Temp - Revision history

Editor: /* Tripadvisor Plus */

2021-06-12T22:04:41Z

‎Tripadvisor Plus

Editor: /* Tripadvisor Plus */

2021-06-12T22:03:39Z

‎Tripadvisor Plus

Editor: /* Tripadvisor Plus */

2021-06-12T22:03:10Z

‎Tripadvisor Plus

Editor: /* Hotel Engine */

2021-06-12T22:02:07Z

‎Hotel Engine

Editor: /* goSeek */

2021-06-12T22:01:33Z

‎goSeek

Editor: /* goSeek */

2021-06-12T21:59:40Z

‎goSeek

Editor: /* Priceline VIP */

2021-06-12T21:56:26Z

‎Priceline VIP

Editor: /* Tripadvisor Plus */

2021-06-12T21:50:39Z

‎Tripadvisor Plus

Editor: /* Hotel Engine */

2021-06-12T21:21:41Z

‎Hotel Engine

Editor: /* goSeek */

2021-06-12T21:18:50Z

‎goSeek

@@ Line 94: / Line 94: @@
 <ul class="bulletlist">
-<li>'''For now, they simply don't have enough participating hotels to join on a proactive basis'''. They only have a handful of participating hotels in many destinations.</li>
+<li>'''For now, they simply don't have enough participating hotels to join on a proactive basis'''. They only have a handful of participating hotels in many destinations. We primarily mention them because we have high hopes that the service will become more useful.</li>
 <li>'''However, if you see a good deal, it can be worth it to join, even for a single stay'''. If you can then use it to take advantage of some additional deals over the course of the year, it gets even better.</li>

@@ Line 109: / Line 109: @@
 {{Image|TAHyattKing.png}}
-{{Image|TAHyattTotal.png|200}}
+{{Image|TAHyattTotal.png|300}}
 Looking at the fees on Hotels.com, you can see that the Tripadvisor Plus rate doesn't include the $29 "destination fee". I suspect that you'll still be charged the fee when you check in, dropping the total savings to $53 per night.
-{{Image|TAHyattTotalComparison.png|300}}
+{{Image|TAHyattTotalComparison.png|450}}
 <li>'''The hotels that participate in the program are often available through private deal websites for the same amount (or even less)'''. For example, the Hyatt San Francisco is only $194 through Snaptravel (versus $222), without requiring paying Tripadvisor's membership fee.</li>

@@ Line 109: / Line 109: @@
 {{Image|TAHyattKing.png}}
-{{Image|HyattTotal.png}}
+{{Image|TAHyattTotal.png|200}}
 Looking at the fees on Hotels.com, you can see that the Tripadvisor Plus rate doesn't include the $29 "destination fee". I suspect that you'll still be charged the fee when you check in, dropping the total savings to $53 per night.
-{{Image|HyattTotalComparison.png}}
+{{Image|TAHyattTotalComparison.png|300}}
 <li>'''The hotels that participate in the program are often available through private deal websites for the same amount (or even less)'''. For example, the Hyatt San Francisco is only $194 through Snaptravel (versus $222), without requiring paying Tripadvisor's membership fee.</li>
-{{Image|GoseekHyatt.png}}
+{{Image|GoseekHyatt.png|600}}
 </ul>

@@ Line 76: / Line 76: @@
 <li>'''Hotel Engine is only available to businesses and organizations—but it is easy to get access'''. It isn't hard to do a web search for "Hotel Engine", find an organization that provides access, and use a button on their website to sign up for a Hotel Engine account. In many cases, you won't need to sign into the organization's website to get to Hotel Engine's setup page. There is no charge to either the organization or to you.</li>
-{{Image|HEZetta.png}}
+{{Image|HEZetta.png|600}}
-{{Image|HEIC.png}}
+{{Image|HEIC.png|600}}
-{{Image|HEHyattCentric.png}}
+{{Image|HEHyattCentric.png|600}}
 <li>'''Once you've gotten access, you need to take a small extra step to enroll in Hotel Engine's own reward program'''. Depending on your status level, you'll earn 10 - 20 points per dollar on each dollar you spend. Points can be used on any future Hotel Engine booking.</li>

