-
Most of the offers are for in-store only. Does anyone know how strict they are?
If it is in-store only it means purchasing a more expensive flexible rate….
thanksAs long as the hotel charges the card during the offer period it will be fine. Generally speaking prepaid rates are charged by the hotel in the same way as flexible rates – for IHG it’s often done manually by the front desk when they are not busy, and also for all the Hiltons on the list (except occasionally when there are huge events such as COP26 in Glasgow or Liverpool Eurovision, then they set up the website/app to charge you immediately, and I don’t know how that appears to Amex)
However some hotels will be “nice” and not charge prepaid rates until closer to check in. If this happens you may need to prompt them; they were mostly happy to do this in the past but now with all the SCA / 2FA stuff some hotels are more reluctant.
90% of the time you’re fine because it is the hotel that processes the prepayment and so it triggers the bonus.
We had a reader recently who did a prepay with a small chain and the payment was processed centrally at Head Office. This meant it did not trigger the voucher.
However, remember that for most Marriott / Hyatt / IHG / Hilton higher end hotels, you can book via our luxury hotel booking service. You still pay Best Flex rate but get lots of other stuff on top, usually free breakfast, an upgrade and $100 of hotel credit, which can make it cheaper than prepaid rates. See https://www.headforpoints.com/virtuoso-agent-london/
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Popular articles this week:
