What Is the best hotel rewards program for earning free nights?

June 22, 2016

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When it comes to the ease of earning free nights based on paid stays, people always scoff when I cite Hilton Honors and Radisson Rewards as the best hotel rewards programs. “What about Hilton’s inflated award chart?” “Radisson hotels suck!”

These are actual quotes from readers and people I’ve talked to (the last one may have been paraphrased). The fact is, there are a lot of misconceptions out there about which hotel rewards program is the best in terms of earning free nights.

Hyatt Gold Passport is very popular, but if you’re booking lots of paid stays, Hyatt doesn’t give you the most bang for your buck. Radisson Rewards and Hilton Honors give non-elite members the biggest return for their money. Below is a breakdown of what every major hotel rewards program pays out to non-elite mebers, and the amount of paid stays required to earn a free night at each hotel category:

Radisson Rewards

Non-elite point earning rate: 20 points per $1 spent

Radisson Rewards Award Chart

Radisson Rewards Category 1 = $450 spent on paid stays
Category 2 = $750 spent on paid stays
3 = $1,400 spent on paid stays
4 = $1,900 spent on paid stays
5 = $2,200 spent on paid stays
6 = $2,500 spent on paid stays
7 = $3,500 spent on paid stays

Hilton Honors

Non-elite point earning rate: 10 points per $1 spent

5th night free on award redemptions

Hilton Honors Award Chart

Hilton Honors Category 1 = $500 spent on paid stays
Category 2 = $1,000 spent on paid stays
3 = $2,000
4 = $2,000 – $3,000
5 = $3,000 – $3,000
6 = $3,000 – $5,000
7 = $3,000 – $6,000
8 = $4,000 – $7,000
9 = $5,000 – $8,000
10 = $7,000 – $9,500

World of Hyatt

Non-elite point earning rate: 5 points per $1

World of Hyatt Award Chart

Hyatt Category 1 = $1,000 spent on paid stays
Category 2 = $1,600
3 = $2,400
4 = $3,000
5 = $4,000
6 = $5,000
7 = $6,000

IHG Rewards Club

Non-elite point earning rate:

5 – 10 points per $1 spent
600 – 2,000 points per stay at ANA partner hotels

IHG Rewards Club Award Chart

Pointbreaks = $500 – $1,000 spent on paid stays
IHG Category 1 Hotel = $1,000 – $2,000
2 = $1,500 – $3,000
3 = $2,000 – $4,000
4 = $2,500 – $5,000
5 = $3,000 – $6,000
6 = $3,500 – $7,000
7 = $4,000 – $8,000
8 = $4,500 – $9,000
9 = $5,500 – $11,000
10 = $5,500 – $11,000
11 = $6,000 – $12,000

Marriott Rewards

Marriott Rewards non-elite point earning rate:

5 – 10 points per $1
2.5 points per $1 at ExecuStay and Marriott Executive Apartments
5th night free on award redemptions

Marriott Rewards Award Chart

Marriott Category 1 PointSaver Hotel = $600 – $1,200 spent on paid stays
Category 1 = $750 – $1,500
Marriott Rewards Category 2 PointSavers = $750 – $1,500
Category 2 = $1,000 – $2,000
Marriott Rewards Category 3 PointSavers = $1,000 – $2,000
Category 3 = $1,500 – $3,000
Marriott Rewards Category 4 PointSavers = $1,500 – $3,000
Category 4 = $2,000 – $4,000
Marriott Rewards Category 5 PointSavers = $2,000 – $4,000
Category 5 = $2,500 – $5,000
Marriott Rewards Category 6 PointSavers = $2,500 – $5,000
Category 6 = $3,000 – $6,000
Marriott Rewards Category 7 PointSavers = $3,000 – $6,000
Category 7 = $3,500 – $7,000
Marriott Rewards Category 8 PointSavers = $3,500 – $7,000
Category 8 = $4,000 – $8,000
Marriott Rewards Category 9 PointSavers = $4,000 – $8,000
Category 9 = $4,500 – $9,000

Starwood Preferred Guest

Starwood non-elite point earning rate: 2 points per $1 spent

5th night free on award redemptions

Starwood Preferred Guest Award Chart

Starwood Category 1 = $1,000 – $1,500 spent on paid stays
Category 2 = $1,500 – $2,000
3 = $3,500
4 = $5,000
5 = $6,000 – $8,000
6 = $10,000 – $12,500
7 = $15,000 – $17,500

Wyndham Rewards

Wyndham Rewards non-elite earning rate: 10 points per $1 spent or 1,000 points per stay

All hotels require 15,000 points per night
15 paid stays or $1,500 = One free night at Wyndham

Best Hotel Rewards Program for Earning Free Nights?

