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We have mentioned many times before how much we like the savings you can receive from using cashback sites TopCashback and Quidco. With the (brilliant) new merger between Starwood and Marriott making both companies more interesting to everyone who likes to travel better for less, I thought it was a good time to look at what the various cashback options are, to ensure you get the best cashback on Marriott and Starwood stays.

You might think this would be easy (ok, I admit I’ve had harder afternoons!), but it’s actually not totally straightforward, because both SPG and Marriott have a couple of little quirks when it comes to cashback.

You can earn cashback for stays at Marriott hotels (eligible brands also include JW Marriott, Edition, Ritz Carlton, AC, Renaissance, Courtyard, Residence Inn, Delta, Protea, SpringHill Suites, Fairfield Inn etc) with either TopCashback or Quidco.

Oddly, non-members can earn slightly more cashback than members of Marriott Rewards Club.

Exact rates shift around a bit, but typically both Quidco and Topcashback offer 5% for members and 7% for non-members. At the moment, Quidco are offering a higher rate of 7% for members and 9% for non-members.

I say that this is odd because hotel companies spend vast sums of money every year trying to encourage guests to book directly with them and to engender guest loyalty – it’s basically the whole raison d’etre for loyalty programmes. Marriott even offers substantial incentives to get guests to join Rewards Club, so this policy is basically just plain backwards.

I  suspect a relatively junior accountant who hasn’t really thought this through from a strategic perspective is the likely culprit, and that we might well see a change at some point… In the meantime, don’t worry about the extra 2% – sign up to Marriott Rewards anyway as the benefits outweigh the additional 2%.

If you do not have a Marriott Rewards account yet, you can either send me an email ([email protected]) for a referral that gets you 2,000 Bonus Points for each of your first 5 stays (10,000 in total), or sign up using this link to get a free one night Category 1-5 Certificate after just 2 stays.

Also, if you have elite status with either Marriott or SPG, don’t forget to match it across to the other programme before any stays!

Starwood (Sheraton, Westin, St.Regis, W, Aloft, etc) cashback is more straightforward, but is offered exclusively by Quidco.

It’s currently only 3%, but I think it might be quite a new partnership as I can’t remember seeing it before, so they may well experiment with different (hopefully higher!) rates. Regardless, 3% is still better than nothing and definitely worth a quick click!

If you do not already have a TopCashback account, sign up using this referral link by 3rd October and you will get £5.00 bonus cashback after earning your first £10.00 (I also get a small referral payment, so thanks!).

Similarly, if you do not have a Quidco account yet, we can split my £2.50 referral credit so that we get £1.25 each when you sign up here (after earning your first £5.00 cashback).