Blackout Dates When Redeeming Hotel Points: How Policies Compare

Blackout Dates When Redeeming Hotel Points: How Policies Compare

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Some people get frustrated by how complicated it can be to redeem airline miles, given blackout dates and capacity controls. By comparison, this is something that’s awesome about hotel points, at least on the surface.

Most hotel loyalty programs don’t have blackout dates on award redemptions. However, not all policies are created equal, so in this post I wanted to compare the blackout dates policies of the four most popular hotel loyalty programs among OMAAT readers.

Which hotel programs have no blackout dates?

Among the four biggest hotel loyalty programs in the Americas, there are very different policies when it comes to blackout dates on award stays. Some programs let you redeem points as long as a standard room is available for sale, while other programs let you redeem points only for a subset of standard rooms. So let’s go over the policies of Hilton Honors, IHG One Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy, and World of Hyatt, and see how they compare.

Hilton Honors blackout dates policy

Hilton Honors has no blackout dates or capacity controls on award redemptions — this includes if you’re redeeming for a standard room (typically the best value), or if you’re using Points & Money awards for a premium room. Of the major hotel groups, Hilton Honors has the most straightforward policy.

Hilton Honors has no blackout dates or capacity controls

IHG One Rewards blackout dates policy

IHG One Rewards has no blackout dates on reward nights, but does have capacity controls. What this means is that some number of standard rooms will be made available for award redemptions every night, but that doesn’t mean that all standard rooms are available for award redemptions (as is the policy with Hilton Honors and World of Hyatt). In other words, if a hotel has 100 standard rooms, it could choose to make just 10 of them available for reward nights.

Note however that there are capacity controls and/or blackout dates for Six Senses and Mr. & Mrs. Smith properties, as these are just slowly being integrated into IHG One Rewards.

IHG One Rewards doesn’t have blackout dates, but does have capacity controls

Marriott Bonvoy blackout dates policy

Marriott Bonvoy has a “limited blackout dates” policy, which I’d basically view as meaning there are no blackout dates but there are some limited capacity controls. On most days most Marriott properties will make all standard rooms available for awards, though “on a limited number of days,” hotels can limit the number of standard rooms available for awards.

In other words, for some number of dates over peak season, hotels can choose to make only a subset of standard rooms available for points. This isn’t as generous as the policies of Hilton Honors or World of Hyatt, but compares favorably to IHG One Rewards, which allows hotels to always only make a subset of standard rooms available for awards.

In the interest of being thorough, also note that the following properties don’t fully participate in Marriott Bonvoy when it comes to redeeming points:

  • JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn® Resort & Spa, Scottsdale, AZ
  • Vistana Signature Network and Vistana Residence Network – all properties
  • Marriott Vacation Club and Marriott Grand Residence Club – all properties
  • Rome Marriott Grand Hotel Flora, Rome, Italy
  • Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort & Spa, Hawaii
  • Wailea Beach Resort – Marriott – Maui, Hawaii
  • Hotel Cala di Volpe, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Costa Smeralda, Italy
  • Hotel Pitrizza, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Costa Smeralda, Italy
  • Hotel Romazzino, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Costa Smeralda, Italy
  • Homes & Villas by Marriott International
  • North Island, a Luxury Collection Resort, Seychelles
Marriott Bonvoy doesn’t have blackout dates, but does have limited capacity controls

World of Hyatt blackout dates policy

World of Hyatt has no blackout dates on free night points redemptions, as long as a standard room is available for sale, with the standard rate also bookable. However, note that there are capacity controls on MGM Rewards and Small Luxury Hotels of the World properties, as well as on points redemptions for suites.

Furthermore, note that Destination Residences, along with the following properties, don’t typically have standard room redemptions available (due to the types of accommodations these properties offer):

  • Hyatt Windward Pointe
  • Hyatt Beach House
  • Hyatt Sierra Lodge
  • Hyatt Siesta Key Beach
  • Puunoa Beach Estates
  • The Islands at Mauna Lani
  • Wailea Beach Villas
  • Ventana Campground
World of Hyatt has no blackout dates or capacity controls

How do hotels get paid for award stays?