As you can see, Hilton Honors requires the lowest amount of paid stays ($333.33) to earn a free night at a Category 1 hotel. Compare that to Starwood, which requires $1,000 – $1,500 in paid stays before members earn the 2,000 – 3,000 points required for a Category 1 stay.

In terms of earning award nights at top-tier hotels, Wyndham wins out because they require just 15,000 points per night for all award redemptions, regardless of hotel category.

Since Wyndham pays out 10 points per $1 or 1,000 points per stay (whichever is higher), it takes just 15 paid stays or $1,500 to earn a free night at any hotel.

Obviously, you’ll want to put this free night to use at a top-tier hotel to get the biggest return on your investment.

Wyndham has a unique reward program that’s tough to compare to others since all hotels require the same number of points for a free night.

When it comes to reward programs with different hotel categories, Radisson Rewards requires the lowest amount of spend for top-tier award nights at just $3,500. Factor in the 10 points per $1 earned through the Radisson Rewards Premier Rewards Visa Signature Card and you’re down to spending just $2,333 for a top-tier Category 7 award night.

Hilton comes in second, requiring $4,666.67 – $6,333.33 worth of paid stays for a free night at a top-tier Category 10 hotel.

Worst Hotel Rewards Program for Earning Free Nights?

The worst program for earning a top-tier award night based on paid stays is Starwood Preferred Guest, which is often cited as one of the best hotel reward programs. Starwood requires a massive $15,000 – $17,500 spent to earn a free night at a top-tier Category 7 SPG hotel.

Trailing behind Starwood is IHG Rewards Club, which requires $6,000 – $12,000 in paid stays to earn a top-tier Category 11 award night.

These numbers are lowered when you factor in bonuses from credit card spending, but when it comes to earning free nights purely based on bonus points earned from a hotel rewards program, IHG and Starwood don’t fare so well.

While Hilton and Radisson Rewards’ seemingly inflated award charts are less than appealing, their comparatively higher earning rates on paid stays ranks them above every other rewards program when it comes to earning free nights.

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15 responses to “What Is the best hotel rewards program for earning free nights?”

P T

June 22, 2016

Thank you for this. I looked at your archived Club Carlson list and have an update for Category 1. Having just returned from Bratislava, I can tell you that the Park Inn is undergoing major renovation and is closed. It has quite a good location, being just a couple of blocks from the Radisson Blu with the US Embassy between them.

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1. Ariana Arghandewal
  
  June 22, 2016
  
  Thanks for the update!
  
  Reply
Helen S

June 22, 2016

Thanks for the analysis. This is very helpful. You commented: “As you can see, Club Carlson requires the lowest amount of paid stays ($333.33) to earn a free night at a Category 1 hotel.” However, in your chart it’s Hilton that has this amount listed. Which is correct?

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1. Ariana Arghandewal
  
  June 22, 2016
  
  Thanks for catching that! I’ve updated the post to reflect that Hilton requires the lowest amount of paid stays.
  
  Reply
Rob (@rrob311)

June 23, 2016

I noticed choice hotels is not in there. I have their card and I believe its 15 points per dollar spent on stays. Some of their high end resorts (Cambria, Ascend) run from like 20k to 30k points.

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Will S

June 27, 2016

You lose me with this post, Ariana — beginning with your rather quaint title & implied question. How many folks in this miles & points hobby do you know of who actually rely primarily on the amount of points earned per paid stay in their hotel selection strategy?

Kinda of a “no duh” to say that you don’t get as many points for Hyatt stays…. do far better with Chase transfers to Hyatt to pay/supplement stays there…. And how many folks stay at lower tier IHG properties in order to stay at a top tier IHG Cat. 11 property whatever? Really now? (You get one of those nights each year with the IHG card still — and annual fee is still just $49 — contrasting rather well with the CC card and it’s 40K of Club Carlson pesos….)

And it’s just beyond credible to keep hawking the increasingly run-down and dilapidated Club Carlson brand…. Have you done an inventory lately of your now dated CC lists by category? (I stopped running the award mapper screens for Club Carlson, as time and time again I come across CC properties where I’m going — only to find out that the property is now “off line and no longer accepting reservations” — translated, they were either shut down or sold)

My wife and I have a stash of over 300k Club Carlson points — mainly because we’re having trouble finding decent deals on CC places stateside we’d want to actually USE club carlson points. The available options in the US tend to be grotesquely over-priced…. (38,000, 44,000 and more for properties costing maybe $100 a night often)

Yes, we’ve done the Melbourne, Fl Radisson — twice now… getting old. (as is that building….)

