Credit Card Hotel Programs vs Booking Direct: A Clearer Way to Compare Prices

Summary

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Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways

Episode: Credit Card Hotel Programs vs Booking Direct: A Clearer Way to Compare Prices
Date: February 4, 2026
Hosts: Sally French & Meghan Coyle (NerdWallet Travel)
Guest: Craig Joseph (NerdWallet)

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into whether it’s actually more cost-effective to book luxury hotels through premium credit card hotel programs—like Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts or Chase’s The Edit—or by booking directly with the hotel. Sally, Meghan, and data analyst Craig Joseph unpack a new NerdWallet study comparing rates, explaining the sometimes-hidden costs and weighing up if those tempting perks (think: free breakfast and $100 credits) really offset higher prices. Alongside, they break down recent travel news, credit card updates, and share practical strategies for maximizing your travel budget.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Travel News Roundup (03:01 – 15:56)

• Disney Inspire Visa Card Update

  • New Disney card ($149 annual fee) offers higher Disney-specific rewards (10% at Disney+ & services, 3% in parks and gas, 2% groceries/restaurants).
  • Pros: Credits can offset annual fee if you’re a frequent Disney-goer.
    Sally: “If you already pay for one of these subscriptions, that knocks out a huge chunk of the annual fee right there.” (07:15)
  • Cons: Rewards aren’t cash back; only useful if you spend regularly within the Disney ecosystem.
  • Compare to other no-annual-fee cards (Amazon Prime, Target) with 5% back.
  • Notable signup offer: $300 e-gift card and statement credit for hitting $1,000 spend in 3 months.

• Point Transfers Devaluation

  • Amex to Cathay Pacific Asia Miles transfer rate drops from 1:1 to 5:4 effective March 1, 2026.
  • “The transfer ratio is going from a clean one to one transfer instead to giving up five membership rewards points to turn them into four Asia miles.” (11:21)
  • Tip: Don’t hoard points—use them before value drops.

• AMEX Centurion Lounge Rule Changes

  • Starting July 8, 2026:
    • Guests must be on the same flight as the primary cardholder.
    • Max 5 hours before next flight for layover access.
  • Sally’s take: Emphasizes using layovers for actual travel/adventure, not just sitting in a lounge for 12 hours.

• Airline Hub Competition

  • United expands flights from Chicago O’Hare in response to American Airlines’ growth—means more routes, more competition, likely better fares.
  • Quote: “This battle cements Chicago as one of the most important airline hubs in the country.” (15:37)

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2. Are Credit Card Hotel Booking Portals Worth It?

(16:17 – 53:03, major segment with guest Craig Joseph)

Craig Joseph joins to discuss new NerdWallet analysis comparing direct hotel booking prices with rates via Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts (FHR), The Hotel Collection, and Chase’s The Edit.

What are these Hotel Programs?

(17:32 – 19:26)

• Booking portals (Chase Travel, Amex Travel) act like fancy Expedia for premium credit card holders, offering access to luxury collections with added perks (breakfast, upgrades, credits).
• Only select cards (e.g., Sapphire Reserve, Amex Platinum) qualify.

The Perks—and the Catch

(18:47 – 21:35)

• Common Perks: Free breakfast, room upgrades, late checkout, $100+ property credits.
• Craig: “It’s basically like a carrot to get you to book through the portal when you can get say, complimentary breakfast and $100 property credit that can be used for cocktails or massages or whatever else on property.” (19:28)
• Perks often framed as hundreds in added value—but true worth is subjective.

What Does the Data Say?

(20:36 – 24:38)

• Chase’s The Edit:

  • Across 94 luxury hotels in 42 destinations:
    • On average, 8% more expensive ($83 extra for a two-night stay vs. direct booking).
    • 72% of the time, costs more than booking direct.
    • Exception: Boutique/independent hotels—only $26 more on average.
  • “All those extra perks, like the money you save by getting a complimentary breakfast, you’re actually paying for that… The value that you put on those benefits is going to determine whether you should pay the extra premium.” (21:22)

• Amex FHR/Hotel Collection:

  • Across 117 luxury hotels:
    • Averages 6.3% more ($68 extra per two-night stay).
    • For Amex, “slightly less bougie” hotels had lower markups; “high luxury” hotels the highest.
    • Branded chains (Marriott, Accor) most inflated ($137–$150 more); boutique hotels almost match direct-book rates.

Notable Quote:
Sally: "Not that I would choose between the two credit cards based off this hotel benefit entirely, but if we are stack ranking Amex Platinum vs Chase Sapphire Reserve on this metric alone, AMEX Platinum is my card." (47:20)

Why Are Markups So Common?

(28:27 – 30:20)

• Hotels front the cost of these perks (breakfast, upgrades), so mark up the rate to recoup their outlay when bookings come from a third-party portal.
• Direct-book loyalty/member rates are always cheaper.

Pro Tip: Even free-to-join hotel loyalty programs unlock better rates direct.

Statement Credit “Gotchas”

(22:18 – 24:38)

• Chase: $500/year credit for The Edit (divided into two $250 credits for two-night min stays); sometimes only usable at super-expensive hotels.
• Amex: $600/year on FHR/Hotel Collection (split $300/half-year, cannot stack); easier to use in more places due to broader hotel pool.

Quote:
Craig: “If you wouldn’t stay in a luxury hotel to begin with, then you’re probably paying more on the back end to use the credit than the hotel you would have booked to begin with.” (22:41)

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3. Assessing the Real Value: Are the Perks Worth It?

(34:18 – 48:44)

Who Actually Benefits?

• Requires price comparison and some "homework." If rates are equal or only slightly more—but you’ll use all the perks—it may pay off. Otherwise, just book direct and pocket the savings.
• Booking portals can “trap” travelers into spending more at overpriced hotel outlets to maximize their “credits.”
  Sally: “A hotel cocktail is minimum $25… You could just get a $5 margarita at the cool local spot.” (36:00)
• Example: Sally’s “suite upgrade” bailed her out of a tiny bunk-bed room only because of booking via portal.

Double-Dipping Points

• Booking through portals may allow earning both credit card points and hotel loyalty points (“double dipping”), but only with chain hotels—often the ones with the biggest markups.

Prepaid Rate Drawback

• Often, booking via portals requires prepaid/nonrefundable rates, limiting flexibility.

Personal Value Calculation

• Perk “values” are subjective. If you don’t care about breakfast, upgrades, or credits, you’re likely not coming out ahead.
• “If the portal rate’s the same or cheaper, it might make sense. But then again, it’s a prepaid reservation, and that might lead to certain drawbacks if your travel plans are tentative.” (48:44)

Hidden Costs & Behavioral Nudges

• The need to use credits can drive travelers to book less convenient or less desirable (but eligible) hotels, just to “get value” from their card’s annual fee.
  • Sally tells a story of booking a hotel 45 minutes away from family, purely to use her Amex credit. (44:08)

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4. Chase vs. Amex: Which is Better?

