Boxed hotels: How to parlay their low rates into even more savings

A week ago I wrote about the savings to be found on Boxed with Amex Offers. Boxed.com seemed to be competing with online retailers like Amazon and Jet.com. However, they are now distinguishing themselves with a Hotel booking website. You read that right: Boxed is getting into the discount travel territory.

The new hotel booking site promises savings of up to 45%. Many websites make promises of big savings, but do Boxed Hotels add up? I did a couple of sample searches to determine whether the rates were, in fact, lower.

I happen to be looking for hotels in San Francisco around the 4th of July. Paid rates at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco were surprisingly low, so I wondered if I could find an even better deal on Boxed Hotels.

Unfortunately, the Hyatt Regency didn’t turn up in the search results, but several other hotels did. For starters, I found over $50 worth of savings on a 2-night stay at the Hyatt Centric Fisherman’s Wharf. 

The lowest available rate on the Hyatt website was $259 per night, which came to $603.19 with taxes. Meanwhile, the lowest rate offered through Boxed Hotels came to $545.78 per night with taxes. That’s a saving of $57.41! While that’s not a ton of money, especially spread across a two-night stay, that’s $57.41 you can put towards a nice dinner, parking, or fun activities around San Francisco.

Boxed Hotels deal at Kimpton Sir Francis Drake

Something else caught my eye in the Boxed Hotels search results: Rates at the Kimpton Sir Francis Drake Hotel were just $117.20 per night. This rate was marked as 30% off, so I wanted to investigate. With taxes included, the rate came to $343.37 for two nights.

The lowest available rate on the Kimpton Sir Francis Drake website was $461.13 for two nights. While that’s not quite 30%, it is $117.76 cheaper, which comes to roughly 26% savings. 

Boxed Hotels deals in Europe

I decided to see how Boxed stacks up in the international hotel market. What better way to do that than to search for hotels in one of the most popular European tourist destinations, which also happens to be one of the most expensive hotel markets, during one of the busiest times of the year?

That’s right, I did a search for Paris hotels around Bastille Day. My search for a two-night stay on July 13 – 15 turned up the following results:

Rates at the Hotel Du Louvre were significantly lower on Boxed Hotels than the Hyatt website. The cheapest rate I found for July 13 – 15 on the Hyatt website was $759.01. Boxed Hotels was $73.94 cheaper at $685.07. That’s around 11% cheaper, but keep in mind you probably won’t earn Hyatt points on this booking.

I wanted to see how savings on boutique hotels would stack up against chain hotels, so I chose the Edouard 7 Paris Opéra Hotel. The hotel website didn’t have any standard rooms – just suites, with the cheapest one coming to $1,037.83 with taxes and fees.

Meanwhile, Boxed Hotels had standard “Classic Double” rooms available for $665.46 with taxes and fees included. 

I know it’s a stretch to compare a suite to a standard room. However, if you just want the cheapest room possible at the Edouard 7 Paris Opéra hotel, it’s good to know you can get that rate at Boxed Hotels even if the hotel website doesn’t offer it. 

Now on to the questions most of you probably have:

Are Boxed Hotel bookings eligible to earn points and elite benefits?

Most likely, no. Most hotels do not award points to rooms booked through third-party sites. I have found the exception to be Hilton Hotels since I earned points on my Hilton San Francisco Financial District mistake rate and my stay at the Conrad Bali, which I booked through the Ultimate Rewards Travel portal. It’s really a guessing game, but if you have any metrics, please share them in the comment section.

Are rates displayed on Boxed hotels eligible for best rate guarantee claims?

Unfortunately rates displayed on Boxed Hotels are not eligible for best rate guaranteed discounts. Most hotel chains’ best rate guarantees only extend to publicly available rates. Boxed Hotels requires members to be logged in to search for discounted hotel rates.

That being said, you may be able to save on top of Boxed’s rates through Club1 Hotels. Club1’s best rate guarantee policy offers to match refundable rates found elsewhere, plus a $25 per night credit. The best part? The Club1 Hotels Twitter team confirmed that they will beat anyone’s rate, regardless of whether it is on a public or a membership site.

What you should keep in mind when attempting to do a Best Rate Guarantee through Club1 Hotels is that the room types need to be the same. Why is that a problem? Because Boxed Hotels tends to assign names to hotel rooms that differ from those used by hotels. It’s not always the case, but something to be aware of before submitting a Best Rate Guarantee claim.

What is Boxed Hotels’ cancellation policy?

Boxed Hotels’ cancellation policy varies by hotel. Sometimes if the rates are especially low (i.e. 40% off), reservations are non-refundable. Other times the cancellation policy is one day sooner than the hotel’s official policy. The cancellation policy is stated right below the large blue “confirmation” button, so you should definitely verify what it is before finalizing a booking.

Final thoughts

I’m really impressed with Boxed Hotels so far. They really do deliver on their promise to offer substantial discounts on hotels worldwide. While a lot of the discounts are around 10%, I would say more than half of the hotels I’ve searched for have been discounted by more than that.

That being said, I would still compare their rates to other hotel booking sites, like Agoda PointsMax, HotelsCombined, and Club1 Hotels. Especially since Club1 Hotels has that generous Best Rate Guaranteed policy. You’re pretty much guaranteed a lower rate than Boxed Hotels.

Note: I do not have an affiliate relationship with Boxed Hotels. I’m writing about them purely to share a source for great hotel deals.