Travel rewards programs are baffling. Each airline and hotel chain has its own method of awarding and redeeming points or miles; plus, the rules are always changing. It's hard to know if you're getting the best deal or even a good deal in exchange for your loyalty.
But now some bright folks have put together comparisons for you, so you can see which programs really reward their members -- and which don't.
- Best credit cards: Travel rewards and more
Some caveats before we dig in:
- Your mileage may vary. The comparisons below are based on surveys done during limited time frames. Programs could have changed since then, and the results may have been skewed by a particular provider's special deals or special challenges during the surveys' time frames. (Delta Air Lines, for example, says its low rank in awarding seats in one survey was because of problems combining its reservations system during its merger with Northwest.)
- Road warriors get the best deals. If you travel a lot with the same provider, you'll reap richer rewards than those available to infrequent travelers. So even if a particular program doesn't do well in these ratings, you might still get great returns if you're a heavy user.
- Affiliated credit cards amp your results. Even if you're not a frequent traveler, you can rack up points faster and typically reap many of the benefits of elite status if you charge a lot on the travel program's affiliated credit card. The only smart way to use the card, though, is to charge only what you can afford to pay off each month. Interest rates on rewards cards tend to be high and will more than cancel out the value of any rewards.
We'll start with hotel chains, because their programs usually are easier to use than airline frequent-flier plans. You often can accumulate points faster, and there are rarely blackout dates or room shortages that prevent you from getting a free room when you qualify.
Where loyalty scores you a free night's sleep
Credit card comparison site NerdWallet looked at how easy it was to score a free night's stay with the top 11 hotel chains' loyalty programs. The site picked a date in August and then looked at how many points were required to get a free room at three to four of each chain's hotels in the 10 largest cities, compared with how much those rooms would cost to book. (Because most chains have a variety of hotel types, from budget to midpriced to luxury, this gave a fairly broad cross section of what was available.)"In order to come up with the number of nights required to earn a free night, we took the number of points required for a free night in a particular room and divided that by the number of points earned when paying for that exact same room," explained NerdWallet founder and CEO Tim Chen. "Then . . . we averaged across all the (company's) properties surveyed."
The results: Marriott and Carlson required the least time (10 nights) to win a free night, while InterContinental and Accor required the most (25 nights). The two largest chains, Choice (with 6,000 hotels) and Wyndham (with more than 7,000), ranked near the middle, requiring 13 and 17 nights, respectively.
| Chain | Nights | Hotel brands |
|---|---|---|
25 | InterContinental, Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza | |
25 | Motel 6, Sofitel, Red Roof Inn | |
22 | Sheraton, Westin, St. Regis | |
20 | Hilton, Hampton Inn, DoubleTree | |
17 | Super 8, Ramada Inn, Travelodge | |
17 | Best Western | |
13 | Hyatt, Andaz | |
13 | Comfort Inn, EconoLodge, Clarion | |
11 | La Quinta | |
10 | Radisson, Country Inns & Suites, Park Inn | |
10 | Marriott, Courtyard |
Source: NerdWallet. *Starwood frequently runs promotions that significantly lower this night count.
If you can afford to stay in more-expensive hotels -- or if your company will pay for them -- you can accumulate free nights faster, Chen said.
"Every chain has its own priority program where frequent travelers can earn rewards faster, receive special promotions and get upgraded to better hotel rooms," Chen said. "The higher-end hotel chains have much more valuable status programs, so a frequent InterCon or Starwood customer will earn much bigger benefits over time, making these programs stand out even more for heavy travelers."
Indeed, travel expert Tim Leffel likes the InterContinental program the best of all the ones he's tried.
"Points never expire, and they seem easier to use," said Leffel, the author of "The World's Cheapest Destinations: 21 Countries Where Your Money Is Worth a Fortune." "The company doesn't play the game of reclassifying rooms every year or two, and they run specials all the time where you can get a room somewhere for 5,000 points. In a nutshell, they're more customer-friendly than most."
Continued: For road warriors, differences are huge
