Booking.com Genius: Reach level 3 immediately with this trick

The Genius loyalty program from Booking.com offers many benefits: Depending on the level, there are discounts of up to 20 percent when booking a hotel, free room upgrades, free breakfast and faster customer service.

You normally have to wait a long time to reach the highest level 3. With the trick in this article, however, it’s much quicker and cheaper.

What is Genius from Booking.com?

Just like Lufthansa’s Miles & More, Booking.com rewards loyal customers with discounts and additional benefits. The loyalty program is called Genius and offers a total of three levels:

Genius Level 1

You can reach the first level at Booking by registering and logging in on the website or in the Booking app. With Genius level 1, you already receive discounts of up to 10 percent.

Genius Level 2

The second Genius level is more difficult to achieve: A total of five stays booked via Booking.com must be completed within two years.

Rewards include discounts of between 10% and 15% as well as free breakfast and free room upgrades on selected stays.

Genius Level 3

At the highest level, you can save up to 20% on hotel bookings. In addition, there is free breakfast and free room upgrades for selected stays and, on top of that, preferential customer service that actually provides fast and friendly assistance.

However, you have to complete a total of 15 stays within two years – i.e. book 15 individual hotels. The status then remains for life and no longer expires.

Reach Genius Level 3 for a few euros

But how do you get to the highest booking level as quickly and cheaply as possible? It’s simple: there are a few accommodations around the world that you can book extremely cheaply for a single night without ever showing up.

These are usually tents or hostels in countries that are not necessarily among the most popular vacation destinations. Prices vary between 0.70 and 1.00 per night depending on the season and booking date.

This means you can buy the status for a maximum of 15 bucks, which you will quickly recoup through the savings on future bookings.

List: Cheap hotels for Genius status

In the following list I have a few cheap hotels that are suitable for achieving Genius status.

Please note that prices vary constantly and can rise accordingly. Alternatively, you can also enter a country such as Thailand in the booking app and sort by price.

• Mae Sot Commune in Thailand
• Tapian Ratu Camp in Indonesia
• Arena Boutique Hotel in Thailand
• Bali Asri Camp in Indonesia
• Pai Forest Resort in Thailand
• Farmer Home Stay in Cambodia
• Temple Ruins in Thailand

Hotel upgrades and airport lounges

If the Booking Genius route is too complicated for you, you can also get a high status with hotel chains such as Radisson, Hilton or Marriott in one fell swoop. This gives you upgrades, free breakfast or late check-out.

Normally you have to stay many nights in the same hotel chain to achieve this status. But if you have the Platinum credit card from American Express, you get this status for free on top.

In addition, the credit card includes free access to airport lounges for up to four people.

When will Genius-Level be available at Booking?

It can take a few days for the booked nights to be credited to your Genius status at Booking.com. The status is usually updated after a week at the latest.

Fair: Send information to the hotel

In the interests of fairness, you should inform the hotel in question that the booking has a different purpose and that you will never show up.

Perhaps the rooms and beds can then be allocated to people who urgently need them.

I have sent the following text to the respective hotels via the Booking.com homepage:

“I have booked an overnight stay with you because I need it for my Genius status on Booking. However, I will not be able to come. Please do not cancel the reservation, and feel free to allocate the room to other guests. Thank you very much”

Discount and level 2 with Amazon Prime

Note: The cooperation between Booking.com and Amazon Prime was unfortunately discontinued in November 2023.

The combination of Amazon Prime and Booking.com was very interesting: you got 10% of the hotel costs back as travel credit after a stay.

This travel credit could then be used for the next booking. Anyone who travels a lot and often books hotels could save a lot with this.

Those who are Amazon Prime customers also immediately received Genius Level 2 at Booking.com and corresponding discounts without having to make a certain number of bookings.

To link Booking.com and Amazon, you had to register on this page. You then received the 10% travel credit on your bookings.

Experience with Genius from Booking

My experience with Genius Level 3 from Booking.com has been positive: Of course, I compare prices with other portals before every hotel booking. In 95% of cases, however, I get the best price at Booking with Genius.

Especiallyin combination with booking via the app and the 10 percent cashback from Amazon Prime. You won’t get the 20% Genius discount with every hotel, but with most of them.

Book cheaper with VPN

Another trick for cheap hotels on Booking.com: The prices displayed often vary depending on which country you are in at the time of booking.

Booking.com can determine this using the IP address. The background to this is that other countries with lower incomes often pay less.

With a VPN – a “virtual private network” – you can simulate that you are in another country when booking and sometimes get better prices.