The summer season is here. Many of you may be planning to head to the hill stations for a family vacation to escape the scorching heat. What if you could enjoy a free hotel stay with your credit card reward points? Some banks have partnered with frequent flyer programs (FFPs) of airlines and hotel loyalty programs to facilitate the transfer of credit card reward points to these programs.
Some banks with transfer partners include HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, HSBC Bank, American Express, etc. In this article, we will understand how American Express Card Members can convert their reward points into hotel loyalty points or hotel gift vouchers and use them further for free hotel stays.
What are the redemption options?
The American Express reward points are versatile and can be used for various purposes. They can be used to pay for online transactions, purchase gift vouchers, pay for transactions from the recent statement, make travel bookings through the Amex Travel portal, transfer to airline and hotel partners etc. In this article, we will discuss the various redemption options for hotel stays.
American Express transfer partners
American Express has nine transfer partners for converting credit card reward points (Membership Reward points or MR points). These include FFPs of seven airlines and two hotel loyalty programs. The two hotel loyalty programs are Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honours.
Using the American Express credit card or charge card, the reward points can be transferred to the Marriott Bonvoy hotel loyalty program in a 1:1 ratio. It means, 100 reward points will be converted into 100 Marriott Bonvoy points. The minimum transfer is 100 points and in increments of 100 points. The estimated transfer time is up to 48 hours.
Similarly, the transfer ratio for Hilton Honors is 10:9, which means 100 reward points will be converted into 90 Hilton Honors points. The minimum transfer is 1,000 points and in increments of 100 points. The estimated transfer time is up to 48 hours.
Once the points transfer is completed, American Express will send you a confirmation email. You can log in to your hotel loyalty program website/App and check the points credit. For example, log in to your Marriott Bonvoy dashboard and check the points balance.
You can further use the Marriott Bonvoy points to book your hotel stay at a participating Marriott property and enjoy your family vacation.
Purchase of hotel gift vouchers
What if someone prefers a hotel brand other than Marriott or Hilton? In that case, you can purchase gift vouchers of other hotel brands with your American Express reward points. For example, using your American Express reward points, you can buy gift vouchers of ITC Hotels, Taj Hotels, The Postcard Hotels & Resorts, etc.
You can also redeem your reward points against the gift vouchers of Online Travel Aggregators (OTAs). These include Cleartrip, EaseMyTrip, MakeMyTrip, SOTC, Thomas Cook, Yatra, etc. You can further use the gift voucher on the respective OTA website/App to book your hotel stay.
The value of one reward point is Rs. 0.25 for redemption against most gift vouchers. For example, to purchase a Rs. 5,000 Taj Hotels voucher, you will need 20,000 reward points. Similarly, to purchase a Rs. 10,000 Taj Hotels voucher, you will need 40,000 reward points.
You can redeem the Membership Rewards Credit Card (MRCC) and Gold Charge Card reward points for gift vouchers at a higher rate under the Gold Collection. Under the 18K Gold Collection, you can redeem 18,000 reward points for a Rs. 9,000 Taj Hotels Stay voucher, giving a redemption rate of Rs. 0.50 per point. Similarly, under the 24K Gold Collection, you can redeem 24,000 reward points for a Rs. 14,000 Taj Hotels Stay voucher, giving a redemption rate of Rs. 0.58 per reward point.
How to enjoy free hotel stays?
Once you redeem the credit card reward points against the Taj Hotels Stay gift vouchers, you can book your stay at the Taj property. The Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), India’s largest hospitality company, runs the Taj Hotels. Apart from Taj, the other hotel brands in the IHCL portfolio include SeleQtions, Gateway, Vivanta, Ginger, Tree of Life, Ama Stays, etc. Please note that Taj Hotels gift vouchers can be used for stays only at Taj, Vivanta, and Gateway hotels in India.
If you have redeemed your reward points for an OTA voucher like MakeMyTrip, you can head to their website/App to make the hotel booking. You will get confirmation through email/SMS/WhatsApp, etc. On the check-in date, you can proceed to the hotel and enjoy your family holiday.
If you have transferred your reward points to Marriott Bonvoy, log in to the Marriott Bonvoy website/App to make your hotel booking. Marriott Bonvoy is the hotel loyalty program of Marriott International, one of the world’s biggest hospitality groups. You can discover 30+ hotel brands and 10,000 global destinations with Marriott Bonvoy and use the Marriott Bonvoy points to book a stay at a participating property and enjoy your family vacation.
Where is your next holiday: Domestic or international?
We saw how you can redeem your American Express credit card reward points for various hotel stay options. You can redeem them against gift vouchers of specific hotel brands like Taj Hotels, ITC Hotels, etc. The other option is to redeem them against gift vouchers of OTAs like MakeMyTrip, Yatra, EaseMyTrip, etc., and book a hotel at their website/App.
One of the best options is to transfer your reward points to the Marriott Bonvoy program. It allows you to choose from 1000s of hotels across various brands (budget to ultra-luxury) within India and abroad. So, where are you planning your next family vacation: In India or abroad?
Gopal Gidwani is a freelance personal finance content writer with 15+ years of experience. He can be reached at LinkedIn.