(45:55 – 48:44)

• Amex FHR: Larger hotel selection, easier to find lower-priced luxury hotels that closely match the credit, but can only redeem at $0.01/pt if paying with points.
• Chase Edit: Points can sometimes be redeemed at a higher effective value (“Points Boost”), but fewer hotels/less coverage, and may require extra effort to find good deals.
• Both involve lots of fine print, price variability, and “homework” to maximize.

Quote:
Sally: “Amex Platinum is my card... purely because Amex has so much choice makes it such a better program.” (47:20)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Craig: “The perks are real, but they're not always free. Generally, you're paying a premium for them, and everybody should compare prices before they book through these portals.” (48:44)
• Sally, on hotel breakfasts: “My dad. Dad, shout out Craig French. He loves hotel breakfast. And it doesn’t matter how much it costs, Craig French is eating hotel breakfast.” (37:57)
• Meghan: “Sometimes these credits just sort of compel you to spend more than 100%.” (39:16)
• Sally, on lounge value: “If your layover is more than five hours, just go out and see the world... don’t even stay in the lounge.” (13:14)
• Craig, on headphones at airports: “My hot takeoff is that at the end of TSA... they should hand everybody free wireless earbuds.” (50:10)
• Sally, on maximizing value: “I feel like I need to use these credits. What I find is bending over backwards to book certain hotels that qualify.” (44:08)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:00 – 01:22 — Sponsor/ad segments (skip)
• 01:26 – 02:03 — Episode intro & premise
• 03:01 – 15:56 — Travel news: Disney Visa, points devaluation, lounge changes, airline hub wars
• 16:17 – 53:03 — Feature: Credit card hotel programs vs booking direct (deep data dive)
  • 17:32 — How portals work & what you get
  • 20:36 — Data: Is it more expensive to book with credit card portals?
  • 28:27 — Boutique vs. branded hotel price comparisons
  • 34:18 — Are the perks actually worth it?
  • 41:42 — Double-dipping points
  • 44:08 — Personal stories on the inconvenience of “credit maximization”
  • 45:55 — Chase vs Amex merits
  • 48:44 — Rapid-fire takeaways
• 53:03 – End — Housekeeping, social, credits

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Practical Takeaways & Recommendations

• Always compare rates: Check price direct vs Amex/Chase portals before booking.
• Value the perks wisely: If you wouldn’t pay for breakfast, spa, or upgrades, don’t overpay for them packaged as perks.
• Boutique hotels: More likely to deliver close-to-parity pricing via portals with perks, compared to big chains.
• Leverage credits strategically: If you wouldn’t book a $1,000 hotel “just” to use a $250 credit, skip it and save.
• Don’t hoard points: Devaluations happen; use your points when you have a clear plan.

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Final Thoughts

The hosts and guest ultimately affirm: Credit card hotel booking portals offer real perks but commonly come with higher prices—sometimes so much so that the perks simply mask what's an overpriced deal. The best strategy? Be a comparison shopper. If you love hotel breakfasts or planned to splurge at the property anyway, the portals may be worth it—otherwise, booking direct (often at a genuine “member rate”) is smarter and almost always cheaper.

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For more on this topic and the full data study, search “Chase’s The Edit worth it Craig Joseph” on NerdWallet or Google.

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Transcript

[A]

Today's episode is sponsored by Fora Travel.

[B]

Megan, have you ever just planned a trip for fun that you weren't actually going to take?

[A]

Wait, I actually do that all the time. I just planned an entire safari for myself.

[B]

What?

[A]

Just to see how fun it would be?

[B]

Thank goodness I'm not the only one who does this and finds it fun.

[A]

I think a lot of listeners of Smart Travel do this.

[B]

Okay then. Perfect. This is a sign that we need to talk about Fora.

[A]

Fora is a modern travel agency built for people who love to plan travel and help others travel well. Their tech, platform, training and community give you everything you need to turn a passion for travel planning into a flexible, meaningful stream of income.

[B]

As a Fora Advisor, you get best in class training, powerful booking tech, and a vibrant Google community of experts and fellow advisors. They can share their insider knowledge to help you launch and grow your own travel business with confidence.

[A]

Plus, the perks are real. With access to more than 7,000 preferred travel partners. From iconic brands to boutique gems, you'll unlock VIP perks like upgrades, resort credits and late checkout, giving you and your clients the kind of elevated travel experiences regular travelers simply don't get.

[B]

And yes, you actually get paid. Every hotel, cruise or activity you book as a for Advisor earns you money in the form of a commission or percentage of the booking cost. Getting started can be as easy as booking trips for people you already know. Become a Fora advisor [e-mail] smarttravel that's.

[A]

F O R A travel.com smarttravel and make sure you tell them we sent.

[B]

You foratravel.com smarttravel Amex Platinum and Chase.

[A]

Sapphire Reserve cardholders love booking fancy hotels in special collections like Fine Hotels and Resorts or the Edit. These luxury hotel programs offer benefits like $100 property credits and free breakfast.

[B]

Our team at NerdWallet collected data on hundreds of these types of bookings to find out whether it is cheaper to book these hotels directly or through FHR or the edit.

[A]

And no surprise, it is usually cheaper to book directly. But you'd be missing the perks.

[B]

Yes. So believe it or not, even with higher prices, it still might make sense to book through your credit card's luxury hotels program.

[A]

Welcome to Smart Travel, a deep dive into the tips, tools and tactics to maximize your travel dollars. I'm Megan Coyle.

[B]

And I'm Sally French.

[A]

And we're the travel nerds ready to help you plan your next big trip. Today we're bringing on our colleague Craig Joseph, who helped us work on an analysis of hotel prices through Amex FHR program and Chase's the Edit, and we found some rather interesting price discrepancies between booking direct or booking through these programs.

[B]

We will talk about that in a moment. But first our disclaimer, and that is that we will talk about a few credit card companies that are nerdwallet partners in this episode that does not influence how we discuss them. The benefits, terms and fees mentioned were accurate at the time of posting, but things can change. Some offers may have expired by the time you're listening, so for the latest details, follow the links in the episode.

[A]

Description all right, Sally, we've got a packed news segment today. Credit cards, transfer ratios, another lounge access cutback, and a major airline power move.

[B]

Let's start by talking about that new Disney credit card which launched yesterday and it does not require a PhD to.

[A]

Understand this is the new Disney Inspire Visa from Chase. There's $149 annual fee, so that's three times more expensive than the annual fee on the Disney Premier Visa card. But also the perks have gotten a lot better.

[B]

So much better. The rewards you earn on your spending is higher and there are some credits and gift cards you earn as well. So let's start by talking about the earnings rates you will receive 10 at Disney Hulu and plus.espn.com 3% at most other US Disney locations and gas stations, and then 2% at grocery stores and restaurants.

