Your Choice: Airline Miles or Hotel Points?

I receive a lot of press releases, most of which have little or nothing to do with my primary focus, loyalty programs.

 Occasionally, however, a news release is relevant not so much for its headline content as for a point made in support of its main topic.

Among the claims made in a recent release announcing Priority Club's global relaunch, for  instance, was the following, allegedly based on consumer research:

Hotel loyalty program points displace airline frequent flyer miles as preferred currency: Frequent travelers place a higher perceived value on hotel loyalty program currency over frequent flier miles, as airlines' imposition of fees, decreased reward seat inventory and greater restrictions have weakened consumer trust, and as hotel programs add additional redemption options, including access to airline inventory.

I have no argument with the premises. Frequent flyer fees are rampant; awards are in shorter-than-ever supply, relative to demand; and consumer trust and engagement have eroded.

But have hotel points really displaced airline miles as the world's preferred loyalty currency, as Priority Club alleges?

It's not a rhetorical question—I'm seriously seeking feedback from readers on this. I have my own opinion, based both on my personal experience and attitudes and my discussions with other rewards-program participants. But more information is always better.

Again, the question: Do you value hotel points more than airline miles?

Please weigh in with your comments below, and check back to see what other travelers have to say on the subject.

Thanks for your feedback.

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Comments

[Cynthia Lund]

At this point I'm tending more for mileage than accommodations. I have the Priority Card, Alaska, and recently got a Delta card (they share miles with Alaska and fly where Alaska does not) and at this point it takes @24,000 Priority points to get a room at Holiday Inn. We usually rent from VRBO (Vacation Rentals by Owner) when on extended vacations as we really don't like big hotels or complexes. I'm actually considering giving up the Priority card once I've used up what points I have left and get the one free night I'm entitled to

[Joseph houser]

I agree. The airlines seem to have forgotten their most frequent customers. I am a million miler on one Adeline and close to reaching that on two others. I am happy to see the airlines surviving on the backs of travelers, who must shovel out hard earned dollars to have their baggage handled, etc., but like all things, what goes around , comes around. I now look for the least expensive flight to business travel- loyalty to an airline gives you very, very little.

[marcia]

As a Canadian I find Areoplan (Air Canada, KlM, Air France & other star alliance lines) easy to get a "free" flight if i book a year in advance so i don't use their credit card. My first choice is always American Express Air Miles credit card (unavailable in the US)because i can get free flights, cruises, hotels etc. i've just dumped Delta air lines because i can't get a flight in favour of Amex Hilton. i agree it's easier to buy a flight than a luxury hotel and i can transfer Hilton points to Aeroplan.

[Steve]

I've changed my mind from a few years ago. Now it is hotel points that make my heart sing. Hotel rooms in major andpopular places are incredibly expensive, but rooms are usually available. Booking a free flight--unless youa re willing to break open your mileage bank and use all of your points--are very hard to get.

And don't get me started on "surcharges" like those at BA-- paying hunderds of dollars for a "free ticket is not what I originally bargined for hwen earning those 300,000+ miles.

[liza]

It's not a rhetorical question—I'm seriously seeking feedback from readers on this. I have my own opinion, based both on my personal experience and attitudes and my discussions with other rewards-program participants. But more information is always better.
AAdvantage Miles

[P.Salituro]

Simple facts: hotel nights can generate points or miles, flights just miles. Elite hotel statuses provide a bonus only with point accrual. Converting hotel points to miles is providing a better exchange ratio. (e.g. see SPG)

Hotel points are my preferred loyalty currency if I have a status with that hotel group, because only with points I get the level bonus. Simple math.

A room is a room, usually no suite with points; but that room can be anyway VERY expensive.
A seat in Eco is not a seat in Biz or First, so miles have a double face value. For this reason stays at hotels where I have (or will have) no status goes to air-miles in order to reach quicker a mile amount to pamper myself with a long haul upper-class experience; all other stays go to points.

[Dee]

I prefer miles to hotel points. I use Starwood Amex and transfer to whatever airline I am using at the time. I tend not to stay in hotels but in inns, b&b's or with friends.

[Linda Jackson]

I prefer the starwood preferred guest program( sheraton, westin hotels, etc) because it gives you the best of both worlds. Using points only or cash and points, I have been able to stay in luxury hotels in Europe. I also have the option of converting 20K starpoints into 25K AA miles if I need a few more miles for flights. Also, Starwood allows you to transfer points between family members within the same household with no penalty. You can't do that with American Airline miles.

