Currensea Pro benefits

[JonathanC]

Hello all, I’ve currently got a Halifax Clarity and a legacy Capital One card that gives 0.5% cashback and has 0% FX fees.

I had a look at Currensea’s cards, and the Pro looks quite interesting, especially as it advertises 10% savings with booking.com, I’ve found myself using them many times, a lot more so since the HfP favourite for booking non-chain hotel bookings hotels.com put an end to their stamps rewards scheme that we all loved.
The only problem is that they don’t elaborate on the benefits, I’d like to hear from anyone who’s got this card (or their top card) and see how it works and if there’s anything that unexpectedly catch out card users.
I’m almost certain all bookings would need to be done using the card, so not being able to use a points earning credit( / charge) card to settle most of the cost is predictable, but you’ll save more with the 10% saving anyway.

Anyone who uses either Pro or the top card, please comment below on your experiences using them, especially with the perks that’s advertised.
I’m not interested in the Hilton cards, for reasons I won’t elaborate on, there’s no real need for me to do so.

Thanks everyone

Jonathan

[AndrewT]

Can’t comment on the card I’m afraid, but if hotel bookings are the primary driver both booking.com and hotels.com are the most consistent payers via cashback shopping sites in my experience.

hotels.com have been paying 11% via TopCashback, except for the occasional 20% specials, which largely makes up for the OneKey changes. booking.com is normally 6 Avios / £ via BA Shopping, and strangely nothing via TCB UK but 7% via TCB US.

[JonathanC]

I’m fully aware of these ways of obtaining extra cashback / points.
I also remember seeing an email from TCB UK (and Quidco) about being able to earn cashback on booking.com coming to an end. It’s still a bit odd that they’re with the likes of VSFC Shops Away and Avios estore.

This wasn’t however what I was asking about…

Whenever booking on hotels.com or booking.com, all things a are considered, generally speaking which one gets you the best overall deal

[JDB]

@JonathanC – I don’t think there’s a very simple answer as these OTA sites show different prices to different people depending on who you are, how you reach their sites (directly or via a cashback or rewards) and which country you are asking from. You will also often find different pricing again on eg Agoda although it’s the same family as Booking.com.

Ultimately, I would be very disappointed not to get better price + guaranteed benefits and loyalty points directly from the hotel after taking into account all the cashback etc. via these sites. The OTAs are a useful source of info to negotiate a better deal.

[John]

All VISA cards issued in Australia and Singapore are eligible for a 10% booking.com wallet promotion. Although the currensea pro appears to be a mastercard, I suspect it is very similar if not the same as this.

I just took a look through the Australian site. The idea is that you get up to 10% put in your booking.com wallet which can be used as part payment for future bookings. It takes at least 64 days to get the credits and they are only valid for 2 years. There is also a maximum amount per booking, which for me is AUD 321.

I did a random search for a hotel through the linked VISA portal from my Australian bank app, as well as in a private browser window. In the VISA portal, about three-quarters of the results were more expensive (and most of these were either exactly 10% or 11.111% more). The rest were either the same price, or around 3-6% cheaper due to those being app-only prices (suggesting that if I used the booking.com app I would also get those prices).

Given that you have the Capital One Classic Extra, the 0.5% cashback negates the benefit from the approximately 66% of times when the currensea rate would be better than the mastercard rate (and don’t forget C1 also gives you £10 per year no matter what). I’m using this card quite a lot as Chase 1% has so many exclusions and of course is limited to £1500/month. C1 seems to not be bothered about quasi-cash transactions too…