Hotel.com rewards becoming OneKey
Mar 29, 2023, 11:38 am
#5
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,952
Members will receive 2% in OneKeyCash for every dollar spent1 on eligible hotels, vacation rentals, activities, packages, car rentals, and cruises and 0.2% in OneKeyCash for every dollar spent on eligible flights. And don’t forget, you earn OneKeyCash on top of any airline loyalty program earnings and credit card rewards.
Mar 29, 2023, 12:48 pm
#6
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 1,652
No other hotel booking site gave 10% back, so that's it for the major OTAs. I certainly hope this does not affect the earnings on credit card programs.
New rewards program soon. Read here: https://www.hotels.com/one-key
Anything less than 5% is probably not worth the hassle. The free night/10% thing was the only reason I stuck with hotels.com in spite of the recent awful Expedia interface changes (moving to the common interface with Expedia itself).
Last edited by FlyinHawaiian; Mar 29, 2023 at 4:32 pm Reason: consecutive posts merged
Mar 29, 2023, 12:52 pm
#7
Join Date: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,746
Yep. Expedia is canceling the current program and moving to cashback kind of thing at the basic rate of 2%. The top "elite" members might get 6%. Nothing like the current 10% thing. Email just arrived yesterday.
No other hotel booking site gave 10% back, so that's it for the major OTAs. I certainly hope this does not affect the earnings on credit card programs.
No other hotel booking site gave 10% back, so that's it for the major OTAs. I certainly hope this does not affect the earnings on credit card programs.
Is there a starting date for the new program? If a booking is made before the new starting date do the old rules apply?
Mar 30, 2023, 1:57 pm
#8
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 1,652
No specific date, the email said "mid 2023". According to the email, the earnings will be based on the date of the stay, not the booking. My latest booking through hotels.com is for June, past that I'll probably book with whomever cheapest (which is usually not them)
Mar 30, 2023, 3:20 pm
#9
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 261
I have 8 bookings through to the end of September. I will probably switch to just using my hotel chain cards. I rarely use them now because the free night made hotels.com better value, and when they had that huge Capital One Venture card deal they were almost unbeatable.
Apr 1, 2023, 2:12 pm
#10
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: NYC (Primarily EWR)
Programs: UA 1K / *G, Marriott Bonvoy Gold; Avis PC
Posts: 8,999
Terrible. I have used hotels.com for over a decade because when I traveled, I was much more sensitive to location of hotel (and respective amenities) than to being loyal to a hotel chain. The rewards program was simple to use and understand. Now I have 7 nights - with an extremely high average value - and I feel that I am going to need to figure out a way to fish out another 3 nights of booking so that I can use the points before the new system goes into effect. It may (finally) be time for me to lean more into looking at hotel credit cards and seeing what is meaningful or worthwhile.
Apr 1, 2023, 9:24 pm
#11
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2000
Location: RDU
Programs: AA LT Gold, DL SM, HY Disc, Marriott LT Gold
Posts: 12,503
I saw this tonight. I use hotels.com a lot when I travel to Europe, as well as with chains in the US where I stay infrequently such as LaQuinta (since the Wyndham purchase), Country, Comfort, and some casino properties. I actually have six nights in April, which will finish off one reward and get me half way to another one.
At 2%, I will probably look to use something like Rakuten instead.
At 2%, I will probably look to use something like Rakuten instead.
Apr 2, 2023, 3:02 pm
#13
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 1,652
They will be converted to Expedia "$$$" at the same value. I had some of those Expedia "coins" and it did book fine, applied to hotel price. It's just the future earnings that will be affected.
Apr 3, 2023, 5:19 am
#14
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 72
I just came across this news when I was looking to book a trip this morning. I kept thinking I must be overlooking something, because my first impression was that my rewards were going down from 10% to 2%, and surely that can't be right! 
Guess I wasn't misreading. Now I have to figure out what to do with my existing earnings. I've got 4 stamps earned right now and they're at a higher dollar value than my average. I was going to book 3 more nights in May, but now I'm not sure if I should do it through them, since i can book for 5% cheaper through another site. If I thought I could get 3 more nights before the move to One Key, I'd do it, but with the date of moving not clear, I'm not sure I want to take the risk.
Guess I wasn't misreading. Now I have to figure out what to do with my existing earnings. I've got 4 stamps earned right now and they're at a higher dollar value than my average. I was going to book 3 more nights in May, but now I'm not sure if I should do it through them, since i can book for 5% cheaper through another site. If I thought I could get 3 more nights before the move to One Key, I'd do it, but with the date of moving not clear, I'm not sure I want to take the risk.
Apr 3, 2023, 6:39 pm
#15
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: NYC (Primarily EWR)
Programs: UA 1K / *G, Marriott Bonvoy Gold; Avis PC
Posts: 8,999
I just came across this news when I was looking to book a trip this morning. I kept thinking I must be overlooking something, because my first impression was that my rewards were going down from 10% to 2%, and surely that can't be right!
Guess I wasn't misreading. Now I have to figure out what to do with my existing earnings. I've got 4 stamps earned right now and they're at a higher dollar value than my average. I was going to book 3 more nights in May, but now I'm not sure if I should do it through them, since i can book for 5% cheaper through another site. If I thought I could get 3 more nights before the move to One Key, I'd do it, but with the date of moving not clear, I'm not sure I want to take the risk.
Guess I wasn't misreading. Now I have to figure out what to do with my existing earnings. I've got 4 stamps earned right now and they're at a higher dollar value than my average. I was going to book 3 more nights in May, but now I'm not sure if I should do it through them, since i can book for 5% cheaper through another site. If I thought I could get 3 more nights before the move to One Key, I'd do it, but with the date of moving not clear, I'm not sure I want to take the risk.