It's Back. 10 bonus Amex points per $ at Hotel Club

[lovetravellingoz]

Amex Bonus Rewards | Partner - HOTELCLUB.COM.AU


Ok, it's back. Bugga for me as I have just recently made bookings for Italy.

Please note the T&C below...

On my recent Thai trip many of the hotels would only book as deposits, meaning that if your total booking did not generate a deposit of $350+ that you go no points, and that even if it did that if was a booking that only took a deposit that points are only calculated on the deposit value.

The 10 bonus points are great, but the deposit only options when they come up are frustrating, and more so for me as when travelling I rarely stay anywhere more than 4 days.

T&C

1. HotelClub: Offer valid for bookings made between 1 January 2011 and 31 December 2011. Membership Rewards Bonus Point offer is valid only for bookings made at hotelclub.com/amex and for purchases made in Australia and charged to an eligible Australian dollar American Express Card. Where a booking is cancelled the Bonus Points will be deducted. Where a booking is made via RatesToGo, the Bonus Point offer will be available only on the deposit paid at the time of booking and not on the balance of the payment made at the hotel. This offer cannot be used in conjunction with the HotelClub member dollar program. American Express Cardmembers cannot earn HotelClub member dollars for bookings made at hotelclub.com/amex for which they receive American Express Membership Rewards Bonus Points. American Express Cardmembers cannot earn American Express Membership Rewards Bonus Points for bookings made on any other HotelClub website other than hotelclub.com/amex. Subject to the Terms and Conditions of the Membership Rewards program available at membershiprewards.com.au/termsandconditions. Membership Rewards Bonus Point offers are valid for purchases made in Australia and charged to an eligible Membership Rewards enrolled Australian-dollar American Express Card. Enrolment in Membership Rewards is required (an annual fee may apply). Please allow 8 to 10 weeks for Bonus Points to be credited to your account. The Qantas American Express Card, the Qantas American Express Premium Card, the Qantas American Express Ultimate Card, David Jones American Express Cards, pharmac_ Business Cards, ALM Business Cards, IGA-D Business Cards, Campbell Business Cards and Best Western Business Cards are not eligible for the Bonus Partners and Cards not issued by American Express are excluded from this promotion. Promotion periods vary.

 

[JohnK]

HotelClub is losing me fast.

No point in having bonus points if you don't have the properties or the availability. Trying to book a couple of nights in Mackay early March and now HotelClub has nothing. Not a single room and a couple of weeks ago they had rooms in 2 of the most expensive properties only.

Go to Wotif on the other hand and availability is wide open and the room rates are lower.

 

[SeaWolf]

Yeah, particulary in Australia I've had trouble with availabilty of rooms. I get the impression that HotelClub works on a different system to other booking sites, that it has an inventory of rooms specifically for themselves and that once those run out there's just no more and you have to go to another site that uses 'live' inventory.

Seems to be ok if you plan well in advance though.

 

[one9]

I used to use Hotelclub a lot. But recently have changed to other sites. Apart from discovering cheaper prices & better availability elsewhere - I discovered that some of Hotelclub competitors such as Expedia don't charge change/cancel fees. You still need to pay any Hotel change/cancel fees if applicable, but this is much better than Hotelclub as they charge cancellation/change fees even if the hotel charges none (eg. cancel much in advance).

For iphone users, I recommend the app called Kayak as this easily helps find you a Hotel (eg. enter city, then select star rating and ordering method (eg. price, city centre) and also compares booking prices with about 5-10 hotel booking websites.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Yeah, particulary in Australia I've had trouble with availabilty of rooms. I get the impression that HotelClub works on a different system to other booking sites, that it has an inventory of rooms specifically for themselves and that once those run out there's just no more and you have to go to another site that uses 'live' inventory.

Seems to be ok if you plan well in advance though.

Yes that is my experience too.

I can often, but not always find another site that is cheaper.
But if I qualify for 10 bonus points per $ that will swing me back.

However due to location location location being my No 1 criteria I also often book small hotels and apartments that HotelClub does not always have.

ie in Rome I have an apartment a few hundred metres from the Colusseu, near a Metro, and say twenty walking distance to most of the major sites plus the Termini Main Train station that I will be arriving/departing from (booked in this case from Wotif as they were cheapest).


I booked this way in 2010 as well. grabbed the 10 points on occasion, but for London, Paris and Amsterdam found great well located apartments through different means/sites.

 

[Airbumps]

Amex Bonus Rewards | Partner - HOTELCLUB.COM.AU


Ok, it's back. Bugga for me as I have just recently made bookings for Italy.

