Katie Genter is a digital nomad who has traveled full time since June 2017. She writes and edits stories about points and miles, and loyalty programs, often letting her personal experiences color these stories.
June 22, 2021 • 8 min read
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Quick summary
Booking directly with a hotel is generally recommended to ensure you earn loyalty points, receive elite status benefits and have easier reservation management.
There are scenarios where booking through an online travel agency (OTA) or a bank portal may be preferable, such as when booking independent hotels, taking advantage of special promotions or redeeming transferable points.
OTAs and bank portals may offer unique perks, including rewards programs, exclusive benefits at select properties and opportunities to book for friends or family.
Comparing the value of redeeming points through a portal versus transferring to a hotel program can help maximize your rewards.
What to consider
Booking through OTAs or portals often means forfeiting hotel loyalty points and elite status recognition, except in limited cases with certain luxury collections.
Best-rate guarantee claims require identical booking conditions and are often difficult to secure, but can provide savings if successful.
Redemption values for points vary by portal, so comparing options before booking is essential for optimal value.
What you'll miss from the article
Detailed strategies for maximizing rewards and benefits when booking hotels through OTAs or bank portals.
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When possible, booking directly with a hotel is the best way to make your reservation. This ensures you earn hotel points, your stay counts toward elite status qualification, any elite status benefits you have are recognized and if you need to make changes, it's much easier to deal directly with a property.
The St. Regis Langkawi in Malaysia. (Photo by Ethan Steinberg/The Points Guy)
That said, let's look at when it may be necessary — or get you a better deal — to book hotels through an online travel agency or bank portal. We'll also consider the best ways to maximize your reservation.
When to book through an OTA or bank portal
There are now hundreds of online travel agencies and apps focusing on hotel bookings, thanks to the commissions paid to the agency. Most readers will recognize the popular OTAs in the U.S. as Agoda, Expedia, Hotels.com, Hotwire, Priceline and Travelocity.
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Here's a quick recap of the value of your Amex, Chase and Citi points when used toward the cost of a hotel through their portals:
If you find yourself in one of the above situations, here are the strategies I would use when booking through an OTA or bank portal:
Use OTA rewards programs
You may want to book stays at hotels outside your primary loyalty alliance through an OTA so you can earn rewards with the OTA's rewards program. (Photo of The Farmington Hotel in Liberia by Katie Genter/The Points Guy)
Most online travel agencies have their own rewards program that equates to 1%-10% cash back per booking. The great benefit of most of these is that unlike with hotel loyalty programs, you can book for your friends, family and co-workers and get credit in the OTA rewards program for their bookings. For example, if your aunt who rarely travels needs a hotel, offer to book it for her and have her reimburse you. You'll earn credit in the OTA program under your account.
Most large hotel chains challenge you to find a better price for a room on an OTA compared to their site. If you're successful, you'll usually receive either a percentage off the room or a flat credit back. They're usually quite challenging to be approved. But, if you're booking through an OTA anyway, it's worth a peek at the hotel website to see if you can find a better price with the OTA. Remember, everything about the room and booking conditions must be identical between the hotel's website and the OTA for the best-rate guarantee claim to be approved. And, you'll need to complete your booking directly with the hotel if you have a successful claim.
These are pretty straightforward, since your points have a fixed redemption value. There are two tasks I complete before redeeming my points toward the revenue cost of a hotel stay. First, I do a quick calculation of transferring points to the hotel program versus redeeming through the portal to make sure I'll use fewer points in the portal. And second, I make sure the price for the hotel in the portal either matches or nearly matches the publicly available rates.
If I want to utilize the Citi Prestige fourth night free benefit, book an Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts stay, book a stay at an independent property or if I'm booking for friends or family, I'll head to an OTA or bank portal rather than booking directly. But, if I'm staying with a hotel chain for which I have status or for which I want to earn status, I prefer to book directly with the hotel chain so that I can enjoy elite benefits and points earnings.
By commenting, you agree to our Community Guidelines to help create a positive space for conversation. The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser, our partners, or The Points Guy (“TPG”). They have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these parties. All responses are submitted by individual contributors, and neither the bank advertiser, our partners, nor TPG are responsible for ensuring that all posts and/or questions are answered.
