Which hotel loyalty programme is the most rewarding, based on our points valuations?
Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission. See here for all partner links.
Over the last two weeks we have published updated versions of our ‘What is a hotel point worth?’ series. You can see the individual articles here:
- What are Accor Live Limitless points worth?
- What are Hilton Honors points worth?
- What are IHG One Rewards points worth?
- What are Marriott Bonvoy points worth?
- What are Radisson Rewards points worth?
- What are World of Hyatt points worth?
Now that we have a valuation per point for each scheme, we can do a bit of reverse engineering and think about which scheme is the most rewarding when you stay.
What I’ve done below is look at how many points per $ (converted from € for Accor) you would earn in two scenarios – if you had NO elite status and if you had top tier elite status.
The results differ between the two, because some programmes are more generous to elite members (or meaner to ‘no status’ members, look at it how you wish!) than others.
What about bonus point promotions?
This is the big elephant in the room, of course. A large part of your points earning tends to come from bonus promotions and not from your base earning.
At the moment, Hilton and IHG are the only programmes which are offering a global points promotion. You can see the latest points offers for the big hotel chains on this page of HfP.
Hilton is generally the most aggressive scheme when it comes to bonus offers, usually running ‘back to back’ deals, and you should consider this when looking at the results below.
What about elite status?
This tables below only show how many points you will earn. For someone with no hotel status, this is a fair basis for comparison. Points are all you’re going to get.
If you have elite status, it’s a different matter. You may prioritise your elite benefits – upgrades (and the likelihood of getting one), free breakfast etc – more than the points.
What is the most generous hotel loyalty scheme if you have no elite status?
Here are the results, along with the ‘value per point’ we calculated in our earlier articles.
We have used a £ to $ exchange rate of $1.35 to calculate the penultimate column.
The data for Accor is converted from Euro (€1 = 2.5 points).
| Scheme | HfP value per point (pence) | Points earned per $1 exc tax | Points earned per £1 exc tax | Rewards as % of pre-tax spending |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hyatt | 1.2 | 5 | 6.8 | 8.2% |
| Marriott | 0.5 | 10 | 13.5 | 6.8% |
| IHG | 0.4 | 10 | 13.5 | 5.4% |
| Accor | 1.7 | 2.2 | 2.9 | 5.0% |
| Hilton | 0.33 | 10 | 13.5 | 4.5% |
| Radisson | 0.15 | 8 | 10.8 | 1.6% |
What is the most generous hotel loyalty scheme with top tier elite status?
Here is the same table but adjusted for the bonus you receive on base points for having top tier elite status.
This means Globalist for Hyatt, Titanium or Ambassador for Marriott, Diamond for Accor, Diamond for IHG, VIP for Radisson and Diamond for Hilton.
The Radisson figure is based on ‘Discount Booster’ NOT being activated. This means that you pay more for your room but earn full points. (VIP and Premium members can opt in to extra discounts if they accept a far lower level of points earning.)
The Hilton figure ignores the 1,000 points that Diamond members get as a My Way bonus on stays at most brands. This is on top of other My Way benefits.
| Scheme | HfP value per point (pence) | Points earned per $1 exc tax | Points earned per £1 exc tax | Rewards as % of pre-tax spending |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marriott | 0.5 | 17.5 | 23.1 | 11.6% |
| IHG | 0.4 | 20 | 26.4 | 10.6% |
| Hyatt | 1.2 | 6.5 | 8.6 | 10.3% |
| Accor | 1.7 | 4.5 | 5.9 | 10.0% |
| Hilton | 0.33 | 20 | 26.4 | 8.7% |
| Radisson | 0.15 | 36 | 47.4 | 7.1% |
Conclusion
What does this chart tell us?
In some ways, it tells you which programmes have chosen to over-reward their elite members vs their base level members. Radisson Rewards members will see a huge points jump if they can get elite status, whilst a Hyatt member doesn’t see much difference at all.
The first chart – for those with no elite status – is most relevant because points are all that matter. That said, Hilton does better than the table implies because it is almost always running a bonus points promotion on top.
You should not assume that a low level of earning means you should book via an OTA (‘online travel agent’, eg Expedia) instead and earn in their reward scheme. You would also be giving up ‘Member Rates’ which can save you 5% to 10% on average versus Hotels.com etc.
The second chart, by only looking at points earned, ignores the wide difference in elite benefits. Most Globalist members at World of Hyatt would happily earn zero points from their stays, as long as the excellent elite benefits – including an upgrade to the best available room at check-in including standard suites, free full breakfast, free parking and guaranteed 4pm check-out – remained intact.
That said, Marriott Bonvoy performs surprisingly well on both counts if you are top tier. You get a lot of points back AND you get a guaranteed 4pm check-out (Platinum and above), free breakfast at most brands and (not guaranteed) upgrades.
Comments (0)