@@ Line 58: / Line 58: @@
 {{Image|GoseekHyatt.png|600}}
-<li>'''GoSeek not only searches a variety of private deal sites, it also uncovers rates available from more traditional travel sites using publicly available discount codes'''. You could uncover these codes and find these deals yourself, but GoSeek makes it easier.</li>
+<li>'''GoSeek not only searches a variety of private deal sites, it also uncovers rates available from more traditional travel sites using publicly available discount codes'''. For example, at the time this reservation was being made, Travelocity had a code "Savenow" that offered 10% of the rates of participating hotels. You could uncover these codes and find these deals yourself, but GoSeek makes it easier to uncover these and find the lowest priced option.</li>
 {{Image|GoseekFairmont.png|600}}

@@ Line 52: / Line 52: @@
 The site is easy to completely straightforward to use and offers bargain rates on a large number of hotels in a wide range of destinations.
-{{Image|GoseekZetta.png}}
+{{Image|GoseekZetta.png|600}}
 It lets you compares their member-only rates to the regular rates available from several more mainstream travel sites.
-{{Image|GoseekHyatt.png}}
+{{Image|GoseekHyatt.png|600}}
 <li>'''GoSeek not only searches a variety of private deal sites, it also uncovers rates available from more traditional travel sites using publicly available discount codes'''. You could uncover these codes and find these deals yourself, but GoSeek makes it easier.</li>
-{{Image|GoseekFairmont.png}}
+{{Image|GoseekFairmont.png|600}}
 <li>'''goSeek offers a premium membership for $20 per year that provides access to even lower rates for some hotels'''. If you use this site on a semi-regular basis, it is easily worthwhile. However, since goSeek shows everyone when a premium-only rate is available, there is no reason to sign up until the first time you want to take advantage of a premium-only rate.</li>

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:56, 12 June 2021
Line 132:		Line 132:

	==== Priceline VIP ====		==== Priceline VIP ====
		+
		+	If you search on GoSeek, you'll see that many of the great rates they uncover are Priceline's VIP rates.
		+
		+	'''Priceline VIP offers members-only type rates on a broad selection of hotels'''. To take advantage of those rates, you need to have achieved Blue status, which requires two reservations.
		+
		+	If you use Autoslash for your car rentals, this is easy. Autoslash has a deal where the rates they uncover are actually booked through Priceline and these reservations count for your Priceline status. We believe that booking once through GoSeek not only provides access to these VIP rates but also sets you up to get them on your future reservations.
		+
		+	Like SnapTravel, you should theoretically be able to check Priceline's rates as part of using GoSeek, rather than needing to search it directly. But, we sometimes see great rates through Priceline that don't show up through GoSeek. So if you are willing to spend some extra effort, you can check Priceline directly.

	=== Somewhat less useful sites ===		=== Somewhat less useful sites ===

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:50, 12 June 2021
Line 86:		Line 86:

	=== Tripadvisor Plus ===		=== Tripadvisor Plus ===
		+
		+	'''With Tripadvisor Plus Tripdvisor is trying something new in the hotel reservation business'''. They want to become the "Netflix" or "Amazon Prime" for hotels. The basic idea is that you pay $99 per year to Tripadvisor and they provide access to a highly discounted rates, and often extra benefits, from a large collection of hotels.
		+
		+	When you make a Tripavisor Plus booking, the hotel keeps the entire amount you pay. Instead of paying a commission to TripAdvisor, they provide a discounted rate to you. TripAdvisor makes no money on the individual booking and is content to collect its $99 per year.
		+
		+	{{Image\|TripAdvisorPlus.png}}
		+
		+	<ul class="bulletlist">
		+	<li>'''For now, they simply don't have enough participating hotels to join on a proactive basis'''. They only have a handful of participating hotels in many destinations.</li>
		+
		+	<li>'''However, if you see a good deal, it can be worth it to join, even for a single stay'''. If you can then use it to take advantage of some additional deals over the course of the year, it gets even better.</li>
		+
		+	For example, here's a deal for a highly-ranked hotel in Dubai. Instead of paying a total of $246 per night (including tax), you'd pay around 121 per night. Especially if you are staying for a few nights, this can easily be worth the $99 fee, even if you don't get any further use out of your membership.
		+
		+	{{Image\|TAJumeriah.png}}
		+
		+	<li>'''Deals may not be quite as good as they seem'''. In most cases, you won't see the actual total you need to pay until you've paid for your membership (although you can get a full refund in the first 30 days). But sometimes, you can see the deal ahead of time. For example, here's an advertised deal at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco.</li>
		+
		+	{{Image\|TAHyatt.png}}
		+
		+	First, the savings are displayed for the entire stay. In this case, the per night savings are $75. When you dig in detail, you can see that most of the savings is in the taxes and fees. The actual rate is only $37 per night less than the normal rate.
		+
		+	{{Image\|TAHyattKing.png}}
		+	{{Image\|HyattTotal.png}}
		+
		+	Looking at the fees on Hotels.com, you can see that the Tripadvisor Plus rate doesn't include the $29 "destination fee". I suspect that you'll still be charged the fee when you check in, dropping the total savings to $53 per night.
		+
		+	{{Image\|HyattTotalComparison.png}}
		+
		+	<li>'''The hotels that participate in the program are often available through private deal websites for the same amount (or even less)'''. For example, the Hyatt San Francisco is only $194 through Snaptravel (versus $222), without requiring paying Tripadvisor's membership fee.</li>
		+
		+	{{Image\|GoseekHyatt.png}}
		+
		+	</ul>

