Advertiser Disclosure – Katie’s Travel Tricks is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as MileValue.com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more. For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the above benefits are provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply
How Hotels Make Award Stays Even More Valuable
When you use your points to book a free hotel stay, it’s always a win! To make that free stay even sweeter, some hotel loyalty programs offer perks on award night stays.
Make sure to combine your free stay with the right credit card so you can make your free stay even better with perks like upgrades, free breakfasts, and elite status!
Perks of award night bookings
These perks of award night bookings are only available when you book your hotel or resort stay with points directly through the hotel. These perks are not available for stays booked using points through a bank’s travel portal.
Free 4th or 5th night on awards stays (IHG, Marriott, Hilton)
There are three hotel programs that offer free nights on award stays: IHG Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy, and Hilton Honors. This means that not only is your hotel stay free since you’re paying with points, but you’re getting a bonus night where you don’t even have to pay with points!
To qualify for a free night on award stays with IHG, Marriott, and Hilton, you must stay at the same hotel for a certain number of consecutive nights to receive a night free.
IHG offers the 4th night free on award stays while Marriott and Hilton offer the 5th night free on award stays.
If you qualify for this benefit and book a four night IHG stay on points, you will only pay points for a three night stay. Similarly, if you book a five night award stay with Marriott or Hilton, you will only be charged points for four nights.
The value of the free award night is different for each program. IHG gives you the fourth night free, regardless of whether it’s the highest or lowest point value night. Hilton calculates the average cost per night for the stay and deducts the average cost of a night. With Marriott, you will receive the lowest point value night free.
This is a huge perk of booking award stays! Not only are the nights already free since you’re paying in points, but you are getting an extra free night thrown in!
Who can use this benefit?
Marriott offers “Stay for 5, Pay for 4” on all Marriott award bookings.
IHG’s “Redeem 3 Nights, Get the Fourth Night Free” benefit is only available to IHG One Rewards credit card cardmembers.
Holding any of IHG’s three co-branded cards will get you this benefit. These cards typically come with high bonuses and lots of benefits, in addition to getting your 4th night free on award nights.
IHG® Rewards Premier Credit Card – 175,000 points
- $99 annual fee
- Earn 175,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening
- Reward Night after each account anniversary year at eligible IHG hotels worldwide (worth 40,000 points)
- 4th night free when you redeem points for any stay of 4 or more nights
- Earn up to 26 points total per $1 spent when you stay at an IHG hotel
- Earn 5 points per $1 spent on purchases on travel, gas stations, and restaurants. Earn 3 point per $1 spent on all other purchases
- Platinum Elite status as long as you remain a Premier card member
- Global Entry or TSA PreCheck Fee Credit of up to $100 every 4 years as reimbursement for the application fee charged to your card
- $50 in United TravelBank cash each calendar year
IHG® Rewards Premier Credit Card – 175,000 points
- $99 annual fee
- Earn 175,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening
- Reward Night after each account anniversary year at eligible IHG hotels worldwide (worth 40,000 points)
- 4th night free when you redeem points for any stay of 4 or more nights
- Earn up to 26 points total per $1 spent when you stay at an IHG hotel
- Earn 5 points per $1 spent on purchases on travel, gas stations, and restaurants. Earn 3 point per $1 spent on all other purchases
- Platinum Elite status as long as you remain a Premier card member
- Global Entry or TSA PreCheck Fee Credit of up to $100 every 4 years as reimbursement for the application fee charged to your card
- $50 in United TravelBank cash each calendar year
IHG® Rewards Traveler Card – 120,000 points
- No Annual Fee
- Earn 120,000 bonus points after spending $2,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening
- 4th night free when you redeem points for any stay of 4 or more nights
- Earn up to 17 points total per $1 spent when you stay at an IHG hotel
- Earn 3 points per $1 spent on purchases on monthly bills, gas stations, restaurants. Earn 2 point per $1 spent on all other purchases
Hilton’s 5th night free benefit is available to Hilton Honors members with silver elite status or higher. Fortunately, a quick way to get Hilton status is by holding a Hilton credit card. Automatic elite status is a benefit of having any of the Hilton Honors credit cards.
Hilton Honors American Express Card – 100,000 Bonus Points – Offer ends 04/05/2023
- Earn 100,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $2,000 in purchases on the Card in the first 6 months of Card Membership. Plus, you can earn up to $100 in Statement Credits on eligible purchases made on the Card at any of the Hilton family hotels in the first 12 months of Membership.
- No annual fee (Terms Apply. | Rates & Fees.)
- Earn 7X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged directly with hotels and resorts within the Hilton portfolio.
- Earn 5X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases at U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets, and U.S. gas stations.
- Earn 3X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for all other eligible purchases on your Card.
Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card – 150,000 points – Offer ends 04/05/2023
- Earn 150,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $3,000 in purchases on the Card in the first 6 months of Card Membership.
