How Much are Hotel Points Worth?

  Hotel Strategies

Different types of reward points have very different values. And this is especially true of hotel points. Some hotel programs, like Hilton, require a large number of points for an award night, making their points worth about .45 cents each. Other hotel programs, like SPG, require many fewer points for an equivalent hotel, making their points worth over 2 cents each. Each Starwood point is typically worth more than four Hilton points.

But, the real truth is that most points don’t have a set value. The value of each type of point is different for different people—depending on how you travel, how you plan to use their points, and how many points you already have.

WE assign a value to each type of point so that we can have a conversation about the relative value of different options. But YOU need to adjust these “base” values to reflect your unique situation and travel goals.

• It is much easier to take advantage of hotel reward programs than frequent flyer programs. In general, if there is a regular room available, you can book it with points. And, because hotel nights are typically cheaper than frequent flyer tickets, you can reward yourself much more frequently.
• Our base values for hotel points are based on what you will often, but not always, be able to get with your points. The value you can get from any given type of hotel point varies widely between different trips. 12,000 Hyatt points might get you a room that is worth $140, or a room that is worth $450. We set our values at the high side of what you can get—but not so high that it will be too hard to find opportunities to use your points.

You won’t be able to get this much value on every hotel reservation, but you will probably be able to find them frequently enough to burn through whatever hotel points you’ll earn. For special events (when prices go sky high), sweet spots (where the hotel category is set too low), and at the most expensive hotels in the chain, you should be able to get much more value per point.

• The value of hotel points varies widely between programs. This is primarily due to the vast differences in the number of points each program requires for a night in a similar quality hotel.

This table shows our base value for each program; along with the number of points it would take for a nice downtown hotel in a big, but not exorbitantly expensive, city; and the number of points for their least and most expensive hotels.

Program	Base Value	Required points per night
		Nice Hotel	least expensive award options	Most Expensive
Best Western	.6	24-36,000	8,000	36,000
Choice	.75	20-30,000	6,000	35,000
Hilton	.45	40-50,000	5,000	95,000
Hyatt	1.7	8-15,000	5,000	30,000
IHG	.5	25-35,000	10,000	60,000
La Quinta	.8	24,000	6,000	24,000
Marriott	.7	25-35,000	7,500	45,000
Radisson	.4	50-70,000	9,000	70,000
	2.1	10-12,000	2,000	35,000
Wyndham	.8	15,000	15,000	15,000 If you want to be able to always use hotel points, rather than paying cash, hotel points are worth less. On some trips, comparable hotel rates will be low. Since the cost of award nights doesn't change (very much), you'll still generally need to use the same number of points as you would if prices were higher, and you'll get less value from your points. Usually, we would recommend saving your points for future stays, where you would get more value. However, if you never want to pay for a hotel room, and you can generate lots of hotel points, compared to how often you travel, you'll want use your points on every trip. Sometimes you'll get great value, sometimes you'll get good value, and sometimes you'll get low value from your points. On average, you points will be worth less than in the table above. If you can frequently stay in lower "category" hotels, your points will be worth more—particularly in certain programs. In general, you'll get more value from points at low category hotels, which are often primarily available in less-expensive foreign countries. If you are going to be using your points in this way, you'll get more value from every type of point. It also changes the relative values of points from different programs. For example, for a night at a typical hotel, Hilton points are worth less than Marriott points. But at the cheapest hotels, they can be worth more. </ul> Award Nights 101: Using Your Hotel Points Get More for Your Points by Using Them at Inexpensive Hotels Get a Discounted Room Rate by Buying the Points for an Award Night TravelStrategies:Hotel point values/Page