[Fig]

One way to compare it is which would you rather pay for. I would always rather pay for the flight rather than the hotel because blackouts, limited availability and/or high mileage premiums are generally in place to redeem the flights that I want (specific times/day). I'm fine paying for the flight because it gives me more flexibility (more likelihood of a nonstop, I can fly outside of where my loyalty program flies). I face none of that with hotels. I can almost always get a room at a hotel that I like via one of the major chains and quite often get an upgrade. the other piece to factor in is taxes. Generally a paid hotel stay exposes you to more tax cost than paying flight taxes (especially with international).

[J Burton]

As a season traveler, I have found the airline miles to be more useful. I have made several trips for which my hotel points are useless, because the hotel chains do not have locations available where I go.

[Ric Garrido - Loyalty Traveler blog]

Looks like many commenters see real value in hotel points. I began to focus on hotel points in 2000 after I had earned over 2 million frequent flier miles. Those trips to Europe in First Class followed by a week in budget hotels gave me a new appreciation for hotel points.

I am fond of saying that I will take a 12 hour flight in economy for a week in a luxury hotel. The frequent flier game takes a lot more cash than the hotel loyalty game.

There is good value in nearly every hotel loyalty program and the opportunity to stay just about anywhere for much less than published room rates is the joy I find in being a hotel loyalty programs maven.

I started Loyalty Traveler blog to share insight to the opportunities for luxury travel on a budget. Now I have expanded my scope to write more frequently on budget hotel travel programs like Best Western, Choice, Red Roof Inn, La Quinta and Wyndham for travelers on an even smaller budget.

[Janice Plourde]

Hotel points for me are a better value than airline points. I got tired of never have enough miles for a flight; or my miles would expire before I could build up a balance. With my American Express Hilton Honors Card I earn enough Hilton Honors for 4-5 free nights yearly. The points don't expire and there are several levels of Hotels to choose from with locations all over the world.

[Alaskabrad]

I use miles and points often. Airline miles have greater value.

[sue]

The hotel points, particularly starwood have a better value for me. I never have a problem using them. We have starwood and american airlines affinity cards but accrue the american miles by flying for business much faster than starwood points. We have elite status in starwood, American, and Southwest. Also, one can transfer 20K starwood points into most ff programs and get a 5K mileage bonus.

[Erik P.]

ABSOLUTLEY!! I accumulate Starwood points because I get a 5000 bonus for every 20000 I transfer to airline miles. I use 40000 Starwood points and get a 50000 mile first class seat! And I can choose the airline based on availability!

[Glenn]

I think it really depends on how you travel.

For me airline miles seem to be a better "value". I take one giant trip a year...to Asia from the East Coast. Going halfway round the world takes a long time and I prefer to travel "up front" in order to be as comfortable as possible and get some lounge access. I plan way ahead and can usually move my dates around in a fairly good sized window. So finding awards is usually not so difficult. The nice thing about the places I go is that hotels are usually fairly inexpensive for a little bit of luxury. So I am cashing my miles in on tickets that would cost $10K+. And I have always been able to find reasonable award flights schedule-wise. It may help that I live close to a major international hub.

[David Crandall]

I have begun to switch to earning hotel points over airline miles. I should mention that I have over 1/2 million miles between six airlines so I'm not about to run out of miles soon. Instead, it is the fact that the value of airlines keeps diminishing and awards are harder to obtain around the dates I want to travel. Hotels have more availability, more choices, and I've found that I can usually get a room at a hotel near my destination. Add the fact that 25,000 miles gets me one ticket but up to three hotel nights. If I have to use 40,000 miles, then it is better value to redeem hotel points and buy the airline ticket.

[Bruno]

Miles are way more useful to me for the status.

I do a lot of business travel, but we fly coach. I am EXP on AA. At 6'4", regardless of whether or not I use the points, getting more frequent upgrades out of coach is a quality of life issue that is WAY bigger than getting a nicer room or late checkout at a hotel.

Using hotel points is easier than miles, but I only use them for occasional events like weddings that are in a city. Almost every vacation I take is an outdoor escape like hiking- in Tanzania, the Canadian Rockies, Yosemite, Peru, etc... and there aren't any W Hotels on Zanzibar...

If you just accept that flying cross country will cost you 50k miles, not 25k, using miles becomes a lot easier.