- $95 annual fee (Terms Apply. | Rates & Fees.)
- 12x points for spend directly at Hilton hotels and resorts
- 6x points for spending on gas and groceries
- Complimentary Gold status (enrollment required)
- 10 Priority Pass visits per year (enrollment required)
The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card – learn more
- $95 annual fee (Terms Apply | Rates and Fees)
- Earn 165,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $5,000 in purchases on the Hilton Honors Business Card in the first 3 months of Card Membership.
- Complimentary Gold status (enrollment required)
- 10 Priority Pass visits per year
- Earn 12X at hotels & resorts in the Hilton portfolio.
- Earn 6X on U.S. gas stations, on U.S. purchases for shipping, on wireless telephone services purchased directly from U.S. service providers, on flights booked directly with airlines or with Amex Travel, on car rentals booked directly from select car rental companies, and at U.S. restaurants.
- Earn 3X on all other eligible purchases.
Waived resort fees on award stays (Hyatt, Hilton, Wyndham)
Resort fees, also called amenity fees or destination fees, on hotel stays are frustrating. So frustrating that the Biden Administration is trying to get rid of them. These fees, which are typically in the $20-$50 a night range, can even go up to $100. Resort fees are not displayed in the hotel rate so can be an unexpected and unpleasant addition to your vacation costs.
Fortunately, when you book with points, these resort fees are waived by some hotel chains. Hyatt, Hilton, and Wyndham all waive resort fees on award stays booked fully with points. This brings your “free” vacation on points even closer to being free.
Ways you can book hotels on points
There are two types of points that you can redeem for free hotel nights on points: hotel loyalty points and flexible rewards points.
Hotel loyalty points
Hotel loyalty points are the points earned with a specific hotel chain that can be redeemed for free hotel nights. Examples of hotel loyalty programs include World of Hyatt, IHG Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, Choice Privileges, and Wyndham Rewards.
You can earn hotel loyalty points in a variety of ways. Of course, our favorite way to earn hotel points is by earning credit card bonuses. You may get hotel loyalty points this way by opening a co-branded hotel credit card, or by earning a bonus on a flexible rewards card and transferring points into a hotel loyalty program.
The free 4th/5th night on award stays and waived resort fee benefits ONLY apply to hotel nights booked directly through the hotel. You will not get these benefits if you use your flexible rewards points to book a hotel through a travel portal.
Flexible rewards points
Flexible rewards points are a type of currency offered by banks. They can be redeemed for, among other things, free travel. These points are earned by earning credit card bonuses on flexible rewards credit cards and spending money on those cards.
The main flexible rewards are American Express Membership Rewards, Capital One Venture Miles, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Citi ThankYou points.
Flexible rewards points can be used to pay for free hotel nights several ways. You can use them to book through travel portals, “erase” travel expenses, or transfer them to a hotel partner.
Transfer points or book through a travel portal?
When to transfer points to a hotel loyalty program
When I am booking travel with points, I want to get the most bang for my buck. I bet you do too!
We talk a lot about Hyatt here at Katie’s Travel Tricks. One of the reasons we love World of Hyatt so much is because you can transfer Ultimate Rewards to Hyatt. You can easily redeem Hyatt points for 2+ cents per point.
On the other hand, when you use your flexible rewards to book a Hyatt through a travel portal your redemption value is already set. Depending on the credit card issuer and your card, you will typically get 1-1.5 cents per point.
When you can transfer your flexible rewards points to a hotel loyalty program and get a higher value per point than the one the bank gives you for a portal booking, it makes sense to transfer them.
When to book your hotel on points through a travel portal
If the redemption value you’ll get by booking through a hotel loyalty program is going to be lower than that 1-1.5 cents per point you’ll get booking through a travel portal, it usually makes sense to book your stay through the travel portal.
Maybe you’ve heard us talk about the value of transfer partners so much that you second guess yourself and assume you’re doing something wrong when the travel portal costs less points than a direct booking.
You’re not!
As an example, IHG Rewards are valued around 0.5 cents per point. Since a travel portal booking is going to get you 1-1.5 cents per point, it typically doesn’t make sense to transfer flexible rewards to IHG. When you transfer them, they will become less valuable.
If you want to book an IHG hotel and you just have Chase Ultimate Rewards, you can transfer Ultimate Rewards to IHG or book the same hotel (if available) on the Chase travel portal. If that hotel costs 20,000 IHG Rewards through IHG, or $125 (10,000 Ultimate Rewards with a Sapphire Preferred card) in the travel portal, you should definitely book through the portal!
You can use our redemption value calculator to calculate the value of an award stay. Use this to help you decide how to get the best value for your points. To get the most accurate comparison, you’ll need to account for any waived resort fees and free award nights you might be eligible for with award bookings.
Editorial Disclosure – Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