[A]

Let's talk about those rewards rates for a second. So I do pay for Disney plus, but it's not a huge part of my budget. So while 10% is nice, that probably won't earn me a ton of rewards.

[B]

You and no one else. So I do want to be realistic. That 10% sounds really great. But Disney plus Hulu, ESPN, even if you get that premium unlimited Bundle, it's about $45. So just to be real, 10% back on 45 is 450, which is nice to have, but you're not making any sorts of I don't even think you could buy a churro for 450. And keep in mind this is not cash back. These are Disney rewards dollars, which are basically like Disney gift cards that you can use in places like the Disney parks.

[A]

And also, let's talk about the 3% back at most other US Disney locations and also gas stations. You know, I don't think that's crazy good for what you could think of as a store credit card if Disney was a store. It has so many things, but the Amazon prime card and the Target card both give you 5% back and they don't even have annual fees. So 3% back is not super impressive.

[B]

Although Megan, I will kind of check you on that. Is that the Disney Inspire card, as well as all the other Disney cards which I typically do not recommend, do have a really great benefit. And that is a 10% discount at certain stores in the U.S. disney parks as well as certain restaurants. It is not all of them, but if you flash your card, if you pay with that card at certain retailers, you do get a 10% discount, which that is way better than your 5% back at Target.

[A]

But then you get less Disney Rewards dollars too. I don't know. It seems a little limited to me.

[B]

Okay, you. You do sound like a little bit of a hater to me.

[A]

I'm not a hater. I just think there are other cards that have higher rates. Disney theme parks, for example, often code is entertainment if you buy them directly from Disney. And most of the time entertainment isn't a bonus category. But there are other cards that will give you 3% back as a bonus category and it doesn't tie you to Disney Rewards.

[B]

That is true. And I do want to acknowledge again, the card does not earn cash back. It does earn Disney Rewards dollars. You can redeem these for things like Disney theme park tickets, resort stays, Disney.com purchases, Disney Cruise Line, even certain movie theater tickets to see Disney movies. That said, I will say, if you are someone who's getting this card, it's because you see Disney movies and you go to Disney Park. So I don't think it should be too annoying to have these Disney Rewards dollars. But I do always just prefer to have that straight cash back.

[A]

And we haven't even talked about some of the credits you can get on this card as well. Do you want to go through those?

[B]

So the credits on this card are really what help justify the annual fee on this card. So you can get up $120 in annual credits on your Disney Plus Hulu or ESPN purchases. If you already pay for one of these subscriptions, that knocks out a huge chunk of the annual fee right there. If you spend $200 per anniversary year on U.S. disney theme park tickets, you get an $100 statement credit. So 50% off in a way. If you spend $200, that's great. And then here's the other really big one. If you spend $2,000 within your anniversary year on Disney Resort stays in the US or Disney Cruise Line bookings, you get 200 Disney Rewards dollars, that $2,000 is a lot to spend. Although if you are staying at used Disney resorts anyway or a cruise line, I don't think you could book a Disney cruise for less than $2,000. So if you are doing that anyway, this is a really, really good value. I will say it does need to be booked directly with Disney. So if you're someone who likes to use a travel advisor or some other third party, just realize that you got to book directly with Disney to get that Disney Rewards dollars benefit.

[A]

That was actually a lot of different credits. It does sort of feel like a coupon book. Sally.

[B]

Yes, but here's what I will say is these are coupons for things that you have clearly said you are buying. So if you are buying Disney Parks tickets, you are getting statement credits back. If you are buying Disney Resort stays, you are getting Disney Rewards dollars back, which you will obviously spend at the resorts. What I hate about all of these other premium cards on the market especially is they offer statement credits. I'm never going to use. Why would I use an aura ring? I'm sorry, why am I also going to shop at Walmart but then also have a gym membership at Equinox? I'm talking about all the statement credits that you get with the Platinum card. What I like about the Disney card is it's clearly designed for Disney fans. It only makes sense to hold if you go to US Disney parks or go to cruise lines. But then if you do spend money at those things, then you get rewarded with statement credits or other Disney dollars which you can then again spend at those same places. It absolutely makes sense for those super.

[A]

Disney fans and not only if you go to one of those one time, but if you go to Disney like year after year. I think that's when it makes the most sense. Again though, anytime you get a new card, you have to think about the long term value. And there are other cards that let you earn a lot of points on hotel stays, on some of the other expenses that come with a Disney trip, things like flights. Some people don't stay at Disney resorts. So just keep all of that in mind that there are other options if you do go to Disney, but maybe not once a year and you don't want to be tied to Disney Rewards dollars.

[B]

I love to stay at the Dreary Hotel in Disney Springs when I go to Disney World. They're amazing. Got free breakfast, free snacks, love them. So if you're someone who stays off property, then this card might not make sense for you. If that's you. You might want to consider something else like the Chase Sapphire Reserve. With that, you're getting forex points on flights and hotels. Book Direct which is better than the Disney card is going you3x on dining worldwide, not just at Disney. And then if you're someone who wants to dine at maybe Disney Springs at a restaurant that doesn't actually count as a Disney restaurant, you're still getting the credit there. You know I love Disney. That is not a secret. But I do a lot of non Disney trips. That flexibility matters to me. So I actually think there are better cards for those people, people like me than the Disney Inspire card. However, if you are someone who only goes to Disney and goes to Disney every year, I know who you are. I love you. This card could be a really good card for you.

[A]

Now that we agree on.

[B]

All right.

[A]

And let's throw in a reminder that right now California residents can get three day park hopper deals between now and May 21st. California residents can get this $249 pass basically for three days at the parks in California.

[B]

That is such a good deal. It's basically around $80 a day to go to the Disney parks. I don't think you could do anything for less than 80 a day when you're out traveling. If you're someone who's museums and shows and all these things and with Disney you get a full day. I am the person who goes there right when it opens at 8am and stays until midnight. So I am really maximizing my cost per hour when I'm at Disney. So I'm very excited about this deal.

[A]

I'm super tempted, especially considering a one day park hopper right now to Disneyland is $249 or more on the weekends. Like you cannot go on a Saturday for less than that. So this is like three visits for the price of one.

[B]

Going back to this Disney Inspire card, I did want to mention there is a signup offer going on right now. The launch offer includes a $300 Disney gift card e gift for new card members upon approval. There's also a $300 statement credit. To get these things you have to spend $1,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening willing to.

[A]

The article that you wrote on the new Disney card in the episode description. All right, moving right along to some other points news, this is a reminder that American Express is changing the transfer ratio to Cafe Pacific Asia Miles on March 1st. So you have one month.

[B]

People, we talk so much about these cards that you need PhDs to understand? And this one, I'm worried you're gonna have to at least have an A in algebra to do this because the transfer ratio is going from a clean one to one transfer instead to giving up five membership rewards points to turn them into four Asia Miles.

[A]

I will say it's nice that we've had advance notice on this devaluation. That's not always the case.

