Maximizing Hotel Points: A Beginner’s Guide to Free Stays and Upgrades

How to start maximizing hotel points and rewards for free stays and upgrades?

The value of hotel loyalty programs for travelers

Have you ever dreamed of being able to stay in a luxurious overwater bungalow in the Maldives?  Maybe it’s a five-star hotel in the heart of New York City, or maybe you love nature and want to stay in a luxurious resort at the Big Sur in California.  Wherever you want to go, there are different strategies that can allow us to earn free nights, extra perks like early check-in and late check-out, and even complimentary room upgrades!  This all comes from the power of hotel credit cards, and we want to share all of the benefits that come with having one and how to maximize the value of the points and benefits!

You may think that you need to have many stays over a year to be able to make these hotel loyalty programs worth it.  This is simply not the case, and even if you only travel once a year, we want to show you how to implement these rewards, so that even an occasional traveler can benefit greatly.

This guide will be a basic breakdown of some of the different hotel loyalty programs, including some of our favorites that we love using every year during our travel adventures.  We will go through some of the differences in the hotel loyalty programs, but for the most part, many of them provide similar benefits for whichever program you use.  We will also touch briefly on which credit cards from each program provide the most value.

Understanding Hotel Loyalty Programs

How hotel points work

Hotel points come in different currencies and have a different value from each other, and it can be a bit confusing when you are first getting into rewards, but we will explain each of some of the major hotel programs and break each their point systems down for a simple understanding.

Major hotel loyalty programs compared (Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, IHG One Rewards, and World of Hyatt)

When talking about hotel loyalty programs, we would say the four main programs that are most familiar to everyone and the ones we frequently use include Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, World of Hyatt, and IHG One Rewards.  Of course, there are many other programs out there, but we will focus on these main four as they each have their own credit card that comes with unique benefits.

Point values and how they differ between programs

Even though all of these programs use the “points” currency, as universally every program does, a point from one of these programs has a different value than another point from another hotel program.  Just like the U.S. Dollar will have a different value than the British Pound.  It may take more points from one program to book a similar value of another.  We will list out each of the same loyalty programs above with each of their estimated average cent-per-point value:

Based on this list (keep in mind that these are general estimates) we can see that Hilton Honors points are worth the least, meaning that it will require more Hilton points to book a particular room type.  On the flip side, World of Hyatt points will have the most value out of the four hotel loyalty programs, meaning it will require a lower amount of points to book a similar room type of another program.  This can be especially useful if you want to transfer points from a “catch-all” travel credit card to one of these hotel programs.  Here are the two examples at similar tier resorts with their point redemption requirements:

These are two alike properties in very similar locations in Chicago, IL, one a Hilton hotel and one a Hyatt Hotel. As you can see, the cash rates are close with each other, but the points rate for each is significantly different (70,000 points versus only 15,000 points).

Elite status tiers and their benefits

Lastly, a lot of value that we find most people utilizing the least is having status with these large hotel programs.  Similarly to having status at some popular fast food restaurants by going to eat there, hotels also have a program that gives you status, and each tier will come with a list of value benefits with higher status including greater valued perks. 

Higher status can mean the difference between staying in the standard room that you booked or getting a complimentary suite upgrade with chocolate covered strawberries and champagne upon arrival to the room.  We don’t want to mislead you, thinking that you will be able to get a suite upgrade 100% of the time because that is simply not the case.  However, a majority of the time, at the very least, we have usually been able to get a preferred room upgrade (such as a nicer view room type), complimentary treats in the room, and early and/or late checkout options.

Earning status with these hotel programs can seem impossible with the required amount of nights booked with a particular hotel program.  However, there is a much easier way to obtain these statuses, and we will share them later in this article.  As we said with the point values, each hotel program will have its own status tiers with the included perks within a tier.  The four programs are similar, but have some minor differences.  We have each of the programs linked below with each of their requirements:

