Seeing as Shae and I will be living in hotels for the next five years, it probably seems like we wouldn’t ever need to do a mattress run. However, there might be times during our road trip where we decide to do just that.
If you’ve never heard of the term before, you might be asking yourself, “What is a mattress run?” I’ll explain that below, how it can potentially earn you loads of points, free nights or hotel status and how a three night mattress run will earn us 18 free nights.
What Is A Mattress Run?
A mattress run is when you book a cheap stay at a hotel, usually with no intention of sleeping there.
That may sound like a giant waste of money, but when done right it can be a worthwhile investment.
Here are the three main reasons why you might want to do a mattress run.
1) For Points
Hotel chains frequently run promotions that offer you bonus points when booking a stay. Those aren’t usually worthy of a mattress run, but there are exceptions.
For example, IHG Rewards Club often run a promotion called Accelerate. With Accelerate, you get a set of challenges that earn you bonus points when you complete a challenge.
It’s often possible to complete more than one of these challenges with one stay, so it might be worth doing a cheap mattress run if it enables you to complete those challenges.
For example, we booked a one night stay that cost less than $60 but earned us enough points for seven free nights.
2) For Free Nights
There are other hotel promotions that offer free night certificates rather than bonus points. If there are no restrictions where those free nights can be used, a cheap mattress run can get you free nights for a luxury stay.
For example, a few years ago Hyatt ran a promotion where you earned a free night for every two stays. You could therefore book two one-night stays at a cheap Hyatt Place and earn a free night at any Hyatt hotel worldwide. Those free nights could easily cost more than $500 per night, so a mattress run was a great opportunity to experience something you might not normally be able to afford.
3) For Status
Different hotel chains have different requirements for earning status, although it’s usually possible to earn it in one of three ways:
- Through a certain number of stays
- Through staying a certain number of nights
- By earning a certain number of base points
There can be times where you’ll fall just short of earning the next status level. If it’s coming towards the end of the year, it might therefore be worth considering a mattress run to ensure you earn that higher status.
For example, to earn Gold status with Marriott you have to stay at their brands for 50 nights in a calendar year. Let’s say you stay in a Marriott brand hotel four nights a month for work. That’d put you at 48 nights by the end of the year – two nights short of Gold status.
In that kind of scenario, it might be worth doing a mattress run to earn you the two additional nights. That’s because Gold status will earn you a higher number of bonus points when you stay, room upgrades and executive lounge access for you and a guest at several of their brands.
If you were due to spend that same number of nights in Marriott hotels the following year, that Gold status could provide some excellent value.
3 Night Mattress Run = 18 Free Nights
My latest IHG Accelerate offer will earn us enough points for 18 free nights at hotels on their PointBreaks list if we complete all the challenges.
We have a three night stay coming up in August, but that won’t earn us many bonus points. In order to complete all the challenges, we’ll need to book three additional one-night stays.
That means there’s a good chance that we’ll do a mattress run at some point over the next few months to earn the bonus points for all those free nights.
I”ll be writing more about our Accelerate offers in the next few days, so stay tuned for that.
Mattress Running Rules, Tips And Tricks
If you’re planning a mattress run, there are several things you should take into consideration:
1) Do The Math
Mattress running is only worth doing if the value you receive from the points, nights or status exceeds the amount of money you’re investing in the run.
Take for instance the example I gave about earning Marriott status. If you’d be staying at Marriott brands a lot the following year, a mattress run might be worthwhile. However, if you’ll not be traveling the following year, would it really be worth paying for those extra nights in order to have Gold status that you wouldn’t be using?
2) Check In
This might seem obvious, but you’ll need to check in to your hotel. It’s best not to book a one night stay and not show up, as the hotel might class that as a no-show and you won’t earn any points or stay credits, even though you paid for the room.
Some hotels might let you check in over the phone or by using their mobile app, but there’s no guarantee about that. I personally prefer to play safe and show up in person.
You can then simply go to your hotel room, leave the room key there and leave. Most hotels don’t require you to physically check out of the hotel, so you don’t have to sleep there overnight or show up the next day to check out.
3) Do It Cheaply
Reducing the cost of a stay is an important part of a mattress run. Be sure to check a variety of dates to find the cheapest rate. Weekends are usually cheapest, especially in hotels that are usually popular with business people.
For example, a Monday night stay at the Crowne Plaza in Tyson’s Corner near Washington D.C. is almost $200 before tax:
If you stayed there on a Saturday night instead, you’d pay less than $70.
4) Get Status Through Other Means
If you’re thinking of mattress running to earn status, look into whether it’s possible to earn that status in some other way.
For example, Gold status with Hilton is a great status to have. It gets you free breakfast at most of their brands as well as room upgrades. However, you can also get automatic Gold status with the Hilton Surpass American Express credit card. The annual fee of that credit card is only $75, so most likely cheaper than any kind of mattress run you could do in order to earn Gold status.
5) Have A Mini Vacation
If you’re paying for a hotel room as a mattress run, try to turn it into a mini vacation. Book it on a Friday or Saturday night somewhere that’s an hour away and get away for a night or two.
Question
What tips or questions do you have about mattress running? Let us know in the comments below.
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