Oh their rooms? I’ll be taking those points as well…
The greatest misconception about points is that you need to travel somewhere far and exotic to get in on the game, and that if you don’t travel often enough, the game isn’t worth playing at all. That’s simply wrong. Points and miles are everywhere from the tapas you eat to the extremely boring meetings you sit in for work. The question is: how do you cash in on them and send your hotel points earning game to new levels. Fortunately, we’ve got the “how” cover.
Points And Benefits For Meetings And Mixers
Did you know that throwing a meeting at a hotel can earn you enough nights for basic elite guest status, or help you towards qualifying for super elite statuses? Not only that – you can earn points too. One single meeting at a Marriott gets you 10 nights of elite status credit, enough for instant Silver – and you can earn up to 60,000 points per meeting in the process. Even more if you’re a Platinum elite. A meeting could literally be friends getting coffee and catching up, or something as massive as a travel show. Here’s relevant links for Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, and IHG.
Points For Dining And Drinking Without Staying
Some of the best bars and restaurants in any city are at hotels. If you live there, you may not need to stay – but you may enjoy frequenting them! 2019 will be a fascinating year as hotels launch more lifestyle oriented programs to help loyalty program members earn points, even when they’re not hotel guests. This is a space to watch for major future opportunities. Some hotel dining programs are restricted to certain rejoins, but some don’t even require you to eat at their restaurants. Here’s links for Hilton, Marriott, IHG and Hyatt.
Points For Booking Multiple Rooms
The next time you foot the hotel bill, or at least front it (see what we’re thinking there?) don’t forget that many hotel programs allow you to earn points for multiple rooms, not just yours. Some hotel groups even allow you to earn elite status credit for multiple rooms per night too. In theory, you could earn elite hotel guest status (and points) thrice as fast. IHG doesn’t let you earn elite credit for multiple rooms, but you can earn points for up to 9 rooms. Hilton is stingy with no elite credit and only two rooms of points per night. Marriott is the same, but with up to three rooms of points earning and Hyatt is exactly the same. Make sure your loyalty card is on all the rooms!
Points From Every Day Spending On Credit Cards
It’s the most obvious, but it’s still incredibly overlooked. Hotel credit cards are ultra competitive at the moment as brands wish to capture travelers by taking over their spending lifestyles. Instant elite status, 30x points and all sorts of crazy rocket ship style ways of earning points are up for grabs on everything from a latte to a tragic holiday sweater. Combining hotel loyalty program rewards with the bonus points for spending on said hotels credit card is by far the fastest way to rack up extreme amounts of points. It all counts…
Featured image courtesy of Le Meridien Bora Bora.
