Here is a spreadsheet with the ten largest hotel loyalty programs worldwide and all their airline partners for earning miles and points-to-miles transfers.

Hilton HHonors is far and away the biggest program for airline partnerships. That can be a major factor for a frequent guest earning miles from hotel stays in a frequent flyer program where there might be few opportunities to earn miles other than flying.

• Hilton HHonors = 57 airline partners
• IHG Priority Club = 43 airline partners
• Marriott Rewards = 36 airline partners
• Hyatt Gold Passport = 35 airline partners
• Starwood Preferred Guest = 34 airline partners

There are 8 airlines that only partner with one of these ten programs.

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I will follow up this post with comments and details on airline miles differences in earning rates between different programs.

This seemed like a useful table to create as I work on my series of hotel points-to-miles exchange rates across loyalty programs for a selection of major airlines.

Loyalty Traveler – Airline Tables for Hotel Points-to-Miles Exchange Rates

United Mileage Plus hotel points-to-miles rates favor Marriott, Club Carlson, Wyndham(Feb 8, 2012)

Delta SkyMiles hotel points-to-miles rates in 9 hotel programs(Feb 7, 2012)

AAdvantage Miles for Hotel Elites with Credit Cards: SPG, Club Carlson, Wyndham and HHonors lead the pack(Feb 6, 2012)

American Airlines Points-to-Miles Exchange Rates Compared for 9 Hotel Programs (Feb 5, 2012)

Personally I find hotel points more valuable than airline miles earned in points-to-miles transfers. I rarely exchange hotel points into miles.

Situations where I would consider exchanging hotel points into frequent flyer miles include:

1. To earn a hotel or airline loyalty program promotion bonus requiring partner activity.

I have picked up thousands of airline miles in frequent flyer promotions with a partner activity credit using Starwood Preferred Guest transfer of 100 or fewer Starpoints into airline miles. SPG Platinum members have no minimum transfer level for points-to-miles exchanges. SPG Gold = 1,500 Starpoints minimum transfer. SPG basic member = 2,500 Starpoints minimum transfer.

2. To secure the miles needed for an immediate airline reward redemption.

2003 was the only time I transferred 20,000 Starpoints into 25,000 miles. I was buying two First Class awards on British Airways from Denver to Melbourne, Australia with stopovers each way in London for 150,000 miles per ticket. I needed quick British Airways miles to beat the deadline for the price increase in BA Executive Club when the First Class US-Australia roundtrip award ticket increased to 420,000 miles.

There are many ways to get miles and I see trading hotel points for airline miles as a no net gain transfer for a leisure traveler staying in hotels. You save on airfare using hotel points for airline award tickets, but you don’t have points for free hotel rooms.

3. No plans to stay at the hotel chain frequently enough to earn points required for room reward nights.

The hotel points-to-miles tables show Wyndham Rewards and Club Carlson are two programs where you can earn points and transfer to miles at low levels. Club Carlson has a minimum transfer level of 2,000 points = 250 airline miles. Club Carlson members earn 20 points per dollar in hotel spend. Stay at a Country Inn & Suites on a stay costing more than $100 and you will earn more than 2,000 points. You can also just choose to earn miles for a hotel stay instead of points. Club Carlson gives 250 miles for Country Inn stays and 500 miles for a Radisson Hotel stay.

4. More hotel points than you need for hotel reward stays.

Some people have millions of hotel points.

Starwood Preferred Guest published statistics in December 2011 showing one SPG member earned nearly 20 million points in 2011 and another member redeemed nearly 12 million points (link to SPG pdfshowing stats).

I wonder how many of those redeemed Starpoints went for airline miles?

And hopefully not United Mileage Plus miles.

My question for readers: Have you exchanged hotel points for frequent flier miles? Was it better value than saving points for hotel stays?

British Airways Concorde outside London Heathrow First Class Lounge July 2003. The last commercial flights by BA Concorde were October 2003.

