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Free hotel nights seem like a privilege reserved for Hilton family heirs and friends of the concierge. But resourceful travelers take heart: In the world of hotel perks, what you know still matters more than who.
Brushing up on the basics of hotel loyalty programs, points, and credit cards will help you glow up your next getaway without blowing up your budget.
Erika Recommends
- Chase Sapphire Reserve®
1:1 point transfers for IHG One Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy, and World of Hyatt. - Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card
Mid-tier card with perks like Elite Night credits for Marriott. - IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card
Affordable business card with automatic Platinum Elite status for IHG.
Free Hotel Nights: The Basics
Hotel loyalty programs give you points for:
- Staying at their properties
- Buying from partner merchants
- Using co-branded hotel credit cards
- Converting points from partner financial institutions
Points needed for a free hotel night (an “award night”) can range from 3,500 to over 8 million, depending on the booking’s:
- Location: Centrally located properties in popular cities or resorts require more points than peripheral properties.
- Room quality: An oceanview suite costs more points than a twin room with a view of neighbors’ HVAC units.
- Loyalty program: Companies with low-value points, like Hilton, require more points per booking than companies with high-value points, like Hyatt.
- Date: You’ll need more points for peak travel season than off or shoulder season, and certain nights of the week require more points than others based on a location’s tourism culture.
But strategies for getting free accommodation are the same whether you’re looking for a no-frills place to crash or a weekend at the Waldorf Astoria.
Points for Hotel Stays
A free hotel loyalty program membership gives you “base points” for stays at the program’s properties, provided you book directly through the hotel and not a third-party travel site.
People with elite status earn bonus points for their stays, which increase with each status level.
For example, programs like Hilton Honors and IHG One Rewards give basic members enough points for a free night in a budget hotel after they spend just $500. That drops to $250 for their highest status holders.
Hotel loyalty programs’ point rates per $1 spent on stays
| Basic members* | 1st status level | 2nd status level | 3rd status level | 4th status level+ | Min. pts per award night | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Choice Privileges | 10 | 11 | 12.5 | 15 | N/A | 8,000 |
| Hilton Honors | 10 | 12 | 18 | 20 | N/A | 5,000 |
| IHG® One Rewards | 10 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 20 | 5,000 |
| Marriott Bonvoy™ | 10 | 11 | 12.5 | 15 | 17.5 | 5,500 |
| World of Hyatt® | 5 | 5.5 | 6 | 6.5 | N/A | 3,500 |
| Wyndham Rewards | 10 | 11 | 11.5 | 12 | N/A | 7,500 |
*Rates apply to most properties. Some properties earn fewer base points.
There are also occasional promotions that can boost your earnings for stays — sometimes enough for a free night.
Partner Merchants
You can also earn hotel points for using a program’s restaurant, car rental, and tourism partners, sometimes at high rates.
For example, travel experiences with Hyatt partners earn 10 points per $1 spent — double the base rate for paid Hyatt stays.
Co-Branded Hotel Credit Cards
Co-branded hotel credit cards help you collect free nights faster via generous welcome offers and high everyday rewards rates.
Welcome offers
Credit card welcome offers give you points for meeting a minimum spending requirement within a limited period after opening the card.
Some hotel card offers are so generous, they can be redeemed for over a month of free nights!
Hilton Honors American Express Card
Rewards Rate
- 7x Hilton Honors Bonus Points on eligible Hilton hotels and resorts purchases
- 5x points at U.S. gas stations, U.S. supermarkets, and U.S. restaurants
- 3x points on all other eligible purchases
Welcome Offer
Earn 100,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points and a $100 Statement Credit after you spend $2,000 on eligible purchases on the Hilton Honors American Express® Card within your first 6 months of Card Membership. Offer Ends 8/13/2025.
Annual Fee
IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card
Rewards Rate
- Up to 26x points when you stay at IHG Hotels and Resorts
- 5x points on travel, gas stations, select advertising, and restaurants
- 3x points on all other purchases
Welcome Offer
Earn 140,000 Bonus Points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$99
The World of Hyatt Business Credit Card
Rewards Rate
- Up to 9x points at Hyatt (4 Bonus Points per $1 on qualified purchases at Hyatt hotels & up to 5 Base Points per $1 from Hyatt as a World of Hyatt member)
- 2x in your top three spend categories each quarter
- 2x on fitness club and gym memberships
- 1x points on all other purchases
Welcome Offer
60,000 Bonus Points plus Explorist status through 2/28/26 after you spend $7,000 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening. Offer ends 6/30/25.
