pointshound's double dip seems to be getting better

i wrote a few small blurbs about points hound in the past. this is a hotel booking website which allows you to earn frequent flyer miles for your hotels. it offers 3-20 points per dollar, compared to what various other airlines offer (usually 1-2 points per dollar). the more hotel nights you book a year, the higher the tier level you become, and the more points per dollar you earn.

in the last few months, they rolled out their double dip feature. usually, with third party sites like expedia or hotels.com, you don't earn hotel elite status points or stay credits. points hound's double dip feature lets you earn fewer points per dollar, but will also allow you to continue earning your hotel program's points and stay credits.

poking around their website for yet another monthly visit down to seattle, i discovered something fantastic. their base rate for me has always been roughly 4 airline points per dollar spent since i'm just a basic member. but i've noticed that their double dip rates also earn the exact same amount while also earning hotel points and stay credits.

an example:

the sheraton bellevue (only one example of at least a few) is a 3.5 star hotel being offered for $125 a night on both points hound and spg.com. you can earn 550 airline miles for this booking, or roughly 4 points per dollar.

when you click on the "select" button, you see that the traditional king sized bed, non-refundable, earns 550 points. but then when you click on the "double dip" tab, you see the exact same non-refundable king sized bed for the same price, the same amount of airline points, and earning elite benefits.

so given that there's no erosion in base level benefits (i.e., the non double dip rates still earned the same amount as before), this suggests perhaps an enhancement in the program. i'm not sure if it's intentional or not. in the end, you get something for free! it would kind of be silly to not book the latter. i've tested pointshound before, and indeed, it did give me the elite points and stay credit with starwood preferred guest.

kind of like with the sheraton bellevue itself, which i eventually booked using points hound's double dip feature. i selected the AAA rate:

 it was so hard to decide which package i wanted. for the same price, did i want the package that included the breakfast or not? oh, choices choices choices ...

(disclaimer: signing up for pointshound using the above link nets me a 250 point bonus after your first booking. you can also sign up for it here without using my referral link.)