To understand these varying policies, it’s worth being aware of the general business model behind award stays. Individual hotels are typically owned by individual investment firms, and simply managed by the major hotel groups. Hotels get reimbursed by the loyalty programs when members redeem their points for a stay. The reimbursement rate is typically based on how full the hotel ends up being. Very generally speaking:

  • If a hotel isn’t close to being full (less than 90% full, give or take), the hotel receives fairly low reimbursement, that covers the costs the hotel incurs for having a guest, but doesn’t cover any revenue loss from an award guest displacing a cash guest
  • If a hotel is full (more than 90% full, give or take), the hotel is reimbursed significantly more, typically close to the average daily rate, to account for the possible revenue loss

As you might imagine, loyalty programs love when people redeem points at hotels that are empty, while hotels like when guests redeem points at hotels that are full (especially when award bookings contribute to such high occupancy).

Hotels have varying attitudes toward award guests, regardless of circumstances. Some hotels make a point of being welcoming to award guests, and even view them as an important part of their business model and revenue, while other hotels make award guests feel like an inconvenience.

Hotels get reimbursed for awards based on occupancy levels

How some hotels game “no blackout dates” rules

Unfortunately don’t expect to always be able to find a standard room available, even among hotel loyalty programs with no blackout dates and no capacity controls. Individual hotels have creative ways to restrict award availability.

While loyalty programs may require hotels to make all standard rooms available for awards, they don’t dictate how hotels define standard rooms. The most common practice we’ve seen is hotels essentially creating a small subset of rooms that are considered “standard.” Previously maybe 50 rooms at a particular hotel were considered standard, while now maybe five rooms are considered “standard,” perhaps because they have a slightly different view, are on a different floor, or something else.

For example, the Andaz Maui is notorious for this. Only “1 King Bed” and “2 Queen Beds” rooms are available for points. A vast majority of the hotel’s rooms are resort view, partial ocean view, or ocean view, so it seems that several years back some rooms were put in this subcategory so that award availability could be limited.

The Andaz Maui is notorious for playing games with awards

That’s just one example, but there are plenty of hotels that have done something similar.

Along the same lines, it’s not uncommon to see almost no standard room availability at many of Hilton Honors’ most premium properties, including the Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal, Waldorf Astoria Maldives, Conrad Bora Bora, etc.

I’m not suggesting games are being played here, but clearly there are few standard rooms and they’re being snagged early on, so it can be tough to lock these in otherwise (except last minute, when many rooms are often made available). My point is simply to say that while a no blackout dates and no capacity controls policy is as good as it gets, that still doesn’t guarantee easy award availability.

Good luck finding awards at the Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos

Bottom line

Hotel loyalty programs have varying policies when it comes to blackout dates and capacity controls. As you can see, Hilton Honors and World of Hyatt have the best policies, followed by Marriott Bonvoy, followed by IHG One Rewards.

While no blackout dates policies are great, unfortunately some hotels still play games with award availability, by recategorizing rooms so that there aren’t many standard rooms. Hopefully with some persistence you can still snag the award room you want.

What has your experience been with hotel policies around award blackout dates?

Conversations (21)
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  1. Esteban Guest

    There's a big work around I've started seeing hotels implement recently where they are not allowing award bookings of single nights even when the rooms are technically available. Conrad Maldives is an example. Search for an award booking for a week and you may find availability, search for an award booking of one night within that same period and it will show none. I've also seen this at Hilton Amingiri Maldives recently, but with less...

    There's a big work around I've started seeing hotels implement recently where they are not allowing award bookings of single nights even when the rooms are technically available. Conrad Maldives is an example. Search for an award booking for a week and you may find availability, search for an award booking of one night within that same period and it will show none. I've also seen this at Hilton Amingiri Maldives recently, but with less consistency. It seems like on high demand dates the Hilton Maldives is sometimes also requiring award stays to be more than one night. This is obviously a huge issue for free night rewards, which is where I've run into problems. I've not been able to get around these restrictions by calling customer service, etc. I'm not sure what the motivation is here for the hotel. If the hotel has high demand and they are going to get paid for the stay, why do they care?

