Hotels.com has a pretty decent rewards program - basically a free night after every 10 nights - and the value of the free night is the average price of the previous 10. You can add cash if the value of the free night is less than the hotel you want.

You can also get another 6% cashback using Fatwallet or similar, so you're basically getting 16% back.

Of course, when booking through hotels.com, you can't earn miles in the hotels own rewards program (e.g., Starwood Preferred Guest.)

I understand that the hotel specific programs have certain perks like late check out, free internet, upgrades, etc. Putting those perks aside, do any of the hotel programs offer free nights that are earned at a rate higher than or equal to the 14% you can get with hotels.com + cashback?

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I'm with you - my travel pattern doesn't really allow me to focus on one chain, but I get good use from Hotels.com. Incidentally, in the UK, you can often get 8-10% cashback on Hotels.con through Quidco.

And - I very often get vouchers for double nights earning from them - a one week holiday then gets me 1.4 free nights!

Easy answer.

If you have a travel and stay pattern compatible with a single chain, do it.

Otherwise, hotels.com.

My work blanket is pretty large and not well-supported by the major NA chains, as much as I like them. Hotel elite perks are trivial compared to airline. Higher floor? Like getting row 10 instead of row 20 in economy - big deal. Room location? You can talk into the same thing. Almost everyone provides free internet nowaways.

I have mid level status at a few chains places due to a combination of stays, CC affiliation, and airline status matching. Sometimes i do book directly with the chains esp at nice properties for better probability of upgrades and such.... But the status recognition, perks, upgrade %....virtually non-existent. (Get nice treatment at JW.M Ankara simply because i stay there often)

Worries about Protection in case of booking problems and other 3rd party vs direct vendor issues? Again, pretty much nil vs airline world

Wouldnt hesitate to recommend hotels.com to anyone

Hotels.com all the way.

Most mid-level elite benefits are trivial and do not justify the additional cost of booking through the hotel chain's website (I can't say I'd relish the thought of doing BRG claims for most or even all of my bookings). With my typical annual stay levels (say around 40 nights a year) it just isn't an appealing proposition.

And also, I find that in most larger cities, sales are not uncommon... having the flexibility to pick and choose hotels without regard for affiliation means a lot of savings. Unless you're staying enough nights to get large amounts of points and top tier benefits (upwards of 75 nights a year), I just don't see the point in sticking with one program. I get more bang for the buck by being a free agent through hotels.com.

It will depend on your stay profile. I think hotels.com is a good choice for infrequent travelers (although free Internet for rooms booked via hotel websites is an attractive offer), but for people who stay enough at chains to hit the upper levels of the elite programmes the benefits are worth quite a bit.

All good advice. As you can see it depends on your pattern.

I book a few hundred room nights a year, but rarely for myself.

I've been with hotels.com for a few years and like the program, buy 10, get 1 and like the flexibility it gives me.

(Even got in before they came to their senses at the beginning and used to let you book ANY free night up to $400 for every 10 stayed...that was fun and led to some great lark stays. But I digress...)

I do have to say that the quality of training and competence of the humans on the phone even as a five-star super duper whatever I am has dropped seriously over the last couple of years.

Used to be that they were smart, competent, empowered customer service people.

Now it's no better than calling Expedia (which it is, actually).

I'm a Hilton Diamond. Decided to bin Hilton this year as the program is so laughably weak. Earning plenty of Avios on Hotels.com via TCB. Great.

I just posted about Hotels.com not too long ago.. I am a fan for several reasons, but here is a link to the thread in case there is any good info:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...s-program.html