If you ever needed a reason to take your nan with you on holiday, Starwood does their best to provide it with this promotion called Pay Your Age. In truth, as I will explain momentarily, this promotion can offer excellent value, regardless of your age, depending on the regular cash rates at the hotel during your stay. This promotion is available at participating hotels in the U.S, Canada and the Caribbean.
WHO PARTICIPATES
Running through the list of participating hotels properties I saw there were liberal sprinklings of W and Westin hotels in many cities that offer this rate. Pretty much every city included in the list offered Sheraton, Four Points and often Aloft hotels. I also came across several Luxury Collection hotels that are taking part.
You can search by destination here.
(You’ll want to use the above link to this deal as this rate does not appear as an option when searching the regular Starwood site).
HOW IT WORKS
On the first night of your stay, you book the Best Flexible Rate for that night. This will often be more expensive than booking an advance or prepaid rate although this is not always the case as I will illustrate.
You will then pay the equivalent of the last 2 digits of your birth year for your second and third nights. If you were travelling with someone born in 1965 for example, you’ll pay just $65 for your second night.
This will be adjusted at checkout and will not be reflected in the estimated total via the Starwood booking page.
Terms will vary across different hotels. Some will make this rate available only for stays Thursday to Sunday. Some hotels will add $100 to your birth year, so in the above example, you would pay $165 for the second and third nights.
This trick can be particularly worthwhile if you are travelling at a time where hotels in the local area are particularly expensive due to a big conference or sporting event.
I took a look at a random 3 night stay in June at the Le Méridien Delfina Santa Monica in Los Angeles.
Here is the estimated total before the Pay Your Age adjustment which occurs at hotel checkout:
As you can see from the 2 screenshots above, the rate for the first night would be $375 + tax (which is actually about $150 cheaper than the non-refundable prepaid rate also circled above) and an estimated total would be $1371.15 for the 3-night stay.
In practice, if you were born in 1975 for example, the hotel would adjust the rate at checkout and you would be charged just $175 + tax for each of your second and third nights.
At a conservative estimate, in this example you would save roughly $400
VERDICT
This is one of those tricks that I will always look to check when heading to the U.S, Canada or the Caribbean. Although this offer works best the older you or your travelling companion are, even being able to book hotel rooms at under $200 at busy times when hotel rates can often be double that is still a fabulous deal.