Using Hotel.com gift cards?

[sandam1]

I have been churning My Points and Shopkicks rewards for my upcoming February Princess Half-Marathon/Universal trip. This is going to be my third trip to Florida in 5 months so the budget is especially on tight this one.

I have the airfare booked, race registration fees paid for, and enough Disney and Universal gift cards for food and souvenirs. The only thing that I am still waiting on is Universal to release their AP rates for the hotels. Right now, the rates are stupid high ($200+ for a Standard room at Cabana Bay) so I am also looking for an off-site Plan B. I noticed that both My Points and Shopkicks have Hotels.com gift cards available as rewards. Has anyone ever (successfully) combined multiple Hotels.com gift cards for a room? Are there any catches or gotchas that I should be aware of?

 

[Disneyfan754321]

I have been churning My Points and Shopkicks rewards for my upcoming February Princess Half-Marathon/Universal trip. This is going to be my third trip to Florida in 5 months so the budget is especially on tight this one.

I have the airfare booked, race registration fees paid for, and enough Disney and Universal gift cards for food and souvenirs. The only thing that I am still waiting on is Universal to release their AP rates for the hotels. Right now, the rates are stupid high ($200+ for a Standard room at Cabana Bay) so I am also looking for an off-site Plan B. I noticed that both My Points and Shopkicks have Hotels.com gift cards available as rewards. Has anyone ever (successfully) combined multiple Hotels.com gift cards for a room? Are there any catches or gotchas that I should be aware of?

I bought hotels.com giftcards at a discounted prices using my sb visa on giftcardwiki.com
I never noticed the added benefit of a free night after 10 nights. Other than that i had no issues i should have bought more cause my money went further than buying the disney giftcards and buying a room.

 

[Txshadow]

On the hotels.com site there is a place to combine gift cards. I've done it multiple times. I usually buy the gift cards at a discount and then use Swagbucks portal to book so I get the additional SBs. I book and pay with gift cards and get the free night after 10 booked nights. When booking, be sure to book a room that allows you to pay in full at booking in order to use gift card. You can't book and then use gift card at hotel to pay.

 

[sandam1]

On the hotels.com site there is a place to combine gift cards. I've done it multiple times. I usually buy the gift cards at a discount and then use Swagbucks portal to book so I get the additional SBs.

That's kind of what I was thinking of doing for the cost above and beyond what I can churn in the next few months (I'm optimistic that I might be able to make $100-150). My Points will give me 5% back on gift cards bought through them.

When booking, be sure to book a room that allows you to pay in full at booking in order to use gift card. You can't book and then use gift card at hotel to pay.

Do you know if you a pay in full for a refundable room? I hate buying non-refundable rooms just in case something changes.

 

[Txshadow]

I think most of the rooms that take gift card for payment are non refundable but you can play around on their website a see what's available for your dates. I usually try not to be picky and tend to reserve Hotels.com rooms at the last minute so non refundable rooms haven't been an issue for me.

 

[sandam1]

I usually try not to be picky and tend to reserve Hotels.com rooms at the last minute so non refundable rooms haven't been an issue for me.

And right now I just want to reserve a back-up room in case Universal's prices don't come down enough. It appears to be a busy time of the year (the weekend after President's Day) which is making my inner-planner a little crazy to keep waiting. If Universal gets anywhere close to reasonable, I will definitely be staying on-site.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

I know that swagbucks and my points are the same company are the cashback deals similar? today SB hotels.com is 8%