Convert your hotel points to airlines miles: do you think it’s a good idea? Most major airline loyalty programs offer to transfer hotel points to them. Usually, they send out a transfer bonus offer a few time a year. This year is no exception.
Convert your hotel point to airline miles: The offers
Before any conversion bonus offer, conversion rates are quite the same across programs. Aeroplan and British Airways feature the same conversion rate:
| Hotel programs | Aeroplan | Executive Club Avios |
|---|---|---|
| 10,000 Hilton Honors | 1,000 miles | 1,000 Avios |
| 10,000 IHG® Rewards Club points | N/A | 2,000 Avios |
| 10,000 Marriott Rewards® Points | 2,000 miles | 2,000 Avios |
| 1 Starwood Preferred Guest® | 1 mile | 1 Avios |
Except for the expensive SPG currency, you can see a trend. There is a loss of value in the transfer process. Even with a 35% transfer bonus, offered by British Airways, your points value crashes.
If you have 10,000 hotel points sitting idle in your account then leave them there. A lot of properties across all brands will offer reward nights at the 10,000 threshold. The moment you transfer them to an airline program those 10,000 points become 1,000 air miles. No airline in the world offers a reward flight for less then 5,000 miles. You basically go from a free hotel night to nothing.
To each their forte
Hotel and airline loyalty programs were designed to give back value to their customers. That value lays in the product they master: rooms & airplane seats. That’s their core business and they master it. Although they are part of loyalty coalitions or offer you to use points to buy a blender, I believe that as a traveller you need to stick to their core business.
There are great deals to be had in hotel loyalty programs across all brands. I wrote Great hotels that require little reward points – Part 1. It showcases how much value you can get from hotel programs. Another post demonstrates that hotel points purchases can be beneficial in the case of properties that require little points per night. You can read Is it worth buying Hilton Honors Points?
What do you think? Have you ever converted your hotel points to airline miles? Please share with me your thoughts on Amin On Miles Facebook page.