[B]

And you know, you got to watch out for these transfer ratios. They seem to be slipping for the worse. This means more limited redemption options, possibly maybe a worse value of what you would consider AMEX points being worth.

[A]

So if Cathay Pacific is a program that you want to use or book with, you might want to transfer your amex points before March 1st. And just in general, this is a good reminder not to hoard points because the value of your points pretty much only goes one way and that's down.

[B]

Okay. Ouch. Speaking of another thing that the value has gone down. We have to talk about more AMEX lounge access policies and they have gotten worse.

[A]

This is like an every year thing now.

[B]

I swear I will say people do not need to panic too much about this one. So here's the news. Starting July 8, American Express is updating its Centurion lounge access rules in two main ways. The first one is that guests will need to be on the same flight as the primary cardholder who is signing them in. I don't think this is going to affect a ton of people, but it does close this loophole where you could bring in someone who wasn't actually traveling with you. The bigger change I think is for layovers.

[A]

Now Amex is introducing a time limit during a layover. So now you can only enter the Centurion Lounge up to five, five hours before your connecting flight. If you have one of those 12 hour layovers where you just spend all day at the lounge, you can't really do that anymore.

[B]

Megan, if you have a 12 hour layover, why are you not going out in the world and seeing it?

[A]

You know, I'm not even booking the flights with a 12 hour layover. If I am, it's overnight and I will literally just book a hotel for that overnight. You know what I mean?

[B]

Yes. So my hot take here is that if your layover is more than five hours, just go out and see the world. I've done this before. I did once like a 16 hour layover in Paris and I just landed and then I saw as much as I could in Paris and then I went over to my final destination. So I I say don't even stay in the lounge. If you're going to be in a space for more than five hours, go to a new space. I do think the five hour window is still fairly generous for what I want in a lounge during a layover, which is after I'm bopping around Paris. I do want to be able to get in and take a shower before my next flight. So you can still do that.

[A]

It does really depend though how close the airport is to the city, how long it's going to take to get there. I generally agree though, even if you can't leave the air, get some steps in during your layover.

[B]

That does kind of prove amex's point that you should get in steps during your layover and not just sit in a lounge all day.

[A]

And let's end with the airline competition that's heating up in the Midwest right now.

[B]

So United just announced it is adding flights and it will be flying its largest schedule ever out of Chicago O' Hare this summer. It will be flying to 222 destinations nonstop. That includes a bunch of international cities and then also nice for my Midwest people, some expansion into the those smaller markets.

[A]

This expansion came just days after United CEO Scott Kirby said the airline would add as many flights as are required, stop American from gaining additional gates and taking those away from United in 2026 at O'.

[B]

Hare.

[A]

This happened during the company's earnings call on January 21st.

[B]

Was he wearing boxing gloves during this or what?

[A]

I love it. I love when these things get a little spicy. It reminds me of that interview that I did last year where we had an expert come on and talk about all of the competition between airlines and how we ended up with the system we have now. And it's clear it is still going on to this day. Even United Americans still fighting over a major airport hub.

[B]

So American is still growing as well. American added 100 daily departures from Chicago this spring. However, United is still wanting to eclipse American Airlines at O'. Hare. They now have 200 more flights than American. They made sure to point that out when they made this announcement.

[A]

This battle cements Chicago as one of the most important airline hubs in the country. If airlines are competing this much for it and customers can take advantage too, I would think, because competition generally means lower prices and now tons of new places to fly from Chicago as well.

[B]

We all know that those bank affiliate hotel collections like Amex, Fine Hotels and Resorts, Chase's the Edit or Amex is the Hotel Collection promise VIP Park. We are talking Room upgrades, breakfast, late checkout, resort credits. But are those perks actually worth it? Or are travelers quietly paying more for the same room they could have booked directly with a hotel?

[A]

That's the big question behind a new Nerd Wallet analysis led by our colleague Craig Joseph. Our team compared hotel prices across luxury credit card booking portals to see how those rates stack up when you book through your credit card issuer versus booking directly with the hotel.

[B]

Megan, I will give you the tldr and that is that it is a mixed bag. Sometimes when you factor in breakfast or the resort credit, those portals can actually be a better deal. But other times, the exact same hotel room costs significantly more than just booking directly with a hotel. So Craig joined us to help travelers understand when these luxury booking platforms shine and when they fall flat. Craig, I am so excited to have you on the show because you and I have been working for months to find data specifically about Chase Travel bookings and Amex Travel bookings. You and I together did this analysis where we compared prices of hotels booked directly with that hotel chain. So I'm talking about directly on Hilton.com or on Hyatt.com versus going through Chase Travel or Amex Travel. So for listeners who might not be familiar, can you start by explaining what these different portals are that I'm talking about and what kind of perks you get for booking through them?

[C]

I had a lot of fun working on this study with you. These third party booking platforms like Chase Travel and Amex Travel function like any other platform that doesn't go directly through the airline or hotel. So think like Expedia or booking.com and you can book flights, hotels, rental cars, cruises, all forms of travel through these portals. And access to these portals are limited to folks who earn Chase ultimate rewards and Amex membership reward points through their credit cards.

[B]

So that means only certain credit cards, not even all Chase credit cards, just.

[C]

Certain Chase credit cards, just certain Chase credit cards. For example, the Chase Freedom, which earns cash back, technically earns ultimate rewards and you get access to the Chase portal through that.

[B]

So for our study we looked just at hotels, not talking about rental cars, not talking about airlines. And that is really because we wanted to talk about, about the certain premier hotel collections. Now if you have again some of these special credit cards, I'm talking about the Chase Sapphire Reserve if you're a Chase card holder, the Platinum card from American Express if you've got American Express side of things, you have access to book not just any hotels, but these luxury hotels. And when you do, you get all of these fancy benefits. So Craig, tell us about these.

[C]

So like you said, those cards that you just mentioned, in addition to a few others, premium travel cards, ones that generally have a high annual fee, offer added benefits at select hotels when you book through the card issuers travel portal. So for Chase, that collection is called the edit. And these are always luxury hotels. So For Chase, that's 1300 properties or so. For Amex, you have access to fine hotels and resorts, which has over 1800 properties, and the hotel collection, which has about 1300 properties. So generally speaking, you get access to a limited selection of the overall number of hotels that the portal has access to and they give you extra perks when you book through them.

[B]

What are these perks we're talking about?

[C]

Yeah, we're talking about things like breakfast room upgrades, late checkout, property credits for things like food and beverage or spa credits. So it's basically like a carrot to get you to book through the portal when you can get say, complimentary breakfast and $100 property credit that can be used for cocktails or massages or whatever else on property.

[B]

And what I do think is funny about these is if you go on these websites of the actual port, say that their perks are worth many, many hundreds of dollars. So that is sort of my question is what are these perks actually worth? And we will dig into that because for some people maybe the free breakfast really is worth $60 because you would pay for breakfast in the hotel and for other people they would say I could just get a yogurt at the corner store for $1. So I'm not sure that this hotel breakfast is really worth $60. And that goes into why we are talking. We crunched the numbers and we found that booking through these portals is not always a deal. In fact, oftentimes it is more expensive. So Craig, what did we find?

