As a business traveller, many times, I end up going to places which I never even thought about as business destinations for me. Recently, I was to be found in Jamnagar for an overnight, and the week after that, I was in Mangalore. While I love my benefits when staying at a chain hotel, it is not always the case that I am at one.

Ultimately, here are all the things I need to keep in mind when tackling a work-expensed hotel stay. The expense policy sets out a budget for me to operate with, depending on the city I am off to. I end up needing a GST invoice as well, given everyone is now looking to claim input credit on their legit business expenses. In my own personal preference, I then need to work with the best I can get.

As a pro at hotel reviews, I still end up referring to TripAdvisor reviews when looking at a city where I’ve never been before. And last but not the least, unless I have some iron clad plans, I would like to use a post-paid rate, because plans can change last minute for me.

But I hate spending money without getting anything in return, and hence, the new JetPrivilege Hotel booking website has turned out to be a god sent for me. I’ve been using them for a while now, and it is not just the range of hotels available, but also the fact that you can click through to get exactly what you want.

There are tonnes of filters that would get you through the entire process to bring you exactly what you want. So, I set a budget filter, looked at the star rating of the hotel, customer ratings via TripAdvisor, and the amenities on offer.

Since my plans are subject to change last minute, I wouldn’t want to pay for a room which I may not use, hence I prefer to book postpaid hotels. Besides, a new city for me, so I’d like a hotel which would ideally have an airport shuttle so that I am not going to be dealing with a cabbie to bring me to the hotel. I plug it all into the website.

My search filters brought it down to the River Roost Resort, which looked like a nice place to stay by the riverside in Mangalore. They had the option for me to pay at the hotel, as well as would pick me up with an Airport Shuttle. Done. They even threw in a free breakfast along!

Similarly, when I made the trip to Jamnagar, my ask was simple, I needed a good hotel. Again, flipping through the choices on the JetPrivilege Hotel website, I used the integrated Tripadvisor reviews to zero down on my choice of hotels, since it was not a city I had been to before. Svasti 3B was a good budget choice for me in the city.

Again, there were three options. I chose to pay at the property. This allows me to go to the property and hand out the GST number so that they could provide the input credit as well.

But the new website doesn’t just help me in India, but abroad as well. I’m planning to be at the Farnborough Airshow later this year. London is far away, so perhaps staying close by is a good idea. No chains, so perhaps a great opportunity to book on the JetPrivilege website and get miles. JetPrivilege has now got the ability to help book from Expedia and Hotels.com, apart from Booking.com, Agoda and Homestay.com which were already on the platform.

I’m leaning towards the Colebrook Guest House, given it seems to have a dining facility as well, apart from wifi, which will be very much required given the late nights it takes working from an Airshow.

Bottomline

When the intention is to maximize mileage earning for business travel, the newly launched JetPrivilege Hotels website is a good tool in the arsenal. Given the other players who offer miles for hotels do not have such a large coverage, this stands out as a good option. Given the option to compare rates at various websites, I am able to pull a comparison from Agoda, Hotels.com, Booking.com, Expedia.com and Homestay wherever available. Not just that, I am able to select amenities which are absolutely essential and take them into my search process.

Add in the frequent promotions, and you have a large opportunity to ensure you get a RoI on your hotel business, not just when you are in those business meetings, but also when you are in a hotel bed.

Remember, for those who registered in our exclusive promotion, they can still earn 3000 bonus JPMiles through July 2018, booking with JetPrivilege Hotels and staying by July 31. But if you missed that, JetPrivilege is currently offering up to 12 JPMiles/INR 100 spent on hotels as well, which is a great opportunity to rack up some bonus JPMiles.