We all want to score a dreamy luxury vacation without draining our bank account, and subscription travel clubs promise exactly that. But is the Travel + Leisure GO program actually worth your hard-earned cash? SheBuysTravel went behind the paywall to see if the discounts, perks, and personal concierge services truly deliver for real families, or if you’re better off booking on your own.
Editors’ note: This post is sponsored by Travel + Leisure GO.
Quick Facts: Travel + Leisure GO
- Type: Members-only travel savings and booking platform
- Owned by: Travel + Leisure Co.
- Membership cost: $199 for the first year, renews annually at $99
- Sign-up bonus: 100 GO Points, worth $100 off first booking
- Hotels: 2 million+ hotels, resorts and villas
- Destinations: 35,000 global destinations
- Experiences: 350,000+ global experiences
- Car rentals : Available in 170 countries
- Cruises : 20,000+ ocean and river sailings
- Flights: Worldwide flights available
- Travel insurance: Available through the platform
- Magazine: Travel + Leisure Magazine digital access included
- Retail perks : Savings on 75,000+ lifestyle products
- Best Value Guarantee: If a better public price for the same hotel stay or cruise turns up within 24 hours of booking, Travel + Leisure GO will verify it and refund the difference (hotels) or provide $100 in onboard credit (cruises)
Exclusive SheBuysTravel Deal: SheBuysTravel readers can use promo code SHEBUYSTRAVEL for a 30-day trial of the paid membership plus 100 GO Points, worth $100 on your first booking.
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What Is Travel + Leisure GO?
Travel + Leisure GO is Travel + Leisure’s paid membership platform ($199 for the first year, renewing annually at $99). It provides access to exclusive pricing on hotels, cruises, car rentals, experiences and travel products that are only visible after members log in.
We ran real price comparisons and found the savings on hotels and resorts often exceed $100, while savings are more modest on cruises, car rentals and lifestyle products.
The big plus: Travel + Leisure GO offers a rewards program called GO Points. Members earn 2.5% back in GO Points on every booking, and new members get 100 GO Points just for joining.
How Travel + Leisure GO Works
The process is simple:
- Join Travel + Leisure GO using the promo code SHEBUYSTRAVEL for a 30-day trial of the paid membership plus 100 GO Points, worth $100 on your first booking.
- Create a member login
- Search hotels, resorts, villas, cruises, experiences, flights, car rentals and travel products
- Check the member rate against public prices
What Are GO Points?
GO Points are Travel + Leisure GO’s built-in rewards currency. Members earn 2.5% back in GO Points on every booking in addition to the 100 GO Points they earn for joining the platform.
On a sample New York City trip showcased on the site (hotel, car rental and sunglasses), Travel + Leisure Go members would earn 40 GO Points. That’s worth $40 on a future booking on top of the $360 savings on the NYC booking.
SheBuysTravel Tip: GO Points are not transferable between members, and Travel + Leisure GO notes that points can expire or be forfeited on inactive accounts, so use them as soon as you can!
Who Should Join Travel + Leisure GO?
The annual membership is most worth it for multi-trip travelers booking mid-range or upscale stays, less worth it for once-a-year trips or dedicated bargain hunters.
In our testing, a single hotel or resort booking covered a large share of the first-year fee.
These three perks make it easier to justify the annual cost:
- VIP Concierge line for planning help
- GO Points that build with every booking
- Best Value Guarantee that promises to refund the difference (hotels) or provide $100 in onboard credit (cruises) if a better public price for the same hotel stay or cruise turns up within 24 hours of booking.
Add in the 30-day paid membership trial with promo code SHEBUYSTRAVEL , and trying it seems like a pretty easy decision.
What We Found Testing Travel + Leisure GO
Our Operations Director, Deb Steenhagen, tested Travel + Leisure GO and discovered the following.
Hotels and Resorts
Members can search a huge inventory of hotels, resorts and villas across global destinations, saving up to 50% off non-member prices.
- British Colonial Nassau Hotel (July 14 to 17): Travel + Leisure GO’s price is $100 cheaper for a non-refundable room than the hotel’s own website for the same room type and traveler count. And Travel + Leisure GO’s price includes all taxes and fees, so you know how much the room will actually cost. The hotel site included fees but not taxes.
- Mexico resort (5-night stay): Travel + Leisure GO saved about $100 for the stay over the hotel’s own website price.
