Hotel Rewards Membership

[James G]

I've stayed at a few different hotels near Disneyland but I want to stay at a hotel at least once a month. I'm wondering what hotel has the best rewards plans? Like if your membership status is gold you get free wifi, breakfast, parking... etc...

I want to start earning points at the best hotel with the best rewards to help me earn free nights and save money on fees (parking, shuttle, breakfast, resort fees)...

Any one have any suggestions?

James G

 

[bumbershoot]

You will want to look at the hotels near the park where you might stay, and look into their memberships.


Now if you don't have to be brand loyal, I really recommend looking into the Welcome Rewards through hotels.com. DH travels for work and generally needs to go with the most budget-friendly hotel (within reason...he has to have certain things and has to be in a safe area in a safe hotel), so he can't afford to be loyal to a brand. With hotels.com you earn "free" nights for every 10 nights you stay. It's not totally free, because for each night you earn it's actually the average of the cost of the previous 10 nights. So you get that amount towards a free night, and then you pay taxes. It's still nice, though, because you could get a $500/night room for just the taxes on that room (assuming you had stayed 10 nights at hotels that cost that much, of course).

Once you stay a certain number of nights in a year you can earn another level of service, which gives you a special phone number to call for whatever reason. One night DH got in very late to Germany, then he couldn't find his very small hotel, then once he found it they weren't answering their door. For some reason he can never figure out how to call from his US-based cellphones to a foreign number when he's in that foreign country, so he called me, I called the hotels.com number, and THEY called the hotel, got the owner of the hotel up to open the door and let DH in. Very helpful.

It doesn't get him free parking or wifi or things like that, but it gives us lots of flexibility in booking both his work trips AND the trips taken on the sort-of-free nights.


Oh, and many hotel chains will still give him points on their rewards programs as well. Which is pretty cool.

 

[sheetz]

You might look into trying to accumulate points through credit card spend in addition to hotel stays. I belong to a number of hotel programs and the majority of points I have are thru credit card bonuses and usage.

I like the Starwood Amex because their hotel points are more valuable than those of other hotel programs and therefore it takes less time to earn a free night. Ex: The Sheraton Garden Grove only needs 3000 points for a free weekend night.

Priority Club (Intercontinental) and Marriott cards are also good because you get a free night each year you hold the card.

 

[danaesacto]

we use our Best Western Mastercard and pay it off quickly, points add up fast, points for room stays, often times bonus points for 3rd stay in a certain time period, and then we turn around and don't use the rewards for free rooms because there are too many restrictions- we get $50 gift cards to use on next hotel stay...

 

[CalvaryMike]

Check out flyertalk.com

 

[DisneyBiskit]

I've stayed at a few different hotels near Disneyland but I want to stay at a hotel at least once a month. I'm wondering what hotel has the best rewards plans? Like if your membership status is gold you get free wifi, breakfast, parking... etc...

I want to start earning points at the best hotel with the best rewards to help me earn free nights and save money on fees (parking, shuttle, breakfast, resort fees)...

Any one have any suggestions?

James G

I'm a Hilton Honors reward member. Hilton has several properties around the park. We prefer the Hampton Inn on Harbor Blvd. You earn point for your stays and can be redeemed for free nights, upgrades, etc.

 

[dizneekrazee]

I'm also a Hilton Honors member. Different hotels in the Hilton family offer different perks. You can always use your points for free nights, upgrades, etc., but sometime you get free breakfast (if not already free), 2 free drinks (alcoholic) per night of stay, free water bottles, etc.
I've stayed at 3 different Hilton properties near DLR, really like DoubleTree & Anaheim Hilton, could care less for Embassy South.
There are also promos, like double or triple points during a certain period of the year. You can also earn airline miles in addition to your hotel points. I used my airline miles in April for free round trip flight from SF to NYC