Yesterday Chase announced a new benefit on the Chase Sapphire Reserve, when card holders book sbe hotels through a dedicated link they get the following benefits:
- Fourth night free, for every 4 consecutive nights booked
- $30 hotel credit per room, eligible towards food and beverage
- Complimentary upgrades for hotel rooms (when available)
- Daily continental breakfast for two people
- Complimentary Wifi access
- Late check out (when available)
Whenever a specific link/portal needs to be used my concern is always that it’s going to be more expensive than booking directly/through an online travel agency. I tried looking at a few different properties, I compared the prices when booking through the CSR portal, directly and also through Hotels.com. All prices exclude taxes & resort fees unless the taxes were different prices
- Delano Las Vegas
- CSR price: $124
- Direct: $99.2
- Hotels.com price: $99.2
- Hyde Miami:
- CSR price: $799
- Direct: $799
- Hotels.com price: $722
- New York Hudson:
- CSR price: $379
- Direct: $341
- Hotels.com price: $359
As you can see the Hotels.com price was always cheaper. Obviously the CSR deal comes with benefits including free breakfast, $30 credit and room upgrades but it’s also important to remember that you can save even further on the Hotels.com list price by using discounted gift cards and the tenth night free benefit.
Personally I don’t think this benefit is actually worth using unless:
- You’re staying four nights or longer and can get the fourth night free benefit. This will help offset the price difference, especially when taking into account the other discounts you can get with Hotels.com
- You highly value the free breakfast/room upgrades
Personally I can’t see myself ever using this benefit. On the surface the benefits look better than they actually are and it’s always annoying to find out there is a price discrepancy before you even take into account other discounts you could normally get.
