Friday newsletters always feature luxury travel contests, tips, or news.
Today: How to book a room at a Rosewood Hotel at the cheapest rate?
Rosewood – one of the world’s premier ultra-luxury hospitality brands – is rapidly expanding its already impressive global portfolio which consists of 33 hotels, resorts and residences in 21 countries, with 27 new properties under development. The Rosewood story began in 1979 when a historic mansion in Dallas, Texas, was transformed into an acclaimed, world-class restaurant and hotel – The Mansion on Turtle Creek – whose success was the blueprint for all subsequent Rosewood hotels and resorts. Today, Rosewood manages a distinctive collection of highly individual, luxurious, residential-style hotels across the globe, including world-famous properties such as The Carlyle in New York and Hôtel de Crillon in Paris. Led by a team of seasoned industry veterans, Rosewood’s acclaimed attention to detail, proactive approach to environmental sustainability and dedication to relationship hospitality has earned the group numerous awards and accolades. Each property delivers a one-of-a-kind ambience and style, in which location, culture, history and geography are part of the fabric of the hotel, reflecting the company’s “Sense of Place” philosophy.
But with the group’s stellar reputation also comes a heavy price tag and staying at a Rosewood Hotel requires deep pockets (with most entry room rates well above $1000 USD per night, excluding taxes and any extras). Unfortunately, Rosewood currently lacks a loyalty program – probably because its wealthy guests keep returning anyway and because the brand’s focus is on guest recognition rather than the traditional concept of a hotel’s point scheme. But while Rosewood doesn’t have a loyalty program, the reality is that there are several tips & tricks that can save you hundreds of dollars when staying at one of the brand’s properties and that all guests can receive elite-like perks just by booking in the right away. I hereby share with you the best strategies- for booking a room (or even suite) at a Rosewood Hotel & Resort. You can share your own tricks in the comments below.
In this article:
1. Book a room via Rosewood Elite
The best way to maximize value at Rosewood properties is to book a room or suite via the the Rosewood Elite program. The latter is an invitation-only program available through select travel advisors, who can offer their clients additional perks for stays at Rosewood properties. These perk depend from property to property, but most Rosewood Hotels generally have the following Rosewood Elite benefits:
- Daily full American breakfast for two people per bedroom,
- A resort or hotel credit of $100 USD
- Upgrade of one room category, based on availability at time of check-in (excluding signature suites and villas).
- Complimentary high-speed Internet access for all suite bookings.
Rosewood Elite perks can be applied to virtually any rate bookable directly on the Rosewood website and are valid at any Rosewood Hotel & Resort. The upgrades through the Rosewood Elite program are prioritized ahead of upgrades for hotel stays booked via credit cards and Virtuoso (cf below), so your chances for an upgrade are always the highest when you book a hotel stay via the Rosewood Elite program.
Classic Travel is a Rosewood Elite partner agency and I am always happy to introduce you to them when you are interested in booking a stay at a Roseswood Hotel (contact me here).
2. Book a room via Virtuoso
Virtuoso is not your classic hotel booking engine website. It’s the industry’s leading network of luxury travel advisors, spanning over 26 countries and 9,000 travel advisors. So when you book your holiday with Virtuoso, most of the time, you will be in touch with a Virtuoso travel agent and not make the booking online yourself. There are some Virtuoso travel agencies though that offer an online booking tool, such as Classic Travel, which is my overall preferred Virtuoso travel agency.
Booking a room at a Rosewood hotel via Virtuoso instead of via another hotel booking website has the following advantages:
- The single best reason to book a Rosewood Hotel through a Virtuoso travel agent is that it means value for money as it will get you access to special, complimentary VIP amenities and perks, such as room upgrade, free dinners, spa treatments and/or unique luxury travel experiences. Almost all Rosewood properties are covered by the Virtuoso perks.
- In most cases, the Virtuoso rate is identical to the Best Available Rate (BAR) found on the official Rosewood website, which is a flexible rate that can be cancelled without penalty. For that reason, you’re leaving money on the table if you book a paid stay at the Best Available Rate via the Rosewood website and not via Virtuoso.
It’s important to emphasize that early booking discount rates, special promotional packages, corporate rates, group rates, and other discounted rates do not qualify for Virtuoso benefits. Therefore, I always recommend to check the lowest, often discounted rate on the aggregator websites Trivago and Hotelscombined, and then weigh up the pros and cons before deciding whether to book via Virtuoso (best available rate with free benefits) or not.
Also, although Virtuoso and the Rosewood Elite program seem to be identical (and are often offered by the same travel agents), they are not:
- Virtuoso rates only apply to a selection of Rosewood Hotels, while the Preferred Partner program is applicable at all Rosewood properties.
- Virtuoso benefits can only be applied to Virtuoso rates (which is identical to the Best Available Rate, as explained above), while the Preferred Partner program is applicable to all rates found on the Rosewood website (including discounted and/or early bird rates).
- The upgrades for rooms booked through the Rosewood Elite program are prioritized ahead of upgrades for hotel stays booked via Virtuoso.
