Dodgy Expedia Classification on Cashrewards - Hotels vs Lodging

kerfuffle on 16/05/2024 - 12:08

The other day, Expedia had boosted cashback on Cashrewards of 12% or so. I go book, and instead of tracking at the boosted cashback rate for hotels, it tracked at the lower not-boosted rate for lodging. OK, so maybe that was because it's technically a serviced apartment; fair enough.

Today, I booked an actual hotel. Le Meridien in Melbourne, which I'm sure is a hotel. Still tracked at the lodging rate of 5.2% instead of the hotels rate of 6%. WTF?

So my question is: according to Cashrewards and Expedia, what is a hotel exactly? I mean, don't you lodge at a hotel?

Link to Expedia on Cashrewards so you can see the different rates for hotels and lodging.

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Comments

  • Drakesy on 16/05/2024 - 12:18
    +3

    Also, use 2 computers one tracked with Cashrewards/shopback and the other not tracked.

    Noticed the not tracked one actually had prices cheaper than the tracked session AFTER the cashrewards cashback - was price jacked by the value of cashback and then some.

    Definitely dodgy behaviour by cashrewards pseudo discounts.

    • kerfuffle on 16/05/2024 - 12:19
      +1

      I checked on the Marriott website and the prices were the same so booked via Expedia

    • Clear on 16/05/2024 - 12:36
      +5

      Definitely dodgy behaviour by cashrewards pseudo discounts.

      By Expedia*. When clicking through an affiliate link for any provider (SB/CR/TB), Expedia may rise the price on some hotels. It's their way of offsetting the commission they have to pay the affiliate partner. Dodgy? Yes.

  • jv on 16/05/2024 - 12:21
    -3

    Hotels vs Lodging

    Did they mean Logging?

  • pharkurnell on 16/05/2024 - 12:28
    -6

    Just to clarify - are we arguing over .8%?

    • kerfuffle on 16/05/2024 - 12:40
      +10

      Now? Yes. It's more when they have boosted cashback for hotels but what you think is a hotel and should be classified as a hotel, apparently falls under 'lodging'.

  • boomramada on 16/05/2024 - 18:19

    Or perhaps dodgy classification in Expedia?

    • kerfuffle on 16/05/2024 - 20:09

      I think lodging is a new thing; I don't recall seeing it on Expedia before. I guess it's for Airbnb-style listings

  • Dancingprincess on 16/05/2024 - 20:44
    +1

    Same thing happened to me when the had the 12% the other night. Tracked it at 6%. I emailed them and they admitted it tracked incorrectly and fixed it up. It was a $250 difference so quite significant. Makes you wonder how often this happens

  • AnyFurtherDiscount on 17/05/2024 - 10:13

    I stop using CashRewards for Hotels. I noticed in 2022 that Price Through CashRewards is more expensive vs Price directly with Agoda/Booking.

    I inquired CashRewards, they said nothing they can do. Its Agoda/Booking fault.

    I inquired Booking/Agoda, they said it was CashRewards bumped up the price because of 15% cash back?

    • kerfuffle on 17/05/2024 - 10:17
      +1

      That's why as per the first comment it's always best to compare with booking via the hotel direct first or check without any affiliate links

  • kerfuffle on 22/05/2024 - 08:42

    Another boosted cashback at 10% today, so rebooked the hotel, and still tracked at 5.2%.

    In the interest of fairness, the serviced apartment mentioned in the post did eventually change the cashback amount correct rate of 12%. Might ask what's up if the same doesn't happen for this one.

    Guess it's time to move to TopCashback instead?

  • kerfuffle on 24/05/2024 - 09:10

    Just another update: the hotel ended up tracking at 10%.

    Looks like the moral of the story is to only book during boosted cashback rates as that's guaranteed to (eventually) track correctly at the correct rate.

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