Best Hotel Loyalty Programs for Free Luxury Stays: Ultimate Guide [2025]

Which Hotel Loyalty Programs Provide the Easiest Way to Earn Free Night Rewards?

Brief overview of hotel loyalty programs and their value

Have you ever thought about how some people on social media are able to stay at incredible properties?  Sure, some of the large following probably have their own methods, but we can tell you that a majority of these people are probably taking advantage of a hotel’s rewards program to stay at these luxurious properties for a minimal cost.  Certain hotel loyalty programs offer some of the best value with the use of their rewards system and the ease to earn points very quickly!

Why luxury stays through points can offer tremendous value

Having a large sum of points from a hotel loyalty program can make it very easy to stay a decent amount of nights at some of the fanciest properties.  Typically, the more expensive the property is, the more value you will get out of your points.  Additionally you can take advantage of certain perks to get even more value out of redeeming rewards nights with the loyalty program!  Stays that would have cost us thousands of dollars have only cost us a few hundred at most!  This is the power of utilizing your points properly!

What you will learn from this guide

We want to share some of the best hotel loyalty programs that we personally use due to the ease for the average person, and also share some of the programs that we find to be more challenging to use due to the valuation and difficulty to earn points quickly.  We will also share scenarios of where we put our redemptions depending on the type of trip we are taking!

How Hotel Loyalty Programs Work

Basic mechanics of earning rewards nights and points

There are a few basic ways of being able to earn rewards nights and points to redeem free night stays with hotel loyalty programs.  To earn a free stay somewhere will involve either a point redemption or a free night certificate redemption.  Different programs will have different point redemption amounts as well as certain qualifications and limitations on how to use a free night certificate.  We will break down a few of these major programs so that you have a better idea of the rewards structure of the hotel program!

Elite status tiers and their benefits

Status with these programs also provides a great value on your experience of your stay.  Having a higher status will provide you with extra perks that will really put a finishing touch on your experience.  We will also briefly touch on hotel status and how you can earn it easily!

Point valuation basics

We will go over 5 popular hotel reward programs that are frequently used to redeem free night stays.  Each of these different programs will have their own point currency and valuations.  Here is a chart of the estimated cent-per-point value of each of these programs as of 2025:

Transfer partners and point flexibility

Many popular travel credit cards will have the option to transfer their points to these hotel loyalty programs, making it super easy to accumulate a bunch of points for free night stays! They will have their own transfer ratios between their points to hotel points.  Here is a chart of the point transfer amounts between credit card rewards to hotel rewards using the Bilt Rewards program as an example:

Top Hotel Loyalty Programs for Luxury Redemptions

Marriott Bonvoy

Marriott Bonvoy had some wonderful properties including the Ritz Carlton, St. Regis, W, and JW Marriott.  For mid-tier stays, they also have brands like the Westin, (other examples).  In our opinion, Marriott redemptions can be a bit expensive as far as the point valuation, making it not really worth it to us to use points.

The absolutely best way to earn Marriott Bonvoy points and free rewards nights is to earn a sign-on bonus on one of their credit cards.  Here are a couple of their co-branded credit cards that we would recommend looking into:

• American Express Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant
• Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless

An additional method to earning Marriott points is to transfer points from your travel credit cards, using Chase, American Express, or Bilt points.  Try to go for transfer bonus offers if you decide to transfer your points to Marriott Bonvoy.  However, even with transfer bonuses, we feel that there are better programs out there to transfer your points for a much better redemption with other hotel loyalty programs!

Hilton Honors

Hilton Honors is one of our favorite hotel programs!  Their properties are amazing, footprint is large, and their point redemptions are pretty solid for the value that you get.  The top tier luxury brands include Conrad, Waldorf Astoria, and LXR.  On the lower tier list, you have Garden Inn, Homewood Suites, and Hampton Inn.

As far as cent-per-point value.  Hilton has the lowest at of all of the hotel programs that we are reviewing at only 0.5 – 0.6.  That being said, Hilton points are extremely easy to redeem due to the high transfer rates and spending multipliers on the Hilton Honors credit cards!

We recommend a couple ways to earn Hilton points very fast to redeem an amazing stay!  One of the ways is by taking advantage of the Hilton Honors credit card sign-up bonuses issued by American Express.  There are 3 co-branded Hilton Honors credit cards:

• American Express Hilton Honors
• American Express Hilton Honors Surpass Card
• American Express Hilton Honors Aspire Card

It is possible to be able to earn sign-on bonuses for all 3 of the cards if you do it properly.  That being said, keep in mind to review the terms and conditions of American Express.

Another way to earn a lot of Hilton points is actually to buy points at points.com!  Hilton Honors is one of the only hotel programs where buying points to cover a stay may actually make more sense than buying the room rate with cash!  These are three reasons why to buy Hilton points:

• If you buy more than 5,000 points, Hilton will provide an 100% bonus offer, giving you double the amount of points that you purchased!
• Top tier Hilton properties will only need at most 150,000 points per night for a standard room!
• Transferring points between two Hilton Honors accounts is completely free!
• If you take advantage of Hilton’s “fifth night free”, you will get another free night when booking four nights with points!

