Point Expiration Policies For The Major Hotel Brands Now That People Are Traveling Again (Updated June 2021)

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Most worldwide hotel chains have a policy wherein your account becomes inactive if you don’t have any activity over a certain time frame. If you allow that to happen, the points in their loyalty program are lost. That was fine in a pre-COVID-19 travel world, but with many people staying home for various reasons, members of these programs would have seen their points disappear.

We’re almost halfway through 2021 and people are traveling again. We can’t expect programs to extend points forever. If you’ve lost track, here’s an updated list of the amended expiration policies from the major hotel programs.

Marriott Bonvoy

Normal point expiration – 2 years

Points Expiration: To provide you ample time to redeem Marriott Bonvoy Points, the expiration of Points is paused until March 31, 2022. At that time, your Points will only expire if your Account has been inactive for at least 24 months. 

IHG

Normal point expiration – 12 months

• Points never expire for all members with Elite status (Gold, Platinum and Spire) – a key benefit of our program.
• We have extended points expiry until December 31, 2021 for Club members (points normally expire after 12 months of inactivity).

Hyatt

Normal point expiration – 24 months

We are suspending the forfeiture of points through June 30, 2021. As a reminder, our general policy is that points do not expire, but they will be forfeited if a member’s account is inactive for 24 months.

Hilton

Normal point expiration – 12 months

We’re extending Points expiration to December 31, 2021, giving you more flexibility to use your Points when you’re ready to travel again.

Wyndham

Normal point expiration – 18 months

We are pausing the expiration of any Wyndham Rewards points until December 31, 2021.  

Choice Hotels

Normal point expiration – 18 months

We know you have a lot on your mind during this period of uncertainty as it relates to COVID-19. For Elite members, points forfeiture will remain paused through December 31, 2021. This update will allow Choice Privileges members more time to redeem points and achieve greater flexibility when planning future travel.

You’re reading that right. If you’re not an Elite member and had Choice points with no activity within 18 months of 12/31/2020, your points went POOF! Check your account!

Radisson

Normal point expiration – 24 months

We are extending our pause on the expiration of Radisson Rewards points. Any points that were set to expire between March 1, 2020 and December 30, 2021 will now expire on December 31, 2021, if the account remains inactive.

Best Western

Best Western points never expire, so there was no need to issue a point expiration extension.

MLife

M life Rewards point and Express Comp expirations due to inactivity as set forth in Rule 16 have been suspended from March 18, 2020 through March 31, 2021.

I can’t find anywhere that MLife extended this date past the end of March.

Final Thoughts

Most programs have extended points expiration to the end of 2021. Surprisingly, Marriott Bonvoy is the outlier and extended points to March 2022. It’s now Hyatt’s turn to play chicken as World of Hyatt points are due to expire at the end of the month. Since most loyalists think Hyatt is the best program, I wonder how long they’ll extend as I doubt they’ll let points expire when some people are just starting to travel again.

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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary