The Best Hotel Reward Programs in 2022

If you’re like me, you know that there’s nothing like a glorious luxury hotel stay. Even if it’s just for a weekend getaway not too far from home, it can be exactly what you need to refresh and reset. And if you’re frequently booking hotel stays, a great way to get more perks and even more bang for your buck is to opt into the right hotel reward program.

To help you pick the right rewards program, WalletHub, a personal finance company, just released its data analysis to determine the best hotel rewards programs for 2022.

“The best hotel rewards programs offer a wide range of perks, including points redeemable for free nights, member discounts, free room upgrades, express check-in, late check-out and free access to health clubs and spas,” Jill Gonzalez, a WalletHub analyst, said in a statement.

Wyndham Rewards placed third for the best hotel rewards program. Wyndham Rewards offers up to $12.84 in rewards value per $100 spent if you’re a heavy traveler, which is the most among major hotel loyalty programs. The hotel chain has 8,950 locations, which is the most of any hotel chain, but it’s not as geographically diverse as other hotel brands. In second place is World of Hyatt. World of Hyatt ranked the best for its earning policies, although you won’t earn any points if you book through a third party. World of Hyatt hotels also has the lowest number of hotels overall with only 1,220. And the number one best hotel rewards program overall is Radisson Rewards Americas. Although there are only 1,650 Raddisson hotels, the hotel scored 73 points overall out of 100 in WalletHub’s ranking.

The top five hotel rewards programs in 2022

1. Radisson Rewards Americas: 73.1 points
2. World of Hyatt: 69.6 points
3. Wyndham Rewards: 69.32 points
4. Marriott Bonvoy: 62.29 points
5. Hilton Honors: 60.24 points

To find the best hotel programs, WalletHub used the 10 largest hotel chains in the US and assigned point values to five categories for a total of 100 points. The categories were geographic coverage for 15 points, rewards value for 25 points, earning policies for 15 points, redemption policies for 25 points, and various other features for 20 points. Each category was also broken down into subcategories. The data analysis also used data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and household income data from the US Census Bureau and the US Travel Association to create three consumer spending profiles for the light traveler, the moderate traveler, and the heavy traveler.

Of course, choosing a hotel program also comes down to personal preferences and where you’re looking to travel.