A month or so ago I wrote about a great way to pay less for your hotel stay by using the online site TravelPony.com (related post). Well, this site just got even better as they recently implemented an app which allows you to stay at some of the same hotels found on their website for an even greater discount! To download the app search “TravelPony”. Searching “Travel Pony” with two words will not bring up any results. I found this out the hard way!
Their app, however, works slightly different than their online website. The website will give you a slew of hotel options for every desired location while the app just has 1 hotel on sale at a given location. Every day at 6am ETÂ a new hotel deal pops up in every location and inventory is limited. The prices are less than what you’ll find on their website and way less than prices you’ll find through the hotel site directly, but you are limited on hotel options. TravelPony was also able to negotiate a deal with Lyft and most app reservations include a $5 Lyft credit. While I wouldn’t calculate that into your savings it is a nice bonus if you use Lyft.
The app also takes any “flash sale” promo codes that you’ll find on the website. The codes are not advertised on the app so before you complete you reservation I suggest checking out the website to see if there are any advertised promotions. TravelPony is constantly offering promotions where you can get an additional 5-10% off your reservation.
When writing about this hotel saving opportunity, I saw that the Loews Philadelphia was being offered on the TravelPony app at up to 40% off. I checked a random weekend of November 7-9 and found rates to $196 + tax. There is also currently an additional 8% off promo code (use code SCARY8 to get 8% off through October 31). This 8% off promo code brought the rate down to $345.96 + tax total for the two nights. The cancellation policy of this rate allows you to cancel 72 hours prior to check-in with no cancellation fee. Most cancellation policy’s for hotel reservations through TravelPony allow you to cancel anywhere between 1-3 days prior – I haven’t found any hotels that are fully pre-paid and non-refundable.
When I checked out the Loews.com site to compare prices, the best price I could find was a $209 rate + tax. This has a slightly better cancellation policy (you can cancel up to 1 day ahead of time) and will cost you a total of $482.80 for the two nights.
I then went ahead and checked Hotels.com and saw the exact same price as the Loews.com rate of of $482.80 total for the two nights. I have seen promotions in the past with Hotels.com where you can get $50 off a $300+ reservation, and while this offer is not currently available, you’d still be paying more.
For this particular example you’ll save over $80 by booking with TravelPony! This is definitely worth it in my opinion, unless you need to have an extremely flexible cancellation policy.
The main issue with booking through TravelPony is that you will not receive your hotel points. For some people, this is a huge deal – trust me, I get it! The best scenario is when you are looking to stay at a hotel that does not participate in a points loyalty program. This way you will not miss out on earning points. When comparing non-chain locations in other cities to prices on Hotels.com, I always found that TravelPony offered by far the best price. Although, when making a hotel reservation in general, I always recommend during your due diligence and checking out a few sites to get the best rate possible.
Remember, through October 31, 2014, you can use promotion code SCARY8Â to get 8% off all reservations on the TravelPony website and TravelPony app.
Here is my referral link to sign up for TravelPony and get a $35 credit (cannot be combined with a flash sale promotion code). You must sign up through their online website, but then the new member $35 credit can be applied to reservations booked through the app.
Feel free to share your experience with TravelPony with either the website or app. Let me know if you have any questions!
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