Hotel Free Night Certs
Hotel free night certs are one of the more polarizing topics in our points and travel hobby. While individuals can efficiently maximize them at aspirational properties, they can hem us in with their deadlines, category requirements, and other limitations. Years ago, I wrote about how I unexpectedly amassed too many certs during the pandemic. But cert hoarding can still happen if one isn’t careful. And it can lead to certs dictating how an individual travels (bad) or expiring (worse). But considering certain aspects before accumulating them can help avoid those situations.
Will You Travel Enough?
This may seem like an obvious area to address before collecting hotel free night certs. But tempting credit card welcome offers routinely arrive, often with five FNC’s. Chase currently has two such bonuses with the IHG Premier and Marriott Bonvoy Boundless cards. Amex has occasionally gotten in on the fun with a similar offer on the Bonvoy Business card. These juicy offers can easily lead one to think something along the lines of, “Wow, what a great offer. I’ll pick it up now and figure out how I’ll use the certs later.” This can subsequently become quite the conundrum when the reality of expiration hits.
A year seems like a reasonable amount of time to use a cert, but that deadline comes up fast. To paraphrase Sam from Milenomics, I don’t travel as much as I think I will. Perhaps you can relate. But those certs are just hard to turn down, understandably.
Map out your travel for the next 12-15 months. What are your wants and needs? Are they compatible with those potential certs? Also consider more deliberately earning certs during the signup bonus period, essentially giving you more time to use them. But beware, if you’re considering doing this, it may signify you don’t have the need in the first place. Also take into account a given cert’s flexibility, including whether you can book rooms for other people. That’s possible with some chains, but maybe not others.
What Are You Giving Up?
But ultimately, certs aren’t as flexible as points in terms of their deadlines for use. Points generally have more forgiving expiration policies than certs. Without near-term travel, taking the welcome offer sans cert may be the wiser move.
For instance, let’s consider the recent Hilton Surpass welcome offer which came with 130k points and a free night cert. While I consider these the best cert type out there, it’s useless if someone doesn’t have a travel need within the expiration timeframe. The Surpass – and other cards – routinely come with elevated offers without a certificate. These offers are often beyond the 130k points from that previous bonus. Sometimes those additional points and the increased flexibility (no 12-month expiration) can be worth more than the cert. One can apply this logic to most any cobranded hotel card periodically offering certs.
Of course, how any one individual values certs versus points is a personal decision, so opinions vary. But crunch the numbers and consider taking the extra points if you don’t have enough immediate travel needs. Or, taking into account bank application rules, you may be better off going after a totally unrelated card than a shiny hotel cert offer.
Don’t Overly Optimize
Once travelers earn these valuable certs worth up to X in redemption, many seem to deify them. Not using them for maximum points, dollar, or category value is somehow perceived as a loss. While I love a great deal, I personally don’t get too caught up here. If the cert meets my travel goal, it’s valuable redemption for me.
So then, I won’t flinch at using a 50k Marriott cert on a room which normally costs 40k or 45k. I might use my annual IHG Premier FNC on a boring-but-necessary Holiday Inn Express stay. I’ve used Hilton certs on 70k point properties. Perfect is the enemy of good enough.
Idealizing these certs can mean kicking the can on redemptions. And again, before you know it, you’ll be up against that cert expiration, maybe without any travel plans. Sure, you could request an extension, but those are far from guaranteed.
Hotel Free Night Certs – Conclusion
I’m just scraping the surface here. But the key is to take into account your personal situation before committing to any welcome offer including hotel certs. Of course, that’s a good mantra before any card application, but there can be trickier ramifications with cert offers. So then, I’ll continue responsibly collecting hotel certs I know I’ll predictably use, but no more than that. I encourage you to do the same, crunching your numbers and situation along the way.
How are you collecting hotel free night certs these days? Which ones have you pursued, and what others have you passed on?
For the properties I use, the Marriott 35k FNC used to easily cover a night. Now, I often need to top off with 15k. Which means the 35k FNC is cover 70 percent of the cost. When you do the math, often, it’s just covering the annual fee. And, I have to ask why I am holding this card.
i cancelled my marriott card Fred for this exact reason. everything has to be “topped off” to get a half decent place. Even the Brilliant card seems not even worth it – the nice hotels are now always prices over 100k so you cant even top off the 85k FNC. Marriott has become the bottom of the barrel.
Hi Benjy,
I won’t go after anything with a hard expiration unless I’m almost sure to use it for good value in the course of my normal travel.
I remember trying to properly value the IHG Premier five 60k FNC offer from Chase “ worth “ 300k and see how many points that was actually worth to me. Certs that expire in year – minus 60k ( 20% of 300k ). No fourth night free – minus 60k ( 20% ). Can’t be topped off – minus 30k ( 10% ). Lost value on a hotel cheaper than 60k – minus 30k ( 10% ). $99 annual fee – minus 20k ( what $99 will buy ). Total value 100k. I decided the no annual fee IHG traveller card with a 120k welcome offer was actually superior.
Benjy, this one’s coming from out of left field: Amex Delta cards have hotel credits. It’s not a FNC but it can cover 1-2 nights, depending.
When Amex refreshed the line-up of Delta’s personal and business cards, my initial reaction was “adios.” But, after working with them, it’s been pretty easy for me to capture value. For example, on the Reserve Business, the hotel credit is $250 . . . the use of which is super convenient for me . . . not being locked into any particular hotel chain. The Resy credit is $240 . . . also convenient. And, given how I use the first class companion ticket, I usually get about $500 . . also convenient. So, I’m getting almost $1000 out of an annual fee of $650. Plus, an occasional ride share credit. And, there’s lounge access. While the lounge access is not as robust as the Amex Platinum, the amount of value I capture is greater and it is easier to do so. (And, I have other means for lounge access.)
It won’t be a fit for everyone, but for some it’s a different angle to play.