[C]

These programs are becoming more central to the value proposition of pretty much every premium travel card, not just with Chase and Amex, but also with Capital One and Citi. But this study in particular focused on Chase and Amex. So in the past year, the Sapphire Reserve and the Amex Platinum have both increased their annual fees, but they've also added perks at these hotel collections. Like we talked about. What we found is that you're actually paying significantly more when you book through these travel portals to access those perks. And if you were to book directly. So with Chase, for example, we found that over 94 luxury hotels across 42 global destinations that we looked at, on average, you're paying almost 8% more than booking directly or on average about $83 more for a two night stay. So all those extra perks, like the money that you save by getting a complimentary breakfast, you're actually paying for that complimentary breakfast and the value that you put on those benefits is going to determine whether you should pay the extra premium for booking through the portal.

[B]

And then we also have to talk about the premium just to hold these cards. You mentioned the annual fee increases. We have talked about them extensively on this show. But just to remind listeners, we're talking about the Chase Sapphire Reserve which has a $795 annual fee which is a 45% increase from what it was. And then going back to the Amazon Platinum, that card also saw an annual fee increase semi recently. It is now $895 annually to hold that card which is a 29% increase from its old fee. But they also added benefits. And one of those benefits on each of those cards is credits to their respective bougie hotel booking portals. Craig, can you tell us what those statement credits are?

[C]

So for Chase, the added benefit is now a $500 annual credit towards the edit hotel bookings through Chase Travel and that's bro up as two $250 credits per year for prepaid stays of two nights or more. So if you book through Chase Travel, you can initially get $250 off of the luxury hotel that you're booking. But the thing is that you, you can only use it towards luxury hotels. So if you wouldn't stay in a luxury hotel to begin with, then you're probably paying more on the back end to use the credit than the hotel you would have booked to begin with.

[B]

I gotta say Craig, I have these cards and I have the credit and I'm like, like, oh, I'm going to Santorini. Where can I use this at? And the only hotel available in Santorini is $1,000 a night. And I'm like, oh, I would not pay $1,000 a night even with my $250 credit. That's still 7:50, which is still more than I would pay 7:50.

[C]

But you get free breakfast.

[B]

And the checkout. You gotta, you gotta factor that in. And then there's also the fact that they sort of frame it as $500 as a credit, but it's 250 credits separately. So you have to do two nights, get the 250 credit and then you have to do another two nights and get the 250 credit. Some people are Wild. And I'm gonna be honest. I've done this before where you'll stay two nights and then be like, oh, I'm checking out, but checking back in. And can you put me in the same hotel room and I can get the second credit? It works. But I feel like so bad telling the hotel front desk check in person that I want to do this.

[C]

I've done the same thing and I don't feel bad at all. Just use two different reservations and then merge them on the back end. Get both credits for one trip. Okay.

[B]

And then there's also the AMEX platinum credit, which is semi similar. Can you tell us about that one?

[C]

Yeah, very similar. Platinum cardholders get up to $600 per year in semiannual hotel credits tied specifically to fine hotels and resorts and the hotel collections.

[B]

That one, annoyingly, it is semiannual, but you have to use the first one January through June, and then the second one is July through December. So, annoyingly, you can't stack the two reservations. Although my husband and I both have a platinum card, so we'll check in for two nights and then I'll make him pay for the other two nights. And we do the same weird merging of the reservations. So again, me feeling bad, that semiannual.

[C]

Point is actually a really good one because Amex, for example, will say that this credit is worth $600 per year, but if you want to use it all in one trip to save money, you can't do that. So it forces you to trav twice and probably pay more for a luxury hotel than you may have otherwise twice throughout the year in order to really get the full benefit.

[B]

We talked about how these hotels are so expensive and they are possibly more expensive when you book through Chase. Is the EDIT or Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts. You mentioned Chase Hotels costing on average almost 8% more when you book through the edit. We are going to dig into that data even further. That is up next after this. Today's episode is sponsored by quints.

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That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com smart travel to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com smarttravel the following is a paid sponsorship, not an endorsement by NerdWallet's editorial team. Today's episode is sponsored by Bilt. You've heard me talk about BILT as a loyalty program that lets you earn points on rent wherever you live and they just leveled up even more. As of 2026, renters and homeowners can also earn up to 1.25x points on their housing payments. This is thanks to Bilt's three new credit cards, the Palladium Card, Obsidian Card and Blue Card. All three can turn your housing payments, rent or mortgage into flexible rewards, so you can choose the card that fits your lifestyle without missing out on points and exclusive benefits. BILT points can be redeemed at top airlines and hotels, Amazon.com purchases, future rent payments and more. Bilt points have also been ranked by top publications as the industry's most valuable points currency. Your housing payment is most likely your biggest expense. Make it your most rewarding. Find the card that fits your lifestyle and apply today at joinbilt.com smarttravel that's J-O-I-N-B-I-L-T.com smarttravel make sure to use our URL so they know we sent you. Terms and limitations apply subject to Approval and Eligibility Bill. Cards are issued by column NA member FDIC pursuant to license from MasterCard International Incorporated. We are here with Craig Joseph talking about the study that he did all about chases, the edit pricing. Diving back in. Craig, you mentioned that booking through the edit costs almost 8% more expensive on average than booking directly. That is about $83 more for a two night might stay. So you also found that 72% of the time booking through the edit does cost more than booking direct. Craig, why are these markups so common?

[C]

The easiest way to answer that is that generally the hotel is the one that's paying for the benefit that you received through your credit card. So the complimentary breakfast room upgrade, things like that, the hotel is paying for it and as a way to get people to book them through Chase or Amex's portal. So because the hotel is effectively fronting the costs of those benefits, it costs more when you book through Chase or Amex than it would if you booked directly with them. Additionally, hotels offer member rates when you book directly through them. So think when you join World of Hyatt and you put in your login information and then you book through your World of Hyatt account, that rate is often discounted relative to what's offered to third party booking platforms like booking.com or Expedia or in this case Chase Travel or MX Travel Trouble.

[B]

I'm so glad you brought that up because we do see so often these hotel loyalty programs, even their free to join loyalty program level will get you discounts. So a lot of people don't want to give away their email to Hilton. And I, I do get it that you don't want to give your personal data, but there are so many deals to be had if you get the member rate and you don't need to be anyone special, the only way to get the member rate is to just give them your email. So I always say make a junk email, get that member rate. And again it is less than often what you would see if you were booking through the edit.

[C]

Yeah, that's good advice you mentioned Chase.

[B]

Says it does not mark up rates, but the end result is often a higher price. Tell me about that.

[C]

So the higher price again, it's often because the hotel is paying for the benefits that you get through the Chase or Amex benefits that you get by holding the premium travel credit card. So it's a way to market for the hotel. They get more visibility and appear higher in the search results for Chase or Amex when they're part of these programs. And as such they're effectively charging more on the back end to make up that cost for the marketing for appearing.

[B]

In These programs, I really especially think about these boutique hotels that you might not hear of otherwise. They really depend on something like the EDIT to get their name out there. Because if you're tied to Hilton, then I might already have Hilton points and just know that Hilton exists. But if you're a boutique hotel, I might not even know you exist unless I see you on this booking portal. And then what's more, that boutique hotel, which is often maybe a family owned owned, it's a small business, they are the ones who are also paying for the cost of your free breakfast or.

[C]

Those other benefits, they are paying for those extra benefits. But one of the most interesting things that I found in this study was that boutique hotels actually offer the best value, the best bang for your buck when you book through Chase.

[B]

Yes, I thought that was wild. So you found that Marriott hotels averaged $140 more for two nights when booked through the edit, which is significantly more than the average, which was 83 doll.

[C]

So what we found was that the major hotels like Marriott, World, of Hyatt, Hilton, they were significantly more expensive through the edit, whereas the unaffiliated boutique hotels were much cheaper. And on average it was only $26 more to get all of those benefits through the EDIT when you booked a boutique property.

[B]

It's so interesting you say that because that is exactly what I found when I did my piece of this big data project. You, Craig, primarily handled looking at the data for Chase's the edit and I handle looking at the data for American Express, which hotels and resorts, as well as the hotel collection. So I gotta say we gotta compare notes here because I found something very similar. So for my data we looked at 117 luxury hotels across the same 42 destinations that you did for your data. And what I found is that booking through Amex's luxury collections, FHR or the hotel collection, they cost 6.3% more. That comes out to about $68 extra for a two night stay. Also what I found is that booking through Amex was more expensive 70% of the so actually 27% of the time it was actually cheaper to book through Amex. And then Those remaining like 3% cases were about the same. One thing that was interesting is because American Express has two different bougie hotel collections. There's the hotel collection which is their slightly less bougie one. That one their hotels averaged $30 more versus fine hotels and resorts. Those are really their top tier, high high luxury hotels. Those cost on average $84 more than booking direct. So when you book through FHR, much like the edit from Chase, you get a bunch of benefits. You get the daily breakfast for two. You get the guaranteed 4pm checkout. You also don't have the two night minimum, which I know all these other programs do have. And what we found is again like you said, Craig, the loyalty branded hotels were the most inflated. So what I found is that Accor Hotels, that's the brand behind Fairmont Hotels, Banyan Tree, really, really bougie hotels, they averaged $150 more for two nights. And then what we found, Marriott hotels averaged $137 more for two nights. I found that the unaffiliated hotels cost just $5 more, which I feel like is just like a rounding error of the taxes. So it is much easier to come out ahead when you book these boutique hotels through amex. Craig, do you think one of these programs is better than the other? Everyone wants to know Chase versus American Express.

[C]

For us, it really depends. I mean I, I think the real value is going to be in the other benefits.

[B]

So with that in mind, we talked about Chase, we talked about Amex. They largely are very, very similar in terms of they tend to cost more, but they also offer these extra benefits. So we are going to dig into whether these extra benefits are worth it because I think sometimes they are and sometimes they are not. Craig, do you have a gut reaction of are these benefits worth it?

[C]

I do. And for the average person I'm going to say that largely it's going to take more work to find properties that break even, you know, whatever. It was $68 difference with Amex. It was an $83 average difference to book through the edit with Chase. And you really need to price compare in order to know if you're getting a good deal or not. Some people just don't want to do that. Those people are going to do better just booking through the hotel. Just book directly. Save the extra premium that you would pay for booking through the edit and then have more free will. Yes, eat where you want. Don't spend extra money at the hotel that you wouldn't spend otherwise just because they gave you a food and beverage credit, things like that. Let me give you a real world example. So I booked through the edit recently. I was staying at a property in New York City at the Thompson in New York City. It's part of the world of Hyatt. Very fancy, awesome hotel, great location, right on the edge of Central Park. And I did the price comparison and it was $213 more to book through the edit than it would be if I would have booked directly through Hyatt.

[B]

Interesting.

[C]

Was that $213 premium worth it? For me, it was largely because New York City is a really expensive place and I didn't have to do things like go out and find expensive coffee or an expensive breakfast. I received a room upgrade, was able to use the food and beverage credit at the bar in the hotel. But there's caveats to this, right? Because all of these benefits remove choice. So just for example, when I went to the hotel bar, I could have gone and paid probably, and you get a hundred dollar food and beverage, probably could have found a bar in the neighborhood that I rather would have been at and paid significantly less for a couple of beers than I paid for the fancy cocktails and the overpriced hotel bar.

[B]

A hotel cocktail is minimum $25. And then I'm like, you could just get like a $5 margarita at the cool local spot.

[C]

I'm glad you mentioned that because that $100 property credit covered two cocktails and one appetizer plus the tip.

[B]

Oh no, that's so bad.

[C]

And I get that New York City is expensive, but come on. Like, I never ever would pay $100 for those. Those. But because I had the credit, I wanted to use it. So, you know, it gets to the point, where is that hundred dollar property credit really worth $100? Probably not. What I really would have spent is probably closer to 50 bucks for a street hot dog and a couple of beers at an Irish pub or something. So that's what I would personally value that, that benefit at.

[B]

And then similarly with the suite upgrades, I also think it really depends. So I, I'm the total cheapest person and I will book just the cheapest room there is. We once had this Amex credit to spend and we were staying at this hotel in a city that the hotel room was so small, the beds were literally bunk beds. And I told my husband, I was like, we are booking this one because it's so cheap. But what was amazing. So we're like, oh, no, bunk beds. Is this going to be weird? But then we ended up checking in and they were like, Ms. French, thank you so much for being an MX member. We have upgraded you to this room. It was two bedrooms. The bathroom was like bigger than what the bunk bedroom alone would have been. So we got this amazing suite upgrade and it really did save us from being in the awkward bunk bed situation. It really, I think, depends on the hotel. And also how much do you Value the suite. How much do you value the breakfast? As you said, I really don't like to even eat breakfast, period. If I do eat breakfast, I want to go out and try a cool local spot. But on the flip side, there are some people who love a hotel breakfast. I got to say, my dad. Dad, shout out Craig French. He loves hotel breakfast. And it doesn't matter how much it costs. Craig French is eating hotel breakfast. So someone like him, actually, I think could get a lot more value out of something like the breakfast benefit alone.

[C]

Yeah, my dad is very similar. He wants to eat breakfast every morning. He'll sit.

[B]

Dads love hotel breakfast.

