When is an award night a good deal?

When is a hotel award night a good deal?

Suppose you are looking for a a hotel room and you find that you can either pay $300 a night or redeem 25,000 hotel loyalty points for each night. Which should you do? The decision can be complicated. You need to know how much those 25,000 points are worth to you. Plus, if you redeem points, you won’€™t earn points from the stay. And if you’re looking to earn hotel elite status, you need to consider that with many chains you won’t earn night or stay credits when you book award nights.

In order to try to wipe away most of that confusion, I’ve put together a three step guide to help you figure things out. The formulas are far from perfect and they won’€™t match everyone’€™s needs or beliefs about hotel points, but I know that I need something like this so maybe you do too. As much as possible, I’ve kept to nice round numbers and easy formulas.  Here goes:

Step 1) Take the # of points you would need to redeem, chop off the final two zeros, and add a dollar sign in front. Example:

25,000 Points -> $250

This is the value of your points if each point was worth a penny. For Hyatt points this is a reasonable target since the Fair Trading Price for their points is just a bit above 1 cent each.

Step 2) Adjust the formula up for SPG, and down for everyone else:

Starwood (SPG):

Starwood points, according to the Fair Trading Prices chart, trade for around 2 cents each. For Starwood hotels, multiply the number calculated above by 2:

$250 x 2 = $500

This is your estimated cost for redeeming Starwood points

Other Chains besides Starwood and Hyatt:

For most other chains, the fair trading price is close to .5 cents per point.  So, simply divide the number calculated above by 2:

$250 / 2 = $125

Step 3) Compare

Take the value you computed above ($250, $500, or $125 in the examples) and compare to the paid hotel option. If the calculated amount is less than the paid hotel option, then redeem your points.  Otherwise pay for the room directly.

Example A: The estimated cost of redeeming points ($250) is less than the cost of a room ($300), so: redeem points

Example B: The estimated cost of redeeming points ($500) is more than the cost of a room ($300), so: pay for the stay.

Notes:

• The formulas above do not account for the potential loss of nights or stays towards elite status.  With Hilton, Marriott, and SPG, you will continue to earn nights and stays even for award redemptions so the formulas should work reasonably well.  With other chains, if you are chasing elite status, inflate the formula results by the amount you think each stay/night is worth for getting you closer to the next level of status.

• Don’t forget to use your own common sense here. If you’re low on cash, or you don’€™t think you’ll ever be able to use your points for a high value redemption, or you simply don’€™t value your points, then by all means use the points despite what the formula says! Conversely, you may be working towards hotel elite status, or you may be holding onto your points for much higher value redemptions. In those cases, it would make sense to err towards paying for stays.

• For more information on the value of points from the major loyalty programs, see: Fair Trading Prices

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