Buying hotel points

  Hotel Strategies

You don’t need to limit yourself to just the hotel programs where you already have lots of hotel points. Every program will sell you the points you need to make an award reservation.

If you can find a good award redemption opportunity, you can purchase the points you need, and save some money on your hotel reservation. It is particularly easy to acquire last-minute IHG and Choice points at good values.

By buying points, you aren’t getting a “free” hotel night, but you can often get the room for less money than paying the normal rate for the hotel. The number of points required, multiplied by the price per point, can be cheaper than the best possible alternative price you can find for the room. When you book a room in this way, you don’t have to be for taxes and fees, can change or cancel your reservation up till close to your check-in date, and can sometimes even avoid resort fees.

Jump to

• Programs where you are likely to get a good deal via point purchases
• Signing up for credit cards
• Topping off your account
• Acquiring last-minute points

Programs where you are likely to get a good deal via point purchases

While you can acquire last minute points with almost every hotel program, you can’t always do so cheaply. With a few programs, you can acquire last minute points at competitive rates.

• IHG and Choice let you acquire inexpensive points through the “Cash & Points” trick—you can take advantage of good value redemptions, even if you are starting out without any points. Points purchased the normal way from IHG and Choice aren’t particularly inexpensive, but there is a way to acquire them at lower rates. The trick is to make a cash and points reservation, and then to cancel it. When you do so, instead of giving your cash and points back, the hotel program refunds the amount of points required for a normal award reservation. This essentially allows you to purchase the difference in points, at a low cost per point.

For example, it costs $125 plus 30,000 points to make a cash and points reservation at an IHG hotel that normally costs 50,000 points. If you cancel the reservation, instead of getting back the $125 and 30,000 points you spent, you’ll get back 50,000 points. IHG keeps your $125, and gives you back an extra 20,000 points. The cost of these points works out to .625 cents per point. Get Cheap IHG and Choice Points Using the Cash & Points Trick.

• With the Choice points you can purchase, you can make reservations at high-end hotels that are part of the Preferred Hotel and Resorts program. The Choice program isn’t only about Comfort and Quality Inns. You can use Choice points to book a room at most of the high-end independent hotels that are part of the Preferred Hotel and Resorts program. Book Independent Luxury Hotels with Choice Points.

• If you collect Universal Rewards points, transferring to Hyatt is often a good use of your points. Unless you value business and first class international award tickets at close to their “sticker prices”, Hyatt hotel rewards are one of the best uses of your Universal Rewards points.

Signing up for a credit card when you have more time

Of course, if you are planning a trip far enough ahead of time, you can often acquire the additional hotel points you need, by signing up for a new credit card (and meeting the initial spending requirement). Credit Cards 101.

However, it takes time to receive your card, meet the spending requirement, and receive your signup bonus. If you are under some time pressure, you can sometimes request that the credit card company overnight your new card. And for many cards, once you have made the initial spend, you can pay off your balance early, and shorten the time until you receive your bonus.

Topping off your account when you need to make an award

You may already have a bunch of hotel points that you acquired from stays, or that are left over from a credit card bonus, but not enough points to take advantage of a good award redemption opportunity. In this case, it can make sense to purchase the extra points that you need, even at prices that are too high to purchase all the points normally required.

For example, let’s say you are looking to book a $250 room at a Category 6 Marriott. It takes 17,500 points plus $75 to get the room through a cash and points award. The normal purchase price of 1.25 cents per point is normally too expensive to make sense. It would cost $294 ($219 + $75) to make the cash and points reservation, and $375 to make a full normal award reservation. However, let say you already have 16,000 points in your account. You could purchase the last 1,500 points that you need for only $20. This allows you to book the $250 room for your 16,000 points plus $95, giving you almost 1 cent of value for each point.

Guide to acquiring last-minute points

There are three ways to acquire additional hotel points when you need them. You can purchase them from the hotel program, you can transfer points from a credit card account, or you can transfer points from someone else’s account.

• Most programs limit the amount of points that you can purchase per year. This limit doesn’t include any points you “purchase” using a cash and points reservation. If you need to exceed this limit, you can have someone else purchase the points, and “gift” them to use. Usually the maximum amount that can be received through gifts is the same as the maximum amount you can purchase yourself—essentially doubling the amount of points you can acquire.

Program	Purchase Points	Max Purchase	Transfer Between Accounts
Best Western	1	Unlimited	At same address
Choice	1.1	250,000	No
Hilton	1	80,000	With up to ten other people
Hyatt	2.4	55,000	To anyone
IHG	1.15	Unlimited	To anyone at .5 cents per point
La Quinta	1.1	40,000	No
Marriott	1.17	140,000	To anyone, with $10 fee
Radisson	0.7	40,000	At same address
	3.5	30,000	At same address
Wyndham	1.3	10,000	No

In reference to the table above: Marriott normally sells points at 1.25 cents each. However, SPG sells points at 3.5 cents each, and each SPG point can be converted into 3 Marriott points. By purchasing and converting Starwood points, you can purchase Marriott points for 1.17 cents. A new unified Marriott / SPG program is launching in August 2018, and the point purchase terms haven't been announced. We expect that you'll be able to purchase points, but we don't know the exact price or annual caps yet.

• Using the “Cash & Points” trick, you can purchase IHG points for .625 cents (rather than 1.15 cents) and Choice points for .75 cents (rather than 1.1 cents).
• If you use an IHG credit card to purchase IHG points, you'll get a 20% discount. Unfortunately, this doesn't work for the points you purchase via the Cash & Points trick. Unless IHG is running a points purchase promotion, it is still cheaper to use the Cash & Points trick, than to buy points the normal way, even with the 20% discount.
• Other than transferring Ultimate Reward points to Hyatt, transferring credit card points is usually the last resort. It is "cheaper" to buy the hotel points, rather than using your valuable credit card points.

Program	Ultimate Rewards	Membership Rewards	ThankYou Points	Diners Club
Best Western	–	–	–	1250:3300
Choice	–	–	–	1250:2400
Hilton	–	1000:1000	1000:1500	1250:2000
Hyatt	1000:1000	–	–	1250:750
IHG	1000:1000	–	–	1250:1500
La Quinta	–	–	–	–
Marriott	1000:1000	1000:1500	–	1250:2250
Radisson	–	–	–	–
	–	1000:500	–	1250:750
Wyndham	–	1000:500	–	1250:750

Hotels 101: Get the Best Deal on Your Hotel Room

Acquiring More Hotel Points When They are On Sale

Get Cheap IHG and Choice Points Using the Cash & Points Trick

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