Save by booking hotels with credit card portals
Tl;dr: If your card comes with a statement credit for hotels or offers extra bonus points for booking, or you want to take advantage of premium offerings, the portal may be worthwhile.
Depending on what credit cards you have available in your wallet, booking your next hotel stay through the card issuer could have some serious benefits.
Upsides
Credits. Some credit cards with annual fees come with statement credits for travel booked through the bank’s travel portal; these can offset an otherwise steep annual fee, so if you have one you’ll want to try to take advantage, at least if it makes sense.
The Capital One Venture X has a $395 annual fee, but offers $300 in statement credits for travel (including hotels) booked through Capital One Travel.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred has a $95 annual fee, but offers $50 in statement credits when you book a hotel through Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel.
The Citi Premier has a $95 annual fee, but offers a $100 statement credit on a hotel stay of $500 or more booked through Citi’s travel portal.
The American Express Platinum has a $695 annual fee, and among its many credits is a $200 statement credit towards hotels in Amex’s Fine Hotels & Resorts collection booked through Amex Travel.
Protections. While some issuers’ portals can be lackluster, Capital One offers a 24-hour price match guarantee. Amex goes even further, with their Lowest Hotel Rates Guarantee covering you all the way to the day before check-in.
Bonus Points. Most issuers incentivize you to book via their portal with significant bonuses on portal hotel bookings:
Capital One: 10x (Venture X) or 5x (Venture Rewards, Venture One, Quicksilver)
Citi: 10x (Citi Premier, through June 30, 2024)
Chase: 10x (Sapphire Reserve) or 5x (Sapphire Preferred, Freedom Unlimited, Freedom Flex)
Amex: 5x (Platinum, eligible prepaid hotels), 3x (Green) 2x (other eligible cards on prepaid hotels)
Bilt: 2x
Luxury. Many issuers also offer special collections of upscale hotels that offer perks when booked directly though the credit card company:
American Express Hotel Collection Amex (Gold, Platinum): $100 “experience credit to spend on qualifying dining, spa, and resort activities” and room upgrade when available on prepaid bookings of 2+ nights.
American Express Fine Hotels Resorts (Platinum): 12pm check-in, when available, room upgrade upon arrival, when available, complimentary daily breakfast for two people, $100 experience credit (unique to each property), guaranteed 4pm late check-out, and complimentary Wi-Fi.
Capital One Premier Collection (Venture X): daily breakfast, free wifi, $100 property credit, room upgrades and early/late checkout when available (minimum stay may be required).
Chase Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection (Sapphire Reserve and annual-fee United co-branded cards): daily breakfast, free wifi, “special benefit” up to $100 (usually property credit), room upgrades and early/late checkout when available (no minimum stay).
Citi Hotel Collection (Premier Card, Rewards+, Double Cash): Complimentary breakfast and wifi, and early check-in and/or late checkout when available (no minimum stay).
Citi Luxury Collection (Premier) : $100 property credit, upgrades where available (minimum stay may be required).
Downsides
It’s not all positive though, as booking through your credit card will have some drawbacks:
No loyalty credit. You typically won’t earn any points from the hotel itself. For example, Marriott Bonvoy members earn 10 points per dollar spent at Marriott properties, so if you book with Capital One and get 10x Capital One miles, you’ll lose out on the 10x Marriott miles. You’ll also miss out on any loyalty rewards from online travel agencies (like Expedia). Similarly, you won’t earn any credit towards nights stayed with any hotel brand toward elite status. If you already have elite status, you won’t be able to take advantage of any perks that come with that status, like late checkout or complimentary room upgrades. For this reason, credit card portals are often a good choice for independent hotels. They are also good for hotel chains you only stay at rarely, as the hotel’s points likely won’t carry much value for you, and you would not enjoy any elite perks anyway.
No extra bonuses. For many hotel chains and OTAs, you can earn extra bonus points by navigating through shopping portals like Rakuten or Skymiles Shopping. Those boosts could make a direct or OTA booking more rewarding than booking through the credit card company, especially if the travel portal bonus is relatively small. For example, with the IHG Premier, you could earn 3-9% back in cash or Amex points by navigating through Rakuten then earn 26 IHG points per dollar on your hotel booking, plus enjoy all the perks of elite status that the card provides. Again, for this reason the credit card portals often make more sense for independent hotels.
Higher prices. Although Capital One and Amex Travel do have price guarantees, there’s always the possibility that you might be able to find a better deal elsewhere.
Lower prices won’t be matched. On the other hand, because the rates on credit card portals are limited to cardholders, if you do find a low rate, you generally won’t be able to use it to take advantage of other booking platforms’ price match guarantees.
Conclusion
While booking a hotel through a credit card portal isn’t always the best option, there are tons of upsides in certain situations, especially if you have a powerful card like the Venture X, Sapphire Reserve, or Amex Platinum. These portals are very similar to other OTA’s like Expedia, so they can be a good place to start your search. And if you want to take advantage of a statement credit opportunity or collect some extra bonus points, they can be a great way to book a room, especially at independent hotels or brands that you don’t stay with often enough to value their points. And if you want perks without having to open a credit card or stay a bunch of nights to earn elite status with a chain like Marriott or Hilton, you can use the travel portal’s luxury collection to obtain similar benefits on just a single booking.
If you want to add this option to your hotel booking arsenal, we recommend the Capital One Venture X, with its net-negative annual fee, airline lounge access, 10x earning on portal hotel bookings, strong luxury hotel collection, and price match guarantee.
Capital One Venture X referral link HERE.
American Express referral link HERE.