Earning Free Hotel Nights Without Credit Cards

A few months back, a reader left the following comment:

"This is a little random--but do you guys have any tips or tricks on booking hotels in NYC? Unfortunately, i'm still in the paying off my credit card debt stages in terms of point earning and cannot even qualify for a card with free nights, etc (probably a bad idea even if I did). I was just wondering since DC is so close and thought maybe you'd have ideas. Thanks! -c" 

I haven't responded to this comment, because I didn't have an answer to the question. Credit cards are the easiest way to get free nights:

• Chase Hyatt Visa = 2 Free Nights At Any NYC Hotel
• Chase Marriott = 50,000 or 60,000 Points = 1 Free Nights At Any NYC Hotel
• Citi Hilton HHonors = 2 Free Weekend Nights At Most NYC Hotel     
• Chase IHG Visa = 60,000 Points = 1 or 2 Free Nights At Any NYC Hotel
• Starwoood AMEX = 25,000 Points = 1 or 2 Free Nights At Any NYC Hotel

Like the reader states in the comment, not everyone is able to earn points via credit cards. "C" is doing the right thing by paying off credit card debt before applying for more credit cards in the name of points. No number of points or miles is worth damaging your credit score.

So, we are all back to square one? How do we earn points to trade for free nights in New York City?

My first thought was participating in Marriott's Unexpected Bonus or Mega Bonus.

Stay twice at any Marriott hotel, earn a free night at any category 1-5 hotel. I completed a $50 mattress run to earn my free night. Sounds like a great way to stay for free in New York, right? However, all of the hotels in New York City proper are category 7 and above. Therefore, MegaBonus free nights can't be used. However, there are a few Marriott's located near the City that are category 5, thus the free nights could be used there.

My next thought was IHG's The Big Win, which I wrote about here. Complete stays at IHG hotels like Holiday Inn, Candlewood Suites, Intercontinental and earn from 50,000 to 150,000 points. IHG points can be turned into free nights a multiple of ways:

• All Points
• Cash & Points
• PointBreaks (5,000 a Night Hotels)
• Flash Sales for points      

Here is a sample of availability at two NYC IHG hotels on a random Friday night:
    

50,000 points will get you a $450 a night room at the Intercontinental on a Friday night. Pay $40 and the amount of points drops to 45,000. Pay $30 more ($70 total) and you only need 40,000 points for that night.

If you don't have any stays at IHG branded hotels, the only way to succeed is to complete mattress runs. Mattress runs are throwing money out the door. Money the could be used to pay down credit card debt.

Again, I am back at zero. My last idea is to think small. Companies like eRewards, eMiles, Dining Rewards have options to transfer points at hotels. You won't earn a ton of points from these options, but its a start.

As I have stated before, small steady will help you win the marathon. The points game is a marathon, not a race.

Do you have any suggestions for reader "C"?
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Update: Earn Up To 16 Rapid Reward Miles Per $1 Spent @ Marriott

I wrote here about how to earn 16 Rapid Reward Miles Per $1 spent at Marriott. I wanted to follow-up with my experience. Even though I did the United promotion (expired), it is very similar to the Southwest promotion.

As a reminder, you can earn Rapid Reward miles for buying Marriott gift cards.

•       $100 = 1,200 Rapid Rewards Miles
•       $250 = 3,000 Rapid Rewards Miles
•       $500 = 6,000 Rapid Rewards Miles

I ordered my gift card on August 8th and the points still have not posted.

My next recommendation was to purchase the gift cards with the Chase Sapphire card to earn 2x per $1. As expected, I earned the 2x Ultimate Rewards points per $1 on my next statement.

When its time to book your Marriott hotel stays, go through the Ultimate Reward shopping portal to earn 2 additional points per $1.

I am happy to say I earned my points this way as well. I book the stay on July 30th, stayed on August 24th and the points were credit to my Ultimate Reward account on September 8th.

My final suggestion was to switch your Marriott accounts to earn MileagePlus/Rapid Reward miles; instead, of Marriott points. I never did this, because I learned that by doing so I might not be eligible for the Unexpected Bonus's free night. Therefore, I left those points on the table. However, I did earn a free night.

If you haven't participated, this is a great way to quadruple dip: earn points for buying the gift card, using your Chase Sapphire, booking the stay, and staying with Marriott. These type of promotions are rare.

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George Costanza was right: Double Dipping is OK!

Everything that happens in the world can always be brought back to Seinfeld somehow. In an 1993 episode, George accompanies his current girlfriend to her aunt's wake. It is at the wake that a young boy accuses George of double-dipping his chip...



George was correct "double-dipping" is perfectly ok, especially in the points world. In the points and miles world, the double-dipping doesn't involve chips, but rather earning extra points.