[Mortimur Shenke]

I used to go after miles like crazy. After years of having "enough" miles to go where I want, but not being able to redeem them, I have switched to acquiring hotel points instead. They are much easier to use, change, etc. I now almost exclusively use my Hilton Hhonors credit card when I can, and my airline cards are just a back up.

[Lindsay Wilson]

To say that hotel guest programs have over taken frequent flyer programs is a big call - I certainly think they are kidding themselves. I would love to know the basis of their research (number of respondents, demography, questions asked and responses).

I agree with your comments Tim and of some respondents above. The number of flights has dropped with demand through the GFC as airlines cut non-prforming routes and maximise loads, thus the available award seats have decreased with a probably corresponding increase in people who want to use FF miles given the tough economic times (most award seats are for personal use, upgrades are more likely used business pax). Of course this was going to make the seats harder to access and means having to book at the maximum time limit (355 to 335 days out) or accept a non-standard routing (perhaps accept a 2 sector flight rather than direct).

To use my own recent experience, it is the reverse (I found it easier to redeem FF miles on one set of tickets for my family, than be able to use FG points - at 13 different hotels (both Hilton & PC) across Europe over a 7 week period). Admittedly, because I knew of the complexity, I did book the FF tickets at 335 days prior to departure, whereas hotel stays were only 3 months prior.

[Charlotte C]

I have three airline affinity cards and three hotel affinity cards, and have appreciated the benefits from all. I spend till I get the "boost" on one and then switch to another.

We have found that the hotel points are easier to redeem, even Priority Club. Last summer we stayed three nights at the Hyatt Zurich with points. Later we used Marriott points for four nights in a fabulous room with a view of the canal in Ghent, and Priority Club for the IC in Amsterdam. Combined, these hotel rooms would have cost us more than twice what we paid for air for the two of us.

We'd have booked seats with points if we'd been able to find them, but none were available, while we had no trouble whatsoever booking the rooms. Our conclusion: the hotel points were much more valuable on that trip than the seats would have been if we could have found them.

[Andrew Mychajlowycz]

For years I have preferred hotel points over airline miles for domestic destinations and the reverse for international ones. You can simply do the math:

As a Gold VIP in Hilton Honors and a Gold in Continental Onepass, it would cost me between 150K and 200K hilton points to stay in a top tier hotel in the US at a popular vacation destination (Calif, Fla, Puerto Rico) with a family of 4 for a week. The cost of the room sans points would be between $250 and $300 per night. So 200K points vs $2100. To fly to the popular destination would require at best 25K or 30K miles per person. The cost of the flights without miles could be as low $200 to $250 per person. So 120K miles vs $1000. Since the best exchange between miles and points is usually 1-to-2 (as it was in Continental to Hilton for years, but not any longer), the value of a domestic hotel room reward is more than double the value of a domestic airline reward (2.1 cents per mile vs 0.8 cents per mile).

However, for international destinations, the cost of the flights vs the cost in air miles becomes much more attractive. For example, I booked flights from Geneva, Switzerland to Hawaii for 4 persons 240K miles (real cost would have been about $4800). And the hotel was about the same. So about 2 cents per mile for the flight - about the same as for the hotel room.

What tips the scale, however, is that it is far easier to accumulate the hotel points (easier and more frequent bonuses and promotions) vs the miles. And I have never had a problem booking a hotel reward at any popular, upscale resort - even during the busiest season - if I planned in advance. With airlines, it's a crapshoot. And I have no out-of-pocket cost for hotel rewards while there is always something to pay for an airline reward (sometimes a few $100 if long-distance).

[Aaron]

I prefer hotel programs. I ALWAYS get a room upgrade at minimum due to my elite status and also have no problem find a free hotel room at top Hilton hotels whenever I want. Can't say the same for the United. Rarely get upgraded on the SFO-PVG route despite 1K and systemwide upgrades.

[Mark L]

No question I prefer the hotel points. Airlines mean little to me since redemption is next to impossible. So the airline miles have little value. I rarely even track them.

[Bill R]

It is far easier to find a cheap flight to almost any location. It is a lot more difficult to get a great hotel room (in a "hot" destination)for a low price.
So, if I was given the choice of a weeks free hotel stay on a California beach, in NYC, Anchorage or a similar location OR a free flight I would choose the hotel stay. The price of the hotel could easily exceed $2,000.00, whereas I could easily find a flight for less than $500.00. Also, a rental car can often have a similar, albeit lower, value comparison.
Fortunately, I am often able to combine all three loyalty rewards and vacation with me family for almost nothing. If you use your loyalty rewards wisely you can really have some great experiences.