Loyalty Traveler – Airline Tables for Hotel Points-to-Miles Exchange Rates

United Mileage Plus hotel points-to-miles rates favor Marriott, Club Carlson, Wyndham (Feb 8, 2012)

Delta SkyMiles hotel points-to-miles rates in 9 hotel programs (Feb 7, 2012)

AAdvantage Miles for Hotel Elites with Credit Cards: SPG, Club Carlson, Wyndham and HHonors lead the pack (Feb 6, 2012)

American Airlines Points-to-Miles Exchange Rates Compared for 9 Hotel Programs (Feb 5, 2012)

HHonors is running double, triple and 2,012 miles through March 31 with four airlines.

American AAdvantage = Double Miles.

Air Canada Aeroplan = Double Miles.

US Airways Dividend Miles = Triple Miles.

Delta = 2,012 miles with two night stay. Does not need to be a weekend stay, but will earn a lot of bonus points too if your stay is a weekend stay when combined with other HHonors bonus point promotions.

Bonus miles can be earned in addition to the weekend bonus points through Facebook on Jan 17-18 and the 5,000 per two-night weekend More Points promotion through March 31, 2012.

HHonors Bonus Miles promotions link.

There are about 450 participating properties for Aeroplan and maybe 475 for American and US Airways. Delta Airlines does not have a list of participating hotels at the time of this post.

Hilton HHonors 2012 Q-1 miles offers.

The Hawaiian Miles link on the HHonors promotion page linked to an expired United Mileage Plus promotion at the time of this post.

HHonors Earning Miles link shows the standard earning rate for the vast number of airlines partnered with Hilton HHonors. The basic earning rate is 500 miles per stay, except 100 miles for Hampton, Homewood and up to 100 miles for Home2Suites. In most cases, double miles is 1,000 miles per stay (Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn, DoubleTree) or 200 miles per stay (Hampton/Homewood).

There was a media reception for the newly opened Cathay Pacific Airways First and Business Class Lounge in San Francisco Airport’s international terminal this week. This is the first Cathay Pacific branded lounge in the U.S.

I was interested in attending since it has been a few years since I have even stepped foot in an airport lounge. I have spent quite a few hours in Business and First Class airport lounges in the past so I have some frame of reference for lounge amenities.

SFO International Terminal

The interesting aspect of this trip was checking in with Cathay Pacific and receiving an economy class boarding pass for the evening flight so I could pass through airport security. I guess the fine print on the boarding pass stating “only valid with ticket coupon” would have prevented me from boarding flight CX 873 departing at 12:05am for Hong Kong.

Read More…

Marriott Rewards members can now earn Virgin America Elevate points for hotel stays at any of 14 Marriott brands. Marriott Rewards members who choose Virgin America Elevate for their earning preference will earn:

1 Elevate point per $1 spent at:

• Marriott Hotels & Resorts
• JW Marriott
• Renaissance Hotels & Resorts
• Marriott Vacation Club
• Autograph Collection
• EDITION (room rate only)
• The Ritz-Carlton (room rate only)

or 1 Elevate point per $2 spent (room rate only) at:

• Courtyard by Marriott
• Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott
• SpringHill Suites by Marriott
• Residence Inn by Marriott
• TownePlace Suites by Marriott
• Marriott Executive Apartments
• AC Hotels by Marriott

Marriott Rewards members also can exchange Rewards points for Elevate points at the following rates:

Marriott Rewards Points Exchange Rate for Elevate Points

• 10,000 hotel points = 1,000 Elevate points  (10:1)
• 20,000 hotel points = 2,500 Elevate points (8:1)
• 30,000 hotel points = 5,000 Elevate points (6:1)
• 70,000 hotel points = 12,500 Elevate points ( 5.6 to 1)
• 125,000 hotel points = 25,000 Elevate points (5:1)

Marriott Rewards offers a better points-to-miles exchange rate for exchanging larger blocks of points.

Virgin America’s regular earn rate for flights is 5 Elevate points per USD$1.

Too bad Virgin America Elevate is not a participating partner in Marriott Rewards MegaMiles for 2,000 points per stay.

