How this forgotten hotel credit saved me $200

I have a lot of rewards credit cards — probably a couple dozen if I took the time to count.

As a result, one perk I had completely forgotten about turned out to be a $200 hotel credit, hidden in plain sight.

While I do a pretty good job of maximizing the major perks on my cards, some of the smaller, harder-to-use or more obscure perks do go unused from time to time.

One newer perk that I’ll admit hasn’t been on my radar — and might not be on some of yours — is a $200 hotel credit on my United Club℠ Card (see rates and fees).

Here’s how I put it to good use.

Related: Review of the United Club Card

Easy to forget and easy to use $200 hotel credit

In case you also had forgotten, there’s now a $200 hotel credit on the United Club card (and actually a number of other cool but easy-to-overlook credits, including a $200 statement credit to fly on JSX).

Probably like many others, I have that card primarily for its United Club access, so some of its other perks were just ‘nice to haves’ and not the main reason that I got the card.

However, I recently found myself needing one more room at a specific hotel the night before a cruise departing from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale.

I was determined not to pay full price for the extra room we needed at the last minute if I didn’t have to, so I started searching through my various credit cards for any potential unused travel or hotel credits.

I’d already used the various headlining hotel credits on my American Express Platinum Card® and Chase Sapphire Reserve® (see rates and fees), but after going pretty much card by card, I realized that the $200 statement credit available each anniversary year on my United Club via the Renowned Hotels and Resorts was still fully intact and unused.

To use the credit, which was actually just added earlier this year, you simply book and pay via the Renowned Hotels and Resorts program using your United Club card. The $200 statement credit should appear on your credit card account within a few days to a few weeks following the charge.

Related: Is the United Club Card worth the annual fee?

Getting even more value out of the credit

When booking with Renowned Hotels and Resorts, whether you use the credit or not, you also receive daily breakfast for two and a $100 property credit, among other perks.

This meant I wasn’t just saving $200 on the one-night stay — I was also getting about $150 in additional perks.

During my search, I found some solid hotels in the Renowned Hotels and Resorts collection, including some that sometimes price at or below $200, such as the iconic Bellagio in Las Vegas.

However, many hotels, including the Pier Sixty-Six hotel near the Port Everglades cruise terminal, where I booked, seem to start in the $300-600 per night range.

If you want to maximize your savings using this credit, I recommend putting it toward a stay that costs close to $200 so you can break even and pay nothing out of pocket.

However, if you prefer splashing out at luxury properties, the $200 credit is a nice deduction from your overall total — especially with the other included benefits you’ll get by booking with this program.

As for us, this stay worked out perfectly.

$200 credit posted very quickly

Not only was the hotel — and its food, which we very much enjoyed with the credit — fantastic, but the $200 credit posted to my United Club Card account quickly.

An almost-forgotten hotel credit on my United Club card turned into the perfect way to dramatically bring down the cost of that hotel night. The fact that I’ll be dreaming of the fluffy pillows until the next time I have an excuse to stay again on a future cruise out of Port Everglades (hopefully using next year’s credit) is just the cherry on top.

In case you think you might be on the verge of forgetting some valuable credit card credits, here is a list of some more valuable credits to try and use up before the end of the year.