Also see: 

• Booking Barcelona: $747 Round-trip in AA Business Class

So, how many of us are newly minted AARP members after that insane deal for British Airways Business Class?

I took a poke around the website and found some worthwhile member benefits that can more than make up the $16 spent to join – and this membership might be a good thing to keep!

AARP Rewards and Discounts

• Link: AARP Discounts
• Link: AARP Rewards

So the first thing I noticed about the AARP website is: it’s a giant mess. A total unorganized mess.

But that’s OK. A little clicking around led to some interesting discoveries, and I’ll do my best to link directly to them.

To start, AARP has some great travel discounts.

Hotel discounts

• Link: AARP hotel discounts

Every brand of Hilton and Hyatt hotels are listed, and discounts range from 5% to 15% off.

I ran a search to see what I could get with the Hyatt discount.

Completely randomly, I chose the Hyatt Regency Coral Gables for a weekend in early December.

Then I opened up my AARP account in an incognito window and repeated the search after clicking through the AARP site.

For a 2-night stay, I’d save $66 with the AARP discount!

That more than covers the $16 per year membership fee right there.

Just ‘cuz, I ran a similar search at the Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arches (also a random pick). The difference was “only” $8 a night (or $16 on a 2-night stay). But still, better than nothing.

So the discount seems to vary by hotel, but with the 2 I tried, both had a discount. So it’s definitely worth clicking through the AARP site to check.

And, you should still earn full elite stay credit, points, bonuses, benefits, etc.

Aaaaand, from what I understand, if you have Citi Prestige, you can apply the AARP discount to a 4-night stay, and get still use the 4th night free benefit. So that’s a double-whammy of stacking easy discounts. And saving a lot of money!

Hilton hotels also turned up some nice discounts! And:

2pm late checkout is a nice touch at certain hotels.

Click here for the full list. Best Western is included, too.

AT&T discount

• Link: AARP AT&T 10% discount

Oh man, this one’s a doozy if you’re with AT&T.

Click a link to apply the AARP group discount to your AT&T bill.

Rough math says if your phone bill is $100 a month (the service charges, not taxes and fees), and you save $10 a month, that’s $120 over the course of a year.

Which is awesome. An easy, easy way to more than recover the $16 annual membership fee.

Earn more points at Walgreens

• Link: Walgreens AARP Registration 

If you shop at Walgreens a lot (or Duane Reade) earn 50 Balance Rewards points per $1 spent after you link your Walgreens and AARP accounts.

Now, Walgreens Balance Rewards are probably the most worthless points in the entire world. I’ve lived in New York for 11 years and I think I’ve gotten maybe 2 or 3 $5 coupons.

Plus, I only pick up random things that I need right away very, very occasionally (like cold medicine or band-aids). Other things, I order after clicking through a shopping portal or from Amazon.

That said, it’s free to link these accounts, so ya might as well. Especially if you’ll be earning more points than normal.

Other travel discounts

• Link: Car rental discounts

This falls into the “you never know” category.

I don’t rent cars a lot, but when I do, I check everywhere. And I apply every discount code Google can turn up.

Next time, I’ll add AARP to the list. I don’t expect the discount to beat the Chase Travel Portal, or any other discount, but why not. It may come in handy as some point down the road (get it… down the road?).

And of course we already know about the British Airways discount. That’s a great example of “you never know.” Because when it works, man, it really works!

Really really cheap magazines and Restaurant.com certs

• Link: $3 magazine subscriptions
• Link: Restaurant.com certs

These are earned with AARP Rewards (log-in required).

Just to give you an idea of how easy these are to earn:

And:

I literally have 5,900 AARP Rewards for doing basically nothing but signing up.

FWIW, get 500 more by entering promo code “WELCOME150” at the top of the page.

You can use these to get $3 magazine subscriptions.

The idea is you pay in points with a $3 cash co-pay. Which is, obviously, a really great price.

Considering you get around 6,000 AARP points for joining (if my own experience is any indication), you could pick up lots of cheap magazines.

Could be good if you travel a lot and want to toss one in your bag, or if you have an office and want to order some to have out for guests, or I dunno, just to read.

Like I said, there are ~20 pages of magazines so I’m sure you can find 1 or 2 of interest if you want some reading material.

You can also get great deals on Restaurant.com certificates, like a $50 certificate for 1,300 AARP points and a $7 cash co-pay.

I’ve used these in the past. They have a few restrictions, but if you can navigate the system, you can stack this nicely with Dining Rewards and a card that earns bonus points on eating out.

I’m actually considering picking one of these up, as there’s a place near me that has great food and not so many restrictions.

Even if it takes a second to find one that’s worth it, the savings really can’t be beat.

How can you earn more AARP Rewards points? An easy way is to link to Fitbit, if you have one of those.

If you don’t have a Fitbit, worry not. You also get 75 AARP points every day you simply log-in to their Rewards website. Yep, easy as that.

So, nothing groundbreaking, but you can definitely pick up a little something for next to nothing and enjoy it, just for signing up.

Bottom line

It might be worth it to put that AARP membership card in your wallet, because there are more discounts on the website and out in the world than you might think.

The best I found are:

• 5% to 15% off at Hilton and Hyatt hotels
• 10% off your AT&T phone bill

And maybe save a little when you:

• Rent a car
• Join Zipcar
• Shop at Walgreens

The Hilton and Hyatt discounts can actually save you a lot of money, easily hundreds depending on how many paid stays you have per year. And, the discount stacks nicely with Citi Prestige’s 4th night free benefit.

And the AT&T discount is an easy, easy win if you have them for cell service.

Other than that, I found cheap magazine subscriptions and Restaurant.com certificates, which you can access via AARP Rewards.

And of course, you can save money on British Airways flights. 😉

I’ve also seen random AARP discounts on in the world now that I’ve joined, for things like oil changes and at certain restaurants. So keep an eye out, and definitely save money with Hilton, Hyatt, and AT&T!

I think I’ll renew if only for the hotel discounts!

Anyone else find any gems related to their new AARP membership? 

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