Free Award Night Policies
Free night certificates play a bigger role now more than ever with our hotel stays, but we still enjoy the reliability of plain, old points redemptions for award nights. Rates inevitably creep up, but we have a variety of methods, such as creative spending and schedule flexibility to generally outrun those devaluations. But one other option helps us stretch our points further – that free award night certain programs offer on certain-length award stays. Hilton Honors, Marriott Bonvoy, and IHG One Rewards lead the way here. But the perk and who has access to it differs across those three programs. Let’s take a look.
Free Award Night Differences
Hilton Honors
The Hilton Honors program provides the fifth night free benefit when any elite member – Silver and above – entirely uses points to book a standard award of a minimum five nights. Hilton Honors will grant this every five nights on a stay up to 20 nights; that’s up to four free award nights on such a stay.
So members effectively pay points for only four of every five nights. In my experience over the years, when nightly points rates differ across the stay, Hilton Honors provides the fifth night free regardless of the amount. And from what I’ve noticed, Hilton Honors doesn’t seem to price as dynamically as other chains. But if you find yourself in a situation where the award rate changes across your stay and you have some schedule flexibility, consider timing your stay to take advantage of the fifth night free on the most expensive night.
Marriott Bonvoy
Maybe the only good news comes first – Marriott Bonvoy’s fifth night free is available to all members, not just elites. Marriott calls its offering “Stay for 5, Pay for 4.” A member who books at least a five-night stay entirely comprised of standard and/or PointSavers award rates is only required to redeem four nights of points.
But remember, we’re talking about Bonvoy here. Unsurprisingly, the fifth night free benefit here applies to the cheapest of the five award nights. That’s right, only the lowest points value night is wiped. But let’s say a member books a ten-night stay, where a second free night is awarded (similar to Hilton Honors). Marriott doesn’t look for the cheapest night in each five-night increment to subtract. Rather, the program finds the two cheapest nights across the entire ten-night reservation and subtracts those rates. Bleh.
Members who redeem points for a stay over a mixture of standard and PointSavers rates probably lose out the most here.
IHG One Rewards
Perhaps I’ve saved the best for last. But first, I must note that IHG One Rewards limits the fourth night free benefit to members who hold any of the following Chase IHG cards:
- IHG One Rewards Traveler
- IHG One Rewards Premier
- IHG One Rewards Premier Business
In my experience, IHG One Rewards has deducted the fourth night points rate, regardless of the rate across the stay. Therefore, members whose fourth night dynamically prices at a rate higher come out noticeably ahead. And, for what it’s worth, I’ve noticed IHG One Rewards dynamically prices in a more aggressive fashion than other programs.
Officially, IHG One Rewards states:
Premier, Traveler and Business Premier U.S. Chase Credit Cardmembers can redeem the 4th night free for any stay of 4 or more consecutive nights regardless of the 4th night’s point amount.
I no longer hold the legacy IHG Select card, as I upgraded mine to the Premier for bigger endeavors. But those who also hold the Select card can receive the 10% rebate, too (up to 10k points back annually).
And, at the risk of stating the obvious, let’s remember that IHG’s benefit is every four nights, giving cardholding members the opportunity to save points at a much higher rate than the other two programs. Granted, IHG’s award rates can be astronomical, so that’s something else to consider. Regardless, many IHG members can use the fourth night free benefit to bring a redemption total substantially down.
Conclusion
So not every free award night policy is created equal. But I’ll still take Marriott Bonvoy’s relatively-paltry offering over nothing. Indeed, let’s remember that other programs like World of Hyatt, Choice Privileges, and Wyndham Rewards don’t offer such a perk.
In my view, using this benefit isn’t one to force. Be careful not to rationalize longer stays at given properties simply to take advantage of this perk. Rather, I focus on leveraging this benefit in a quality-over-quantity fashion. For example, I generally focus use on infrequent family trips to aspirational properties and destinations.
We have many tools at our disposal for lowering hotel award rates. How do additional free night award policies play into your strategy?
