Best Hotel Loyalty Program for Canadians to Collect
Hotel points have always been a valuable commodity for my travels, as I always prefer to use points to book free hotel nights, rather than spending my hard earned cash. The challenge is, how do we earn hotel points without actually staying at hotels?
Are Hotel Points Worth it?
The quickest way to jump-start your account is with a credit card sign up bonus. Every day spending on that credit card may be the next best way, but it is going to be a slow process and may not even be worth it. For example, if a hotel room costs 20,000 per night, and you only earn 1 point per dollar spent, you will need to spend $20,000 to earn enough points for that hotel stay. If the hotel stay is only worth $150 if you paid in cash instead, then you only earned a 0.75% return ($150 / 20,000). In which case, you were better off getting a 1% cash back credit card. This is why credit card sign up bonuses are so valuable.
Assuming you are trying to earn points without actually staying (paid stay) at the hotel, below is my ranking for the top hotel loyalty programs for Canadians to choose from. If you click on the title of each respective hotel chain, you will find my more in-depth post about the program.
Since churning is frowned upon, it may not be something that I write about a lot in my posts. My advice would be the read the terms and conditions carefully to figure out what you can and cannot do. My hint would be to follow the rules and read in between the lines!
1) Starwood Preferred Guest
There are 3 straightforward options to earn Starpoints relatively easily.
- American Express Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card ($120 annual fee, earn 20,000 sign up bonus after spending $1,500 in the first 3 months)
- American Express Starwood Preferred Guest Business Credit Card ($150 annual fee, earn 20,000 sign up bonus after spending $1,500 in the first 3 months)
- American Express Membership Rewards program (convert 1,000 Membership Rewards points for 500 Starpoints, with a minimum transfer of 1,000 Membership Rewards points)
The $270 annual fee for 40,000 is still worthwhile to me, since 40,000 points are worth at least $960 in hotel stays if leveraged strategically. Another way of looking at it is that 40,000 points can get you 10 nights at 4,000 per night, which is actually costing $27 per night.
Even though a 2:1 transfer ratio between Membership Rewards and SPG may seem a little weak, it is still a nice option to have to top up your account for an imminent rewards redemption.
2) Marriott Rewards
Having the Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Visa that offers a 50,000 sign up bonus points and first year fee waived offer makes it an easy way to jump start your loyalty account. Even if you end up paying the $120 annual fee to renew your card, you receive a free Category 1-5 stay on the anniversary of having your card, which will cover your $120 annual fee.
Furthermore, since Marriott Rewards has taken over the SPG and Ritz-Carlton brand, these points have become much more valuable.
3) Best Western Rewards
Even though Best Western is one of my favourite hotel chains, primarily because of the no points expiry policy, it is not considered one of the more high end hotel chains. So for it to be 3rd place is more of a knock on how weak the industry is in the Canadian market.
MBNA offers a co-branded Best Western Rewards MasterCard that offers 20,000, 40,000, 50,000, 60,000 sign up bonus points promotions.
4) Hilton HHonors
There is no co-branded credit card with HHonors, but they are an American Express Membership Rewards transfer partner at a 1:1 ratio. However, without a direct co-branded credit card, Hilton may not necessarily be the best transfer partner with American Express Membership Rewards. However, just like with SPG, it is a nice option to have if you are looking to top up your HHonors account for a specific reward redemption.
What I would like to see
First of all, I would like to see more co-branded hotel loyalty program credit cards being offer in Canada. There are currently only 4 to choose from, as listed above. Seems to me that the market is wide open for competition. Personally, I think that IHG needs to come back onto the scene, along with Hilton HHonors at the minimum. A pipe dream would be a Hyatt co-branded credit card.
Who would you like to see enter the Canadian market?
Category 1-5 for the Marriott anniversary certificate. Without including spend, I’d lean to Marriott being #1, since you are getting the first year free. In essence, the SPG card is $120/$150 for an extra 3,333 points with the transfer ability. Including spend benefits pushes it the other way. But of course, it’s just my thoughts and not my blog!
The Chase card is the better card for sure. I put SPG higher because there are more options to earn. But it is a close call.
True… but the poster was also pointing out that it’s a category 1–5 hotel on renewal… not cat. 1–4. Category 1–4 was what they USED to offer for signing up. Now, they only have the anniversary vat. 1–5. Still a great deal if you’re redeeming it in the USA as a cat. 5 hotel is worth at LEAST $200, if not $300 if you’re using it in the USA.
The SPG is the better EARNING card, though… as even though it’s always 1pt for $1, each point is worth 3x Marriott pts.
Marriott is only 2x on certain categories like car rentals and restaurants.
Yes, post has been updated.
I really like hotel loyalty programs!
Unlike air travel, your points cover all fees (no taxes or fuel surcharge, free is free!)
I also find the Marriott better for me because of the free 1st year and no foreign fees.
The SPG is more generous as $1 = 1 SPG points which is worth 3 Marriott points.
But since it’s not my primary credit card, I look at sign-up bonus as the most important feature for me.
I like that about hotel programs too. Aside from those resort fees.
There are rumours that AMEX will tie up with Hilton on a co-branded card in Canada given that SPG/Marriott will likely stay with Chase or at least not AMEX. So definitely continue with AMEX SPG while you can, and the Chase Marriott card, but hang on to be ready for an AMEX Canada Hilton card – at least I’m hoping for one.
Hope it’s true!
Amex and Hilton in the US are launching a co-branded card in the US on January 1. Can Canada be far behind? I hope not as Hilton has been my primary hotel program for a couple of decades. It is by far the best of the hotel programs for earning free stays using points acquired only from hotel stays. It would be nice to be able to supplement that with a good credit card.
Yes, it definitely would. Hope so!
I for one would love to see the Hyatt credit card. Especially if it gave a free night every year.
It would be amazing to see. I just feel it may be too much to ask at the moment.
I’m staying in Hilton Garden Inn tonight. I walked into the lobby and talked to them. I also talked to the Hyatt Regency nearby. The Hilton Garden Inn was $19 cheaper per night. So I went with this. But I’m a digital nomad now and I’ll be staying in hotels full-time. So I’m wondering which chain I should try to be loyal to. I like Best Westerns, but in Toronto, they’re out in the suburbs. So it’s not very convenient.
That’s an amazing story Josh! I think you may have to do some trial and error to get a feel of what you like. It’s hard to give you one recommendation, because loyalty programs change so frequently. So one may be good today, but not as good tomorrow. So I still think it’s best to keep yourself diversified.