There are a ton of online trel agencies (OTAs) out there. Websites like Orbitz, Priceline, AmexTrel.com, and Costco Trel give you a ton of options to book flights, hotels, cruises, or vacation packages — the latter being one of the best ways to use an OTA to se money.
Hotels.com is one of the easier to use and more straightforward OTAs ailable. Hotels.com offers an extensive selection of hotels, with a search function and customization filters that can arguably be compared to the Google Flights search tool.
Additionally, Hotels.com offers discounted “secret prices” to members, plus an in-house loyalty program that goes a long way to make up for the fact that you can’t collect a hotel’s points or elite credits for nights booked through an OTA.
Let’s take a look at how to best use this platform and how to get the most value from its offerings.
Why Book Through Hotels.com?There are a few reasons to book through an online trel agency like Hotels.com. The first is customer service, although this can be a double-edged sword.
On one hand, in the event of an issue like an overbooked hotel or a maintenance emergency in your room, booking through Hotels.com means you can contact their customer support and he them advocate for you to try and find a solution. This can be easier than trying to deal with the hotel on your own.
On the other hand, it means that there’s a middleman between you and the trel provider. This can actually make it harder for the hotel to re-accommodate you, and it could even mean that there’s an extra step to go through when trying to work out a fix.
The second reason is to find a lower price on your hotel, or by booking a vacation package to try to se on both the hotel and flight.
Often, the price that OTAs offer for hotels is the same as what you can get from booking directly with the hotel, especially if the hotel offers price matching. In many cases, however, an OTA like Hotels.com might manage to snag an extra discount for its customers.
» Related: The 17 Best Websites for Booking Hotels at the Cheapest Prices [2025] One Key RewardsHotels.com’s popular rewards program that awarded a free night for every 10 stayed was replaced in mid-2023 by One Key, the rewards program shared by Expedia, Hotels.com, and Vrbo. It allows you to earn points called OneKeyCash on eligible hotels, vacation rentals, flights, car rentals, and more across the 3 brands.
Members earn up to 2% in OneKeyCash for each dollar spent on eligible hotels, vacation rentals, activities, packages, car rentals, and cruises. Unfortunately, the earning rate for flights is pretty bad — just 0.2% in OneKeyCash for every dollar spent on eligible flights.
Plus, members are also eligible for discounts of 10% or more on hotels and up to 30% when booking a hotel and flight together.
One Key StatusJust as with most frequent flyer or hotel rewards programs, Expedia’s One Key offers different levels of status. Status levels are determined based on how many trip elements you collect. You’ll get 1 trip element for each hotel or vacation rental night, each flight, each car rental day, each cruise night, and each activity ticket.
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Blue
Silver
Gold
Platinum
Requirements
0 to 4 trip elements
5 to 14 trip elements
15 to 29 trip elements
30+ trip elements
Earn OneKeyCash on eligible stays, flights, car rentals, and more
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
OneKeyCash bonus
None
Earn 50% more OneKeyCash on stays at VIP Access properties on Expedia and Hotels.com
Earn 2x OneKeyCash on stays at VIP Access properties on Expedia and Hotels.com
Earn 3x OneKeyCash on stays at VIP Access properties on Expedia and Hotels.com
Member sings
Se 10% or more on over 100,000 hotels worldwide
Se 15% or more on over 10,000 hotels worldwide
Se 20% or more on over 10,000 hotels worldwide
Se 20% or more on over 10,000 hotels worldwide
Get access to free price tracking for flights on the Expedia App
x
x
x
x
Treler support
Priority
Priority
Platinum VIP
Get an extra perk when staying at select VIP Access properties (such as food and beverage extras)
x
x
x
Room upgrades when ailable at VIP Access properties
x
x
Price Drop Protection at no extra cost on eligible flight bookings made on the Expedia app
x
x
Receive up to $100 off hotels to upgrade your stay and celebrate the launch of One Key (using a one-time Expedia discount of 10%)
x
Bottom Line: One Key is Hotel.com’s loyalty program. OneKeyCash is earned at variable rates by booking eligible flights, hotels, cars, activities, and vacation packages through 3 brands — Expedia, Hotels.com, and Vrbo.
