Costco will now let you book luxury hotels for discounts of up to 30% — here's how it works (COST)

Costco members can save up to 30% compared to hotel rates booked through other travel sites.
We put Costco Travel to the test to see if it could really offer cheaper rates compared to competitors like Expedia and Priceline.

Costco Travel has long been a go-to for bargain hunters looking for a getaway, offering its members discounted rates on car rental, cruises, and vacation packages.

Now, in addition to vacation packages, Costco is offering deals on stays at luxury hotels like Fairmont and Waldorf Astoria. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Costco members can now save 10% to 30% off hotel rates depending on the dates and destination.

We put Costco's new offerings to the test to see how its deals compared to the hotels' sites as well as competitors like Expedia and Priceline. Here's what we found:

Hotels are the first tab on Costco Travel's site. To search for a hotel, you'll have to enter the destination and the dates of check-in and check-out.

This is what the results look like after searching. Prices are concealed until you enter your Costco membership number.

Results can be filtered further by the hotel's ratings ...

... or by hotel chain names.

To see if Costco's deals are as good as it claims, we compared a few of the luxury hotels' prices to prices on other travel sites like Expedia, Priceline, and the hotels' websites themselves. The first place we checked was New York. Booking a night at The London through Costco in June would cost about $526 before taxes.

This was about $50 cheaper than it would be to book the same night through the Conrad Hotels & Resorts website. The London NYC was not available on Priceline or Expedia.

A night at the Conrad hotel in Chicago was $403 before fees through Costco ...

... and $408 through Expedia. Through the Conrad Chicago website, the same room was $425 for the night, before tax. In this case, Costco offered a discount of about 4% from the hotel website.

The trend continued across the US. The Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills, booked through Costco, was $722 for one night, before tax.

It was $760 per night, before tax, when booked through the hotel's website. In this case, Costco offered a 5% savings from the Waldorf Astoria website. The Priceline and Expedia prices both fell in between the two, at around $730 for the night.

Even booking international hotels through Costco proved to be cost-effective. The Savoy, a Fairmont-managed luxury hotel in London, cost about $766 for the night when booked through Costco.

That same hotel, booked through the hotel's website, was $869 for the night, about $100 more than through Costco. Costco offered a 12% savings for this hotel. However, the Priceline and Expedia prices for one night at this hotel were only $2 more than at Costco.

A night at the Waldorf Astoria-owned Trianon Palace Versailles in France is about $271 through Costco ...

... and about $342 through the Waldorf Astoria website. The Costco price is significantly lower again, offering almost a 20% discount from the hotel's website. However, the same hotel is on Priceline for $249, lower than Costco and the Waldorf Astoria website.

A downside to Costco Travel is that prices are listed in the local currency of where you're traveling to, making it a little more difficult to compare. That being said, a week at the Hilton Tokyo is about $311 ...

... which is $20 cheaper than the Hilton Tokyo website listing's for the same room. Priceline actually had the cheapest price for this hotel, at $304 for the night. Costco Travel can definitely offer some serious savings to members, but the deals are no more consistent than competitors'.

You'll have to be a Costco member to take advantage of these deals, however.