A Complete Guide to Hotel Rewards Programs

Hotel loyalty programs are one of the easiest ways to rack up points for free and discounted hotel stays. But not all hotel rewards programs are created equal. Depending on your brand loyalty, frequency of hotel use and ability to increase your cents-per-point, hotel loyalty programs can be a lucrative way for even a casual traveler to travel hack a couple free hotel stays annually. And with so many (really, it’s a lot) hotel loyalty programs to consider it’s easy to see why so many people leave points on the table. That’s wby I’ve developed a hotel rewards program guide.

Each hotel loyalty program is detailed below. The information provided is for base point accumulation. Meaning, a traveler just starting a membership with a hotel chain and has no additional perks, like hotel credit cards, to increase points per dollar spent. With additional perks, some hotel programs become much more lucrative, but even the casual traveler can travel hack with hotel rewards.

Here’s a couple things to keep in mind:

- "Base Value" is the cents per point a base member receives on average per dollar spent at the hotel.
- Points are far more valuable with the hotel. If you have to transfer your points, the next best thing is to utilize them for airline miles.
- Hotel credit cards are the best way to increase your membership level and can increase your cents per mile substantially.
- Always, always sign-up for every hotel loyalty program. You'll receive discounted hotel rates and perks without much effort.

Marriott Bonvoy

Marriott Bonvoy includes six tiers of membership you can work up towards through brand loyalty. Bonvoy members who sign up begin at Member status. Member status members receive free WiFi, member rates when booking, and can combine points and cash for cheaper hotel stays.

Base Value: 0.9 cents

Earning Points: Members earn 10 points for every dollar spent at Marriott properties and 5 points for every dollar spent at Towneplace Suites, Residence Inn and Element Hotels.

Spending Points: A free night starts at 7,500 Marriott points, meaning a base member would need to spend $750 to receive a free night at the lowest hotel category. Most Marriott properties in tourist destinations points needed for a free night are between 17,500-25,000. When you book 5 consecutive nights using points your 5th night is free, a discount of 20% on your overall hotel stay.

Transferring Partners: Mariott includes a pretty long list of partner airlines including Alaska, Southwest, United, and Turkish Airlines.

The Verdict: Marriott Bonvoy is a solid membership program for those with and without brand loyalty to Marriott. There is a large variety in property tiers and locations around the world.

Hilton

Hilton Honors is one of the best loyalty programs to always be able to find a property. They offer more than 5,500 hotels in over 100 countries. Hilton offers four membership status tiers. Base members receive discounted hotel rates, free internet and late check-out.

Base Value: 0.50 cents

Earning Points: Hilton Honors members receive 10 base points per dollar spent at Hilton properties. Hilton releases promotions for bonus points regularly through email and app advertising.

Spending Points: Hilton Honors allows members to use combinations of points and dollars for hotel stays. Members can use a sliding scale to determine how many points and dollars they’d like to spend on a hotel. If you are using all points for a hotel stay, tourist destination Hilton hotels average between 22,000-50,000 points per night. However, a free night can start with as few as 5,000 points.

Transferring Partners: Hilton Honors members can exchange their Hilton Honors points to a variety of airlines including Delta, United and Qatar Airlines. The Hilton Honors transfer rate is pretty small, with about 10 Hilton Honors points needed for 1 point on many airlines included in the exchange.

The Verdict: Among hotel rewards programs, Hilton Honors are consistently ranked in the middle. Destination hotels require substantial points to receive a free stay, making Hilton points one of the lowest valuations at base level membership. However, the largest draw to this program is the number of properties available around the world.

Wyndham Rewards

Wyndham Rewards program offers members four membership tiers. After just three nights, members can move from the enrollment status of Blue to Gold, where members can receive an additional 10% points per dollar spent. Reward redemptions are available at Wyndham properties, Caesars casinos and vacation rental properties through their portal.

Base Value: 1.11 cents

Earning Points: Wyndham Rewards members earn 10 points per dollar spent or 1,000 points per stay, whichever is higher. Wyndham offers members opportunities to receive bonus miles during the year through targeted promotions. Additionally, the rewards program includes a variety of other options to earn points including an online shopping portal, survey participation and using partnership car rental services.