Using this purchasing points method, we have been able to stay at some of Hilton’s most luxurious properties at a heavily discounted rate including:

• Conrad Punta de Mita
• Conrad Maldives Rangali Island
• Grand Wailea, A Waldorf Astoria Resort (Maui, HI)

Additionally, Hilton’s free night certificates are special because there is no cap on where you can use the redemption!  Keep in mind the list of exclusions, but this perk makes them especially valuable.  You definitely want to try to redeem a Hilton free night certificate at one of their top tier properties to get the most value! Our favorite method is to stack the “Buy Hilton Points” trick to book 5 nights and use any other free night certificates on top of this reservation to create for an even longer and more valuable stay! We utilized this same method to be able to stay at the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island for 6 nights!

World of Hyatt

World of Hyatt has been one of the most popular hotel programs to redeem points and rewards nights for free stays, and it is for a very good reason!  This is definitely one of our favorite programs and the most frequent program we use to stay in cities and some resorts!  We will share our tactics to be able to stay at some very nice properties for (almost) free!

The absolutely best way to accumulate World of Hyatt points is to obtain them from sign on bonuses of travel credit cards.  Here are some of our favorite travel credit cards that allow you to transfer your points to World of Hyatt at a 1 to 1 ratio:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred
• Chase Sapphire Reserve
• Bilt Rewards Mastercard

Additionally, organic spending and taking advantage of certain multipliers will allow you to earn a lot more points during a calendar year, making for an easy organic way to accumulate World of Hyatt points.  Chase cards that have the x5 multiplier such as the Freedom Flex have a great potential to accumulate a large amount of points throughout the year. Another Chase credit card to earn 1.5 points on all purchases is the Freedom Unlimited. Using a purchase strategy with all of these cards can rack up your points very quickly to be able get some very nice redemptions in the World of Hyatt program!

Hyatt hotels are ranked by Category with a Category 1 being the lowest tier brands like Hyatt Place and Hyatt House, and Category 8 such as Park Hyatt and Alila, being two of the highest tier brands of the World of Hyatt program.  The higher the category, the more points will be required to redeem the free night, but also the more expensive the property is.  Keep in mind of the cent-per-point valuation to make sure that you are getting the best redemption possible! Some of our favorite mid to high tier brands of the program include Hyatt Regency, Grand Hyatt and Andaz! There are also wonderful all inclusive options if you are looking for a relaxing stay without having to worry about additional incidental costs. These brands include (Hyatt Ziva, Secrets, Dreams, and Zoetry).

One of the other great things about redeeming free night rewards with the World of Hyatt is because they have a “no blackout dates” policy when it comes to redeeming free nights.  This means that the hotel will not accept rewards nights on certain days, but World of Hyatt does not have this with their rewards program.  The only reason for a free night to be unavailable on a specific date is because the hotel does not have anymore standard rooms available.

Without a doubt, Hyatt has been one of our favorite hotel programs due to the ease of earning points, solid redemption value, and great properties!  They may not have the biggest footprint compared to Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors, but you definitely cannot dismiss the World of Hyatt!

IHG One Rewards

IHG One Rewards is another interesting hotel program.  You may recognize them for their Holiday Inn brand.  However, they also have some incredible properties under their luxury brands such as Six Senses, Regent, and InterContinental.  We have stayed at quite a few IHG properties and they have all been wonderful!

IHG points have an approximate points value of 0.6 – 0.7 cent per point, making their points not the most valuable compared to World of Hyatt.  However, we have been able to redeem their points through their IHG One Rewards credit card sign on bonus to stay at some wonderful properties.  We personally love the Kimpton brand when we are taking our dog along for a family vacation because they are extremely pet friendly.

When redeeming IHG points, you will be able to get a fourth night free when redeeming only three nights at a property using points as a holder of one of the IHG One Rewards credit cards.  This is a benefit you do not want to miss out on as you can squeeze in a free night if you can use this strategically. We have also been able to stay at the Venetian in Las Vegas (at the time of the partnership with IHG which has been discontinued), which was a very cool themed hotel, for four total nights utilizing the fourth night free feature!

Accor Live Limitless

Accor Live Limitless (ALL) is a hotel program that I don’t see many traveler content creators talking about too much.  They have some interesting properties like Raffles and Fairmont.  We have personally stayed at a Novotel in the Denpasar International Airport in Bali, Indonesia.

ALL is one of the only hotel loyalty programs on this list that does not actually have a co-branded (U.S. issued) credit card.  The only way to be able to earn points to redeem for reward night stays by purchasing hotel reservations and experiences.  You do also have the option to transfer points from credit card programs like Capital One (2 to 1) and Bilt Rewards (3 to 2 transfer).

ALL points have an estimated cent-per-point value of 2 cents.  This makes the points value one of the most valuable (similar to World of Hyatt).  Unfortunately, due to the transfer ratios when transferring from credit card programs, we wouldn’t recommend using points to redeem free night stays with the ALL program as World of Hyatt provides a much better value when transferring from credit card programs.