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Booking Hotel Nights SearchingTo search for a hotel, first head to the homepage. There’s a search window in the upper-left corner. Select your destination, check-in and check-out dates, number of guests, and number of rooms.
There’s a drop-down menu to pick the number of rooms and guests — you may need to pick “more options” if you’re looking to book for a large group. When you’re ready, click “search.”
Image Credit: Hotels.com
On the next page, you’ll find the search results. By default, hotels are sorted by “Featured,” which are determined based on an algorithm factoring in price, reviews, location, and more.
In general, unless you he a specific hotel property, price, or neighborhood in mind, you’ll find the “Featured” list to be fairly reasonable. This makes it easier to sort through what can be dozens or even hundreds of options in a big city. Just be certain to do your research, as Hotels.com does receive compensation for hotels that appear higher up their search listing, though that is not the only factor.
Image Credit: Hotels.com
If you want to reorder the results, use the tools above the list of hotels. You can sort the results by price, star rating, or guest rating.
If you’re staying in a big city, “Distance” sorting can be especially helpful, offering a large list of famous landmarks as well as “City center.” If you don’t really know where to stay and are unfamiliar with the city, this gives you some great location options.
Image Credit: Hotels.com
In addition to reordering results, you can filter using the options on the left side of the page. Popular filters include amenities like free breakfast, a pool, and free parking.
When browsing through the results, pay attention to any terms under the listed price — if free cancellation or pay-at-check-in is ailable at that hotel, it lists that here.
Also, be sure to log in to your Hotels.com account or enter your e-mail address so that you’ll see “secret prices.” Hotels with that option will show a purple button above the listed price that reads “Your Secret Price.” Click the button to see what’s offered.
Look out for the purple “secret price” icon, and make sure to check below the price to see if the hotel has free cancellation. Image Credit: Hotels.com
When comparing secret prices to prices offered to non-members, you typically find discounts of 5%-10% per night. Most of those hotels offered discounts to non-members, but those were smaller discounts than the secret prices.
BookingAs you browse the results, click the “Choose Room” button to see more information about the hotel or make a reservation. The next page offers a lot of details about the hotel listed under the photo slideshow.
Scroll down to view ailable room types. Make absolutely sure to read the information in the “Options” column — this includes the cancellation and prepayment policies. Click “Let’s Book” next to the room and rate you choose.
Keep an eye on the “Options” column for rate details and rules. Image Credit: Hotels.com
If prepayment isn’t required, a window pops up comparing prepaid vs. pay-on-arrival rates. Choose which you’d prefer and click either “Pay Now” or “Pay at Hotel.”
On the next page, fill in your personal details, enter payment information, and review the terms and conditions, which include specifics about the cancellation policy. When you’re set, just click “Book.”
Price GuaranteeLike many OTAs, Hotels.com offers a best price guarantee. If you find a cheaper, publicly ailable rate on another site after you’ve made your reservation, Hotels.com will refund the difference.
While many sites like Priceline require you to submit a price-match request within 24 hours of making the booking, Hotels.com will honor requests made until 11:59 pm the day before check-in.
Hot Tip: To submit a claim if you find the same room for a better price, call customer service at 800-246-8357.
Keep in mind that the price match only applies to rates that are ailable to the general public. This excludes loyalty members-only rates, AAA or AARP rates, and opaque booking rates (like what you could find from Priceline Express Deals).
PricesWhile there is a best price guarantee, it’s much easier to just pay the best rate from the beginning. So how do Hotels.com’s rates compare to other sites?
To find out, we looked at a few different hotels and dates across several different services. For the sake of example, take a look at the below comparison for 5 nights at the San Francisco Marriott Union Square.