• Marriott Bonvoy:
  • Member: Create a Marriott Bonvoy account.
  • Silver Elite: 10 nights within a calendar year.
  • Gold Elite: 25 nights within a calendar year.
  • Platinum Elite: 50 nights within a calendar year.
  • Titanium Elite: 75 nights within a calendar year.
  • Ambassador Elite: 100+ nights AND at least $23,000 USD in qualifying spending in the same calendar year.
• Hilton Honors:
  • Member: Create a Hilton Honors account.
  • Silver: 10 nights, 4 stays, or 25,000 base points within a calendar year.
  • Gold: 40 nights, 20 stays, or 75,000 base points within a calendar year.
  • Diamond: 60 nights, 30 stays, or 120,000 base points within a calendar year.
  • (Lifetime Diamond): Earn Hilton Diamond status for 10 (non-consecutive) years and complete one of the following additional milestones:
    • Complete stays totaling 1,000 paid and reward nights.
    • Earn 2 million base points.
• IHG One Rewards:
  • Club Member: Create an IHG One Rewards account.
  • Silver Elite: 10 nights within a calendar year.
  • Gold Elite: 20 nights or 40,000 qualified points within a calendar year.
  • Platinum Elite: 40 nights or 60,000 qualified points within a calendar year.
  • Diamond Elite: 70 nights or 120,000 qualified points within a calendar year.
• World of Hyatt:
  • Member: Create a World of Hyatt account.
  • Discoverist: 10 nights or 25,000 base points within a calendar year.
  • Explorist: 30 nights or 50,000 base points within a calendar year.
  • Globalist: 60 nights or 100,000 base points within a calendar year.
  • (Lifetime Globalist): 1,000,000 lifetime base points.

Getting Started: Setting Up Your Accounts

How to sign up for hotel loyalty programs?

You will earn a number of perks with the lowest tier status just by signing up for a hotel’s rewards program.  Signing up for these loyalty programs are free, and it is very simple and straightforward to do.  We will give you a basic step-by-step overview of where to begin using Hilton as an example:

• Step 1: Visit the hotel program’s main website.
  • Marriott Bonvoy: https://www.marriott.com/
  • Hilton Honors: https://www.hilton.com/
  • World of Hyatt: https://www.hyatt.com/
  • IHG One Rewards: https://www.ihg.com/

• Step 2: Click “join”:

• Step 3: Fill out your personal information, and create a username & password on the next page:

• Step 4: Click “Join For Free” at the bottom of the page:

And just like that you have your free account and are part of the hotel program!

Downloading hotel apps and managing your profiles

Each of the hotel programs also have their own app, which makes viewing your account from your mobile phone extremely convenient to do.  There are also features like a digital key card and digital check-in & check-out with the apps.  We highly recommend downloading them, as you can easily manage your profile, check your reservations & upcoming stays, and even make a last minute booking from your phone.  Here is an example of the World of Hyatt page on the app:

Setting communication preferences

You will also have the option to set up preferences to receive notifications through your primary email as well as texts from your phone.  This is useful, especially if you need to contact the hotel prior to your stay.  You will also usually receive notifications about check-in & check-out times and what to expect upon your arrival as your reservation approaches.

Selecting a primary program based on your travel patterns

Sometimes the hardest part for beginners is choosing the right hotel program for you.  We will go into a brief overview of the pros and cons of each hotel program based on what they have to offer, and how easy (or difficult) it can be to find a good value for your points and rewards nights.  

Personally, we love using the World of Hyatt program because their point value redemptions are some of the best in the game.  We also like to stay at Hilton properties because of the ease of earning points and for some of the valuable perks of its Diamond status.  On the flip side, we rarely stay in Marriott Bonvoy properties due to the difficulty of finding the most value for our points, but that is not to say that Marriott Bonvoy isn’t a good program!  

The best thing to do is to just research and try each of the different programs to see which one may suit your needs best based on your travel habits and desired experiences.  Sometimes just preferring a particular theme of a brand of one of the programs is enough to decide a hotel program over the other.

Earning Your First Points

Booking direct vs. through third-party sites?

A big question can be if it’s better to book directly through the hotel’s site or to use third-party sites like booking.com, expedia.com, or hotels.com.  Our recommendation is to always try to book directly through the hotel’s site, as sometimes booking through third party sites will not honor your program’s status, and you will miss out on the value perks of having status with that hotel program.  We have also found that a lot of the rates offered from third-party sites don’t always have much cheaper rates than what you may find booking directly through the hotel.  They are usually pretty similar.

Another issue to consider with booking through a third-party site is that if there is an issue that arises with your stay, whether its billing error at check-out or trying to make a last minute change with your reservation, it can be hard to determine who to reach out to (do I reach out to the hotel program or the third-party?).

We would say the only time it can be worth it to book through a third-party site would be if you were to purchase a package (with flight included), as we have actually gotten great deals using this method.  Of course, this gives your travel itinerary a bit less flexibility, so you just have to take into consideration your travel plans and see what makes sense.

Signing up for promotional offers and bonuses

The major way of how we have been able to book our stays for free almost all of the time is by taking advantage of the hotel programs credit card perks.  These perks include everything from a free night certificate every year, having automatic status with the program, and accumulating points to be able to redeem more free rewards nights!

