EDITED: September 12 with Mariott promotion
One of the easier way to earn additional points or miles is through promotions. Especially hotels are known to run them on a quarterly basis. The good thing is, once you are signed up you can forget about them. Don’t have plans yet for hotel stays that quarter or period? Sign up anyways, as plans can change and you most likely forgot about the promotion at that point. It merely takes seconds.
First of all: If you travel and ever stay in hotels, you should sign up for their loyalty program. Things will add up faster than you think and can save you big-time in the future. Think about work travel, weddings, family vacations and plenty more reasons why you might need to stay in a hotel.
Below are the latest promotions by hotel chain and the sign up links.
Hilton
Depending on the brand you are staying at, you can earn double or triple points. For Hilton resorts you are able to earn triple points. For all other Hilton brands you will be earning double points. This promotion will run for stays from Monday September 10 through January 3.
With Hilton, points can add very quickly and this is a promotion that they have run in the past. Earning twice as many points per stay is a no-brainer and a nice bonus. Hilton is also a chain that has introduced points pooling. Meaning you can pool your points with family a friends. This makes this very attractive to be able to attain enough points for a redemption. With a large footprint, you will also have no issue finding Hilton hotels nearly anywhere.
Some of our Hilton redemptions have included a New Year’s Eve night in Hamburg, Germany or our second honeymoon in the Maldives.
IHG (Intercontinental Hotel Group)
IHG is offering personalized bonuses this time around. Once you log in to your account you can see what bonus is available to you. Officially, they call it “Double Ponts plus More.” The promotion runs from September 16 through December 16.
Through my account, I am able to earn up to 41,400 extra points through stays, mobile app bookings and staying at multiple brands or Saturdays. This is fairly consistent with what I had received previously through this promotion.
Elli on the other hand is only offered 12,000 points, so it can vary quite a lot.
Some of our redemptions have included a night in Johannesburg or a recent Bachelor Party in Key West.
Mariott (including now SPG)
Mariott just announced a promotion on September 12. They are calling it Megabonus. In more places. The promotion period runs from September 26 through January 31, 2019. You can earn 2,000 bonus points on all stays of two nights or more. You can also earn an additional 1,000 bonus points for each new brand you are staying in. As a reminder Mariott now has 29 different brands.
They also stating that they will offer a game starting in October to be able to win points and prices as per the below:
I guess we will find out in October what that will entail and how they are trying to engage members.
If the actual doesn’t work, as was the case for me, just log into your account and navigate to Promotions to register.
Hyatt
Hyatt is offering up to 60,000 bonus points, based on the number of nights you are staying. For most this really comes down to an additional 500 points per night. I personally have a few Hyatt stays coming up, so will probably earn an additional 3,000 points 
through this.
Again if you think that is not a lot, the most Hyatt charges for an award night is 30,000 points. Later this fall I actually am using 8,000 points a night for a stay in my old college town for a football weekend.
Award stays will still count for that bonus.
I did focus the above on the chains that I have stayed at most frequently and have some kind of points balance with. There are certainly some other brands out there that might be interesting for some, like Wyndham, Radisson or European brands like Le Accor.
Not sure if a hotel is part of a chain? A quick google search will reveal if a hotel is part of any chain.
Summary
This is an easy way to rack up a significant amount of points. The next redemption might just be around the corner and can save you hundreds of dollars. Don’t think it is worth it? You may never find out, but as seen through some of the stories I share here, it can become quite attainable. And because extra or free is still always a win in my book.
Let me know if you this is helpful and will ensure to keep you posted on new promotions!