3. Book a room via your credit card company
When you own an American Express credit card, you can book a stay at several Rosewood Hotels & Resorts via Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts. This will offer you more or less the same benefits as when you would book a Rosewood Hotel via a Rosewood Elite and/or Virtuoso travel agent:
- Room upgrade upon arrival when available
- Daily (continental) breakfast for two people
- Guaranteed late 4pm check-out time
- Noon check-in when available
- A spa, food, and/or beverage credit (valued at a minimum of US$ 100 USD)
Holders of a Visa Signature credit card can also benefit from Virtuoso-like extra perks at most Rosewood Hotels & Resorts when they make the booking via their credit card travel office and/or pay with their credit card. Contact your local VISA credit card company to find out whether they offer this travel service.
When you own a Citi Prestige Card (USA citizens only) you can make use of the fourth night free benefit: when you book a four night stay at a Rosewood property, you get reimbursed the cost of the fourth night, minus any taxes and service fees. The fourth night benefit is calculated based on the average nightly rate of your complete stay. Reservations must be made through Thankyou.com or the Citi Prestige Concierge and you must pay for your stay with your Citi Prestige Card, ThankYou points, or a combination of the two.
4. Book a room via aggregator websites
Some travelers prefer to book the lowest room rate at a Rosewood Hotel & Resort instead of receiving extra perks. The lowest room rate at a Rosewood Hotel & Resort for any given travel date will mostly be found on the aggregator websites Hotelscombined and Trivago. These aggregators verify hotel prices at hundreds of other sites (e.g. Booking.com, Hotels.com, Expedia, etc ….) and show where you can book the cheapest room rate. Once you have found the lowest rate, I recommend you to book via either hotels.com (and submit a best rate guarantee in case that hotels.com would not offer the cheapest rate) or Virtuoso (in case the discounted rate found via the aggregator website does not outweigh the free Virtuoso perks).
5. Book a room via Hotels.com
Hotels.com – part of Expedia – is one of my favorite hotel booking websites, mainly for three reasons:
- You collect credits towards free hotel nights via Hotels.com’s Rewards program. When you book and stay 10 nights at eligible hotels, you’ll get 1 night free to redeem at another. Hotels.com works out the average value of all the 10 nights you’ve collected and gives it back to you as a free night. All you need to do is make a free Rewards account and login into your account before making any bookings.
- You can often apply 10% discount coupons. Unfortunately, almost all of the world’s major hotel chains are excluded from the list of hotels for which you can use a discount coupon.
- Hotels.com also has an excellent Best Rate Guarantee (BRG) program: If you find a cheaper price, Hotels.com will match that rate (and refund you the difference) after you submit an online BRG claim. The Hotels.com BRG is available only for exact itinerary matches, including property, room type, and dates of travel (as is the case with all other BRG programs). The BRG also includes an identical cancellation policy (which can make it harder for your BRG claim to be approved).
Those three advantages work very well when booking a stay at a Rosewood Hotel. As mentioned above, Rosewood does not have a loyalty program, so you may as well book the room via Hotels.com instead of the official website so that you will get some of your money back in the end (by investing it towards free hotel nights). In addition, as mentioned above, Rosewood Hotels & Resorts is the only major hotel brand that is most of the time eligible for discount coupons on Hotels.com, almost guaranteeing you a 10% discount on every Rosewood booking. Keep in mind that when you use a 10% discount coupon, your stay will not earn credits in the Rewards program.
5. Don’t book a room via the official Rosewood website
You’re leaving money on the table when you book a stay at a Rosewood Hotel directly via the official hotel website, and here’s why:
- Rosewood Elite perks can be applied to virtually any rate bookable directly on the Rosewood website and are valid at any Rosewood Hotel or Resort. The only way to get these valuable benefits (e.g. upgrade, free breakfast, resort credit, and more) is to book the room via a Rosewood Elite travel agent (since you wont’ get them by booking the room directly on the Rosewood website).
- Never book a flexible ‘best available rate’ on the Rosewood website. Once again, as explained above, you’re leaving money on the table if you book a paid stay at a Rosewood hotel that is a Virtuoso member via the hotel website and not via Virtuoso, because you can’t receive Virtuoso benefits (such as breakfast, free upgrade, and a resort credit) by booking directly with the hotel.
- Rosewood doesn’t have a revenue based loyalty program, so you cannot earn credits with the company towards free hotel nights. The only way to make your stays at Rosewood Hotels count for some kind of loyalty scheme is by making the bookings via Hotels.com, where you can invest into a free hotel night for every ten nights booked (which can be spent at other Rosewood hotels).
It’s a bit strange that Rosewood isn’t rewarding loyal consumers who book directly via the company’s official website, but that you can score free stays at Rosewood Hotels by booking via Hotels.com or get very nice benefits at Rosewood properties (as if you would have elite status) by booking through the Rosewood Elite program, Virtuoso or your credit card company.
6. My reviews of Rosewood Hotels & Resorts around the world
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