Every hotel in a big loyalty program has two prices for the same room: the cash rate, and the points rate. The programs also sell points. On expensive nights, buying the points can cost a lot less than the room. SideDoor shows you whether that's true for your trip.
Often it isn't. When it is, the difference can be large.
Invented numbers, built to show the shape of it. Real ones depend on the hotel, the dates, the program's current promotion, and whether an award room exists at all. That last part is the catch, and it's most of what we check.
Learn to check for the lower price on your next hotel stay. Same hotel, same room, a second price most people never check.
Bucket-list trip? Big event? Holiday weekend? You have to go, and the hotel price is the problem. Send it to us.
No. There's one move: compare the cash rate to the cost of buying the points, then check that an award room exists. No cards to open, no status to chase.
Cash rates spike with demand. Points prices sometimes follow, sometimes lag, and in one program barely move. The gap opens on busy dates at expensive hotels and closes almost everywhere else.
A free account in the hotel's loyalty program, with one catch: Hilton and Marriott make new members wait about 30 days before buying points. If a trip is coming up, open the account today.
There's no face on SideDoor on purpose. Every number we publish carries the date it was checked and where it came from. Judge us on those.