Annual Fee
$199
Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card
Rewards Rate
- 6x Marriott Bonvoy® points for each dollar of eligible purchases at hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy®
- 4x at restaurants worldwide and U.S. supermarkets (on up to $15,000 in combined purchases at restaurants and U.S. supermarkets per calendar year, then 2x points)
- 2x points on all other eligible purchases
Welcome Offer
Earn up to 135,000 Marriott Bonvoy® bonus points: Earn 85,000 points after you spend $5,000 and an extra 50,000 points after you spend an additional $2,000 in purchases on the Card within your first 6 months of Card Membership.
Annual Fee
$250 (rates and fees)
Everyday spending
You can also collect enough points for dozens of award nights annually by spending on a hotel card with high rewards rates in your key purchase categories, like restaurants, groceries, gas, and business supplies.
This is on top of the rewards from hotel stays, which are earned in three ways:
- From the card itself
- From membership in the hotel’s rewards program (base points)
- From elite status, often given automatically by being a cardholder
Here’s how some of your regular spending could earn you tons of free nights, based on average annual spending for U.S. consumers:
| Rewards rate on hotels | Rewards rates on other spending | Estimated annual points earned** | Max free nights from annual points*** | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hilton Honors American Express Card | Up to 19 points per $1 spent (7 card pts + 10 base pts + 2 status pts) | 5 per $1 on U.S. restaurants, supermarkets, and gas 3 per $1 on everything else | 151,418 | 37 |
| Choice Privileges® Mastercard® | Up to 16 pts p/$1 (5 card pts + 10 base pts + 1 status pts) | 3 p/$1 on gas, groceries, home improvement, and phone plans 1 p/$1 on everything else | 102,762 | 13 |
| Wyndham Rewards Earner® Plus Card | Up to 17.5 pts p/$1 (6 card pts + 10 base pts + 1.5 status pts) | 6 p/$1 on gas 4 p/$1 on dining and groceries 1 p/$1 on everything else | 115,688 | 17 |
| IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card | Up to 26 pts p/$1 (10 card pts + 10 base pts + 6 status pts) | 5 p/$1 on other travel, dining, social media and search engine advertising, office supply stores, and gas 3 p/$1 on everything else | 182,258 | 49 |
| World of Hyatt Business Credit Card | Up to 9 pts p/$1 (4 card pts + 5 base pts) | 2 p/$1 in top three quarterly spend categories 2 p/$1 on fitness clubs and gyms 1 p/$1 on everything else | 64,283 | 18 |
| Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card | Up to 18.5 pts p/$1 (6 card pts + 10 base pts + 2.5 status pts) | 4 p/$1 at restaurants and U.S. supermarkets (up to $15K combined annual spend) 2 p/$1 on everything else | 119,271 | 27 |
*Hotel earn rates apply only to a card loyalty program’s portfolio properties.
**Estimates are based on average annual consumer expenditures listed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, International Trade Administration, and other sources and don’t include welcome bonuses.
***Estimates are based on award night point minimums and include bonus nights for multi-night bookings and annual point or free night card bonuses.
Some co-branded hotel credit cards also provide free annual nights if you meet a minimum spending requirement or simply keep your account open.
In an Erika Taught Me podcast episode, The Points Guy’s founder, Brian Kelly, said these perks can help you stretch a credit card’s value relative to its annual fee.
“A lot of hotel credit cards will give you a free night just for renewing,” said Kelly. “But you can use that free night at a $300 hotel.”
However, the points you earn from hotel credit cards have notable limitations:
- They can’t be redeemed for stays in other hotel companies’ properties.
- They have poor transfer ratios when converted into partner airlines’ points.
- Most have lower average redemption values than general credit card or airline rewards points.
- They typically can’t be redeemed for card statement credits.
Transferable-Points Credit Cards
If you’re willing to earn fewer free hotel nights in exchange for greater redemption flexibility, you should consider a card with points that transfer to hotel and airline partners.
Transferable credit card points usually convert into partner hotel points one-to-one, though some partners offer better transfer ratios.