Here is a November 2011 WebFlyer review of Virgin America. General consensus I have seen is Elevate points max out at about 2 cents per point value.

I recommend sticking to Marriott Rewards points.

Starwood Preferred Guest has added Skyteam member China Southern Airlines to its airline partner list for points-to-miles transfers. Sky Pearl members new to SPG have two special offers for this partnership launch.

Registration is required by 29 February, 2012 for these offers.

1. Sky Pearl members who join SPG will earn 1,000 bonus miles per stay, up to 3,000 miles, for stays by 31 March, 2012.

2. Silver and Gold Sky Pearl Club members earn instant SPG Gold elite status after first stay at a Starwood Hotel by March 31, 2012.

Even though the English text states bonus miles, the actual currency unit for China Southern is kilometers.

The one drawback to the exchange of SPG Starpoints to China Southern miles is the difference in units of miles for SPG and kilometers for China Southern: 20,000 Starpoints = 25,000 Sky Pearl kilometers. Read More…

Marriott Rewards is back with MegaMiles for hotel stays from January 1 – April 30, 2012. Earn 2,000 bonus miles per stay, beginning with second hotel stay, in addition to base miles regularly earned per spend. Maximum limit of 50,000 bonus miles may be earned for this promotion in 26 stays.

Promotion registration is required and Marriott Rewards members must set account earning preference to miles.

This link shows the Marriott Rewards earning rate for specific airlines and Marriott hotel brands.

25 Participating airlines

Read More…

Hyatt Gold Passport members earn 1,500 American Airlines AAdvantage miles per stay at any Hyatt brand hotel worldwide from October 1, 2011 to January 15, 2012. Normally Hyatt Gold Passport offers 500 miles with most airline partners for members who prefer miles to 5 points per dollar. Triple AAdvantage miles may be earned on ten stays for 15,000 total miles during the promotion period.

Hyatt promotion registration is required for 1,500 AAdvantage miles per stay. You can register online or by phone at 1-800-30-HYATT and request promotion code AA001.

Gold Passport members have the opportunity to earn both miles and 5,000 points every three nights at Hyatt until November 15. The current Hyatt Possibilities promotion offers 5,000 bonus points every three nights and the promotion terms include Gold Passport members earning miles on hotel stays. You can earn triple miles and promotion bonus points, but you will not receive regular Gold Passport points or elite points.

How to Request Miles from Hyatt Gold Passport

Hyatt Gold Passport does not have a way to change your earning preference to airline miles instead of Hyatt points through online account preferences. Gold Passport members need to request American Airlines AAdvantage miles (or any airline miles) at check-in and provide your frequent flyer number. Even when you request miles at the hotel there is the likelihood your account will post Gold Passport points instead of miles.

Don’t panic if you earn Hyatt points instead of AAdvantage miles when your hotel stay posts. This is common for miles earners. A call to Hyatt Gold Passport customer service can easily get the Gold Passport points changed to miles.

Loyalty Traveler Analysis

Triple miles with American Airlines AAdvantage promotion can be combined with the 5,000 Gold Passport points every three nights promotion that runs concurrently through November 15, 2011.

Hyatt Gold Passport points are typically worth $20 per 1,000 points.

The combination of 1,667 Gold Passport points per night (about $27 value) and 1,500 AAdvantage miles per stay ($20+ value) is a nice rebate on Hyatt hotel spend.

Hyatt Gold Passport offers good value hotel rebates for frequent guests this fall 2011.

Related Post: Southwest Airlines 1,800 Rapid Rewards points per Hyatt stay, up to 18,000 points October 1-January 15, 2012. Loyalty Traveler post September 23.

Hilton HHonors members will no longer have the option to earn Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards points effective January 1, 2012. Members with Points & Miles earning preference set with Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards need to change earning to a different airline by January 1, 2012 or the account automatically reverts to Points & Points earning on January 1, 2012.

