points for an entirely different property.
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