- New York City (3-night stay): Booking on public sites would cost $1,577. As a Travel + Leisure GO member, the cost would be $1,277. That’s a $300 savings, plus $32 in GO Points for use on a future booking.
Car Rentals
Car rental pricing can be one of the most useful benefits and the site may be underselling itself.
- Orlando, Nissan Rogue at Hertz (July 14 to 17): Travel + Leisure GO advertised a $5 savings. Checking Hertz directly showed the real savings was closer to $50.
- On Travel + Leisure GO’s sample New York City trip, a 3-day car rental showed a smaller but still real $12 savings, plus $8 back in GO Points.
Cruises
Cruise savings are modest, but the Best Value Guarantee and GO Points are valuable.
- Royal Caribbean Bahamas sailing: Travel + Leisure GO saved $5 per person against the same sailing on Royal Caribbean’s website. Beyond that per-person savings, Travel + Leisure GO advertises up to 25% off sailings platform-wide, plus cruise line loyalty credits and GO Points on eligible bookings, so the value can add up.
Experiences
Travel + Leisure GO includes 350,000+ global experiences.
- Book Experiences: This could be useful for travelers who want to book tours, activities and destination experiences in the same place they’re researching hotels. It also fits the way I plan travel now. I ask not just “Where am I staying?” but also, “What will I actually do when I get there?”
- Flights and Travel Insurance: Travel + Leisure GO also includes worldwide flights and travel insurance. In my testing, flight prices came out roughly on par with what I’d find anywhere else, more of a convenience than a savings driver.
- Travel + Leisure Magazine: Digital access to Travel + Leisure Magazine, one of the best-known travel publications, with monthly destination inspiration and trip ideas.
Lifestyle Product Savings
Travel + Leisure GO also includes access to savings on 75,000+ lifestyle products, including featured brands such as Tumi, Pandora, Nike and Dyson.
Savings on some products were more significant than others:
- Bodum Columbia French press: Half the price of the same item on Amazon.
- Black and Decker box fan: Cheaper on Amazon than through Travel + Leisure GO.
- Luggage: Plenty of duffels, backpacks and packing cubes, plus a handful of soft-sided and hard-sided carry-ons in the $50 to $100 range. For a larger checked suitcase, which I’ve been shopping for separately, the selection was thinner and the prices weren’t as competitive as what I’ve found elsewhere.
- Sunglasses: $128 publicly versus $78 for members, a $49 savings plus $2 in GO Points.
SheBuysTravel Tip: Treat the Lifestyle section as a bonus, not a reason to join. Search the specific product you want before you buy anything else. Some items are genuinely half price.
FAQs About Travel + Leisure GO
Yes! You can try it free for 30 days with promo code SHEBUYSTRAVEL. After the free trial ends, the membership fee is $199 for the first year, renewing annually at $99.
In our testing, savings ranged from about $5 to over $100 per stay once taxes and fees were factored in correctly. Travel + Leisure GO’s own sample pricing shows a similar range; a 3-night New York City stay saved $300 plus GO Points.
Sometimes. We found the best deals on hotels and resorts. Car rentals and cruises showed smaller savings in our testing. The Best Value Guarantee adds a layer of protection for cruise bookings, plus members also earn cruise line loyalty credits on top of member pricing.
Yes, and it may even undersell itself. In our testing, Travel + Leisure GO advertised a $5 savings on a Hertz rental in Orlando, but we found the real savings against Hertz’s direct site was closer to $50.
If a better public price for the same hotel stay or cruise turns up within 24 hours of booking, Travel + Leisure GO will verify it and refund the difference (hotels) or provide $100 in onboard credit (cruises). It’s documented in the FAQ rather than advertised on the main site.
Yes. Members can call a VIP Concierge for planning and booking help.
Third-party hotel bookings often don’t qualify for hotel loyalty points, elite night credits or direct booking perks, though, so check the hotel’s policy before booking. However, members can earn points toward cruise line loyalty programs and every Travel + Leisure GO member earns GO Points (2.5% back on every booking), which function as travel credits toward future travel booked through the platform.
The membership only works if it’s used, and the savings aren’t consistent across every category. Travelers who join and forget to compare rates, let GO Points sit unused or assume every category saves as much as hotels do may not get enough value from it.
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