Please note the T&C below...

On my recent Thai trip many of the hotels would only book as deposits, meaning that if your total booking did not generate a deposit of $350+ that you go no points, and that even if it did that if was a booking that only took a deposit that points are only calculated on the deposit value.

The 10 bonus points are great, but the deposit only options when they come up are frustrating, and more so for me as when travelling I rarely stay anywhere more than 4 days.

Is there any way to see if the full amount or simply the deposit will be charged to your card? I'm trying to book 4 nights in DC later this year. Total price is $800, and I read in the T&C that some hotels will only charge a deposit, but is there any way to be sure before I book it?

Cheers guys

 

[JohnK]

Is there any way to see if the full amount or simply the deposit will be charged to your card? I'm trying to book 4 nights in DC later this year. Total price is $800, and I read in the T&C that some hotels will only charge a deposit, but is there any way to be sure before I book it?

Have you gone through to the payment page?

Usually HotelClub charges the full amount to the credit card at time of booking unless your stay is within the next 2-3 days in which case they only charge the credit card their commission and you pay the hotel the rest.

Oh and if you only end up paying the deposit/commission then you will only receive the bonus points on that amount not the full amount....

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Is there any way to see if the full amount or simply the deposit will be charged to your card? I'm trying to book 4 nights in DC later this year. Total price is $800, and I read in the T&C that some hotels will only charge a deposit, but is there any way to be sure before I book it?

Cheers guys

It shows up when you go to pay.

Which is annoying as you can waste a lot of time prior looking at hotels that do not give it.

For my recent Thai trip most hotels only took deposits and so in the end
I could not access the 10 bonus points.

For those hotels that still hada better rate than other sites, I would book through the normal hotel club site asyou then get the rebate scheme (which is not eligible here).

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Oh and if you only end up paying the deposit/commission then you will only receive the bonus points on that amount not the full amount....

Which would often be 0, as the deposit would have to be $350 plus!!!!

 

[JohnK]

Which would often be 0, as the deposit would have to be $350 plus!!!!

Yes you are right. I am thinking the old promotion of 5 bonus points/$ with no lower spending limit.

Anyway for lower amounts (i.e AUD200) there is a current promotion of $20.11 off the booking which is not too bad.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Anyway for lower amounts (i.e AUD200) there is a current promotion of $20.11 off the booking which is not too bad.

Yes I am using that for a one night booking in Milan. $114-20.11 -14 (cashback from a previous booking). $80 for three with breakfast at a Novotel is quite good.

 

[JohnK]

Yes I am using that for a one night booking in Milan. $114-20.11 -14 (cashback from a previous booking).

Is that AUD currency? I thought the minimum spend had to be AUD200....

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Is that AUD currency? I thought the minimum spend had to be AUD200....

Yes you are correct.
Hard work keeping tack of all the T&C.. will still use them though as they are equal cheapeast...and I wil eran cask back fora later booking

 

[Cynicor]

Just did a quick search for Singapore 17th May- 22nd May. Only 1 property available in all of Singapore???

Not sure if any else gets that same problem; even during the F1 they have a few rooms around.

 

[SeaWolf]

Well, I can replicate the issue, it does the same thing for me, but only for those dates. I'd say it's some kind of bug or freak issue.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Just did a quick search for Singapore 17th May- 22nd May. Only 1 property available in all of Singapore???

Not sure if any else gets that same problem; even during the F1 they have a few rooms around.

I think that with 10X that there is reduced bucket.

When I was looking last year if I searched through the normal hotelclub there was more availability.

 

[edman]

Yeh I got caught out on the deposit thing too. I booked 4 nights at Gold Coast where they only took 10% deposit so I only got base points. Same day I booked 2 nights Star City as a present for a staff member and paid the 100%.

Funny thing though is that the bonus points for Star City didn't come onto my statement with the payment for the room, I only got base points. I have reached my bonus points cap so I would hope that is not the reason I've missed out :evil:

 

[georgie23]

Any idea on how long it takes to get bonus points - made a transaction worth 2K would love the extra 18K points

 

[lovestotravel]

Any idea on how long it takes to get bonus points - made a transaction worth 2K would love the extra 18K points

Went on within about a week of making the bookings for me.

I made about 6 bookings over two days, and the bonus points came through in 1 lump sum about a week later

VERY happy!

 

[lovestotravel]

Okay just doing a reconciliation of the bonus points.

About 3/4 of my recent hotel bookings bonus points have posted, but another chunk has not.

Will email Hotelclub to chase it up.... Fingers crossed