A MAJOR travel site has SCRAPPED its loyalty scheme offering regular free stays at hotels leaving customers fuming.
For years, Hotels.com have had one of the more generous loyalty schemes, offering a free night for every 10 nights you book through its website.
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But that’s all coming to an end later this year, as it announced a partnered loyalty scheme with Expedia and Vrbo called One Key.
The new loyalty scheme offers a blanket 2% back on money spent on hotels and holiday rentals into your One Key account.
This is a big drop from the current free night (or 10% back) customers get from booking 10 nights.
Fans of the Hotels.com reward scheme were not happy to hear about the change.
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They took to X to express their outrage at the change.
“I have used Hotels.com for years and redeemed a few reward nights but this OneKey reward scheme is woeful in comparison” said one.
Another angrily tweeted the company: “As soon as your frankly pitiful One Key launches in the UK you will lose me forever as a customer.
“Your rewards programme was excellent and you are gutting it. You have lost your only differentiator.”
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A third complained: “I’ve been a big fan of the hotels.com reward scheme had over 50 free nights, but this new scheme, on the face of it, looks like you say woeful.”
Another disgruntled user said it was “time to say bye and go back to booking with hotels directly” and that
But users gave a slight sigh of relief, that the change is not coming in straight away.
Hotels.com has said that accounts will be switched over “between July and October” though has not given an exact date.
This means that members of the loyalty scheme have a few months left to take advantage of the scheme’s higher rewards before they are ditched.
The new One Key rewards scheme is offering 2% back as ‘OneKeyCash’ on eligible hotels, holiday rentals, activities and packages.
This can then be spent on other bookings made through the site.
Users can earn up to 6% back as ‘OneKeyCash’ by climbing tiers each time they spend, which is still considerably less than currently offered.
You can also earn and spend the rewards when booking with Expedia, which owns Hotels.com, and holiday home rental site Vrbo which is also part of the Expedia group.
The Expedia Rewards scheme will also be ditched and replaced by the One Key scheme.
What is OneKey and what are the rewards?
ONE Key replaces Hotels.com and Expedia’s rewards schemes.
With the new scheme, you can earn rewards when booking eligible flights, car hire, hotels, holiday rentals and more on Hotels.com, Expedia and Vrbo.
It’s free to join, and when you book, you’ll get 2%, 3%, 4%, or 6% back, which you can then use on future bookings.
The amount you get back will depend on the tier – either blue, silver, gold or platinum.
Users will also get member prices, saving 10%, 15% or 20% on hotel prices, depending on the tier.
Your tier will depend on your activity on the websites.
The more trip elements you have, the more you earn, though each must be worth more than £20.
This could be a flight ticket, a one-night stay in a hotel, or one-day car hire, for example.
Expedia says that two nights in a hotel and three days of car hire would add up to five elements, for example.
- Blue – Free to sign up with no minimum booking requirement
- Silver – five trip elements within a year
- Gold – 15 trip elements within a year
- Platinum – 30 trip elements within a year
Existing stamps and rewards from hotels.com will be converted into ‘OneKeyCash’.
You can find out more at uk.hotels.com/one-key.
Travellers will still benefit from more flexibility when earning points compared to other schemes.
Certain hotel brands such as Hilton, Marriott and IHG offer schemes to collect points each time you stay, but that limits you to individual hotel brands – which can end up being more costly in the long run.
Despite the devaluation, the One Key rewards scheme will be the most flexible scheme if you are not loyal to a specific hotel brand.
It’s another example of loyalty schemes dropping the rate of rewards that users can claim.
In 2023, Tesco Clubcard stopped its triple up of Clubcard Rewards for a lower value double up, and Boots dropped the rewards earned per £1 spent from 4% to 3%.
More ways to earn rewards when going on holiday
Regular travellers can also benefit from an air miles reward credit card.
These let you earn frequent flyer points each time you spend money at home or abroad.
These points can be redeemed to bring the cost of travel-related spending down.
This could include cutting the cost of flight tickets, hotels or airport lounge access.
British Airways offers travel credit cards from both American Express and Barclaycard, which reward spending with Avios.
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Virgin Atlantic‘s Virgin Money Mastercard rewards spending with Virgin Red points.
Customers holding a Chase debit card can also take advantage of near-perfect exchange rates and 1% cashback on spending at home and abroad.