  2. Ricky Guest

    As much love as Hyatt gets from the bloggers, their availability for point redemption is horrible. I stick with Marriot for that reason.

    1. UA-NYC Diamond

      If you crave limited service properties alongside interstate exits, Marriott is definitely the best program out there for redemption

  3. Daniel Guest

    The Waldrof Jerusalem has to be the worst offender!!!!!!!!! They have "standard" room availability for only 1% of the days in the whole year......

  4. Jetiquette Guest

    I'm seeing a lot more Hyatt blackouts lately. Nothing stopping them from only having 1 standard room available, which is taken early, to make sure points aren't bookable. Was nearly impossible to find points bookings in most European cities in December.

  5. Bgriff Guest

    The Andaz Maui is actually even worse than that, or at least was a year ago, in that they have a very small number of rooms in the standard room category but then on top of that they often put arbitrary length of stay restrictions on stays in that category, so for example when I booked for last spring you could only book that room category for 10 nights.

  6. Jvbro Guest

    Marriott is not so good imo

    See mail I wrote a Sydney hotel last week!

    Hi Mr,

    Thank you for reaching out to us in regards to a booking over the New Year’s Eve period, unfortunately , our rates for that period will not be available till March / April 2023,

    from previous years there will be a minimum stay of three night prepaid ( points cannot be used ) with no cancellation, refund, upgrade,...

    Marriott is not so good imo

    See mail I wrote a Sydney hotel last week!

    Hi Mr,

    Thank you for reaching out to us in regards to a booking over the New Year’s Eve period, unfortunately , our rates for that period will not be available till March / April 2023,

    from previous years there will be a minimum stay of three night prepaid ( points cannot be used ) with no cancellation, refund, upgrade, or modification allowed,

    wishing all the best for the new year!

    Kind regards

    John Philip

  7. BenjaminGuttery Diamond

    Hey Ben/Lucky, do you and Ford still offer help with booking trips using points/miles? I have a hoard of AA, Bonvoy, & Amex MR with a "splash" of Chase UR as well. Trying to book a nice trip in late April/early May. We're fairly flexible beyond that. Lots of possibilities, I just don't know where to start and it's very confusing cashing in these things for the first time.

  8. Chaun Guest

    Once thing I've ran into recently is trying to redeem a Chase free night cert at Mr and Mrs Smith properties. I've seen rooms available for points- including less than 40K- but they are not available for a cert (Premier or legacy). When contacted, multiple IHG agents stated properties can have rooms available for points but not allow Anniversary night use.

  9. Sam Guest

    Hyatt also allows hotels to require a minimum number of nights before hotel reservations can be made with points. It’s annoying.

  10. beachmouse Member

    Accor, which has more than four times the number of properties as Hyatt- no blackout days, no capacity limits on award redemptions. Yeah it’s a fixed redemption rate program and you can’t do the sweet spots hunt, but ‘any standard room rate, any room, any time’ can have a big upside. We used points last year for almost all of the cost of a suite in a Tour de France finish town with the Ineos...

    Accor, which has more than four times the number of properties as Hyatt- no blackout days, no capacity limits on award redemptions. Yeah it’s a fixed redemption rate program and you can’t do the sweet spots hunt, but ‘any standard room rate, any room, any time’ can have a big upside. We used points last year for almost all of the cost of a suite in a Tour de France finish town with the Ineos Grenadiers down the hall from us, and I booked about two months out. You’re not going to be able to do that with other reward programs.

    1. Jordan Guest

      Without the “sweet spots hunt” you might as well use hotels.com and get 1 night free after 10 nights (or 10% off everything, depending on how you view it) without being loyal to just one brand. “Sweet spots hunt” drives brand loyalty, which only some big brands seem to understand…

  11. Brutus Guest

    I'm curious about Hyatt's policy. I just checked the Grand Hyatt Vail for a date in February. A huge variety of rooms, including standard rooms, are available for cash. The only rooms bookable with points are suites and they are only available using (a lot of) cash and points. This seems to contradict your description of the no blackout policy, but maybe I missed something.

    1. UA-NYC Diamond

      If they are standard rooms then they are points bookable. Post the dates and let the experts weigh in.