[C]

Newspaper and some eggs. Like, that's. That's how he wants to spend his morning. But for me, the Thompson Hotel that I just mentioned in New York city, we got $120 each morning towards breakfast, but that barely covered for two people. Sausage and eggs. Like, I. I would Never, ever pay $120 per morning for two people for breakfast.

[B]

Well, and then it gets worse. So my husband and I, we did our $100 credit to get lunch, and the lunch for the two of us was $60, which was more expensive than I might normally spend for lunch. But then we were like, oh, no, we have $40 left of our credit. We are leaving money on the table if we don't spend these $40. So then we came back for drinks that night. Night. And that's where it really piled up, because then we spent $80 on drinks, and suddenly we have now spent 80 plus $60 to maximize our $100 credit. And we spent really $40 more out of pocket. When really, I think there's an alternate universe where I would have just gone to chipotle, spent $12 on a bowl. So 24 for my husband and I, not done the drinks, and that would have been $24, but suddenly I've spent 40. And so I do think a lot of these credits just sort of compel you to spend more than 100%.

[C]

And I will also say they also get you to stay on property more. And when I travel places, I don't want to be in the hotel. So use your example of the bunk bedroom. I would personally be fine with saving some money on that and not receiving a room upgrade, generally speaking, because I'm not in the hotel room all that much now, if I'm booking a romantic weekend and it's going to be spa treatments and just kind of lounging around the hotel, then I get it. A room upgrade is probably worth whatever the actual dollar figure would be for the new room. But generally speaking, if I'm not in the room, I'm not enjoying the room upgrade anyway. So how do you value that?

[B]

So bunk beds are not romantic? Is that what you're telling me?

[C]

I guess it depends who gets the top bunk.

[B]

And the other thing that I think is an interesting value proposition of these credits is they always tout early check in or late checkout as a benefit. Craig, I don't know about you, but I always just ask and I almost always get a yes of can I check in early or can I check out late? That I don't even know if there's value in this quote benefit because. Because I think any normal person, even if they're not booking through any sort of luxury portal, can get this by.

[C]

Asking maybe there is a little bit of a benefit. I know some hotels, Hyatt, for example, will now charge you for early check in. So if your flight arrives earlier and you want a 1pm check in so you can shower and stick your bags in your room or whatever, sometimes you'll be charged 30 or 45. You've gotten charged. I haven't got charged because I would never pay it. I would just wait a few hours and then have the hotel look after my bags and then go out in the city or whatever. But it is becoming more commonplace for hotels to char for late checkout or early check in.

[B]

Now we do need to get into some of the math where it gets really complicated. We mentioned that these hotels are more expensive. You do get these benefits, which may or may not be worth it to you. Dads who love breakfast sounds like it is worth it to you. But the other benefit of booking through these portals with both Amex and Chase is you can double dip. So what I mean by that is if you pay with, let's say your Platinum card from American Express and you book through the portal, you can get the bonus points which you get when you book through travel with your amex card. But on top of that, if you are booking a chain hotel, something like a Hyatt hotel, you can also enter your Hyatt number and get Hyatt points. So there is a fancy way that you could double dip and you could justify this as being even more worth it because you are getting twice the points.

[C]

That's exactly right. And so use the example that I mentioned in New York City for the hotel stay that received 8 points per dollar for paying for that booking through the edit, which was something like 9,000 ultimate reward points. And because I value those at a certain amount, like that's an extra benefit on top of the world of Hyatt points that I also get by staying at the hotel. So from a rewards perspective, you are definitely decreasing that average amount that you need to hit to break even with these benefits. But again, you're being charged more for the chain hotels because they are part of loyalty programs and the pricing reflects the fact that you are receiving more benefits in the form of these extra points. So again, there's no free lunch. And it comes down to very, very subjective math, sometimes mental math, where you have to bend over backwards to try to make sense of it and try to justify it. So for the average person, I think they probably would do better with largely ignoring these programs unless they're true optimizers that want to eke out every cent of value from the card benefit benefits.

[B]

Speaking of bending over backwards, we have these cards that have these statement credits, and I feel like I need to use the statement credit to justify my card's annual fee. I have the AMEX Platinum, which has an $895 annual fee. If I really use the $600 per year credit, then that does a lot to take out the huge chunk of the annual fee. So I do feel like I need to use these credits. What I find is bending over backwards to book certain hotels that qualify. So, for example, I have a lot of family in St. Louis, and when my mom passed away, we had a ton of family in town and they were all staying at a small hotel that was closer to my stepdad's house. And I said, well, I want to use my Amex credit to get value out of this. And we really love the hotel that we booked, the 21C and St Louis shout out. But we ended up being a 45 minute drive away from the rest of our family because. Because we just booked the one hotel and I was like, well, this hotel is quote free, because it was actually quite affordable. And my Amex Platinum credit more than covered it. But we were inconvenienced because all of our other family was staying at this hotel 45 minutes away. And I find that often happens is you don't end up booking what is truly the best hotel for you. When you feel obligated to use these portals, you book the hotel that you can use to credit that.

[C]

And again, you're paying for these credits through the annual fee. Right. But by using the credits, you're removing choice. So they're kind of pigeonholing you into the curated collection of a limited number of properties that are only in a certain number of places. So it may not be for everyone.

[B]

I'm already figuring out where I want to use my credit for this year and we're doing our honeymoon in Madagascar and we're doing a little stopover in Mauritius is which. Which is this beautiful island in the Indian Ocean. And Mauritius has hotels of every price point. But I looked at which ones are in the Amex in Chase portal and all of those hotels are a thousand dollars a night hotels. And meanwhile Mauritius has many hotels that are beautiful and $100 a night. I'm like, we will not be using this credit in Mauritius because I don't want to stay at a thousand dollars a night hotel.

[C]

There are a couple of ways that the average person can get a pretty good value out of these programs. And, and personally I think the best way to get value is by using points. So using Chase Ultimate Reward Points to book or Amex Membership Rewards. And this works because you get the statement credit, but you can also use points for the booking. So you just make a cash and points booking where you have the cash price equivalent to whatever the credit is that you'll receive. So for Chase, that's $250 twice a year. With Amex, that's whatever the credit is that you get for FHR or the hotel collection, depending on which one you you book. And you can do that combination booking where you pay for the extra cash price that you would pay out of pocket with points and then you can still use the credit that comes with your annual fee.

[B]

Hot tip. I've never done the combo of the two, but I might have to do that this year. Now I do want to circle back to whether Amex or Chase is better. Do you have any strong feelings about whether one credit is better than the other?

[C]

I don't think there's really a lot between the credits. I don't think one is really better than the other. I would say that I think there's probably not a whole lot of overlap between people that have both the Chase Sapphire Reserve and the AMEX Platinum specifically because the annual fees up front are so high. So you're probably just going to book through whichever program you have access to.

[B]

Craig, Megan and I both have both cards.

[C]

So what do you find better? Because I don't have the Amex Platinum I used to, but I gave that up for the Sapphire Reserve long ago.