Taking advantage of welcome bonuses

Taking advantage of welcome bonuses is the gold standard to be able to accumulate a large amount of hotel points in the quickest way possible.  Additionally, if you have a partner that you travel with, referral bonuses can be another great way to accumulate even more points as well as earning another welcome bonus from a second hotel credit card.  You can also stack the two free reward night certificates to create a two-night stay for free!

Earning points through hotel stays (base points vs. bonus points)

When it comes to booking a free night with points, you always want to try your best to get points through sign-up bonuses and referral bonuses versus booking with the hotel or spending your way to get a sufficient amount of points.  After all, we are trying to stay at one of these luxurious properties for as little as we can spend.

Hotel Credit Cards: The Fast Track to Points

Overview of co-branded hotel credit cards

Most of the hotel rewards programs will have their own co-branded credit card, and all of the four different programs that we discussed have a variety of their own credit cards.  We want to share a little bit of the most beneficial credit cards of the programs and show you what we have personally.

Welcome bonus opportunities

When looking for welcome bonus opportunities, you will want to try to find the highest promotion that you can find as this will be the only opportunity (at least for a while) for you to earn this sign-on bonus.  For this reason, it can sometimes be best to wait for a great promotion.  However, if you have plans to vacation somewhere, you do not have to be worried about finding the best promotion out there as most of the offers today as of March 2025 are decent.  Here are a list of credit cards from each hotel program we can recommend to you as well as their current sign-up bonus offers:

World of Hyatt Credit Card

30,000 points after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months from account opening, and earn an additional 2 points per $1 spent on purchases that normally earn 1 point on up to $15,000 spend during the first 6 months of account opening (additional 30,000 points).

Hilton Honors Aspire Credit Card

LIMITED TIME OFFER: 175,000 points after spending $6,000 in the first 6 months from account opening (offer ends on 4/29/2025).

IHG One Rewards Credit Card

4 Free Rewards Nights (up to a 40,000 point redemption per night) after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months from account opening.

Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card

Earn 3 Free Night Awards (up to a 50,000 point redemption per night) after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months of account opening, and an additional 50,000 points after spending $6,000 in the first 6 months of account opening.

Annual free night certificates

With holding these credit cards, the hotel program will offer you a free annual night certificate that will be earned on your credit card renewal date.  The Hilton Honors Aspire will offer you the annual free night during the year that you opened the card. Despite it being “free”, you also have to take into consideration the annual fee that you will be paying to hold the credit card.  Even though the process to get a free rewards night may not be 100% free, holding one of these cards will provide you a tremendous value with booking a property for a much cheaper price as well as holding value status with the hotel program.  With the exception of the Hilton Honors Aspire, you also have to be aware that the free night certificates that are offered for the other programs will have a cap to what type of properties you can book. Here are examples below:

• World of Hyatt Credit Card has an annual free night with a cap of a Category 4 hotel (with Category 1 being the lowest value and a Category 8 being the highest value).
• IHG One Rewards Credit Card has an annual free night with a cap of 40,000 points (you have the option to top off additional points that you have earned to redeem a free night that exceeds the 40,000 point cap). Keep in mind that this is only eligible for anniversary free nights and not with rewards nights earned as part of a sign-on bonus.
• Marriott Bonvoy Boundless has an annual free night with a cap of 35,000 points (you have the option to top off additional points that you have earned, up to 15,000 points, to redeem a free night up to a total of a 50,000 point redemption).
• Hilton Honors Aspire has an annual free night without a cap as mentioned above. However, keep in mind that there is a list of excluded properties where you cannot use this free night certificate.

Automatic elite status

As a credit card holder of the respective hotel program, you will be automatically gifted status from that program.  The Hilton Aspire card is especially useful because it grants the holder the highest possible status with the Hilton program, leading to some sweet upgrades and hotel service.  Even though the other programs don’t give you the highest status by holding their co-branded credit card, you will still be able to reap some valuable benefits for at least having a mid-tier status versus having no status at all.  We can tell you from our experience that having hotel status can be one of the things that can make your stay very special, and we have gotten some great experiences during our stays!

Using credit cards for everyday spend for points

The co-branded hotel credit cards will all have special categories that may earn you a higher number of points when you use the card during your everyday spending.  Of course, the highest number of points will be accumulated if you use the card to book nights or purchase incidentals at their respective properties.  Aside from using the card at their own property, we actually wouldn’t recommend using the credit card for everyday spending (unless you have a special promotion), as there are actually much better ways to obtain hotel points, which can be explained in another blog.

