Experiences with Club1?
 

I've seen a couple bloggers advertise Club1 services. Free to join for the first year, deals seem attractive.

I searched but couldn't find a thread on Flyertalk. Anyone have any experiences booking through them? Wondering if it's worth joining.

http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea....0-night-hotel/

Here's the Club1 link:

http://www.club1hotels.com/ftw

Gary gives an example of Club1 providing competitive rates at the all-inclusive Ziva Cabo. However, I'm not convinced that Club1 offers better pricing than the Citi Prestige 4NF.

I picked up on Gary's post about Club1, to join for free. So far, after about a half dozen searches in various countries, I haven't found any good deals. Instead, I've found the site to be rather glitchy, sloppily put together and prone to tack on substantial extra charges (beyond the usual taxes) once it's lured you in with initially appealing rates.

I have found a few good deals on there (better than Expedia/Priceline), but was able to beat them with other independent sites. Good tool to have in the box though.

Would you please share the other independent sites that price is better ?

Thanks,
Shaul.

I agree. The first four times I tried to use the search engine, it just hung. Finally, I got it to work, so I searched rates for hotels on five different trips that I already have booked, and in every case, the rates provided by club1 were $30-$40 higher per night than what I already had from the hotel websites.

I would avoid club1.

I made a booking, it errored out, but according to my credit card company, the charge has still gone through.

However, no booking or record of the transaction has been reflected in my account.

Smells like a scam website to me. I hate how all the bloggers promoted it as if it were legitimate.

As warned by the blogger MileNerd, the blogs receive U$4,50 per user registrated.. that's why they're all advertising it.. I wouldn't risk..

Club1 said they will issue a refund so I'll keep you guys posted.

**EDIT**: They refunded my payment.

Never booked with them, but looked around at some 5 random properties. Different levels and different countries.
Not impressed.

Thank you I am cancelling subs to travel bloggers that promoted Travel1.

One and only post by someone who seems to have joined FT just to defend Club1.

I used Club1
 

I used Club1 to book an all-inclusive in Mexico. I ended up paying like $2600 for 2 rooms that were normally around $5000 total. It was a good deal but I was definitely sketched out until we got to the hotel and checked in.

I booked through the website, it errored out, I talked to someone over at Club1 and they may the reservation for me manually. Charged my card and sent me the confirmation numbers. I called the hotel immediately to verify the confirmations and they were verified.

I am still not sure I'd recommend using Club1 to other people because it felt like something weird was going on and I'm not sure how they got the room for almost 50% off every other advertised rate. But in my case it did work out and I got a really good deal, even though I was pretty nervous all the way up until we checked in.

First experience with Club1
 

Thought I would post my experience of using Club1 as I did review this thread prior to booking with them and was nervous about the booking!

I needed a hotel in Newbury UK for my partners work Christmas do, unfortunately this coincided with the hennessey gold cup (now Ladbroke trophy I think!) and the best I could find was the Double Tree at Newbury North for £185 with the hilton honors discount. I saw on one of the travel blogs sites that club1 were doing free membership over the Black Friday weekend, so I thought it was worth a go. I was quite surprised to see Club1 could get me the same hotel for $88 and I snapped it up. I didn't receive any email notification through as a result of joining or as a result of my booking and I was feeling quite nervous, so I rang the double tree who told me there was no record of my booking! I completed the contact form to club1 to find out what had happened but had not received a response two days later and rang them. The person I spoke to promised to find out and email me within half an hour. I waited two hours and had not received a response, however checked my junk mail on the off chance and there were all the emails, responses from club1 and more importantly the hotel reservation number. I rang the hotel again and this time they did have the reservation (one of the emails stated that it could take 1 or 2 working days for a booking to be confirmed).

We stayed at the hotel last night without problem and although (even excluding the emails arriving in my junk mail which is my fault), the process wasn't seamless I certainly will be checking their rates before making any future bookings. I have no idea how they achieved the level of discount they did but certainly am not going to knock it!

A blogger said they are now offering a BRG of $20-$25 if they do not find the lowest rate. Based on some responses here that could prove costly for them.

So I finally decided to peruse Club 1. I have a trip to Jersey City and Marriott rates are off the charts. So I logged into Club 1. Wow.

Marriott rates: $420 prepay + taxes ($490 total per nt), lowest rate
Club 1 rates: $192, 3 day cancel prior + taxes ($217 total per nt).

Wow again! I've never seen such a discount. It's so great I don't even believe it can be true. I feel like I may book and then they'll say - the room isn't available.

But at these prices, I'm going to take a chance. Charges are fully charged at booking, although it says I can cancel up to 3 days in advance. That's concerning but we shall see,

I also was offered $25 off for my first booking, brining the rates down to $206 p/nt. Includes breakfast. I can't believe the difference in rates. Marriott should be ashamed of themselves (assuming this rate is true). I'll report back in early April and let everyone know.