The best travel credit cards offer benefits like lounge access, airline companion tickets and automatic elite status.
But my favorite travel credit card perk is a free night award, hands down. Several of the best hotel credit cards offer cardholders certificates that they can redeem for free nights. Some cards offer this as an automatic annual benefit, while others confer free night certificates when you hit certain spending requirements or as part of their welcome bonuses. That’s on top of the hotel points these types of cards earn on everyday purchases.
The reason I love a free night award is that this single benefit can basically offset the entire annual fee of a hotel credit card, even premium cards that cost over $500 a year to carry. I’ve personally gotten anywhere from $250 to $2,400 in value from a single free night award.
That said, each type of free night award has specific terms and conditions to be aware of that can affect how, when and for what you can use them.
Here’s what you need to know about hotel free night awards and how to maximize them.
What is a free night award?
Let’s start with the most basic question: What exactly is a free night award?
Simply put, a free night award is kind of like a certificate that is deposited into your loyalty account. You can redeem it for … what else … a free night.
Think of them as a bundle of points, but instead of being worth a specific number of points, they are often worth “up to” a certain number of points or redeemable at hotels in certain award categories. Some are redeemable pretty much anywhere, though, and may even be usable on any date with standard room award availability.
How do you earn a free night award?
You can earn a free night in several different ways, depending on the hotel program and the specific credit card.
Reward your inbox with the TPG Daily newsletter
Join over 700,000 readers for breaking news, in-depth guides and exclusive deals from TPG’s experts
- Welcome offer: You might earn free night awards as part of a card’s welcome bonus. For instance, the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card (see rates and fees) is currently offering 125,000 bonus points and one free night award (valued at up to 50,000 points), earned after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. Certain hotels have resort fees. New cardholders can also earn up to $100 in statement credits (up to $50 biannually) after spending $500 on eligible airline purchases.
- Annual benefit: Some credit cards offer free night awards as an annual benefit simply for being a cardholder (and paying the annual fee). The World of Hyatt Credit Card (see rates and fees), for example, offers a free award night (valid at Category 1-4 Hyatt hotels) after each account anniversary.
- Spending bonus: Some hotel credit cards offer free night rewards to cardholders who hit certain spending thresholds in a calendar or card anniversary year. For instance, the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card rewards cardholders with a free night reward after spending $15,000 on eligible purchases with their card in a calendar year.
As you can see, there are multiple ways to earn a free night award. It all just depends on the specific card you’re interested in.
How do you use a free night award?
Just as there are multiple ways to earn a free night award, each also comes with a unique set of terms and conditions that dictates how you can use it.
Typically, you should look out for whether a free night award is subject to any of the following conditions:
- It is only worth up to a certain number of points.
- It is only valid at certain categories of hotels.
- You have to jump through a few hoops to actually make a reservation with it.
For instance, a free night award might be capped at a certain number of points. That’s the case with the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card (see rates and fees). Cardholders receive a free night award worth up to 40,000 points each account anniversary.
If you have the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card, you receive an automatic free night award worth up to 35,000 points every year on your cardmember anniversary. You can use up to 25,000 points from your Marriott account to top off your award, meaning your free night award could be worth up to 60,000 points.
Some free night awards, like the ones that come with the World of Hyatt Credit Card, are restricted to certain award categories. As a result, you won’t be able to use them at any property in the brand’s portfolio. So, in the case of the personal World of Hyatt card, you’ll only be able to redeem it for stays at Category 1-4 Hyatt hotels.
Folks with the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card have what I consider the best free night benefit. That card offers an annual free night reward upon card opening and then another one each cardmember anniversary after your account renewal. These certificates are redeemable at any participating Hilton property worldwide as long as there is standard award availability, making them among the most unrestricted of any hotel credit card benefit.
Free night awards generally expire a year after they are earned, so be sure to pay attention to that date or your award might go to waste.
Typically, you’ll see your free night award deposited into your loyalty account once you log in and go to your “wallet” or the page listing your award.
After clicking on your listed award, you should be able to complete the reservation process just as if you were looking for a regular paid or award rate. There are a few exceptions, though. If you have the Hilton Aspire, for instance, you will have to call or redeem your certificate via Hilton’s online chat feature, which adds an extra layer of complexity to the process.
Related: The best premium credit cards: A side-by-side comparison
How much is a free night award worth?
The value of a free night award depends on how you redeem it. Sure, many free night awards offered by hotel credit cards come with restrictions, but you can still redeem them for outsize value if you put in a little legwork.
For instance, with my IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card, I know I’ll only get up to 40,000 points in value, so I try to redeem it for an award as close to 40,000 points as possible — nothing as low as 15,000 or 30,000 points. That can make it tricky to find what I need, but I’ve had great success redeeming it for a night at the Kimpton Tryon Park Hotel in Charlotte that would have cost around $400 otherwise, and I just redeemed my current free night award for a one-night stay at the new Hotel Indigo Adelaide Markets in Australia, where I would have had to use 40,000 points or spend nearly $300. That makes it much easier to justify the card’s $99 annual fee.
I was happy to redeem my Category 1-4 World of Hyatt Credit Card annual free night at the Hyatt Place Montreal — Downtown, a solid Category 3 property, to save $280 on the stay.
At the other end of the spectrum, I redeemed my Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card annual free night reward at the luxurious Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam last year. My stay would have cost around $1,500 as booked, but thanks to elite benefits like a multicategory room upgrade and free breakfast, it was instead worth north of $2,400.
So, really, a free night award can be worth almost anything. The trick is to redeem it for a stay that would cost more than your hotel credit card’s annual fee. By doing that, you offset the annual fee. Any other benefits you enjoy from the card on top of that are just gravy.
Related: I used this booking trick to score an uberfancy room at the Waldorf Astoria even though Hilton said there was no availability
What hotel credit cards offer free night awards?
We have a full rundown of hotel credit cards that offer free night awards, but here’s a quick snapshot of some of our favorite cards that offer automatic free nights each year when you renew (and possibly an additional award with spending):
- Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card: Receive one free night reward upon account opening and then every year after renewal, valid at any participating Hilton hotel or resort with standard room availability. Earn an additional free night reward after spending $30,000 on eligible purchases made with your card in a calendar year, then another after spending $60,000 with your card in the same calendar year.
- World of Hyatt Credit Card: Get one free night each year after your account anniversary, valid at Category 1-4 Hyatt hotels. Earn an additional Category 1-4 free night after spending $15,000 on purchases in a calendar year.
- IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card: Receive one free night worth up to 40,000 points for stays at IHG hotels after your account anniversary each year.
- IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card (see rates and fees): Receive one free night worth up to 40,000 points for stays at IHG hotels after your account anniversary each year.
- Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card: Receive a free night award worth up to 85,000 points every year after your account renewal.
- Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card: Enjoy a free night award worth up to 35,000 points every year after your account anniversary.
- Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card: Get a free night award worth up to 35,000 points every year after your account anniversary. Earn an additional free night award worth up to 35,000 points after spending $60,000 on purchases in a calendar year.
Bottom line
Free night awards can be some of the most lucrative credit card benefits available. Depending on how you redeem them, they can save you hundreds (or even thousands) of dollars.
That said, many come with restrictions and other conditions, and they have expiration dates. So, make sure you read up on free night awards offered by any card you are interested in to ensure you can take full advantage of them and maximize the value you receive from them.
Related: How much does a ‘free’ hotel stay really cost? I compared Marriott and Hyatt to find out