Maximizing Point Value: Strategic Redemptions

Understanding peak vs. off-peak pricing

Another important part to using hotel points and rewards nights is to understand how the programs use dynamic pricing to assign a points value to each of their properties.  During a peak season, the hotel will usually increase the amount of points it will cost to book a room type versus when not.  Likewise, you may find a cheaper point redemption of the same property when you book a room type during off-peak season.  Here is the World of Hyatt’s dynamic pricing chart to get a better idea of how dynamic pricing works!

One of our favorite benefits with the World of Hyatt is their Brand Explorer!  With this benefit, you will earn a free night certificate with Hyatt (good for a category 1-4) after you stay at five of their different brands.  It makes for very interesting stays with Hyatt as we get to experience what each of their brands have to offer, and we can scope out our favorites!

The “fifth night free” or “fourth night free” benefit

There is incredible value with most of the hotel programs when redeeming several nights with just points.  When you have a surplus of hotel points, you’ll definitely want to take advantage of this benefit.  Both Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors have a “fifth night free” benefit if you are able to book four nights all on points.  Similarly, IHG One Rewards has a “fourth night free” benefit, meaning that if you book just three nights with points, your fourth night will be complimentary.  We have used this benefit several times and have gotten great value from our points by using this strategy.  There is also an option to purchase points from a hotel program using points.com if you are a little bit short of a redemption to reach the free night.  This is something we highly recommend if you are just a little short of earning that additional free night!

It is worth mentioning that Marriott only requires you to be a member to use this benefit.  However, Hilton will require you to have at least Silver Status (which can be obtained with their no annual fee credit card) to utilize the benefit, and IHG will require you to be a cardholder of one of their cards to be able to utilize the “fourth night free” benefit.

Points + cash options

Say you don’t quite have enough points to book a property completely for free, all of the hotel programs will have an option to be able to mix points and use cash to purchase the rest of the room rate.  We may suggest to consider this option only if purchasing points from points.com would be more expensive than just to pay the difference of the rewards night rate if you have a shortage of points.  More times than not, paying the difference will usually be the cheaper option, unless you are utilizing the “fifth night free” or “fourth night free” strategy.

Suite upgrades using points

Another option for using your points would be to use a surplus of them to upgrade your room to a suite.  This is an option that we personally don’t use, as we don’t always need to be in a suite to be able to enjoy our accommodation somewhere.  Also, if you are lucky, having status (especially a higher status) with the program can sometimes land you a free suite upgrade without having to use your precious points to upgrade.  However, if you want to guarantee a suite, this may be a good option for you if you want to use cash to pay for a standard room rate.  Otherwise, we believe that using points to book a free suite stay would probably be a better option, if you have the points to do so.

Avoiding low-value redemptions

When it comes to using your hotel points, you will want to try to aim for the highest redemption possible.  We can calculate the value of your points by figuring out how many cents per point the property is providing you if you were to just book the reservation with cash.  Here is a simple formula to use to figure out how valuable your redemption is:

Cash price of redemption / Number of points required = Cent-per-point

Example: Hotel room costs $300 and requires 15,000 points to redeem:

$300 / 15,000 points = $0.02, which equates to 2 cents per point

A general guideline is that if the value doesn’t fall within the estimated value of the hotel’s point currency or better, we would personally not recommend using points for that property.  If it is a property you really want to stay in, we would recommend using cash if you have the means versus using a low-value redemption with points.  That is not to say that you do have to do what is best for your travel needs, so there is nothing wrong with redeeming your points for a low-value, as long as you are happy with your accommodation.

Building Elite Status

Status match and challenge opportunities

A hack that most people don’t really know about is status matching.  To briefly summarize, status matching is when you have status at a particular program and request another program to match a similar status with that program using your current status.  For example, if I had Hilton Honors Diamond status, I can contact a loyalty program (that participates in status matching) and request to be matched for their similar status (comparable to Diamond status at Hilton).  The four hotel programs that we discussed don’t directly participate in a status match with other programs (aside from Hilton’s 90-day gold status match).  However, you can very well take higher statuses from these programs from their co-branded credit cards to be able to status match with programs outside of these, making their status a very useful benefit!

Hotels will also provide challenge opportunities to earn temporary higher status with their program after an initial status match.  This can be a good opportunity if you have the means and already had plans to book a property with that program.  Remember that higher status usually means an overall better experience with the program.  The most notable challenge opportunity that we can share is Hilton’s Diamond Challenge after a Gold status match.

