The hotel reward schemes that could save money for free

Booking a hotel can be expensive. But there are a few ways British tourists can save money on a stay.

Some travel experts recommend booking directly with the hotel instead of through a third-party provider to get a better price. When I tried this tip, I found the results were mixed. Tourists can also try booking out of season to get a cheaper price.

But there could be an easier way to save a few pounds. I looked at some of the UK’s biggest hotel brands to see if tourists could save money through membership schemes. 

Booking.com

Booking.com offers a mix of holiday rentals and hotels, so you can often book big-name hotel brands via their platform. But, if you make use of their Genius scheme, you could end up getting a decent percentage discount, free breakfast or even a free room upgrade. 

By signing up for Booking.com’s Genius scheme, holidaymakers can enjoy access to exclusive deals and offers on the platform. And the best bit is, it’s entirely free to become a Genius. 

There are over 390,000 properties participating around the world in the Booking.com Genius scheme, with bigger discounts applied the higher up the scheme you climb.

The key to unlocking a new level is simply by booking. The more stays you book with the platform, the more discounts you get.

Travellers who achieve level three of the scheme can expect discounts of as much as 20%.

When I put this to the test with Booking.com, in the case of one hotel, I found that I could bag a stay for £32 cheaper than if I had not used the Genius scheme. 

• You can sign up to join Booking.com’s Genius scheme here

Hilton

It’s free to join the Hilton Honors scheme and doing so guarantees holidaymakers the best rate and helps them earn points towards free stays. One of the perks of joining is that it is completely free, and all you need to do is book hotel stays through Hilton in order to accumulate points. 

The more points you have, the higher up the tiers you climb.  If tourists stay at a lot of Hilton hotels, they could get even more perks when they stay at a Hilton.

When I put this to the test, I discovered holidaymakers can get discounts of at least 10% on rooms in some cases.

• Learn more about the Hilton Scheme and join here

Accor

Accor Hotels is one of the world’s biggest hotel groups. Ibis, Novotel and The Hoxton are just a few of the brands within the group.

One of the great things about Accor Life Limitless is that it is a free scheme and tourists could save 10 percent on their booking by being part of it. Holidaymakers can also earn points towards extra stays and access exclusive offers from the brand.

As you can expect, the key is loyalty to the brand – but with so many hotels under the Accor umbrella, there are a lot of options to choose from. 

• Sign up to join the Accor Life Limitless scheme for free here

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IHG

IHG has a Rewards Club which members can join to enjoy exclusive deals at the brands’ hotels including Holiday Inn.

Although membership schemes might not offer a discount every time, it’s worth signing up for free just to see if there’s a possible saving. 

Holidaymakers can earn as many as 2,000 points for every two nights they stay at a participating property. 

And frequent travellers could pick up even more rewards if they’re part of a membership scheme so it’s definitely something worth considering. 

• Sign up to the IHG Rewards Club here

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