Spending Points: Wyndham offers an easy redemption system of hotel stays redeemed at 7500, 15,000 or 30,000 points. Almost all tourist destinations offer a rewards hotel at 15,000 points, including one bedroom rentals through Vacasa.

Transferring Points: Wyndham Rewards includes 11 partnership airlines including American Airlines, Air Canada, and Frontier Airlines. Points must be transferred to partner airlines in 6,000 point increments.

The Verdict: Base member points are very valuable when redeemed for hotel nights. Members also have a straightforward idea of how many points they need for different stays, making it very easy to understand how and when your points can be redeemed.

World of Hyatt

World of Hyatt is one of the smallest worldwide hotel chains on this list with 1000 hotels. The program offers 4 tiers of membership. Base membership includes 10% off advertised hotel prices. After 10 stays, members can start receiving additional benefits including American Airlines point dipping and 10% additional points per stay.

Base Value: 2.0 cents

Earning Points: World of Hyatt rewards programs give members 5 points per dollar spent at Hyatt properties. Members can also earn 10 points per dollar spent on a variety of experiences through partnership programs. Unlike other programs, Hyatt and American Airlines have teamed up to give members the opportunity to double-dip rewards points if members are Discoverist level (2nd tier). With every dollar spent on American Airlines flights, members will also receive 1 bonus point through World of Hyatt. Members can also choose to receive airline miles instead of World of Hyatt points with partnership airlines. Miles are per stay, earning between 500-1000 depending on the airline.

Spending Points: World of Hyatt rewards can be redeemed with as little as 5,000 points earning you a free night. This one of the best values in hotel reward stays. Tourist destinations require on average between 8,000-12,000 points for a free night.

Transferring Points: Members can choose between earning World of Hyatt points or airline miles with a partnership airline. Points can be transferred to an airline for as little as 5,000 points, which start at 2,000 rewards miles.

The Verdict: One of the best parts of the World of Hyatt program is the ability to earn points from both American Airlines and World of Hyatt simultaneously. With a high point value, World of Hyatt is a great option if your travels take you where they have properties. However, with just 1,000 worldwide hotels unless you tend to visit large cities in the United States and Europe, Hyatt might not be the best beneficial brand for rewards.

IHG Rewards Club

IHG Rewards Club consists of 16 hotel brands through the InterContinental Hotels Group. This rewards program offers four levels of membership with base membership offering additional benefits such as $30 in-room spa credit at participating hotels. InterContinental Hotels Group includes over 6,000 hotels in 100 countries.

Base Value: 0.9 cents

Earning Points: IHG Rewards Club members receive 10 points per dollar spent at InterContinental Hotels except for Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites, where members earn 5 points. IHG offers “bonuses” for specific promotions that can be up to a huge sum of 5,000 points.

Spending Points: Club members can use a combination of points and dollars to redeem rooms. For a completely free stay, nightly rates start at 10,000 points, but average around 40,000 points.

Transferring Points: Points can be transferred to numerous airlines including JetBlue, American Airlines and Emirates. Generally, points must transfer in 10,000 point increments and transfer at 10 IGH points to 2 airline miles.

The Verdict: IHG Rewards Club is a great option for the budget-friendly traveler interested in their hotel portfolio. The points have a pretty good return but do expire after 12 months of inactivity. With a variety of transfer options, if you don’t plan to use your points you can always transfer to a partner airline.

Radisson Rewards

Radisson Rewards covers seven hotel brands with more than 1,100 properties worldwide. The program includes four tiers of membership. Base members receive 5% off food and beverage at Radisson properties and complimentary bottled water during their stay.

Base Value: 0.4 cents

Earning Points: Radisson Rewards members receive 20 points per dollar spent at Radisson properties. Members can also receive points through partnership programs, such as FTD Flowers.

Spending Points: Standard rooms can be redeemed starting at 9,000 points but most tourist destinations require at least 28,000 points to redeem a free night. Radisson Rewards does offer a straightforward redemption system with hotels placed into different tiers with points needed per night.

Transferring Points: Requiring 50,000 Radisson Rewards points for 5,000 miles, transferring points to partnership airlines should be a last resort. Radisson offers 23 partnership airlines points can transfer to including American Airlines, Frontier Airlines and Southwest.