	=== A couple of other good options ===		=== A couple of other good options ===

@@ Line 71: / Line 71: @@
 '''Hotel Engine is a booking site that offers great discounted rates on a variety of hotels'''. We've compared rates against other hotel discount sites and, at least for now,  their rates are overall the best we've found. Sometimes they are better than what you can find through GoSeek. Sometimes GoSeek uncovers a better rate on some other site.
-Hotel Engine is only available to businesses and organizations. Fortunately, they work with over 25,000 different organizations. It isn't hard to do a web search for "Hotel Engine", find an organization that provides access, and use a button on their website to sign up for a Hotel Engine account. In many cases, you won't need to sign into the organization's website to get to Hotel Engine's setup page. There is no charge to either the organization or to you.
+{{Image|HotelEngine.png}}
-'''Once you've gotten access, you need to take a small extra step to enroll in Hotel Engine's own reward program'''. Depending on your status level, you'll earn 10 - 20 points per dollar on each dollar you spend. Points can be used on any future Hotel Engine booking.
+{{Image|HEZetta.png}}
-'''Even better, unlike most other other members-only websites, you'll also receive benefits from most hotel loyalty programs''': Hilton, Hyatt, IHG, Best Western, Accor, Choice, Radisson, Sonesta, Wyndham, and some smaller programs. The notable exception is Marriott. Hotels that belong to supported loyalty programs are flagged in the listings.
+<li>'''Once you've gotten access, you need to take a small extra step to enroll in Hotel Engine's own reward program'''. Depending on your status level, you'll earn 10 - 20 points per dollar on each dollar you spend. Points can be used on any future Hotel Engine booking.</li>
 === Tripadvisor Plus ===

@@ Line 45: / Line 45: @@
 ==== goSeek ====
-'''[//goseek.com goSeek] has been our single favorite website for finding members-only rates'''. It revolutionized our ability to get find excellent hotel pricing at many hotels and makes it easy to take advantage of promotional codes at the major booking sites.
+'''[//goseek.com goSeek] has been our single favorite website for finding members-only rates'''. It revolutionized our ability to get find excellent hotel pricing at many hotels.
-goSeek is not a booking site itself, but a meta-search engine that searches several different private deals websites. In other words, while you can search for members-only hotel deals on goSeek, you’ll book them through a partner website.
+<ul class="bulletlist">
-The site is easy to completely straightforward to use and offers bargain rates on a large number of hotels in a wide range of destinations. It even compares their member-only rates to the regular rates available from several more mainstream travel sites.
+The site is easy to completely straightforward to use and offers bargain rates on a large number of hotels in a wide range of destinations.
-{{Image|GoSeekResult1.png}}
+{{Image|GoseekHyatt.png}}
-{{Image|GoSeekResult2.png}}
-{{Image|GoSeekResult3.png}}
+<li>'''GoSeek not only searches a variety of private deal sites, it also uncovers rates available from more traditional travel sites using publicly available discount codes'''. You could uncover these codes and find these deals yourself, but GoSeek makes it easier.</li>
-goSeek offers a premium membership for $20 per year that provides access to even lower rates for some hotels. If you use this site on a semi-regular basis, it is easily worthwhile. However, since goSeek shows everyone when a premium-only rate is available, there is no reason to sign up until the first time you want to take advantage of a premium-only rate.
+<li>'''If you want to save a tiny bit more, you can use GoSeek to uncover the best deal and then go to the underlying site to make the actual booking (rather than clicking through from GoSeek)'''. For example, GoSeek's rates on SnapTravel hotels are usually $1-2 more per night than they would be directly on SnapTravel's site. And in the case of many of the larger booking sites, booking directly through the site often lets you layer on some shopping portal rewards.</li>
 ==== Hotel Engine ====