Marriott and Hyatt have devalued their points this year, but they have nothing on what Hotels.com is doing.
Currently, Hotels.com awards 1 stamp for each hotel night and after you accumulate 10 stamps you earn a free night equal to the average amount you spent on those 10 nights. That’s an effective 10% rebate.
You don’t earn hotel points or status when booking stays on online travel agency sites like hotels.com, but many people prefer earning a 10% rebate to hotel points. Plus, some boutique hotels don’t have their own loyalty program, which makes the hotels.com value proposition stronger.
However, effective in “mid-2023” that program will be replaced with One Key, a rewards program that will apply to Hotels.com, Expedia, and VRBO. The announcement touts that you will get instant rewards instead of having to wait for 10 stays. That’s true, but the fine print is that going forward you’ll earn 2% back in OneKeyCash on hotels, car rentals, cruises, and activities. That may be an improvement for VRBO, but it’s a massive 80% devaluation for hotels.com.
There will be One Key elite status tiers as well. Silver will award 3% back at “VIP Access” hotels, Gold will earn 4% back at “VIP Access” hotels, and Platinum will earn 6% back at “VIP Access” hotels, though it’s unclear what exactly will qualify as a “VIP Access” hotel.
Expedia flight bookings will earn 0.2% back in OneKeyCash.
If you have hotels.com rewards nights, they will convert to OneKeyCash at an equal ratio. Stamps earned before the program conversion will convert to OneKeyCash at the 10% earnings ratio, but afterward you’ll earn just 2% back.
Hotels.com and Expedia have just put other devaluations to shame!
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9 Comments On "Hotels Devaluing Loyalty Programs? Hotels.com Says Hold My Beer"
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https://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=132778.0
Thanks
What is with already earned free nights ?
Having used hotels.com quite heavily over the last few years, I’m obviously disappointed. However, a huge difference between this devaluation and your typical hotel awards deval is that for your already earned rewards as of the devaluation date, you’re actually getting more from this convertion as it seems you’ll be able to apply your value freely to any travel bookings (as opposed to only hotel and having to use the full value of a stamp or lose it) whereas your typical hotel devaluation, devalues your hard earned points which were earned under different terms.
I think that is a huge distinction that should be acknowledged. It is completely different to say going forward you’ll earn x vs taking away purchasing power from hard earned rewards.
@dan what about stays already booked for layer in the year- I have 80 nights booked for June
There are only 30 nights in June
I’ve started using Hotels.com rewards for specific use cases where it made sense (boutique properties as you mentioned, also when booking more than three rooms for a night where hotel programs would no longer earn anything.) and this definitely stings moving forward.
For existing stamps/nights though this is actually a short term enhancement! Currently the 10% rebate has some serious caveats as you can’t combine nights to book a multi-night stay, you can’t combine the value of multiple nights to a single more expensive stay, and you lose the change if you use an earned night to book a cheaper stay. All three of these downsides will be eliminated once existing rewards convert to the new ones and can be used as cash.
This makes a compelling case for earning as much as possible under the current program, to spend under the new program.
“…you can’t combine nights to book a multi-night stay”
Sure you can!
“…you lose the change if you use an earned night to book a cheaper stay”
Don’t do that.
“…once existing rewards convert to the new ones and can be used as cash.” … “This makes a compelling case for earning as much as possible under the current program, to spend under the new program.”
Yep!
I just cancelled all of my pending hotels.com reservations. I replaced them by reserving direct. Not only did I vote with my feet against devaluation scams, but I also saved a lot of money!