Cashback on a hotel booking behaves differently from cashback on a pair of shoes. With goods, the order is complete when the parcel is accepted. With a hotel, the sale is really completed when you stay, so confirmation usually comes later. Understanding this timing prevents a lot of confusion. This guide explains how it works and how to decide when to book.

Why hotel cashback is slow

A travel company reports a booking to its affiliate network, but the booking can still be cancelled or changed. For that reason the cashback is normally held as pending until the stay has taken place, and sometimes a little longer. If you are looking at a booking made in March for a trip in September, the cashback will stay pending for months. That is normal, and it is not a sign that something is lost.

Cancellations and changes

A cancelled booking loses its cashback too. If you change the dates, the booking may be reported again, and some programmes treat a changed reservation as a new one. To be safe, avoid making your booking in a way that forces a rebooking, and keep the confirmation email until the cashback is paid. Decide first whether you prefer a flexible rate, which usually costs more, or a fixed rate that cannot be refunded. Cashback should not change this choice.

When to book

There is no day that is always the cheapest, and we do not claim one. Some general habits do help:

• For popular dates such as holidays, festivals and school breaks, book early because the good rooms go first.
• For quiet periods, you can often wait, but compare regularly.
• If you pick a refundable rate, you can book early and still re-check the price later.
• Look at the total including taxes and local fees, which are sometimes added at the end.

Compare more than the nightly price

A room with free cancellation, breakfast or no resort fee can be worth more than a cheaper one without. Write down the total price, the cancellation deadline, the payment terms (some travel shops charge you at the hotel, others at booking) and the cashback conditions. The best saving comes from the whole picture. That is why we compare cashback, offers and terms in one place and note when each page was last checked.

What the shop page tells you

Pay attention to the lines about payment at the property, about rates that are excluded, and about the time the cashback needs to be confirmed. The rules can differ from a shopping site, so reading them once is worthwhile.

Click first, book second

As with every purchase, the tracking begins when you click through from our page. Open the travel site in the same tab, search and book in one visit, and do not switch devices during the booking. Turn off coupon extensions and ad blockers, as they can replace the tracking click. If you have been comparing hotels on the travel site for days, start again from our page before you finish the booking. Details are in how cashback works step by step.

Booking for someone else

You may book a room for a relative or a colleague. That generally works, but make sure the booking is made in your session and under the account that you used when clicking through. Some conditions require that the payer and the guest match, so check the terms before you book.

After the stay

When the stay is done and the travel company has reported it, the cashback moves from pending to confirmed in your account. From 20 USD, you can request a payout by PayPal. If a stay is long past and nothing appears, collect the confirmation email, the reservation number and the dates, and follow the steps in missing cashback.

Questions to ask before you pay

Is the price per room or per person? Are taxes and city charges included? Is breakfast part of the rate? Is the deposit taken now or at the property? Does the rate allow changes, and until when? These answers affect the total far more than a cashback percentage. A hotel booking is often the biggest single item of a trip, so ten minutes of careful reading is time well spent.

Also look at the location on a map and at recent guest comments, mainly the negative ones. A cheap room far from the places you want to visit can cost more in transport than you saved.

Our role

We are an information portal. We do not take bookings, we do not set prices and we cannot change a reservation. The travel company is your contract partner. What we offer is a clear overview of cashback and conditions, checked every day, so you can choose with open eyes. For the wider topic of trips, see travel cashback.