2018’s Best Hotel Rewards Programs
WalletHub today released its 2018 Hotel Rewards Report to help travelers make an informed choice about where to stay. The report also includes a handy calculator that allows readers to customize the results based on their specific spending habits.
WalletHub examined the 10 largest U.S. hotel chains’ rewards programs using 21 key metrics, such as the average value of a point, point expiration policies and the volatility of award-night pricing.
Top 10
- Wyndham Rewards
- Best Western Rewards
- Radisson Rewards
- Marriott Rewards
- Choice Privileges
- World of Hyatt
- Hilton Honors
- La Quinta Returns
- Drury Gold Key Club
- IHG Rewards Club
Here’s some interesting facts about the ranking:
- Wyndham Rewards is the best hotel loyalty program for travelers of all spending levels for the fourth year in a row.
- The merger of Marriott, SPG and Ritz-Carlton created incremental value. The combined rewards program yields $10.85 per $100 spent, more than any of the three brands on its own in 2017.
- Best Western is the only major hotel chain whose rewards points do not expire due to account inactivity.
Conclusion
I’m sure this is not the ideal top 10 for most people. Keep in mind that the ranking was put together based on many factors. I know Mark wouldn’t be a fan of Wyndham number one based on his recent history with them.
Who do you thing should be on top?
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I guess that this just shows how subjective a ranking like this can be, depending on what criteria matter to you personally. For instance, Loyalty Traveler did a nice post about Wyndham recently, going into how they’ve wiped out a lot of the value of their program of late, so I don’t think that he’d give them top honors voluntarily.
Personally, I like Hyatt best with SPG gone. The earning elite night credits with credit card spend puts them back on top for me. Also, Chase points transfer instantly, so it’s pretty easy to accumulate points. Hilton has easy earnings, and good tangible benefits just by holding a credit card. IHG and Radisson are ok, and Marriott is mediocre but widespread. The rest? Meh. Obviously, this is highly subjective.
I am in the same boat with you I put Hyatt as my favorite and Hilton as my back up. 5X with Ink and easy transfers make Hyatt very affordable and Hilton, while the points are not very valuable, they have some of the easiest to accrue points out there.