Credit Cards That Supercharge Your Hotel Points

Now that you have an idea of the five major hotel programs, we would like to share our recommendations of how we have been able to earn so many points and redeem several rewards nights to earn free stays!

Co-branded hotel credit cards with valuable benefits

Holding a hotel credit card can have some valuable perks that you definitely don’t want to miss when staying at a property. Benefits include:

• Earning status with the hotel loyalty program.
• Earning a free night certificate with each renewal period.
• Earning the maximum point multiplier when using the card at its properties.

We personally have the following hotel credit cards, and we believe these two are, not only the most beginner friendly, but also provide the most value for recreational travelers! These are specifically cards from the World of Hyatt and Hilton Honors programs:

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

150,000 points after spending $6,000 in the first 6 months from account opening.

Transferable points cards that partner with hotel programs

Several credit card rewards programs can be used to transfer its points to hotel loyalty partners to maximize the amount of hotel points for free night redemptions! Here are some of the top credit cards that we personally use and highly recommend:

Chase Sapphire Preferred

LIMITED TIME OFFER: You earn 100,000 points after spending $5,000 in 3 months!

The Bilt Mastercard

There is no sign-on bonus from this credit card, but the value from being able to earn points from rent payments without a credit card transaction fee makes this card a gem!

American Express Gold Card

You can earn 60,000 (to 90,000) points after spending $6,000 within 6 months!

We will utilize the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Bilt Rewards Mastercard to transfer their points to World of Hyatt points to redeem additional rewards nights! The American Express Gold Card can be used to transfer its MR points into Hilton Points at a 1 to 2 ratio (sometimes there will be promotions, allowing you to accumulate even more Hilton Points).

Welcome bonus strategies

Earning the welcome bonus on the Chase Sapphire Preferred will give you a hefty bonus of 100,000 points (as of April 2025).  Additionally, if you travel with a partner and they also sign up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred (using your own referral link), you will have a potential for a total at least 210,000 points (100,000 points x 2 plus 10,000 points through the referral bonus)!

The American Express Hilton Honors credit cards will you to earn a bonus on all three of their cards if you apply for the lowest tier card first (Hilton Honors) and earn the bonus, then apply for the mid tier card second (Hilton Surpass) and earn its bonus, and finally the highest tier card last (Hilton Aspire) and earn the final bonus!  After earning all of the bonuses, you will potentially have:

• 70,000 points plus 1 free night certificate (with the Hilton Honors Card)
• 130,000 points plus 1 free night certificate (with the Hilton Honors Surpass Card)
• 175,000 points (with the Hilton Aspire Card)

This brings you to a total of 375,000 Hilton Honors points and a total of 3 free night certificates (2 from hitting sign-up bonuses and 1 additional from the Hilton Aspire benefit)!

If you were able to have a travel partner do the exact same method, using referrals, you would earn an additional 15,000 Hilton Honors points from referral bonuses!  In this case, you would want to obtain the lowest tier card (Hilton Honors) first and earn its bonus, have your partner also sign up for the Hilton Honors card and use your referral, then you can complete your original sequence of applying for the Hilton Honors card (Surpass and Aspire) using your travel partner’s Hilton Honors card referral.  Then finally, use your referral to have your travel partner complete the exact same sequence, continuing with the Surpass card and then finally the Aspire card.  If you do this correctly there is a potential to be able to earn:

• 750,000 Hilton Honors points and 4 free night certificates
• Up to an additional 75,000 Hilton Honors points if you do the referral method correctly
• An additional 2 free night certificates from the Hilton Honors Aspire benefit

That is a total of 825,000 Hilton Honors points and 6 free night certificates that you can splurge on some of the highest top tier properties in the Hilton Honors program!  This is the power of credit card rewards if you can do it properly.

Annual free night certificates

We already touched on how you are able to earn free night certificates in the Hilton Honors program.  If you hold the Hilton Honors Aspire you will get a free night certificate during the year of signing up for the card that can be used at any property (minus exclusions).  The Hilton Honors Surpass will also give you a free night certificate, but you will have to meet its minimum spending requirement to earn this free night certificate ($15,000 on eligible purchases in a calendar year).

The World of Hyatt credit card will earn you a free night certificate (up to a Category 4) after each year of holding the card.  Keep in mind that this means you will not get a free night certificate from the first year of signing up for the card like that of the Hilton Honors Aspire Card. You can also earn an additional free night certificate with Hyatt if you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases in a calendar year.

Conclusion

To summarize, we touched on each of five major hotel programs (Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, World of Hyatt, IHG One Rewards, and Accor Live Limitless).  We shared our experiences staying at properties from each of these hotel loyalty programs!

For the most beginner friendly and easiest way to accumulate value in hotel reward certificates and hotel points, we cannot recommend World of Hyatt and Hilton Honors enough!  We have probably had the most reward night stays from these two loyalty programs.

We do want to encourage you to be open to the other hotel loyalty programs and see which one may best fit your needs!  All of these hotel programs still have wonderful properties, and we would still like to experiment with the other loyalty programs to be able to share our own experiences!