After they’re transferred, they’re treated like regular hotel points and can be redeemed for free nights.
Transferable credit card points comparison
| Hotel transfer partners* | Best program credit card for hotel nights | |
|---|---|---|
| American Express Membership Rewards® | Choice Privileges (1:1); Hilton Honors (1:2); Marriott Bonvoy (1:1) | The Platinum Card® from American Express |
| Bilt Rewards | Accor Live Limitless (3:2); Hilton Honors (1:1); IHG One Rewards (1:1); Marriott Bonvoy (1:1); World of Hyatt (1:1) | Bilt Mastercard® |
| Capital One Miles | Accor Live Limitless (2:1); Choice Privileges (1:1); Wyndham Rewards (1:1) | Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card |
| Chase Ultimate Rewards® | IHG One Rewards (1:1); Marriott Bonvoy (1:1); World of Hyatt (1:1) | Chase Sapphire Reserve® |
| Citi ThankYou® Rewards | Accor Live Limitless (2:1); Choice Privileges (1:1.5 or 1:2);** Leaders Club (5:1); I Prefer Hotel Rewards (1:4); Wyndham Rewards (1:0.8 or 1:1)** | Citi Strata Premier Credit Card |
| Wells Fargo Rewards | Choice Privileges (1:2) | Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Card |
*Partner point transfer ratios are parenthesized.
**Transfer ratios vary by card.
Transferable-points cards have lower earning rates on hotel spending than co-branded hotel cards, and an average traveler earns fewer points with transferable-points cards annually.
But the ability to transfer your points into multiple hotel programs increases your odds of finding a valuable award night wherever you travel. And if no hotel transfer partners have good award night options for your trip, you can use transferable points for award flights instead.
Best Hotel Program for Free Stays
We scored the accessibility of free stays for each major hotel loyalty program by weighting their:
- Co-branded credit cards (25%)
- Average point value (20%)
- Award night point requirements (15%)
- Number of properties (15%)
- Transferability from other rewards programs (15%)
- Point rates for paid stays (10%)
Our calculations rank Marriott Bonvoy as the best program for free stays overall. Marriott’s diverse credit cards and extensive international footprint can help you maximize points for your spending and find award stay bargains in most destinations.
But other programs outperform Marriott Bonvoy in certain subcategories:
- Many luxury travelers prefer Hilton Honors. The Amex Aspire card grants automatic Diamond status and earns a market-leading 34 points per $1 spent at Hilton properties.
- Folks who take multi-day trips can save with IHG One Rewards credit cards, which give a fourth award night free when you redeem points for three consecutive award nights.
- World of Hyatt’s superior point value on award stays makes it ideal if you have a Chase Ultimate Rewards® or Bilt Rewards credit card.
- Favorable point conversion rates help folks with qualifying Wells Fargo and Citi rewards cards score excellent Choice Privileges award deals.
- Wyndham Rewards is good for domestic travelers, as Wyndham has more U.S. properties than any other hotel company.
FAQs About Redeeming Hotel Points
Do hotel points expire?
Hotel points usually expire after 12 to 24 months of account inactivity, depending on the program. The easiest way to prevent this is to keep your hotel loyalty account active by periodically making small purchases with a co-branded hotel credit card.
Which hotel points are worth the most?
With an average redemption value of nearly two cents each, World of Hyatt points are worth far more than other major hotel programs’ points. By comparison, we value Hilton Honors points at only 0.7 cents each.
Do you get hotel points with Expedia or other third-party travel booking sites?
You’ll get some hotel points when using a co-branded hotel credit card to book stays on third-party sites like Expedia. Those bookings earn at your card’s base rate for every purchase or its bonus rate for general travel purchases.
But you should book directly through a hotel loyalty program’s channels to get base membership points, bonus elite status points, and your co-branded card’s elevated bonus rate for its hotels.
TL;DR: Redeeming Points for Free Stays
Earning hotel points can help you stay for free at your favorite hotel. Sign up for their loyalty program and use the right credit card — hotel cards are good if you’re loyal to one brand, but general travel cards are good if you prefer the flexibility of transfer partners.
If you stay a lot at one hotel brand, you can work your way up to elite status, which can mean earning more points per dollar spent at the property.
Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are the 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.
