rewards hotel

[maryh1959]

Do i have to book the hotel through Southwest to get the rapid rewards.

[dfwskier]

Some hotel chains allow customers to decide what kind of reward points they want.- hotel, SW or some other airline. In those cases it makes no difference if you book thru the hotel or some agency like Travelocity.  You just need to insure that your default option with the hotel chain is RR points, and you will receive RR points.. Note: not all hotel chains do this.

If you book thru SW (hotels.com actually) you would automatically receive RR points for your stay.

[TheMiddleSeat]

If you book through Southwest you may also earn additional bonus points that are not available through direct booking. On certain hotels this could be thousands of additional points. However, prices may not be as good as booking directly so you are sometimes basically buying points. 

--TheMiddleSeat

[dfwskier]

The downside to using southwest hotels, at least the few times I have done so, is that southwest hotels requires immediate payment with a reservation.

Booking thru hotel websites and firms like Travelocity allow you to do that or pay at the hotel instead.

[jksobonya]

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@dfwskier wrote:

The downside to using southwest hotels, at least the few times I have done so, is that southwest hotels requires immediate payment with a reservation.

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This is not true - I book through Southwest almost exclusively for hotels and they always have a "Reserve Now, Pay Later" option for the hotels I want. I never pay for my hotel immediately upon booking, even though that option is a little cheaper overall.

But to answer the OP, yes, if you want Rapid Rewards you have to book through https://www.southwesthotels.com/. Look for hotels that offer point bonuses - I got an 8,000 bonus offer once a few years ago, didn't pay anything extra for it! Sometimes you'll get 1,000-2000 point offers, but a lot of times your point earnings is 1:1, so if your hotel cost $250, you get 250 points. Still worth it to me, a lot of my RR points come from hotel stays (except when I go to Vegas since I have casino loyalty there, lol). 

--Jessica

[Bill5303]

I have never received my RR points for an inn I booked through SWA Hotels for a September 24 stay.  Who should I contact at SWA?  Thank you. 

[dfwskier]

it took 6 weeks to get the points from my last stay.

Be patient a while longer

[Esteban]

Rocket miles is a great option and it gives you more points. 

[bwallet]

Does booking through Southwest count as an OTA?

[TheMiddleSeat]

@bwallet As noted above, hotels booked through the Southwest website are actually booked though hotels.com.  Southwest is just providing a link to their service. 

--TheMiddleSeat