Booking Hotels – Brand Loyalty vs Price

My wife and I have several hotel credit cards. Generally we find these great because they offer free nights annually (which covers the annual fee) and upgrade your hotel status (which could offer free upgrades, more points, free lounge/breakfast access). Other than sign-up offers, these cards offer the most points when you use their credit cards at their hotels.

However, I remind you not to be blinded by brand loyalty. Even though these hotels usually offer lower rates to its members, it is not always the lowest rate possible.

For example, our family recently went on a trip to San Francisco where we stayed at the San Francisco Airport Marriott Waterfront (2 nights) and San Francisco Marriott Marquis (1 night). For the Marriott Waterfront, we paid $119 per night versus the Marriott price of $245. For the Marriott Marquis, we paid $149 per night versus the Marriott price of $289. Overall we paid $387 for three nights but would have paid $779 if we booked directly meaning we saved a total of $392!. I would rather save that now rather than wait and see how many possible points I could eventually accumulate. 

And remember, even when you do not book directly you could still use your existing status at many of these hotels. On our trip, we were able to use our Marriott Gold status to access the M Lounge and its snacks/drinks/ breakfast.