For many years hotels have invested in ‘book direct’ campaigns, claiming to offer you the best deal through their own websites rather than booking with an online travel agency site like Expedia.

You might save 2% as a loyalty program member, 10% with a AAA discount, or more with a corporate discount – rates not available through the “OTAs” – and hotel chains like that because it’s expensive to market to the huge volume of customers that do their travel shopping with Expedia.

• Expedia, and other websites, have to charge ‘full price’ for most rooms to most customers under their agreements with hotel chains.
  
• But they earn a hefty commission on those bookings.
  
• Private groups of travelers can book rooms for less. AAA rates require AAA membership, rates available to American Bar Association members require an ABA membership, etc.
  
• Expedia’s ‘elite’ members of its loyalty program are a private, limited membership group.
  
• So Expedia can offer big discounts to those members.

Savings on stays is the interesting play with Expedia’s One Key Rewards, and the easiest way to earn status that yields that savings is by having one of their new credit cards from Wells Fargo.

The premium card is rewarding for spend – not top of market, but good. I’d still take a 2% cash back card over 2% back in Expedia OneKeyCash though there are also accelerator categories. But the value proposition is the Expedia status that comes with the card. The premium card gets Gold status (you can spend for Platinum) and that comes with:

• 20% discount at certain hotels
  
• Room upgrades subject to availability plus food and beverage discounts at ‘VIP Access’ hotel properties
  
• Price Drop Protection on eligible flights
  
• Priority customer service

Which Card Should You Get?

There are two different Expedia cards.

One Key Card

• Initial bonus: $400 in OneKeyCash after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first three months
  
• Ongoing earn: 3% in OneKeyCash on Expedia, Hotels.com, and Vrbo; 3% at gas stations, grocery stores, and on dining; 1.5% on all other purchases
  
• Key benefits: Expedia One Key Silver (Gold after $15,000 in spend per calendar year); cell phone protection; trip cancellation and interruption
  
• Annual fee: None

One Key+ Card:

• Initial bonus: $600 in OneKeyCash after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first three months
  
• Ongoing earn: 3% in OneKeyCash on Expedia, Hotels.com, and Vrbo; 3% at gas stations, grocery stores, and on dining; 2 on all other purchases
  
• Key benefits: Expedia One Key Gold (Platinum after $30,000 in spend per calendar year); $100 OneKeyCash each cardmember anniversary; cell phone protection; trip cancellation and interruption; up to $100 for Global Entry® or TSA PreCheck®
  
• Annual fee: $99

If you’re going to get an Expedia card, the premium card makes sense. The higher initial bonus more than covers the annual fee in the first year, and then annual credit to spend at Expedia covers it in future years

Then you get Gold status in the program, and higher earn outside of accelerator categories for spending you do put on the card. Then you can spend OneKeyCash on future travel booked through Expedia, Hotels.com, and Vrbo (earning and redeeming for short-term rentals is a unique benefit).

Current Hotels.com cardmembers are being transitioned to the no annual fee OneKey Cash card.

The Case For Holding A One Key Credit Card And Booking Through Expedia Platforms

When you book hotels through Expedia you’re usually giving up hotel loyalty points, elite status benefits, and credit towards earning status.

When you book flights through Expedia you’re still earning miles, but deal with Expedia customer service for many issues rather than dealing with the airline directly.

I’ve had customer service frustrations dealing with Expedia in the past and for many years, but with the card you have status which gets your calls priority handling (which is intended as more than just priority in the queue, but better call handling as well). And you earn OneKeyCash as a rebate on your bookings.

There’s a subset of you that will make very good strategic use of these cards. You can really generate hotel savings – potentially 20% rate discounts combined with One Key program earn and card earn that gets you around 30% off on many stays. (A four-night stay, normally priced at $250 per night, might confer $200 in savings – on one trip alone! Plus a Platinum member spending on the card for their Expedia VIP Access hotel would earn 9%, or $72 – for 27.2% in discounts and rebates.)

This isn’t going to be my strategy. I’m too invested in the hotel loyalty ecosystem and I value confirming suites at booking even on discount rates with Hyatt. However there are a lot of Expedia customers, booking there already, and most likely aren’t earning top-of-market return for their spend. A rebate to spend with Expedia may be almost as good for them as cash, and an overall improvement in their card rewards strategy.