The removal of Southwest Airlines as a Hilton earning partner is a loss for members who spend lots of nights at Hampton Inns and Homewood Suites where 600 Rapid Rewards points are earned per stay, the same rate as all other Hilton brands.

HHonors airline miles table Southwest shows *See important notice below.

*Effective January 1, 2012, the Hilton HHonors program will no longer offer Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards® Points for stays at hotels & resorts within the Hilton Worldwide portfolio.

Most airlines earn only 20% miles at Hampton and Homewood compared to stays completed at other Hilton brands. Fixed miles earners typically receive 500 miles per stay at all Hilton brands, and only 100 miles per stay for Hampton Inns and Homewood Suites.

JetBlue is the only other US carrier offering full points/miles for stays at these lower miles earning Hilton brands.

HHonors Points & Miles vs. Points & Points Earning

500 miles per Hilton stay is a convenient way to build up frequent flyer account mileage balances. 30 stays per year can earn 15,000 additional miles with most airlines at 500 miles earned per stay at Hilton, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Conrad, Waldorf Astoria Collection, Hilton Garden Inn and Hilton Grand Vacations.

Assume an HHonors member spends $6,000 per year on 30 stays and a Points & Points earners will receive 30,000 bonus points compared to a Points & Fixed Miles earner who can pick up 15,000 miles instead. The value of 15,000 miles might exceed the value of 30,000 points for someone who probably earns 100,000+ points already as a Points & Miles earner.

The HHonors Brand Determines the Miles Factor

The miles factor is dependent on which of the ten HHonors hotel brands you stay. There is a two-tier earning system for most airlines when collecting Points & Fixed Miles. Hilton, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Conrad, Waldorf Astoria Collection, Hilton Garden Inn and Hilton Grand Vacations offer 500 miles per stay with most airlines.

The value of miles is reduced greatly if you frequent Hampton Inn or Homewood Suites where the earn rate is only 100 miles per stay for most airlines. That 15,000 miles is reduced by 80% if you have 30 stays at Hampton Inn and earn only 3,000 miles with American Airlines AAdvantage, Delta Skymiles, or United Mileage Plus.

I’d take 30,000 HHonors points as a Points & Points earner rather than 6,000 miles as a Points and Variable Miles earner.

The value of Southwest Airlines is 30 Hampton Inn stays earns 18,000 points and enough for a free flight on Southwest Airlines. That is a comparable value to 30,000 HHonors points and likely a better deal than 6,000 miles in another airline.

bmi, British Midland International (Star Alliance partner)

There is a decent alternative for earning miles when staying at Hampton Inns, Homewood Suites and Home2Suites.

bmi airlines, a Star Alliance partner, earns 1,000 miles per night at Hampton Inn, Homewood Suites for a maximum three nights per stay. 3,000 miles is a good haul and applies to stays at all Hilton brands except Home2 Suites where the earning limit is 1,000 miles per stay.

Home2 Suites is Hilton’s newest brand and I have to give a big thumbs down to HHonors this year when setting a  precedent of reduced points earning for stays at Home2 Suites. Stays at this newest brand of Hilton HHonors earn only 5 points per dollar. All other Hilton brands earn 10 points per dollar. Hilton points earning link.

Many airlines, including Southwest Airlines, do not earn any miles for stays at Home2 Suites. Most airline partners allow a maximum 100 miles or points for a stay at Home2 Suites. bmi airlines at 1,000 miles per stay at Home2 Suites looks like a great deal.

I seem to recall some issues about redeeming miles for new members to bmi who have not had a bmi flight. Perhaps someone with up-to-date knowledge on that aspect of bmi can comment to remind me of any restrictions on using bmi miles.

bmi airlines earns most miles of any airline for Hampton Inn, Homewood and Home2 Suites brand stays.

Hilton HHonors has a promotion for Delta SkyMiles offering double miles and 250 Medallion elite status qualifying miles (MQM) for every stay of two nights or longer from October 1 to December 11, 2011. There is no list of nonparticipating hotels so this appears to be a worldwide offer across the Hilton Worldwide chain.

