Booking.com via the Exec Club BA app – not worth it

[yonasl]

Just discovered you get 8 Avios per £ spend on Booking when you open the website with the BA Executive Club App.

I had booked a hotel that was now down to £250 for 3 nights. So I was about to cancel and rebook using the link. Problem is that when you open Booking.com via the BA Exc club app prices skyrocket. In this case the very same hotel/room/dates was now £360! Not worth the Avios you may earn it seems.

Is that the general experience or maybe some hotels do show similar prices. I cannot be doing a million checks (already need to check the price on multiple platforms!)

[ChrisC]

If you google the hotel then it usually gives the option to put in your dates and you’ll get the headline prices from multiple sales outlets rather than individually checking.

Where in the app does the hotel option appear?

[yonasl]

I also noticed that the BA version only allowed cancellations 10 days before arrival. The one using booking.com directly up to 24hrs check in. Ridiculous.

[yonasl]

ChrisC wrote:

If you google the hotel then it usually gives the option to put in your dates and you’ll get the headline prices from multiple sales outlets rather than individually checking.

Where in the app does the hotel option appear?

Using the iOS BA executive Club app I tapped on the booking offer (8 Avios per £). It then opens booking on safari and you can search normally. But prices and conditions are clearly not the same. So be mindful!

[Lula]

Yes I have found that prices are higher booking via the BA link than direct. But sometimes it’s the same and the points actually credited (which was my biggest surprise)

[eppleby]

I googled ‘BA 15 avios per pound’. I am expecting over 11,000 avios for a 5 night stay in Chicago. They are supposed to settle within 21 days of checking out! We’ll see on Saturday next – when the 21 days are up! Beware the hotels are booked through a company called Hotel Travelscape LLC which, I believe, is owned by Expedia. Travelscape terms and conditions are very customer unfriendly! I thought that I was booking through BA and avios.com – wrong!

[Damian]

On the cheaper booking (without going by the BA store) try and go through to the payment options and see if you can pay at the cheaper price. I have found that at this point the booing sometimes goes up.

[JDB]

It was the same with Agoda (same family as Booking.com) and Avios – i.e. you can get Avios, but often off a higher price. I find that in general, Booking.com is just a useful guide/reference point to negotiate directly with the hotel. Currently in South Africa and changed our hotels at one week and two weeks notice. Booking.com 10-15% cheaper than the hotel websites. Called hotels and asked for the Booking.com price, and additionally to take off the 15% commissions they would have to pay. Promptly agreed by both hotels and in one a huge upgrade to top category, the other we had already booked the top category.

[yonasl]

Lula wrote:

Yes I have found that prices are higher booking via the BA link than direct. But sometimes it’s the same and the points actually credited (which was my biggest surprise)

Not only higher price (in this case £350 vs £290 but also worse cancel options (20 October vs 29th for a booking starting on the 31st October).

So all in all a worse deal. Maybe some larger chains have the same price across platforms/promotions (or lack of them) but the Avios deal feels very poor.

[AJA]

I’m cynical and my view of these deals is that they have to fund the cost of the Avios they’re giving you so they inflate the rate they charge you.

I tend to just go for best price for the most flexible booking. I also rather book directly than via an OTA such as Expedia unless Expedia allows payment at the hotel.

[George K]

Just did a booking.com reservation via the ePortal (albeit not the app) and didn’t see anything different with the price. What I usually do with any ePortal job, is actually start the process and go all the way to ‘checkout’ and hold fire just before payment. I then open a new tab, login to the shopping portal, and pick up my outstanding reservation/order from the other end. Price never changes.

[rashomon]

I tend not to bother with shopping via the Avios store links – I think AirBnB is the only exception. I always find better deals going via a cash back site for things like hotel bookings.

[FatherOfFour]

I have recently made a couple of bookings, using booking.com/british-airways.
Like another said upthread, I noticed no difference in price when using this route, vs going direct with booking.com.

Avios (the 15av /£ one) however are very poor value for the hotels I have looked at. I did book my Copenhagen hotel through them, at the time of moving my Avios flights as thus constituted a package holiday. And the 6000 odd Avios landed.