3 Ways to Book Luxury Hotels for Less

I love luxury hotel stays, but I’m definitely not someone who wants to pay thousands of dollars for a few nights of accommodation.

So, after years of travel-hacking the system, I’ve developed three key strategies for booking my hotel stays:

1. If I must pay cash, earn extra points on the booking

2. Use 3rd party tools to compare points pricing and find the best-value stay

3. Apply the hotel credits included on the credit cards I carry

We’re breaking each of these strategies down in this article.

I’m including real examples, like the suite at the Four Seasons in Seoul that worked out to about 24,700 points a night, and The Singapore EDITION for $168 out of pocket.

And by the end of this article you’ll know exactly which strategy to apply when, and you’ll be on your way to your next 5-star stay in no time.

If you’re new to points, my advice in most cases is to save your points for flights and pay cash for hotels. You’ll get more bang for your buck (or points) on a business class flight than on a hotel.

The good news is that paying cash for the room can actually help you earn more points if you’re smart about it!

I always recommend booking your hotel through Rove instead of Expedia or Booking.com.

On reservations through Rove, you’ll earn Rove Miles on your stay (up to 25X per dollar and higher at some properties), you still earn points on the card you paid with, plus, on “loyalty eligible” bookings, you’ll also earn the hotel chain’s own points and stay credit toward status.

Three points currencies earned on one stay. We call that triple dipping!

Pro Tip: Book a non-refundable room through Rove and you’ll receive the Rove Miles to your account immediately. That means you could book your hotel, and then use those points to buy your business class flight!

Sign up here to receive 1,500 bonus miles, no booking required.

Make a booking over $500 and use code RACHEL for an extra 5,000 bonus points.

Now let’s look at the best ways to find the cheapest points pricing, and my favorite hacks for stretching your credit card hotel credits further!