Using airline miles for hotel nights
Jan 27, 2016, 5:55 am
#1
Original Member
Original Poster
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Melbourne Australia
Posts: 1,390
Using airline miles for hotel nights
Hi all
I returned from a round the world trip using 140,000 Qantas points last year. These were accrued by signing up for a number of credit cards. One learning from my trip was that my major expense was accommodation.
I did some research and came across a good strategy for getting cheap hotel nights which involves buying IHG points when they are being sold with a big bonus eg 100% and then redeeming the points under their pointsbreaks promotion. This strategy means that the effective cost of a hotel night stay is under $30 per night. The only difficulty is that the locations available tend to be smaller, lesser visited cities.
Are there any other airlines or hotel programs where you can buy miles/points very cheaply and redeem these miles/points at a discount rate such that one can effectively buy hotel rooms every cheaply, as with IHG? Are there any other way of getting hotel rooms very very cheaply?
Thanks Peterl
I returned from a round the world trip using 140,000 Qantas points last year. These were accrued by signing up for a number of credit cards. One learning from my trip was that my major expense was accommodation.
I did some research and came across a good strategy for getting cheap hotel nights which involves buying IHG points when they are being sold with a big bonus eg 100% and then redeeming the points under their pointsbreaks promotion. This strategy means that the effective cost of a hotel night stay is under $30 per night. The only difficulty is that the locations available tend to be smaller, lesser visited cities.
Are there any other airlines or hotel programs where you can buy miles/points very cheaply and redeem these miles/points at a discount rate such that one can effectively buy hotel rooms every cheaply, as with IHG? Are there any other way of getting hotel rooms very very cheaply?
Thanks Peterl
Jan 27, 2016, 6:40 am
#2
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: AVL
Programs: DL DM MM; Hilton Diamond; Hertz 5*
Posts: 706
Miles for cheap hotel nights
Yes - if you spend some time reading the hotel pages on FT they are full of deals similar to the airline pages. There are also a number of blogs that post frequently about hotel deals. One common strategy is getting credit cards much like you did to get airline miles. IHG has a card as does Hyatt and Hilton has several. Each offers free nights.
Jan 28, 2016, 8:41 am
#3
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,952
Jan 30, 2016, 6:56 am
#4
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: PER
Programs: Airlines - Only in the pointy end on points, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 284
Unfortunately the card options are not as plentiful in Australia.
Macquarie have a Hilton card but it is not that great value.
Citi Prestige will transfer to some hotels as will Amex MR but Airlines seem to be much better value.
I tend to end up trying to BRG most stays instead.
Macquarie have a Hilton card but it is not that great value.
Citi Prestige will transfer to some hotels as will Amex MR but Airlines seem to be much better value.
I tend to end up trying to BRG most stays instead.
Feb 13, 2016, 2:45 am
#5
Join Date: May 2006
Location: BOS and ...
Programs: UA 2MM, AA 600k, DL 500k, Hyatt GP 1M, HH Gold, Rad. Gold, CP Gold, Miracle Fruit-su Club
Posts: 9,950
@ffhound: This annual "event" is coming up...
https://dailygetaways.ustravel.org/ComingSoon.aspx
You might want to sign up to keep your ear to the rail. No cost to get on the mailing list, but it takes a certain disposition to enter the the fray. Unfortunately, the offerings have gotten slimmer and slimmer each year (IMO) and thus can be hit or miss as to having what you're looking for.
There is a thread about it on this board. It will become very active as the starting date approaches.
[I have no connection with them.]
https://dailygetaways.ustravel.org/ComingSoon.aspx
You might want to sign up to keep your ear to the rail. No cost to get on the mailing list, but it takes a certain disposition to enter the the fray. Unfortunately, the offerings have gotten slimmer and slimmer each year (IMO) and thus can be hit or miss as to having what you're looking for.
There is a thread about it on this board. It will become very active as the starting date approaches.
[I have no connection with them.]