Fast-track promotions

Fast-track promotions are shortcuts of potentially earning a higher status of a hotel program.  All four programs will have these promotions during certain times.  However, you have to remember that only paid stays will count to earn these promotions.  We don’t necessarily recommend this for average travelers, but it can be useful for business travel to expedite to a higher status with a hotel program.

Credit card shortcuts to status

If you were to obtain one of these credit cards, you can get a shortcut to the highest status of each of the hotel programs.  Here is a list of them to earn the highest possible status with each program:

Hilton Honors Aspire	Automatic Diamond Status
Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant	Automatic Platinum Elite Status
IHG One Rewards	Automatic Platinum Elite Status
World of Hyatt	Automatic Discoverist Status

Actual value of elite benefits

Some of the most valuable perks out of the status benefits that we have been able to personally experience include room upgrades, early check-in, late check-out, and daily food and beverage credits!  More times than not when you are booking at an off-peak time, there is a good chance that you could have your standard room reservation upgraded to a preferred suite just by having status with the hotel loyalty program (sometimes without even contacting the hotel beforehand).

Additionally early check-in makes for a convenient arrival at your hotel after a long day of traveling to get to your destination.  Late check-out is another valuable perk that we have gotten time and time again.  Having that additional time to 2pm (or even 4pm) feels like you get almost another day to spend at your destination before you have to leave.  Getting to be able to shower in your room before leaving your destination from the pool or beach, makes late-checkout probably one of our favorite benefits of having loyalty status with a hotel program.

Lastly, specifically for Hilton’s loyalty status, we love receiving daily food and beverage credits or receiving free breakfast at some resorts just by having loyalty status.  This benefit alone has saved us hundreds of dollars on food during our stay at top tier resorts.  May we add, when traveling alone, be sure to add another guest to your reservation for maximum value if you have status with Hilton and qualify for this daily food and beverage credit, as it is good for up to two guests!  You will get double the amount of daily credits versus if you only have one guest on the booking!

Creating a Simple Points Strategy

Concentrating stays with one program vs. diversifying

Your best bet to getting the most value out of hotel points is to try to concentrate on one specific program at a time.  While there is nothing wrong with diversifying after a while in the credit card game, you will definitely want to take advantage of the initial welcome bonuses first, then move to another and find what program best suits your needs.  Keep in mind that hotel points also do expire if there is inactivity in your account for a certain amount of time, usually 24 months.  You will want to try to use points of whichever hotel program you have first before jumping onto another hotel’s rewards program.

Depending on your travel habits, if you are going to be staying in a lot of hotels anyway, whether it is for business or leisure, sometimes it can be a good idea to be loyal to a brand to earn an even higher status by organically completing the required number of stays. For example, if you want to earn Globalist Status in the World of Hyatt program or Ambassador Status in the Marriott Bonvoy program, you would need to complete the qualifying nights or spend as there is no credit card that can give you the highest status with these particular programs.

Tracking promotions and offers

If you have other types of “catch-all” credit cards such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve, the American Express Gold and/or Platinum Card, and the Bilt Rewards Card, there are occasionally promotional offers for point transfers with different hotel programs that you can sometimes take advantage of as well.  Normally we would not recommend transferring points to hotel partners (aside from World of Hyatt) as they usually have a lower redemption value versus other methods of redemption that we will not get into in this blog post.  Based on what you may want to experience in your own travel adventures, taking advantage of promotional transfer promotions may make sense for you if your goal is to save on your hotel or resort accommodation

Conclusion

Recap of key strategies

To recap, we have discussed the four main hotel loyalty programs with each of their status benefits and strategies to redeem free nights from certificates and points.  We hope the information provided was helpful to anyone new to hotel rewards programs and/or hotel co-branded credit cards.  There is definitely a lot of information to take in from this, but with time and experience, you too can experience hotel luxury at a fraction of the cost of booking a property at the standard rate.

Just from the ease of using their points, we like recommending using the World of Hyatt when you are first starting out, as their points will usually have the most value compared to the other hotel programs, and you really cannot go wrong when redeeming their properties with their points.  Eventually you can try the other hotel programs with a little more advanced strategies with Hilton, IHG, and Marriott such as using the “fifth night free” or “fourth night free” when booking with points or earning free nights with the Brand Explorer benefit with Hyatt each time you stay at five of their different brands.

Start small and build consistently

In our opinion, free hotel redemptions are some of the easiest and most valuable ways to use your credit card points versus transferring them to flight partners.  A great experience at a nice hotel or resort really elevates your travel and having status with one of the loyalty programs can be the cherry on top to having the best time.  We encourage you to try these methods for yourself and start utilizing hotel credit cards to save yourself the expensive rates that come with buying the reservation with cash!