(EXPIRED) 21% back at TripAdvisor (hotels & activities) [Targeted]

I found a targeted offer this morning for 21% back at TripAdvisor, which should work on hotels and activities booked through TripAdvisor, via the Capital One Shopping portal. Keep in mind that this is targeted, so you’ll need to check your own portal offers, and you probably won’t get any elite recognition / elite night credit / hotel points when booking through TripAdvisor.

The Deal

• Capital One Shopping is out with a targeted offer for some people to earn 21% back at TripAdvisor today-only

Key Terms

• Increased payout is likely today only (7/24/23) and you need to click through the button that shows the 21% payout.

Quick Thoughts

While TripAdvisor is most well-known for hotel reviews, it also operates an online travel agency, so you can book hotels and activities through TripAdvisor. That will of course mean that you wouldn’t qualify for hotel points or elite benefits or credits, the 21% back could certainly make this attractive if prices are the same (though keep in mind that if you’re eligible for things like AAA discounts or corporate discounts, booking direct is likely cheaper).

I have noted before that these targeted offers show up on the Capital One Shopping home page if you scroll down (or if you click the box that says “filter” and choose the store name you want). They do not show up via the search bar on the home page. And as is often the case, when I filtered the targeted offers to TripAdvisor, the payouts differed depending on which button I clicked. I can verify though that in those cases I have always gotten the higher advertised payout by clicking through the button advertising it. In fact, since I shop in a browser with the Capital One Shopping extension installed, it always gives me a pop-up during checkout to “activate” the cash back and the number matches what I’ve clicked through. As we’ve often noted before, it doesn’t matter what you purchase in most cases after clicking through — even if you booked Aria or The Venetian, which only show payouts of 14% on the other buttons, you’ll get the 21% back as long as you click the 21% button.

I’ll also note that at least one or two readers reported TripAdvisor purchases either taking along time to credit via Capital One Shopping or not crediting at all. I always recommend keeping screen shots. I’ve had very good results with Capital One Shopping (and the one time that about $400 back from a purchase didn’t credit properly, I emailed customer service and they made it right). My Viator bookings from June are still pending, but I’ve had plenty of other purchases credit, including with IHG, Hertz, Dell, Walmart, HSN, Goodyear, GiftCards.com, and more. In total, I’ve earned thousands of dollars in cash back through the Capital One Shopping portal over the last year and just recently redeemed for a $1200 worth of Hotels.com gift cards with no problem / issue at all (and yes, I’ve used the Hotels.com gift cards for a reservation already). If only the 21% payout were around via TripAdvisor the other day, I may not have booked through Hotels.com though!

As a reminder, you do not need to be a Capital One customer to use Capital One Shopping — it’s a public shopping portal with Capital One branding, but cash back earned through it is entirely separate from Capital One (and only redeemable for gift cards to specific merchants, which include Hotels.com, eBay, Lowe’s, Safeway, DoorDash, GrubHub, and more).

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