Some people like to sit on their couch and watch sports in their spare time. Me, I like to thumb through travel booking sites. All of the travel booking sites. Imagining my next trip. I like to see what the same hotel will cost me on different sites, and if there’s an advantage to booking on one site over another. (Even when I’m not going anywhere.) This was made particularly clear during our trip to Bogota, where Ms. Roam & Home scored us a great discount at the B.O.G. Hotel on Splendia, a new site for me.
If you’re a travel aficionado, I’m probably not going to be telling you anything new. But maybe you don’t know about all these sites. If so, I consider it my duty to tell you. Also, you should really join these sites just for the welcome booking bonuses and referral credits alone.
LuxuryLink.com: $50 credit on your first purchase! Now that’s awesome. I like the global selection of hotels and villas and also the tidy arrangement of what’s on sale (newest, best selling, closing soon, highest percent off retail). Also, they have a selection of vacation packages that are available by auction or “Buy it Now” prices. For example, there’s a great deal at the Miraflores Park Hotel in Lima for two nights for $717 USD. Breakfast for two and massages for two are included in the rate. Visit LuxuryLink.com and search for Miraflores Park Hotel for more info. LuxuryLink.com also includes forums blogs, and live chats too. 17 hotels in London, to give you an indication. Register for LuxuryLink.com now.
Splendia.com: For every friend you invite, you receive a 20 euro credit. Splendia says they offer 3000 luxury hotels worldwide and I just checked out the London selection and it is pretty impressive. (48 hotels as of this writing.) I like the “Splendia Club” aspect which gives you 2% of the total amount paid for a booking as a credit on future bookings. (If you become a Gold member, you’ll get 4%.) My Bogota trip earned me $16.02 for use on a future booking, but you need at least 20 euros to get started using your credits. The site offers a small number of private sales each day. Register for Splendia.com now.
TabletHotels.com. Earn 25 Tablet Credits per reservation and earn 25 credits when your friends book. A Tablet Credit seems to be equivalent to $1 USD but that’s not entirely clear to me just yet. They have 55 London hotels on their list. I like how if a hotel’s ratings fall below 16 points, they take the hotel off their list. They have a small selection of private sales (there are two active right now), along with a general section of deals. They have travel guides written by hotel concierges, a magazine, and a cool membership program called “Tablet Plus.” With Tablet Plus, you pay $195 a year and that gives you access to upgrades, special perks, and bonus amenities. Register for TabletHotels.com now.
JetSetter.com: You’ll earn a $25 credit for every friend you refer who makes a booking. They offer 34 London hotels. There are daily deals, which I think is one of the main attractions of JetSetter.com. I love to live vicariously through the daily deals. Also, there are editors’ picks and a magazine. You can also pay $250 for a travel consultant who will help you plan your next trip, which is a neat feature. When checking out the different hotels on offer, it looks like JetSetter sometimes arranges a few perks with different rooms. For example, at The Royalton in New York, the Jetsetter rate for deluxe rooms also includes a 2 p.m. late checkout, and for Loft Suite Kings and Alcove suites, the Jetsetter rate also includes two free signature cocktails per stay. Register for JetSetter.com now.
I did a little price comparison of deals from the four sites over here on a Google doc. I was looking at the Miraflores Lima Hotel because all four sites offered it. One of the main differences I found between the sites is whether they offered rooms with cancellation penalties or not. You can see that in the pricing. (I took the best available price from each site, regardless of cancellation penalty.) Hard to say who comes out on top after you factor in things like Splendia’s membership credits and things like TabletPlus from TabletHotels.com. Also, LuxuryLink had a GREAT package deal if you were up for the Junior Suite option. Lots to think about…
4 comments
The only one of these I’ve used is Jetsetter, but I’ve gotten some reasonable good deals on rather impressive hotel rooms in New York City through them.
I love tablethotels.com! So many great deals there and I have gotten a few friends to book through me. I also like bookinghotelstay.com which saved me a ton on my trip to Chicago!
I think that I might be trying that luxurylink $50 off pretty soon!!
Haven’t heard of any of these sites Krista. Will look into these. I just use the major hotel comparison sites like kayak, bookinghotelstay, expedia, and trivago.
Comments are closed.