For instance, on our Memorial Day trip, we stayed at two Marriott to participate in Marriott's Unexpected Bonus. We earned Marriott Reward points for every dollar we spent on the hotel rooms. Most people would be happy with getting points for their stay. However, you shouldn't! I earned an additional 2 Ultimate Reward points per $1 spent by simply going to the Marriott website through the Ultimate Reward portal.

Purchase Date Rewards Merchant Rewards Earned

5-17-2013 Marriott 226 extra points 5-17-2013 Marriott 280 extra points

Marriott isn't the only hotel that one can double-dip. In the Ultimate Reward Portal, one can earn additional points with Best Western, Choice Hotels, Holiday Inn/Intercontinental Hotels. Also, the Ultimate Reward portal allows one to earn points on travel booking sites Hotwire, Hotel.com, Orbitz, and Travelocity. Almost every airline and hotel chain has an online points/miles earning portal. However, not all point earning portals allow points to be earned for booking hotels through them.

For many this is not earth shattering news. Double-dipping is common practice in the points community; actually Frequent Miler writes about it all the time. This is the cheapest way of earning points, because it doesn't cost you a thing except extra time. The hardest part of earning points this way is remembering to go though the portal first. I am guilty of leaving valuable points on the table by forgetting to go through the portal first. I always kick myself after I hit the submit button.

George was correct, Double-Dipping is perfectly acceptable.


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Work Backward Approach: Using Marriott's Unexpected Bonus

A few weeks back, Chris and I wrote a guest post on Hack My Trip about our approach to travel planning: Work Backwards. The work backward approach focuses on picking the destination, first, and working to earn the miles and points to get there afterwards. However, the approach is easier in words than practice. For this reason, I will start writing posts about putting the work backward approach into action.

For the Memorial Day Weekend, my friends and I went on a road trip throughout Virginia. When it came time to decided on hotels, the choice was easy. Since we were spending one night in two cities, Cash Back Boy was adamant that we stay at Marriott hotels to use the Unexpected Bonus promotion. As I wrote here, Marriott's Unexpected Bonus promotion gives you a free night at any hotel category 1-5 after spending two paid nights.

How does the promotion tie into the work backward approach? Great question!

Every year, my friends and I take trips to see college football game. One of the biggest expenses that we incur is the cost of hotel rooms. Typically, hotels close to stadiums jack up nightly rates on college football weekends. For instance, last year's trip to Penn State, the cost of one night at the Courtyard by Marriott was $250, but the next weekend, when Penn State was playing away, hotel rates were around $119. By staying this past weekend at Marriott; instead of a Hilton or Hyatt, we prepaid for one hotel night for a future college football trip.

The cost of staying at Marriott hotels were similar to staying at Hilton or Hyatt. Therefore, we lost nothing expect some points in our preferred hotel loyalty program, but we gain a free night for future use. This promotion is a great way of helping pay for your dream trip. First, one needs to check to see if there is a Marriott located near your dream location. No reason to participate if Marriott does not have a hotel where you want to go. However, ff Marriott does have a hotel or hotels near your dream location then this promotion might be a good one to participate  The risk is that a "free night" might not be available for when you want to travel, but to be successful in the "game" a little be of risk is required.

This promotion is not mattress run worthy. The cost in time and money is to expensive. In my opinion this promotion works best if you have flexibility in your hotel choices over the next few months.  My motto is always get something for staying at a hotel and getting a free night after two paid stays is pretty damn good.
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Marriott's Unexpected Bonus is Unexpectedly Popular

Marriott has a promotion at the moment called Unexpected Bonus. Under this promotion, one earns a free night after second paid stays.

One needs to register here on July 31st and stay twice, September 2, 2013.

I am not a Marriott guy. My Marriott Rewards account has zero points in it. However, I signed up for this promotion, because one of my goals for 2013 is to sign-up for more promotions regardless of the likely I will participate. 

What was unexpected about this promotion was that twice this week, someone brought this promotion up out of the blue. First, it was Cash Back Boy. Then, my boss. Both of them asked if I had heard about the Unexpected Bonus from Marriott and was it worth registering. Say What! How did you know about this promotion? 

Marriott's Unexpected Bonus has become Unexpectedly Popular. Both of these people do not read points blogs. Therefore, Marriott must have done a great job with their advertising the promotion.

My strategy for this promotion is to only use it if you have upcoming stays that can be steered toward Marriott. I don't this is a mattress run promotion. Maybe if you have one stay under your belt and you can find a very cheap second stay. For instance, Cash Back Boy mentioned that we steer any upcoming hotels stays to Marriott, so that we can use the free night for college football.

The bigger question is Cash Back Boy coming over to the dark side?

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