HHonors-Delta Skymiles Registration is required here.

The best part is this offer may be combined with probably the most lucrative hotel loyalty promotion for this quarter with a free night at any Hilton Worldwide hotel after four stays or ten nights at any participating Hilton Worldwide hotel brand. There are over 200 hotels in the U.S. not participating so be sure to check the non-participating hotels list for the free night offer.

Hilton also has a promotion with United Mileage Plus for 1,000 bonus miles for two-night stays in same period (UA promo is redeemable miles only and not elite qualifying miles) that I posted yesterday. And this offer is combinable with HHonors Free Nights offer. You can only earn frequent flyer miles with one airline per hotel stay, so no UA bonus and DL bonus for same hotel stays.

Please leave a comment on this post if you see other Hilton HHonors airline partners offering a bonus during this same promotion period and I will share the information in a blog post.

HHonors Delta SkyMiles 250 MQM and Double miles Oct 1-Dec 11, 2011

What does Double SkyMiles mean with Hilton HHonors?

Hilton HHonors has a complicated system for miles earning that factors in hotel brand and HHonors member earning preference of Fixed Miles or Variable Miles.

Fixed Miles Earning (Regular earning rate = 500 miles per stay; double Skymiles = 1,000 miles per stay)

• Hilton
• DoubleTree
• Hilton Garden Inn
• Hilton Grand Vacations
• Embassy Suites
• Conrad
• Waldorf Astoria Collection

Fixed Miles Earning (Regular earning rate = 250 miles per stay; double Skymiles = 500 miles per stay)

• Hampton Inn
• Homewood Suites
• Note: Home2 Suites only allows HHonors Points & Variable Miles earning.

Variable Miles Earning (1 mile per U.S. Dollar; Double Skymiles = 2 miles per dollar.)

• All Hilton Worldwide brands earn 1 mile per U.S. Dollar.
• Home2 Suites  has 100 miles per stay maximum limit; double Skymiles = 200 miles max.

Double SkyMiles MQM

• a two-night or longer stay at any Hilton brand from October 1 and December 11, 2011 after promotion registration earns 250 Medallion Qualifying Miles.

Bonus Skymiles and Medallion Qualifying Miles will be added after the end of the promotion. I assume these MQM will post and apply to 2011 MQM total for 2012 Medallion qualification.

Hilton HHonors has a United Airlines Mileage Plus offer for 1,000 bonus miles per two-night or longer stay at Hilton Worldwide properties from October 1 to December 11, 2011.

This bonus may be earned five times for 5,000 bonus miles in Mileage Plus in addition to normal miles earned as a Points & Fixed Miles or Points & Variable Miles earner.

The promotion terms seem a little vague, but I assume these are 1,000 bonus miles per stay in addition to the standard miles earned for each hotel stay since the bonus miles post after the promotion ends.

Registration required at www.hhonors.com/mileageplus

HHonors United Mileage Plus Promotion T&C

To be eligible for this offer, you must (1) select United Airlines as your preferred Double Dip® Points & Miles Partner in your Hilton HHonors™ account profile, (2) complete a minimum 2-night stay at a participating hotel or resort in the Hilton Worldwide portfolio from October 1, 2011 through December 11, 2011, and (3) register online at www.HHonors.com/MileagePlus prior to check-out. You must be a Hilton HHonors member to earn points and miles for hotel stays. Bonus United Mileage (Both Fixed & Variable Miles Members): Earn 1,000 bonus miles per qualifying stay of 2-nights or more, for a maximum of 5 stays or 5,000 miles. Allow up to six weeks after qualification, and after promotion has ended, for bonus miles to be credited to your account. Miles accrued, awards issued and bonus offers are subject to the rules of the United Mileage Plus program. Hilton HHonors membership, earning of Points & Miles™ and redemption of points are subject to HHonors Terms and Conditions.

Hilton HHonors and United Mileage Plus 5,000 bonus miles Oct 1-Dec 11, 2011