This strategy doesn’t work every time, but when it does, it really sings.
Sweet freedom. As travelers start to get out more, there’s no reason to skimp on ground comforts. That’s when a valuable little benefit from the American Bar Association (ABA) comes into play. It can harmonize beautifully with some of the low fares and mileage deals available. We first examined this hidden gem just over a year ago. But given the lingering lockdown, we thought it’d be worthwhile to see how it’s holding up right now.HOW TO TUNE UP TO A BETTER HIGH-END HOTEL DEAL
This benefit always takes people by surprise, but it often really works. The first step is to become a member of the ABA and no, that has nothing to do with making cocktails, although it is an Old Fashioned great deal. We’re talking about bars of the legal kind and you do NOT have to be a lawyer to join.The ABA is able to offer hotel discounts because they’ve negotiated special rates with a number of luxury hotels around the world. So their members save significant amounts of money when they travel just through their membership.
Here’s what you can expect: the annual membership is $150 and for that you get some truly melodious savings – up to 59% off on some great hotels. A note of caution – the discount does NOT always work. You can’t expect your membership to always lower the price at every luxury hotel. However, we’ve found that this strategy works primarily at higher end hotels.
Here are examples of savings you can expect.
The screenshot below shows prices for the Ritz-Carlton Coconut Grove in Miami. The price per night is $571 BEFORE the ABA discount, and just $289 AFTER the discount is applied for a five-night stay in December over Christmas. It’s for a standard king room with a partial bay view and balcony using the ABA rate code.
That’s a savings of $1,594 / 49%.
BEFORE ABA DISCOUNT: $571 / night
AFTER ABA DISCOUNT: $289 / night
More Examples of ABA Discount Opportunities
[table_opt id="6164" style="gray-header" header_rows="1" width="default" alignment="thcenter" heading="thcenter" rows="tdcenter" responsive="no" /]The ABA discount can be used at the following hotel chains, among many others:
- Four Seasons Hotels
- Marriott Hotels (The Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis, Westin Hotels, etc.)
- Hilton Hotels
- Fairmont Hotels
- Trump International Hotel & Tower
- Mandarin Oriental
For Marriott hotels, you simply enter the rate code provided upon sign-up with the ABA program. For other hotels, you must contact them directly either by phone or by email, which you can get from the hotel’s website.
How to Join the ABA
Joining the ABA is simple. Just visit this link and submit a payment of $150 per year. It only takes two minutes. Once you do that, you’re all set to sometimes score some truly amazing hotel deals around the world.Here’s more on how I saved big with the ABA last year, twice in the same month.
