Although frequent flyer point programs usually get more attention, hotel loyalty program benefits are an important element of hotel choice among lots of travelers. And if you’re not sure which program is “best,” the folks at WalletHub have calculated ratings for all the major hotel chain programs.
In its ratings, WalletHub assigned the most ranking weight to the value of hotel rewards as a percentage of your spending. WalletHub also calculated ratings for three levels of travelers: heavy, moderate, and light. I suspect that most SmarterTravel readers probably fall into either the heavy or moderate groups. Scores are out of a maximum 100 points.
Related:The 12 Best All-Inclusive Resorts in the U.S. The Overall Best Hotel Reward Programs
Here are the overall winners, and how they were graded on a scale of one to 100 for heavy and moderate travelers:
Wyndham Rewards: 74 for heavy travelers, 73 for moderate travelers
Best Western Rewards: 72 heavy travelers, 69 moderate travelers
Radisson Rewards: 72 heavy travelers, 67 moderate travelers
Marriott Rewards: 65 heavy travelers, 61 moderate travelers
Choice Privileges: 62 heavy travelers, 59 moderate travelers
World of Hyatt: 62 heavy travelers, 56 moderate travelers
Hilton Honors: 61 heavy travelers, 56 moderate travelers
La Quinta Returns: 57 heavy travelers, 57 moderate travelers
Drury Gold Key Club: 54 heavy travelers, 55 moderate travelers
IHG Rewards Club: 45 heavy travelers, 43 moderate travelers
The Best Hotel Rewards Programs for Your Dollar
The best hotel rewards winners ranked by reward value (return per $100 spent) are:
Wyndham Rewards: $14 for heavy travelers, $14 for moderate travelers
Radisson Rewards: $14 heavy travelers, $13 moderate travelers
La Quinta Returns: $14 heavy travelers, $14 moderate travelers
Drury Gold Key Club: $12 heavy travelers, $12 moderate travelers
Marriott Rewards: $12 heavy travelers, $11 moderate travelers
Choice Privileges: $11 heavy travelers, $10 moderate travelers
Best Western Rewards: $11 heavy travelers, $10 moderate travelers
World of Hyatt: $11 heavy travelers, $10 moderate travelers
Hilton Honors: $11 heavy travelers, $9 moderate travelers
IHG Rewards Club: $7 heavy travelers, $7 moderate travelers
The Takeaway
Both the relative positioning and the numerical scores for all 10 chains are nearly the same for all levels of traveler, a conclusion that also extends to light travelers, with only a few minor variations.
Top-scoring Wyndham and Best Western manage a substantial number of brands in the upper midscale, midscale, and budget categories, where reward formulas tend to be simpler. Wyndham is unique in that the points required for an award room are the same for all participating hotels. Chains that include
The website maxtravelz.com is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.
Although the legend of Dionysus—a Greek deity responsible for wine and other pleasurable pursuits—is centuries old, the mythological figure is still influencing modern-day Greece. The nation’s indigenous grapes and unique terroir create one of the world’s most exciting wine-producing countries, but given Greece’s vast and mountainous geography it would take as much time to visit all the different regions as it did to build the Parthenon.
This post contains references to products from one or more of our advertisers. We may receive compensation when you click on links to those products. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers.
This month saw the launch of what many in the travel blogosphere are calling the best travel-rewards credit card ever: the Sapphire Reserve Visa card from Chase.
According to research from Germany-based Cruisewatch: “Booking the respective cruise destination at the right time can realistically save you up to 71 percent reductions off your cruise.”
When experts name the “best” days to travel, they usually name the days airfares are lowest—which often aren’t optimal for most people once you factor in personal convenience and schedule constraints. There’s typically a reason why these ones are the slower travel days.
If your airline loyalty has been on autopilot for the past few years, this would be a good time to reassess your choice of frequent flyer programs. A lot has changed, and not for the better.
Is it too soon to think about the holiday flights? No way, says CheapAir. They’re already tracking flights, and released an early look at the best days to fly for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.
You know going into it that Christmas travel can be exasperating: crowds and winter weather often do not play well together. But some trips are worse than others, so Treetopia dug through Department of Transportation data to identify the best and worst airports, routes, and days for Christmas travel, based on the number and length of delays encountered in last year’s holiday season.
Black Friday has come and gone, but you get a second chance at discounts on travel gear, hotel stays, trips, and more on Cyber Monday 2019. Here are Cyber Monday 2019 bargains perfect for travelers.
With rideshare apps like Uber and Lyft taking over, you might be wondering where in the world it’s still possible to take a cheap taxi. Cabs aren’t dead, yet: These countries still heavily rely on them.
A new report from Scott’s Cheap Flights sheds light on a somewhat complicated travel question: Which cities are the best origin for booking affordable, international flight routes? When it comes to finding the best airports for cheap flights, there are a lot of factors at play: Steady demand, competitive service from multiple carriers, and a robust network of international flights are just a few.