saving money with Ebates hotels
I've posted before about my general feeling about hotels. The short version is that I don't really like western "posh" hotels because they're expensive and yet they still don't offer the amenities I actually want:
- in-room espresso
- a Toto Washlet in the room
- a free, communal hot spring bath that's open late so I can soak my feet after a long day of sightseeing
- liquor vending machine so I don't have to pay $47 (and wait 45 minutes) for two gin and tonics from room service
- on-site laundry machines
When I do have to stay at a western hotel I generally try to save some money or at least snag some bonus points. There are a lot of ways to do that – search with Rocketmiles, look for Amex offers, use Hotels.com's "say 10 nights, get one night free", etc. On our recent trip to Israel, though, I tried a new way and it worked out well for me.
We really wanted to stay in a fairly specific part of Tel Aviv and there were mostly just local, non-chain boutique hotels. I remembered seeing a promo for Ebates hotels in my email so I decided to search their portal and the place we really wanted to stay was part of their cash-back program. We booked it, enjoyed our stay, and I was pleasantly surprised when I got a $137 kickback to my credit card for a $780 hotel stay. I've noticed that with Rocketmiles, often the hotel price is inflated on their site by more than the value of the bonus miles they were offering me. I comparison shopped the very same room and found Ebates didn't seem to be charging a premium at all.
Next time you're hotel shopping, you might want to give this a try if your normal options all look grim.
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