These are not hotels. If their merchant classification is travel agency they should earn 5X rather than 3X?
I thought only air travel earns 5x? My statement breaks down bonus categories as 5x on Air Travel, 5x on Dining, 3x on Hotels, 2x on Entertainment, and 1x on Other Purchases.
Anyway, the Hotels.com and Cheaptickets transactions are coded as Other Travel - TRAVEL AGENCY AND TOUR OPERATORS and definitely did not earn hotel bonus points. But you do seem to be correct - they seem to have earned 5x if I try to recreate the air travel bonus points on my statement. Is that how it's supposed to work, or it's just a fortunate glitch that works in our favor?