Are Discount Travel Clubs Worth Their Free Membership?

You may have received an invitation from a friend or from one of their discount online shopping partners, but what are these members-only travel clubs and is there any difference between them? Here's a look at the top three "clubs" and which one might be best for you.
By signing up to receive free emails from these groups, you can purchase hotel rooms and vacation packages at steep discounts. There is no outside advertising in the emails and you can control whether or not you receive daily emails or just log in to their web site on your own. These sites do not require bidding and they do not guarantee that you will be getting the lowest price.

Jetsetter.com: Started in September 2009, this club was launched by the discount online luxury shopping brand, Gilt Groupe. Partnering with Condé Nast's Traveler magazine, this club's target audience is competing with that of Vacationist - people who don't blink an eye at dropping a couple thousand dollars on weekend escape for two people. However, there are some truly deep discounts on hotel stays on this site - discounts so deep they have allowed me to stay in hotels for personal travel that I would not have otherwise been able to afford. Each hotel is "Jetsetter verified," which means one of their correspondents has been there very recently and liked it so much, they offered to write up a review (for minimum compensation, I think the hotel offers a discount to these travelers who were already going there for work or personal visits.) You can read a brief bio of these writers detailing their credentials, unlike the reviews from TripAdvisor where anyone can post a comment. These sales are mostly domestic high end hotels, though there are the occasional destination escape packages offered as well for one total price.

What I like about Jetsetter is that they list the regular going rate for the hotel right beneath their sale price. They also have a calendar for each sale, as do the other clubs, but this one shows the lowest rates of the month. They also have a nice bulleted section about what they love about the hotel and what to know before you go.

Vacationist.com: Earlier this year, the American Express Publishing-owned magazine Travel + Leisure partnered with travel site Luxury Link to create a competitor for Jetsetter. Bragging a more than 40% discount on travel deals, Vacationist relies heavily on the magazine's editorial vault for information about the destinations. I'm not sure these reviews are 100% objective -- not that user-generated reviews are either. Sometimes I get the feeling that the people providing insight here come from the "money is no object" background and are now trying to fit into a budget chic landscape. Some of its first sales included Fiji's Turtle Island, The Surrey in New York and Chicago's James Hotel. Vacationist's site doesn't show the hotel's regular rate, but it does tell you how much lower their rate is than "other sites." Currently one night in the Il Salviatino hotel in Florence, Italy is available for $490 a night.

What I like about Vacationist is knowing where I would go if I had tons of money - meaning their destinations include the local to the very exotic. I also like how well organized the information is on each sale. The Il Salviatino listing has a bulleted list of what the rate includes as well as Travel + Leisure's thoroughly researched highlights of what not to miss, the top restaurant in the area, the best shopping and the best cocktail spot - as well as a map and the best time of year to go there.

SniqueAway.com: Fairly new to the travel club scene (September 2010), this online sale destination was started by TripAdvisor.com under the Smarter Travel Media division. As many travelers know, TripAdvisor is known for its extensive collection of user reviews of hotels around the world. All the hotels participating in this club have a four-star rating and are paired with their corresponding reviews so you can read what others have said before booking your stay. The rating system is based on TripAdvisor's user's ratings, not professional services or industry editors. At noon you'll receive an email with the day's sales and once they are sold out, you're out of luck. What this club offers is single hotel night purchases, not a minimum requirement of a two-night stay unless the hotel requires it. They claim to have "crowdsourced" wisdom to alleviate "research fatigue," according to their web site. This club's target audience is the savvy budget traveler who wants the biggest bang for the buck. Unfortunately this site doesn't show you what the regular price is, only what their sale price is.

What I like about SniqueAway is the combination of photographs, which make you feel like you've gotten a sense about the place, and the recent unsolicited reviews. I've seen the same hotels for sale at the same time as Jetsetter and SniqueAway had lower rates in addition to no two-night requirement. There is no flexibility here, however. Once I hit submit, my credit card is charged and the room is reserved.

All three clubs allow you to plan ahead as well. Each email notification of current sales also notifies you of upcoming opportunities, in case you want to set an alarm to jump on them right away. Since these sales are behind a login screen, most brand name hotels cannot offer you a competing rate, even if that hotel has a lowest-price guarantee statement on its site.