The Verdict: Though Radisson has hotel locations in many parts of the world, there are few properties available. And with a valuation of 0.4 cents per point, Radisson Rewards aren’t worth racking up for a free hotel room at base membership. Additionally, with Radisson Rewards mostly featuring budget accommodations, if you want more luxury accommodations included in your rewards program, you would be better served with some other programs.

Best Western Rewards

Best Western Rewards includes more than 4,500 hotels in 100 countries. This program offers five tiers of membership with base members earning early check-in/late check-out and no blackout dates for point redemption.

Base Value: 0.5 cents

Earning Points: Base members earn 10 points per dollar spent at Best Western properties. Best Western Rewards doesn’t offer many other opportunities to earn points outside of hotel stays, but Best Western does have a couple programs with partnership companies including Teleflora and National rental car.

Spending Points: Unlike some other hotel programs, Best Western points never expire. Points for a free night start at 8,000, but most tourist destinations range from 12,000-20,000 points.

Transferring Points: Best Western points transfer to 16 airlines at a 5-1 exchange ratio in 5,000 point increments. Airlines include Southwest Airlines and American Airlines.

The Verdict: The best part about Best Western Rewards is that they do not expire, so even a casual user of the hotel chain can eventually get a free night’s stay. Unless you are a frequenter of Best Western, stick to signing up for the free rewards program, and if the hotel is the best deal, it might be worth a quick stay here and there. Plus, if you never plan to use the points for a free hotel stay, this might be one opportunity to transfer to partner airlines when you finally accumulate 5,000 points.

Choice Privileges Rewards

Choice Privileges Rewards includes 7,000 properties in a geographically rich territory. The program includes four membership tiers with base members receiving discounted room rates and priority check-in.

Base Value: 0.6 cents

Earning Points: Base members earn 10 points per dollar spent at Choice Privileges hotels. Choice Privileges also includes vacation rentals, which receive 5-10 points.

Spending Points: Standard rooms can start being redeemed at 6,000 points. Tourist destinations start around 8,000-16,000 points for redemption.

Transferring Points: Choice Privileges points can transfer to nine airlines including American Airlines and Southwest Airlines. Points can also be redeemed for cruise nights on Royal Caribbean.

The Verdict: Choice Hotels has a huge geographic coverage area and number of hotels to choose from. Though it has an average valuation, points required for a free night, even in tourist destinations, is attainable even for the casual traveler.

Accor Live Limitless

Accor Live Limitless includes over 4,800 hotels in more than 110 countries and is the largest hotel chain in Europe. Base membership includes few perks but with only 2,000 points needed to start redeeming a free stay in some European budget accommodations.

Base Value: 2.0 cents

Earning Points: Hotels utilize a euro conversion. Most hotels offer a base rate of 25 points per €10 spent at Accor properties. If using USD, points are converted to the current euro exchange. Additionally, Capitol One card members can transfer points into Accor at a 2:1 ratio (2 Capitol One to 1 Accor).

Spending Points: With a fixed value for point redemption, there won’t be any hidden deals, but it’s easy to know how many points are needed for a stay. Members can start being redeemed at 2,000 points, which is enough for a €40 hotel room.

Transferring Points: Accor has a network of 31 airline partners including Air France, Turkish Airlines and United Airlines. Most programs offer a 2:1 exchange ratio, but a couple, including Iberian and Qantas, have a 1:1 ratio.

The Verdict: If you are a frequent European traveler, this program has a lot of perks because of its huge hotel network and small number of points needed to start redeeming. And with some airlines offering 1:1 transfers, utilizing Accor might be the only hotel rewards program where it could be better to transfer the points to an airline, depending on your travel goals.

Other Hotel Rewards Programs

There are a lot of hotel loyalty programs out there, but typically it’s best to decide on a brand or two that you want to be the most loyal to and utilize them for all your hotel stays to accumulate points faster. If you can, pick your favorite brand or two and utilize hotel rewards credit cards to accumulate points even more rapidly. For example, the Hilton Aspire credit card can change the 0.5 base value to a 7% return. Meaning for every $100 you spend, you receive $7 in points.

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