[B]

So I do have an opinion on this. And I do think AMEX is much better than Chase purely because of their Availability. They have so many more hotels than Chase and there are many situations where I'm going to a city that has an Amex hotel but does not have a Chase Edit hotel. Almost more importantly, you look at this, amex credit is $300 semi annually and I've been to cities where there'll be an FHR hotel that's $310. And then I'm like oh my gosh, amazing. I'm only out of pocket $10 for this hotel room night. Meanwhile, the only Chase hotel option will be something closer to a thousand dollars which again I'm not booking anyway. So I do find find purely because Amex has so much choice makes it such a better program. Not that I would choose between the two credit cards based off this hotel benefit entirely, but if we are stack ranking Amex Platinum vs Chase Sapphire Reserve on this metric alone, AMEX Platinum is my card.

[C]

Oh that's. That's an interesting point and that's actually good to know. Maybe I need to reconsider getting an Amex Platinum again because it's been many many years since I've held that card. But I will say using that tip that I presented where you can combine cash and points to use both the statement credit book with points because Chase Travel allows you to access Points boost which gives you better value for your points through the portal than 1 cent each. That can really shift the value focus back to chase because through Amex you're only getting $0.01 per point. When you redeem through the portal across the board, there is no way to get better. With Chase you can get Points boost and get up to 2 cents per point in value, so almost double the value. But again you have to find a property that qualifies for that pricing, which is takes homework. And there's a rotating list of properties evidently that Chase has. And sometimes the pricing changes based on demand, what appears to be based on demand. So if you do a search, one day the pricing shows up as one redemption value, the next day it might be another redemption value. It's all very confusing, it's very opaque. So I just wish it was straightforward so there is the chance for better value through Chase. But Amex makes it a lot more straightforward because your points are always worth the same amount regardless of what property property ebook.

[B]

Okay, that is a lot. It is a lot to wrap our minds around. Craig, if you could boil this down to some quick rapid fire takeaways, what would you say listeners need to know about these two hotel booking programs?

[C]

The bottom line is the Perks are real, but they're not always free. Generally, you're paying a premium for them. And everybody should compare prices before they book through these portals. So you want to compare the price of booking direct versus the price through Amex and Chase and decide whether the premium that you might pay through the credit card issue is worth the benefits that you'll receive. If the portal rate's the same or cheaper, it might make sense. But then again, it's a prepaid reservation, and that might lead to certain drawbacks if your your travel plans are tentative.

[B]

I know. I hate doing a prepaid reservation. That really is a drawback.

[C]

Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, how many times have you tried to cancel a hotel after the fact and they still want to charge you for it? I'm not staying. Why would I want to do that and lock myself into something when my travel plans might change?

[B]

Bottom line is you are getting something nice like $100 hotel credit, but you are paying for that somewhere. And if it forces you to spend more than you otherwise would, then are you really saving money anyway? Save a. Sally says no, that's right.

[C]

If you're going to pay for the latte or the spa credit already, sure, it's maybe worth the face value, but if you're not, then you're going out of your way to use a credit that maybe doesn't have the dollar figure that the credit card issuer wants you to believe.

[B]

Amen. All right, Craig, that takes us to our hot takeoffs time. Do you have any hot takeoffs for us?

[C]

Recently I was traveling and going through the airport, and I think we've all experienced this in public, where people now listen to videos or music on their phone without headphones.

[B]

Ooh, that's straight to jail.

[C]

It drives me crazy, the lack of spatial and social awareness of people like understand where you are and how your actions impact other people. So my hot takeoff is that at the end of tsa, after you put your bag in the belt and go through the metal detector, they should hand everybody free wireless earbuds. They're not very expensive anymore. And that way it does away with this problem of people not understanding that they're inconveniencing everybody else around them so they can watch the latest YouTube short.

[B]

I have seen many occasions where there is a person who's watching a video on a flight and the flight attendant will kindly hand them headphones. So maybe they just need people walking around the airports doing that also.

[C]

Maybe. You know, it's an interesting point. So almost every airline has a Rule for passengers that they can't listen to videos, but the flight attendant aren't really empowered to do anything about it. If somebody is doing that, they can make a suggestion, but they're not going to cause a fight or a stir because somebody's listening to a video. Right. So, yeah, I think the part of TSA handout headphones do away with this problem, make everybody happier once they're actually on the plane. When they're in the terminal, just do away with the problem altogether.

[B]

Or maybe people should just have their own headphones.

[C]

Maybe they're not that expensive anymore. Like, what's with these people?

[B]

I know. Straight to jail if you're doing that. All right, Craig, thank you for sharing all of this amazing work you did gathering this data. I know it was a huge project and you spent many, many hours doing it. If listeners want to read your story, they can do that on nerdwallet.com I always say the best way to find it is just to do a Google search. You could. Google search chases the edit. Worth it. Add Craig Joseph in there to find the story because Craig has done a lot of amazing data work. Craig, thank you so much for joining us.

[C]

Absolutely. Sally, it was great working with you on this project, and thanks for having me.

[A]

All right, Sally, that was honestly kind of surprising. I'm happy that there's at least some bookings that are a little bit cheaper if you book through your credit card issuer.

[B]

That is the only thing surprising to me. I knew going into this that Amex hotels would be more expensive than booking direct. But I think what was surprising was to know that there are some that are actually cheaper.

[A]

And it was kind of fun to think about how much all of these perks are worth. Like, you and I had this big debate when we were going through some of this data about, like, how much.

[B]

Breakfast is worth or how much are these two eggs? Yeah, I'm like, $100 is not worth a hundred dollars.

[A]

Exactly. It was kind of a fun experiment. All right, now's the time for us to ask for your participation.

[B]

That is right. And the way you can participate is by subscribing. Now, some of you may be listening to this podcast, just listening on your own, but you could do one better and actually subscribe. That ensures that you. You get this podcast and future episodes every week. To do that, you just hit the subscribe button on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and iHeartRadio. That way, you automatically download new episodes.

[A]

And if you do already subscribe, take it one step further. And leave us a comment or a rating. We love those five star ratings. We also will read your honest opinions.

[B]

And if you love the show, please tell a friend, especially if that friend is overpaying for their hotel room rooms.

[A]

They need us. Speaking of friends, we want to connect with you. You know we have our Instagram and TikTok accounts already. That's miles with Megan Co. And save with Sally. But we also just made a brand new account, Smart Travel Pod. Please follow that new account on TikTok and Instagram.

[B]

Please do. And now we gotta shout out those people who make us look and sound good. Yep.

[A]

Big thank you to our producers, Tess Viglin and Hilary Georgie. Claire Socie helped with fact checking and Nick Karisami mixed our eyes audio.

[B]

And to cap it off with our disclaimer, we are not financial or investment advisers. This information is offered only for general educational and entertainment purposes.

[A]

We hope you're inspired to keep your passport full and your wallet even fuller. Thanks everyone. We'll see you next time.