I receive compensation for content and many links on this blog. Citibank is an advertising partner of this site, as is American Express, Chase, Barclays and Capital One. Any opinions expressed in this post are my own, and have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by my advertising partners. I do not write about all credit cards that are available -- instead focusing on miles, points, and cash back (and currencies that can be converted into the same). Terms apply to the offers and benefits listed on this page.
Club1 Hotels Free 1-Year Membership
Club1 Hotels is a membership site, and that lets them sell rooms at a discount, offering lower rates to consumers instead of taking their booking commission. They report that they make money on membership fees rather than individual bookings. (Since they’re a membership site hotel best rate guarantees for direct booking on a hotel chain’s website don’t apply.)
- The idea is a site where you can book wholesale hotel rates rather than retail
- But you probably won’t earn hotel points or elite stay credit (Hyatt and Marriott honor elite benefits when booking through third party sites)
- Hotel points aren’t so much an issue with luxury properties like Four Seasons or non-chain hotels
- In my searches sometimes there are phenomenal deals, sometimes not, you want to compare prices before you book.
Their membership normally costs $675 for a year, but they’re giving away one year memberships that provide access to discounts (but don’t come with a Priority Pass for airport lounge access) now. It’s worth signing up just to check out pricing.
I’ve seen plenty of hotels where you can save hundreds of dollars through the site, though you may give up hotel loyalty points booking with them.
Reader Barry emailed, “Jeez, some of these rates are low. Hyatt Ziva all-inclusive in Cabo for $165.” So I had a look at this all-inclusive property for a random weekend night in February.
Hyatt wanted $454 for the night:
Club1 Hotels wanted $323, a savings of ~ $130 for the night:
I assume that Hyatt will provide Diamond members with elite benefits on the stay, but it won’t earn points or elite stay credit.
Club1 Hotels Free 1-Year Membership
Do you know if Hyatt Diamond members will be able to use a suite upgrade on this?
@Maury – nope
Do we get elite benefits (e.g. Hyatt Diamond, Hilton Gold, etc..) benefits when booking a Club1 rate?
@RogerWilco generally Hyatt and Marriott provide elite benefits on 3rd party bookings while Hilton, IHG, and Starwood do not
Is their search website broken? I’ve tried it a few times over the last few days with a handful of cities, and it never returns anything. The search wheel just keeps spinning and never finishes the search. Just FYI
Does it count as a hotel billing? That is, ,would I still get 3 points with the CSR or only one?
Gary,
Thanks for this. I booked a hotel for $189 per night that lists in a Hilton website for 269 euro per night for the same dates.
Thats a biggy.
How long has this website been in business?
@Michael Que – I’ve known about it only a month, not sure when it started
@Matt Same thing happened to me, until I tried Mozilla instead of Chrome. So try a different browser and see it it works.
I joined back when you mentioned this site for the first time. Boy is it a clunky site. Would have expected something like this in the early to mid 2000’s. Haven’t yet found any crazy deals for my locations/dates, but i’ll keep it in the arsenal for a little while longer to spot check.
Just tried a search – no rates that were even a small discount (Bangkok) for hotels I am familiar with 🙁 Sure wouldn’t pay for membership!
Their webpage mentions airfare. Do they offer any discounts on international economy? I’m wondering if it makes sense to share my data with them.
Joined and tried it for Fort Lauderdale when you first wrote about it. Rates were high on it and the few that were competitive at all didn’t process in the “email me a quote” section.
I don’t get it.