Magellan: I just saved 20% on a Hyatt stay with this service.
Over the past few years, we’ve seen a lot of discount hotel sites come and go. Most have made a big splash (remember Travel Pony?) and then slowly sunk into oblivion as their deals got less and less attractive. I haven’t seen anything really interesting in awhile.
Until last week.
I was looking for deals in Miami, and my friend Hottie, who is an event planner, told me about Magellan Luxury Hotels.
I must say, given their website, I wasn’t expecting great things.
However, great things were what they offered.
Here are the three reasons why I’m excited about Magellan Luxury Hotels:
1. First of all, I learned that if you book a stay using their service, you will still get hotel points and credit towards hotel elite status. This is huge!!
2. In addition, their rates are most often fully cancelable until the day before your stay – you are not locked in at an Advance Purchase rate.
3. Also – and this is the biggest thing – their rates are really good.
My comparison shopping:
Armed with dates, I called them (yes, you have to call) and asked about rates at two different hotels, the Hyatt Centric South Beach and the Kimpton Surfcomber.
They quoted me a rate of $159.20/night for a King room at the Hyatt Centric. Per night, this prices out at $26.80 less than the Hyatt Advance Purchase rate, and $39.80 less than the Hyatt Daily rate. For a two night stay, this would be a savings of $53.60 (Advance Purchase) or $79.60 (Daily).
The rate they quoted for a King Deluxe room at the Kimpton Surfcomber was $182.75/night. This was $9.25 less than the Kimpton Advance Purchase rate, and $56.25 less than the Best Available rate. For a two-night stay, this would be a savings of $18.50 (Advance Purchase) or $112.52 (Best Available).
Great, don’t you think? Especially when you consider that you’ll earn points and elite status credit for your stay!!
All in all, I’m hooked on Magellan. I’m excited to start using them as my go-to site for cheap hotel stays.
My one (tiny) issue with the site: it’s easy to miss a bunch of featured hotels unless you know what you are looking for. You just need to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the first page and click “View Alternate Hotels.” This will bring up a new batch of options.
So, what do you think? Have you used Magellan before? Would you give them a try? Would love to hear your thoughts!
Hi Pixie!
So glad to see you’re posting again.
Sounds promising. I love the flexibility and will certainly be trying it out when head to Chicago to visit my kid sister for her birthday.
Hopefully they’ll automate the service so it’s all online at some point. I’m not at my best on the phone (possibly worse online but at least I don’t have to speak to someone personally).
As always, I really appreciate your posts and look forward to the next.
Enjoy your summer!
Peter
Peter – Thanks for the nice comment! Glad this is useful info for you. Hope you are enjoying your summer as well!
Can you add more than one name on the reservation when making bookings?
Ang – Actually, I don’t know. I assume yes! You talk to an actual person so I think they’ve got some flexibility to customize your reservation.
I used them for a trip to New York last August. For a 3 night stay I saved close to $100/night off the hotel’s website rates. And, the best thing about it was that after I booked, I kept getting emails saying the rate had dropped (sometimes as little as $3, once as much as $20) and I had automatically been rebooked at the lower rate! Great deal! And you’re right, it was no “pay up front” deal, the reservation was directly with the hotel.