What Is A Mattress Run? Is It Worth Doing One?

Regardless of how new or experienced you are in the point collecting game you’ve probably heard of someone saying they are doing a mattress run. But what is it? Quite simply, a Mattress Run is booking a hotel room/stay without the intention of actually staying the night, usually to receive some sort of benefit.

Why would anyone do a Mattress Run?

There are two main different reasons why people may decide to do a mattress run.

1) To help them (re)qualify for elite status. If you are a few nights/stays short of the next tier in a hotel loyalty scheme it may make sense to book a few cheap nights in a local hotel. For example, if you are only 2 nights short of Hilton Gold (and usually pay for breakfast) you may find it useful and cheaper to do 2 nights in a budget Hilton before a long trip to an expensive Hilton due to Hilton Gold getting you ‘free’ breakfast.

2) To take advantage of a specific promotion that would see them in ‘profit.’ For example, IHG has a new member offer where if you complete two stays at any hotel with them by 26th December you will receive a free night voucher good at any hotel charging up to 40,000 points. This is worth around £150 when redeemed for a hotel. If you can get a local Holiday Inn Express at around £40 a night you’d be £70 in ‘profit’ after doing your stays. Don’t forget to factor in your time & travel etc. in working out if it’s worth your while!

Do I need to actually attend the hotel for a Mattress Run?

Yes, you need to actually ‘show up’ for your stay to be treated as qualifying. This is in place because otherwise super cheap hotels abroad would be block-booked by people who have no intention of actually staying and just wanted a cheap way of getting a benefit or status. A lot of hotels also rely on the extra income guests would spend in the restaurant/bar, so a bunch of no-shows wouldn’t be attractive to them either.

What about if I use mobile check-in?

You can do this and there is a decent chance you will get away with checking in this way and not showing up BUT you have no recourse if you don’t get your stay/nights credits.

What happens when I need to check-out?

If you don’t intend to stay the night you can just leave the key on the bed and leave. If you are worried about the hotel noticing you didn’t stay just mess the room up a little. As most of the cheap rates at hotels are prepaid & don’t have any mini bar it’s unlikely you’ll have any issues with your bill.

Conclusion

As you can see Mattress runs can be beneficial in some circumstances BUT to guarantee you receive the night/stay credit you must make sure you show up! Have you done a mattress run in the past?