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Just a quick reminder that you can still sign up to get complimentary membership with Club 1 Hotels (standard cost ~£95 / $129).
Club 1 Hotels sells hotel rooms at wholesale rates (without taking a commission), which means they can offer some of the lowest rates around. To get access to cheaper hotel rates for a year, all you have to do is sign up here, before the end of January 2018.
Is it really cheaper?
Not always, but quite often. Last time I wrote about Club 1 Hotels, I used the example of a 3 night stay at the 5* Rosewood Carlyle Hotel in New York:
- Club 1 Hotels total (inc taxes and fees): $1,070.48
- Direct with Rosewood (inc taxes and fees): $1,721 – though rate does include breakfast
- Booking.com: $1,903.88
Now, clearly Club 1 isn’t always going to manage to save you that sort of money, and sometimes it may not be cheaper at all. Think of it as an additional tool for saving money on your travels rather than the only site you need to check. Also bear in mind that you are very unlikely to receive status benefits or earn loyalty points / status credits when booking through Club 1 Hotels.
What if the rates aren’t cheaper?
Club 1 offers an interesting looking Best Rate Guarantee. I’ve still not had chance to try it out myself yet, but this is what they say:
New booking engine
I got an email from Club 1 recently saying that they are going to be upgrading their booking engine to make using the site much easier. This is actually a bigger deal than you might think, because the main criticism I have of Club 1 Hotels at the moment is that the site can be quite annoying and sometimes throws up completely bizarre results:
The new system will feature:
- Lightning fast load times
- Streamlined hotel results, all room types and best available rates will display one time per hotel
- Our best deals for each city will be listed first so you don’t have to hunt for them
- Greatly improved map and filter features
- Each listing will include a detailed hotel description, additional photos and guest reviews
If everything goes to plan, the new booking engine will be live on 21st January 2018.
Win a $250 booking credit
In addition to the free Club 1 Hotels membership for everyone, two members will also win a $250 Club 1 Hotels booking credit for signing up. If you’ve previously signed up to Club 1 Hotels through a link on InsideFlyer, you’re automatically entered, don’t worry!
A quick google saysd this site is dodgy, adds extra fees at the end which make price similar to otersites and the only reason it gets promoted is cos they pay $4 commission on signups?
Hi Ak,
I only write about stuff I personally think can benefit readers. I don’t know about other sites, but InsideFlyer receives nothing from Club 1 for this article or for any sign ups they might get from it.
As I mention in the article, you’re not always going to save money booking with Club 1, but I definitely see it as a useful option to have access to.
As also mentioned in the article, the booking engine they use at the moment sometimes throws up some utterly bizarre results (like £14 million for a night at the Langham!), so, as always, check prices elsewhere and factor in cashback and Points you can earn booking direct or with other sites to make sure you really are getting a good deal.
Basically, I see it as a useful extra string to the travel deal bow. Given it’s free to sign up to at the moment, I see no harm in making people aware of it.