Hotel Free Night Certificate Limitations
In the past few years, we’ve opted for a high earn and burn hotel free night certificate strategy. Several reasons are at play here, including the particular ease of earning them lately and our higher-than-usual travel rate in the same timeframe. Of course, threading this needle won’t always be the case, and everyone in the points and travel hobby should keep in mind cert limitations. I’m focusing on the latter today. Before you start hoarding FNC’s, consider their restrictions.
A Hotel Free Night Certificate Expires
Perhaps the most obvious constraint, certs generally expire one year after issuance. Pressure mounts to use such an award with every passing month. Schedules and room capacities change, and what was originally an easy redemption becomes more onerous. And there’s this horror: come month 11 or 12, the need to burn the cert may override the desire to travel. I’ve definitely been there.
Don’t collect certs without a clear plan to use them in a timely manner. Expect the unexpected and have property and time contingencies for using the certs.
Your Hotel Free Night Certificate Is No Good Here
Redeeming points for a free night is fairly straightforward. The challenge, perhaps formidable, is still simple – just collect more points to redeem for that free night. But every FNC type I’ve recently considered or collected has exclusions. Hyatt’s are only good up to a certain category level, IHG’s cap is at a 40k nightly point threshold, Marriott has a ton of different types and limitations, the list goes on. Even Hilton FNC’s, my favorite version in the hobby, have exclusions. IHG and Marriott have introduced top-off policies (and IHG’s is uncapped), but certs won’t always work for the properties people desire.
Before earning certs, know if the version you’re collecting is redeemable at the destination you are eyeing.
Meanwhile, Points Devalue
I enjoy hoarding points, and another hotel free night certificate usually helps me do more of that. While we’re traveling more than usual these days, it’s still not a ton of trips. At this point, certs are covering the majority of our annual travel, with a few point stays mixed in. The irony is that certs help us outrun, but also subject us more to, point devaluation. I like knowing I should always have enough points for any type of stay in the future. Perhaps we’re losing cents per point value, but the peace of mind of knowing we won’t run out of points for easy “free” stays outweighs that in our situation. We’re probably in the minority here.
Prior to opting into more FNC’s, consider using points to meet your goals first. By using points now instead of spending to pick up certs, are you able to earn superior rewards elsewhere with that spend?
Lost Benefits
By using certs instead of points, hobbyists can miss out on attractive benefits. For instance, multiple hotel loyalty programs offer a fifth night free (or fourth, in IHG’s case) when certain members redeem with points. Certs aren’t generally compatible for obtaining that extra night. Are you okay with losing some benefits while using a cert?
Opting Into Complication
By picking up a hotel free night certificate, you’ve chosen to play a more convoluted game, whether you know it or not. The strings attached with a free night hotel certificate require one to pay more attention and put more effort into something they might rather keep simple. And the promise of “maximizing” a cert can lead many to overdo it, giving up solid redemptions of perceived lesser value while holding onto them too long (hello, expiration).
Just because you can earn a hotel free night certificate doesn’t mean you should. Reflect on how much time and effort you want to put into the hobby before you opt to collect them.
Conclusion
Avid hobbyists can earn buckets of free night certificates these days, which can be a good or bad thing. Indeed, earning more of them can compound the effects of the above limitations. For now, we plan to responsibly earn more hotel free night certificates, fully knowing that there may be a time to slow down in the not-too-distant future. Our eyes haven’t gotten too big for our stomach at the free night cert buffet yet.
How do hotel FNC’s play into your travel strategy? How do you ensure they don’t overwhelm it?
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With Marriott, a FNC can only be used on a pure-points rate and not a points-plus-cash rate. While a base room might be X points, an upgraded room — even one notch — might be X points plus $50. A person could use a FNC towards the base room but not the upgraded room. On the other hand, if the upgraded room were simply Y points (being not more than 15k points more than the FNC), then the FNC is usable.
A game that I’ve seen properties play relates to the order in which room rates are listed. That base room might be available at two rates: 1) a pure points rate and 2) a ***lower*** points plus cash rate. The lower points plus cash rate is listed first . . . and the pure points rate is buried lower in the page . . . not readily seen by the member. The member only sees the lower points plus cash rate and is told “sorry, Charlie, your FNC is an ineligible receiver downfield” and the member takes it no further. But, knowing property owners, why should this not surprise us?
On your second paragraph, which chain/s does this? Good to know for future reference.
I’ve seen it from Fairfield Inn to Ritz Carlton . . . economy to luxury . . . east coast to west coast . . . even outside the US. And, obviously, different ownership groups. No particular pattern. Could be a sorting algorithm that Marriott itself has. Best of luck.
In addition to the FNC, the Ritz Carlton Card comes with three Club Upgrade certificates per year. These can only be used on cash bookings of standard rooms and not suites. Moreover, the cash bookings are at a specific rate (only available by calling in), which tends to be higher than what a member might otherwise get on properties in the US. For example, the AAA rate or the AARP rate. YMMV. Unless someone books properties outside the US, these Club Upgrade certificates are effectively useless.