Trying To Understand The Benefits of Booking Through Hotels vs. 3rd Party Sites
I'm really just starting to travel now and I've had a couple 4-5 night stays this year.
I am usually always checking on Google for any cheaper deals for places I'd like to visit.
I've booked 3 trips through Super.com these couple months and everything has gone smoothly. I usually just purchase the dates and call the hotel in advance to see if they have my reservation. I do know people don't like 3rd party sites because they can be unreliable in a pinch and they have non-refundable rooms where people can't back out of if anything happens.
I basically don't find very many cons with 3rd party sites and the big difference is that I'm usually saving $50/night on a room in the same hotel by avoiding them directly. I'm not too hard to please with rooms and reallly just appreciate clean ones. I've basically booked a Hilton Doubletree for $100/night after fees whereas their direct site has it at $150. I'm saving $200 on my 4 night stay.
Even if the price difference was $25/night wouldn't I just be missing out future points that are worth less than that $25?
Is there something I'm missing here? I've read about credit hotel cards that give you higher status and more points booking with their card. For example, IHG will give you 26x points if you use their premier card. So on a $150/night stay you'll get 3100 points. Do I need to care about these points if I'm just flat out saving $200 altogether booking the same room for $100? For a standard Crowne Plaza near me, 30,000 points would be worth 1 night. So I'd need to buy 10 nights in order to get 1 night free?
There are perks such as 4th night free when booking with points, but does that matter with the ridiculous savings I'm getting using a 3rd party site?
I've read that if I do get a card it's better to have it for the free night that covers the annual fee and i can choose not to use the card again that year. Also, are there ways to earn a massive amount of points at a time?
There are other arguments about the incremental costs that will add up if you're not a loyalty member such as wifi and breakfast which is valid but I haven't run into that issue, at Hiltons at least. Been offered to buy breakfast through super and they give me free wifi for being a hilton member (which i realize i don't get points for).
I'm probably a 30-40/nights per year person. . is there anything I'm missing out on because the price differences are pretty significant. Maybe my time hasn't come for a horrible experience yet.