These include the best ailable cancellable rate but exclude estimated taxes and fees, price ascending:
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Price
Priceline
$1,400.00
Marriott.com
$1,525.00
Orbitz
$1,525.32
Hotels.com
$1,525.33
AmexTrel.com
$1,525.33
In this case, Priceline offered the best rate by a significant amount. In fact, Hotels.com was more expensive than every other site (though only by a few cents in most cases).
However, it’s likely that Priceline was offering a special rate or deal, as price discrepancies this large are not common. In other searches, Hotels.com will usually he similar or identical prices to other sites, and in some cases, the lowest rate.
Hot Tip: Regardless of which booking service you want to use, you should always compare prices between multiple sites to help find the lowest rate.
The lesson here is that each OTA offers different rates at different hotels based on deals, agreements, and more. If you he a specific property or area in mind, the best practice is to compare prices using a few different sites.
Flights, Vacation Packages, and ActivitiesHotels.com’s promotional tagline is “the obvious choice.” Another thing that’s obvious is that they’re all about booking hotels. Unlike other OTAs, such as Priceline and Orbitz, the website doesn’t offer rental cars, cruises, and so on.
However, despite its name, they do offer flights and vacation packages — with a package, you can se some money by booking a flight and a hotel together.
The hotel packages are less comprehensive than what Costco Trel offers, but they’re still valuable. You can even find a limited number of activities in certain cities.
One ceat: package, flight, and activity bookings are not eligible for Hotels.com Rewards credits, even if you include a hotel. Because of that, there do not seem to be any advantages to booking through their site instead of directly with the airline.
Hot Tip: Even when you book a flight through their portal, you can still earn the airline’s frequent flyer miles. Just be sure to enter your account number when making the reservation.
Vacation PackagesTo search for vacation packages, click the “Menu” text in the upper-left corner of the homepage, then click on the link for packages and flights.
On the next page, click the “Flight + Hotel” button. Enter your origin and destination, departure and return dates, the number of people treling, and the number of rooms. Next, click “Search.”
Make sure to click the “Flight + Hotel” button. Image Credit: Hotels.com
The results page starts with hotels, listing them in “Featured” order. You can also sort by price, guest rating, or distance from downtown.
Additionally, you can use tools on the left side to filter results by property name, star rating, neighborhood, amenities, property type, or popular locations.
Each result displays a price per person, which represents the cheapest ailable flight, the hotel’s lowest rate, and all fees and taxes.
Image Credit: Hotels.com
Click the result to see more details of the hotel. When you find one that you want to book, scroll down to find the ailable rooms. Some rooms may show an additional price per night on top of the rate shown on the results page, though there will be at least one “+ $0.00” option.
The price shown on the results page includes the lowest-cost room. If you choose an upgraded room, the price will likely increase. Image Credit: Hotels.com
Next, pick your outbound flight, followed by the return. These are sorted by additional price — the top results are included in the quoted price, while any flights that he an additional cost will be further down. When possible, they’ll prioritize nonstops.
Review the details on the next page, then click “Book Now.” Enter your details on the next page, followed by payment, and you’re all set!
Bottom Line: Hotels.com offers a solid vacation package portal, though prices are similar to other OTAs and you can’t collect their Rewards credits. Keep in mind that bundling, while more convenient, may not be the cheapest option. So always compare multiple websites before booking.
ActivitiesHotels.com offers a portal through which you can book things like tours or purchase admission tickets.
When comparing prices across a number of different products, they seemed to be the same as booking directly with the providers or with any other ticket seller.
If you’re interested in looking through options, nigate to the “Flights and Packages” area, then click on “Activities.”
Final ThoughtsHotels.com offers a powerful hotel search tool, as well as a simple, easy-to-use rewards program. If you’re looking to trel a few nights a year, it could be worth your while to book with Hotels.com.
If you’re loyal to a certain hotel group or he elite status from a hotel credit card, you’re likely better off booking directly with the hotel so that you can earn hotel loyalty points and increase your elite status.
As always, remember to compare prices before booking. Hotels.com offers a fantastic price guarantee and you’re protected if you find a cheaper rate anywhere else up until the day before check-in.
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