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Beginner’s Guide: Best Hotel Loyalty Programs Part Two

September 2, 2014 by Holly Johnson 3 Comments  Richmond Savers has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Richmond Savers and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. Disclosures.

We recently released the first segment of the Beginner’s Guide: Best Hotel Loyalty Programs Part One. In that post, I shared how lucrative hotel loyalty programs can be and the specific perks offered by the programs that took my top three spots: the Starwood Preferred Guest Program, IHG Rewards, and Hyatt Gold Passport. Today I’ll highlight the hotel loyalty programs that fall next in line, specifically Club Carlson, Hilton HHonors, and Marriott Rewards. Remember, all hotel loyalty programs can be lucrative, but that doesn’t mean they are all created equal!

#4 Club Carlson

Club Carlson’s hotel loyalty program is popular with international travelers for a reason; it offers a wide range of comfy and upscale accommodations all over the globe. From Germany to Paris to Tahiti, it’s possible to find a Club Carlson property that will meet your needs and your budget. But the best part about the Club Carlson hotel loyalty program isn’t the affordability of its properties, it’s the fact that you can get your lodging for free by using the points you earn in this program. Here’s how:

Club Carlson Award Chart:

Hotel Category Category 1Category 2Category 3Category 4Category 5Category 6Category 7
Points Needed for an Award Night (Standard Room)9,00015,00028,00038,00044,00050,00070,000
Points Needed for an Award Night (Premium Room)13,50022,50042,00057,00066,00075,000105,000

#5 Hilton HHonors

Hilton is another hotel brand with beautiful and unique properties spanning the globe. However, as you’ll see, it takes a whole lot of points to book them. The following chart shows how many points it takes to book a free room in each category:

STANDARD ROOM REWARDS
HOTEL CATEGORYHHONORS POINTS REQUIRED FOR ONE FREE NIGHT
15,000 Points
210,000 Points
320,000 Points
420,000 to 30,000 Points
530,000 to 40,000 Points
630,000 to 50,000 Points
730,000 to 60,000 Points
840,000 to 70,000 Points
950,000 to 80,000 Points
1070,000 to 95,000 Points

To put this in perspective, let’s look at a few choice properties and see how many points they require to book:

Hilton Paris La Defense- Paris, France

  • Category 7= 60,000 Hilton HHonors Points

Waldorf Astoria Berlin- Berlin, Germany

  • Category 8= 70,000 Hilton HHonors Points

Embassy Suites Orlando- Orlando, Florida

  • Category 4= 30,000 Hilton HHonors Points

You’ll notice that some categories require a range of points to redeem. That’s because Hilton requires more points for a free room during peak season and fewer points if you go off-peak.

#6 Marriott Rewards

Marriott Rewards points are like Hilton points in the fact that they are fairly devalued.

What do your points get you?   Let’s see:

Hotel CategoryHotel RewardPointSavers Reward
17,5006,000
210,0007,500
315,00010,000
420,00015,000
525,00020,000
630,00025,000
735,00030,000
840,00035,000
945,00040,000

It’s also important to note that the Marriott Rewards program allows you to book your “fifth night free” if using points for four consecutive nights, which is an awesome perk. But where can those points take you? A few examples:

Courtyard Beijing Northeast, China

  • Category 2= 7,500-10,000 points

Courtyard Sydney-North Ryde, Australia

  • Category 5= 20,000-25,000 points

Renaissance Aruba Resort & Casino

  • Category 7= 30,000-35,000 points

As you can see, Marriott Rewards points aren’t quite as valuable as points in comparable programs, but they aren’t worthless either.

Can’t decide which hotel loyalty program you like best? Consider signing up for a few of them- or even all of them! When it comes to earning points and miles, the best strategy is to diversify and that often means taking advantage of more than one program. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain, so consider signing up today!

Which is your favorite hotel loyalty program?

About the Author: Holly Johnson is a wife, mother of two, and frugal lifestyle enthusiast. She is the co-founder of Club Thrifty and a staff writer at Get Rich Slowly, Frugal Travel Guy, and U.S. News and World Report’s “My Money Blog.” Holly has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Kiplinger Personal Finance, Fox Business, and Daily Finance.

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Richmond Savers has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Richmond Savers and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

Filed Under: Travel Rewards

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Comments

  1. Points With a Crew says

    September 2, 2014 at 6:59 am

    The last night free of the Club Carlson makes it really nice. I also like Hilton just because a) it’s so easy to get points, and b) The 2BR Homewood Suites are about the only place we can get just 1 hotel room for all 8 of us (most places we need to get 2 rooms). I like IHG too for the PointBreaks.

    Reply
    • Brad says

      September 3, 2014 at 9:29 pm

      Wow, all 8 of you?!? I guess that’s a “crew”, right? 🙂

      I don’t have much experience with Hilton personally, but I like the sound of those 2BR Homewood Suites.

      Reply
  2. Done by Forty says

    September 8, 2014 at 10:05 am

    The Carlson is one of my very favorites. Thanks again go to Brad for turning us on to that 2nd night free option. Here’s to hoping they’re okay with us actually booking a 4 night stay between 2 cards. 🙂

    Reply

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