Booking hotels can get expensive quickly, but cashback platforms like Rakuten and Ibotta offer practical ways to put money back in your pocket. By using these apps strategically, you can earn cashback rewards on your hotel bookings without sacrificing convenience or quality.
How Rakuten Helps You Save on Hotels
Rakuten is one of the largest cashback shopping portals, offering cashback when you start your hotel booking journey through their platform. To save with Rakuten:
- Visit Rakuten’s Travel section and browse cashback rates for hotels.
- Click through Rakuten to hotel booking sites like Expedia, Hotels.com, or directly to chains like Marriott and Hilton.
- Complete your booking as normal to earn a percentage of your total back as cashback.
Rakuten frequently runs promotions during travel seasons, boosting cashback rates from 2% up to 10% or more. You can also install the Rakuten browser extension to get notified automatically when cashback is available.
How Ibotta Helps You Save on Hotels
Ibotta is best known for grocery savings, but it also offers travel cashback through its app. Here’s how to use it for hotel bookings:
- Open the Ibotta app and navigate to the Travel category.
- Find participating hotel booking partners like Booking.com or Hotels.com.
- Activate the hotel offer before clicking through to make your reservation.
With Ibotta, cashback usually posts within a few weeks after completing your stay, and bonus offers often appear around holidays and peak travel seasons.
Comparing Rakuten and Ibotta for Hotel Savings
- Ease of Use: Rakuten is more seamless for desktop users, while Ibotta is app-focused.
- Partner Networks: Rakuten has a wider range of direct hotel brand partnerships; Ibotta tends to partner with third-party booking platforms.
- Cashback Rates: Rakuten often has higher percentages for hotels, but Ibotta occasionally offers bonus promotions.
- Payout Speed: Rakuten usually processes cashback faster, especially when booking directly through large chains.
Pro Tip:
You can further maximize your savings by combining Rakuten or Ibotta cashback with other rewards like hotel loyalty points. In some cases, you can even layer these savings with gift card purchases from apps like Fluz, where you can buy Hyatt gift cards online, shop discounted Hilton gift cards, or purchase Marriott gift cards and stack multiple forms of rewards on a single stay.
Final Thoughts
Using cashback apps like Rakuten and Ibotta when booking hotels is a smart, easy way to reduce travel costs. By taking a few extra minutes to activate an offer, you can stretch your travel budget significantly without giving up quality accommodations.