Sure, there’s some Rad Blu’s we’d like to stay at — in North Africa, esp.. First, we’d have to get there, then second, we’d have to forget the all-too plausible fears of the beaches blowing up again…. (sadly)

I often sing your praises Ariana, but here, you’re eloquent post is just not credible substantively…. classic case of selectively invoking misleading statistics to prove an outlier….. No doubt Club Carlson (or their new owners) will be delighted to see this post….

Serious readers will add a few of their own laugh-test real-world screens and just move on…..

Alas, knowing your patterns now, expect we’ll continue to see more posts from you pushing Club Carlson….. There’s a place for off-the-beaten path posts, to keep us cross checking and revisiting bad assumptions…. Drew, bless his memory, was a master at them, though he’s now long abandoned us….. for greener pastures.

By chance are you consulting for HNA — CC’s new owner?

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1. Ariana Arghandewal
  
  June 28, 2016
  
  Thanks for your feedback, Will. This post is targeted towards people who do have a lot of paid hotel stays and don’t rely exclusively on credit card rewards to pay for travel. With hotel loyalty award charts devaluing, a lot of people are finding more value in paid stays covered with flexible reward currencies (i.e. Barclay Arrival Miles) or cash back rewards. You’d be surprised at how many people have asked me what the most “rewarding” hotel rewards program is and the numbers don’t lie.
  
  Should other factors be considered? Of course. Most people have the common sense to consider things like room rates, hotel quality, and even number of properties worldwide before committing to a single loyalty program. Club Carlson was never a big player in the U.S. luxury hotel market, but that didn’t stop a lot of people from collecting hundreds of thousands of points for hotel stays abroad, where they’ve continued to expand. I know tons of people who’ve been able to put their Club Carlson points to great use abroad. None of them were consultants for HNA.
  
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Will S

June 27, 2016

ps, and no, I’m not being “snobbish” here….. happens I did add Wyndham Rewards to my arsenal this past year (and even Choice) — for when doing the national park circuit…. (you’ll find far more Days Inns in the middle of nowhere than Hyatt or even IHG…) You’re right about Wyndham though being hard to value/compare, with the 3k “Go Fast” awards — and even more so with the current VERY interesting promotions that stack… (3 ongoing at the moment)…. But yes, the laugh test kicks in here too…. we stayed at a 70 year old Howard Johnson’s last week near a place called “peaks of otter”…. ok, they’d done their best to refurbish it, but oh my…. might have been better to just do the proverbial mattress run….. And then there was the Rodeway Inn OceanSide, by a sleazy casino, betwixt San Diego & LA…. over $250 per night — (or 3k plus $55 GF)….. the creepiest, most unsafe place ever…. Can only handle so many of those bottom teir stays per year…. per lifetime.

Ok, we endure it for a cause…. We’ll soon be trying out the Wyndham Viva All-inclusive resorts in Mexico…. but much of what I’m reading in reveiws tells me to keep expectations low…. These top tier Wyndhams aren’t Ziva or even IHG class. Not many of us around who’ve done both ends…. Will see.

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Farnorthtrader

July 10, 2016

Just a note that your comparison makes the high end of Marriott look better than it is, as it does not include Ritz Carlton properties.

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1. Ariana Arghandewal
  
  July 25, 2016
  
  Good point.
  
  Reply
ron

August 16, 2016

What’s the best hotel reward card for everyday credit card spending? Not hotel paid stays.

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1. Ariana Arghandewal
  
  August 16, 2016
  
  It comes down to Hilton and Club Carlson credit cards again: https://www.pointchaser.com/what-are-the-best-hotel-credit-cards-for-earning-free-nights/
  
  Reply
BeachMiles

August 16, 2016

Would love to see how these same hotels compare, based on how much Credit Card spending required to earn free nights. With MS in mind of course. ( 6X on Hilton Surpass, maybe 5X on Hyatt on Ink – office supply. 1X SPG Amex. Are the Wyndhan and Club Carlson just 1X for MS categories?

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1. Ariana Arghandewal
  
  August 16, 2016
  
  I actually covered that in a recent post. Once again, Hilton and Club Carlson come out ahead: https://www.pointchaser.com/what-are-the-best-hotel-credit-cards-for-earning-free-nights/
  
  Reply
Amazing Hotel Discounts from Amex Offers

June 17, 2018

[…] than you knock Hilton for his or her inflated award chart, remember that it’s really one of many greatest lodge packages for incomes free nights. It’s a lot simpler to earn free nights by way of paid stays and bank card spending with Hilton […]

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