Seeing as we live in hotels and Airbnbs and move pretty much every week, I spend far too much time searching for accommodation. I always search in incognito mode because a lot of hotel chains offer cashback via shopping portals, so once I’ve found a rate I want in incognito mode, I click through from a shopping portal in my normal browser.
I never log in to hotel websites when searching in incognito mode because a) it saves time and b) I don’t want to get the subsequent emails saying “Don’t forget to finish booking your stay in Des Moines, IA.” It turns out that with Marriott, that’s a bad choice because you might be missing out on special rates if you’re a business credit cardholder and/or you have elite status with Marriott Bonvoy.
Michael in the Frequent Miler Insiders Facebook group brought this to our attention today. He’d noticed an “Amex Biz Card Member Rate” when checking rates at a property in Palm Desert, CA. My wife has a Marriott Amex Business card, so I checked rates at this particular property when logged into her account and sure enough, they showed up on her account too.
It doesn’t seem to matter what type of Marriott business credit card you have though. She has both the Amex one and the Chase Premier Plus Marriott business card and saw the same lower rates for both card options.
When checking the Standard Rates, the room rate was $6 per night more expensive for the Member Rate Flexible and $8 per night more for the Flexible Rate.
The discount for having a business credit card isn’t always available depending on the property, but a different kind of discount received when logging in might be. For example, another hotel in Palm Desert – the Westin Desert Willow Villas – doesn’t seem to offer discounts for being a business cardholder, at least not on the dates I checked anyway. However, because I was still logged in to my wife’s account it displayed an Elite Exclusive Offer rate, presumably based on her having Titanium status. My wife and I both have Titanium status, so I’m not sure if Gold and/or Platinum members receive the same discount as Titanium members, if they get a smaller discount or if it’s only those with Titanium status who receive this discount.
That Elite Exclusive Offer rate was $10 per night cheaper than the Member Exclusive Offer available to any Marriott Bonvoy member and a full $50 per night cheaper than the Standard Rate of $199 per night for the night I checked. That’s because the rate details for the Elite Exclusive Offer rate are that it’s a 25% discount off the Flexible Rate.
As we’ve seen, some properties offer discounts for having a Marriott business credit card, while others give a discount for having elite status. It’s not always an either/or situation though; sometimes it’s both/and.
For example, the Le Méridien New York, Central Park offers discounts for both American Express and Chase business credit cardholders…
…as well as discounts for those with Titanium status (and possibly Gold and/or Platinum status).
This is why it’s now going to be worth logging in to your account when doing searches on Marriott’s website. If I’d been checking rates for the Le Méridien New York, Central Park in incognito mode, this would’ve been the only option displayed. Logging in would therefore save up to $19 for that particular night.
With regards to the lower rates available for business credit cardholders, it doesn’t look like you need to pay with that particular card – the discount is provided for simply having it in the first place. I selected the rate for my wife’s Chase Premier Plus Marriott business card and on the next screen it offered to take payment from her Marriott Amex business card as that’s the default payment card on her account. That could be particularly useful if you have a Marriott Amex Offer or Chase Offer on one of your other cards which isn’t on your business card(s) as it mean you can avail yourself of both the business card discount and the savings from the Amex Offer or Chase Offer.
Both of these types of discount appear to be new, so let us know if you see any other kinds of discounts on Marriott’s website by virtue of being logged in that aren’t otherwise displayed.
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You can reverse your workflow here if you want. Do all your research in normal browsing window and then when you’re ready to book, open an incognito window and go to your portal and click thru to your destination. The cookie will stay as long as you keep that window open. That’s what I’ve always done for all portals to keep it separate and clean and away from my research (uncompleted) search transactions.
I checked the Biz Card rate earlier and it appeared pretty much in every search I did, including international hotels. But now it’s gone :(. Maybe a glitch or might appear again? Who knows.
I am Gold with Bonvoy due to holding AMEX Platinum. I see the Elite rate at NY Le Meridian, so that’s a data point for Bonvoy Golds
That’s good to know – thanks!
It May not matter what card you use but I have seen language re discounted rates in general stating you may have to provide proof the you qualify for the rate. I think this is primarily applicable to AAA and senior rates, but I would be prepared to show the applicable credit card if I didn’t use it for the reservation.
Yep, with rates like AAA and AARP it’s always best to bring proof of qualification with you. In this instance though, Marriott is the one who’s linked your biz card to your account, so I personally wouldn’t be concerned about bringing proof of card membership with you, although it certainly wouldn’t do any harm to have it with you.