Some hotel loyalty programs give you the option to convert their points into air miles, but that doesn’t mean it’s always a good idea. The fact is that most hotel points have a higher value if they are used for their intended purpose – for award nights at hotels and resorts of a certain brand.
If you take steps to convert your hotel points into airline miles, you will typically lose some of their value on the switch, leaving you with a less valuable reward pool.
So, are there situations in which such a transfer might make sense? And if so, when should you avoid giving away hotel points to airlines?
If you’re thinking about converting hotel loyalty points into airline miles with the frequent flyer program, read on to find out what you need to know.
Hotel programs that allow you to transfer points to airlines
For the most part, there are eight major hotel loyalty programs that allow points to be transferred to airlines. Each of these programs partner with various frequent flyer programs to facilitate these transfers, and each has its own transfer rates which may vary by program.
- Best Western Awards
- Hilton Honors
- IHG One Awards
- Le Club AccorHotels
- Marriott Bonvoy
- Radisson Awards
- World Hyatt
- Wyndham Awards
Before converting hotel points to air miles, make sure you know which airlines partner with each program, as well as the conversion rate for the exchange (how many points you will need to redeem and how many air miles you will receive in return). ). You can use this information to decide whether to convert hotel points into miles or just keep them.
When does it make sense to convert hotel points to air miles?
Due to the meager conversion rates available when redeeming Hotel Points for Air Miles, you should only convert Hotel Points to Air Miles when absolutely necessary. For example, if you’re missing a few thousand miles to redeem for an amazing award flight, converting some hotel points you didn’t plan to use might be a good idea.
It can also make sense if you are getting too much for an award flight. For example, Air France/Flying Blue miles typically cost around 1.2 cents each, but this is just an average. You can often get more value from these miles and more when you book award flights in a premium cabin.
In the example below, you can see that a one-way flight from Chicago, Illinois (ORG) to Budapest, Hungary (BUD) can cost as little as 62,000 Flying Blue Miles plus $218.40 in taxes and airline fees for dates this summer.
However, the same one-way flight will set you back over $6,600 if you pay in cash. So if you’ve redeemed your miles, you’ll get almost 10 cents each, which makes transferring points from the hotel’s loyalty program much more profitable.
Sure, booking one way with this airline and most others makes each leg more expensive than if you booked a round trip flight, but the concept is the same.
When does converting hotel points into air miles not make sense?
If you need air miles for an award flight, the best way to earn them is by flying or spending money on an airline credit card. Also note that many flexible credit cards allow points to be transferred to frequent flyer programs (such as Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards and others), so you may want to go that route if you have multiple flexible points.
With that in mind, transferring hotel points to airlines is usually a bad deal due to poor transfer rates. For example, you will earn 1 mile for every 2.5 points you transfer from World of Hyatt to most (but not all) partner airlines, but you will earn 5,000 bonus miles for every 50,000 points you transfer.
This means that transferring 50,000 World of Hyatt points to a partner airline will give you 20,000 miles, but you will receive 25,000 miles with a transfer bonus.
Meanwhile, according to our sister site The Points Guy, World of Hyatt points are worth roughly 1.7 cents each, so 50,000 points are worth about $850.
Unfortunately, getting $850 for 25,000 miles with any of the World of Hyatt partners is next to impossible. Examples include Air France/Flying Blue, Delta SkyMiles, and United MileagePlus, whose points are currently worth just 1.2 cents, 1.41 cents, and 1.21 cents each, respectively.
At these rates, 50,000 World of Hyatt Points will earn you 25,000 Flying Blue Miles worth $300, 25,000 Delta SkyMiles worth $352.50, or 25,000 United Miles worth $302.
bottom line
It’s rarely worth converting hotel points to airline miles, but there are always exceptions, and sometimes it’s the easiest way to do it. If you just need a few thousand more miles for the award flight you want, for example, giving up some hotel points you don’t really need can make a lot of sense.
However, you can always just earn the extra points and miles you need for the trip you want. Not only do the best travel credit cards let you earn points or miles for every dollar you spend, they often offer generous welcome deals to boot.
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