Rewards points earned by using Open Table, the restaurant reservation arm of Booking.com, can now be used to get cash discounts on hotel rooms.
That’s a big plus for the points, which previously could be used mainly toward more dining reservations; many simply go unredeemed. Under the plan announced this week, they are applied to hotel rooms booked through Kayak.com, another Bookings subsidiary.
Points are earned in increments of 100 to 1000 points for making and using restaurant reservations. Open Table members will log into kayak at opentable.kayak.com to be linked to their Open Table accounts. The discounts will then appear for about 400,000 accommodations listed on Kayak.
The discounts are based on 2c a point, or $20 off for 1,000 points. That’s a big plus over the other redemptions. Redeeming for Amazon gift cards gives $10 for 2,000 points, or .5c a point, and restaurant redemptions range from .5c to 1.25c.