    2. DCS Diamond

      If they are standard rooms then they are points bookable

      That is the myth, made-up claim. The OP provided real-life experience, which is quite similar to mine (see very first post), and I am still waiting for the forum host to chime in to address yet another discrepancy between his claim and real-life experience.

    3. UA-NYC Diamond

      Anthony Crispino, you have no specific examples, just peddling the same hearsay and nonsense you always do

  12. DCS Diamond

    World of Hyatt has no blackout dates on free night points redemptions, as long as a standard room is available for sale, with the standard rate also bookable.

    Is that really true? If that were the case, then it would mean that WoH standard awards would be plentiful, no? On many occasions, I have seen Hyatt standard rooms available for cash sale or booking, but the same rooms would not be available as standard awards...

    World of Hyatt has no blackout dates on free night points redemptions, as long as a standard room is available for sale, with the standard rate also bookable.

    Is that really true? If that were the case, then it would mean that WoH standard awards would be plentiful, no? On many occasions, I have seen Hyatt standard rooms available for cash sale or booking, but the same rooms would not be available as standard awards for booking with points, which seems to challenge the claim. I submit that all “No blackout dates” means is that as long as standard award inventory is available, rooms can be booked with points, even on dates that are generally popular with travelers (so-called "blackout dates"). It is the “dates” that are not ‘blacked out’ not “award availability”. When the inventory of standard awards is gone, no booking would be possible even if there are rooms bookable at the standard rate.

    The only awards that I know to always be available for booking with points when corresponding rooms are available for booking with cash are Hilton's "premium" awards, which is why they are exorbitantly priced. Fro booking such rooms, points and cash are equivalent or interchangeable. In fact, the only HH awards that are truly dynamically priced (i.e., change in synchrony with cash rates) are "premium" awards. They are like airlines' "anytime awards". Standard awards, on the other hand, sort of change with cash rates, but minimally or even not at all...

    1. Bobby J Member

      Accor - at least the properties that participate in the program. All rooms, always available to be paid with points, albeit, as another poster pointed out, at a fixed rate. This has its drawbacks but also some very obvious benefits.

    2. DCS Diamond

      I am not familiar with the program, but it might mean that Accor probably treats points just like cash, at a fixed 'exchange' rate.

    3. Bobby J Member

      Exactly. Accor points are worth a flat €0.02 each. They're also difficult to accrue, though they have some amazing hotels, and their benefits structure is geared to reward travelers in the Asia-Pacific region the most. They've also got some great promotions - regularly - that might make the stays worthwhile for any travelers interested in giving them a whirl.

    4. DCS Diamond

      Makes a lot of sense now. It is the ultimate in award avaibalibilty because points are treated just like cash, so that if a room is available for booking with cash, it can be booked with points, similar Hilton's "premium" awards.

      What makes no sense is the claim that the same is true with Hyatt's standard rooms and awards, when there is no such direct relationship between cash and points...

Featured Comments Most helpful comments ( as chosen by the OMAAT community ).

The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.

Jordan Guest

Without the “sweet spots hunt” you might as well use hotels.com and get 1 night free after 10 nights (or 10% off everything, depending on how you view it) without being loyal to just one brand. “Sweet spots hunt” drives brand loyalty, which only some big brands seem to understand…

1
Esteban Guest

There's a big work around I've started seeing hotels implement recently where they are not allowing award bookings of single nights even when the rooms are technically available. Conrad Maldives is an example. Search for an award booking for a week and you may find availability, search for an award booking of one night within that same period and it will show none. I've also seen this at Hilton Amingiri Maldives recently, but with less consistency. It seems like on high demand dates the Hilton Maldives is sometimes also requiring award stays to be more than one night. This is obviously a huge issue for free night rewards, which is where I've run into problems. I've not been able to get around these restrictions by calling customer service, etc. I'm not sure what the motivation is here for the hotel. If the hotel has high demand and they are going to get paid for the stay, why do they care?

0
UA-NYC Diamond

Anthony Crispino, you have no specific examples, just peddling the same hearsay and nonsense you always do

0
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