Level up your next hotel stay with VIP treatment & perks – for free – with this insider travel hack.
Last updated: October 2024
How did you book your last hotel stay? Most likely, through a third party booking site like Expedia, Agoda, Costco Travel or HotelTonight, or perhaps directly through the hotel’s own website. Maybe you booked through a credit card travel program, like Chase Travel or Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts (FHR). But what if I told you there’s a better way? An insider hotel booking hack unlocking VIP treatment, perks and priority room upgrades at thousands of hotels around the world – no status or loyalty points needed – for free?
A hotel industry secret.
Welcome to the hotel industry’s insider secret: booking your stay not through an online booking platform, but through a human travel advisor (TA) like me. Read: a modern day travel agent armed with insider access to level up your next hotel stay – anywhere in the world – with VIP treatment, fabulous perks and priority room upgrades. For free.
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Here’s how it works.
Because of the high reach and reservation volume of online booking sites (known collectively as OTAs – online travel agencies), these platforms are able to command high payouts (commissions) from hotels. Think: up to 30% per booking. Meanwhile, hotels pay human travel advisors like me a much more reasonable commission: typically 10% per booking.
As you can see, this leaves quite a large cushion. One affording hotels flexibility in offering fabulous perks to you, the guest. This explains why travel advisors are able to hook up your stay with things like priority room upgrades, free breakfast, early check-in/late check-out, food & beverage credits, spa credits, welcome amenities and more VIP perks. What’s more, it doesn’t cost you a single thing to book through a travel advisor as we’re paid directly from the hotel – at no additional cost to you.
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The unspoken hotel guest hierarchy.
Spoiler: hotels don’t particularly love OTAs. They much prefer to work with travel advisors. Not only because they’re saving money on reservations booked by us, but because they consider our clients higher quality guests vs. those who book through online platforms.
Believe it or not, there is a secret hotel guest hierarchy and how you book your stay directly affects where you land. As in, who’s first in line for that room upgrade, who can enjoy the room a little longer with late check-out, etc. Guests booked through travel advisors like me? You land at the top – above guests booking directly through a hotel’s website, and even those booking through Amex FHR.
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Travel advisors: a secret weapon that booking sites and blogs don’t want you to know about.
I know what you must be thinking. If working with a travel advisor is so amazing, why aren’t you hearing more about us? Simply put, we fly under the radar these days because online booking sites don’t want you to know about us. Neither do online magazines, blogs and other digital publishers.
OTAs don’t want you to know about travel advisors because we create competition. Meanwhile, you’ll be hard-pressed to find much written on a blog or online magazine about the advantages of travel advisors. Why is that? Because of another insider secret I’m about to let you in on: affiliate links.
These days, all online magazines and blogs (Under the Palm included) use affiliate links. These are partnerships established between a digital publisher and an online retailer, brand or service resulting in unique, trackable links that have the potential to earn commission. Read: if you click on such a link and make a purchase, the online magazine or blog from where you clicked will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. (By law, all publishers must disclose use of affiliate links in any article where they appear.)
As it turns out, OTAs like Expedia, Hotels and Booking are among the most popular affiliate partnerships for publishers of travel-related content. Read any article about a hotel – whether on the smallest travel blog or a large online magazine like Condé Nast Traveler – and chances are, you won’t be clicking-out to the hotel’s own website. Rather, you’ll almost always click-out to an OTA. This is because establishing affiliate partnerships with hotels one-by-one is time intensive, and in many cases, isn’t even an option offered by the property. Meanwhile, OTAs are one stop shops that provide a seamless partnership, link and payout experience for travel publishers.
So – why don’t you see more blogs and online magazines raving about the benefits of working with a travel advisor? Because if these digital publishers shared with readers that there’s a better way to book, they would be putting their own commissionable affiliate links, and hence earning potential, in jeopardy.
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Travel advisors: FAQs
Have questions about working with a TA? I’ve got answers – to all below, and more. Find out everything you need to know in my FAQs.
What are the benefits of booking with a travel advisor?
Do I need to pay a travel advisor to book my hotel?
Are travel advisors able to add perks on all hotel stays I book with them?
Do travel advisors have access to exclusive deals or discounted rates?
Can travel advisors book my hotel stay with my points-earning credit card and/or loyalty rewards membership?
Can travel advisors book my hotel stay when I’m redeeming loyalty rewards points?
I already have an upcoming hotel stay booked. Can you add perks to my existing reservation?
Several online booking platforms, like Amex FHR and Expedia, offer their own perks programs. How is booking through a travel advisor better?
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