Quick Points: Earn elite nights on award stays with these hotel loyalty programs

Hotel elite status provides plenty of benefits to make your next stay more comfortable, including room upgrades, early check-in and late checkout, bonus points and complimentary breakfast. These can be valuable, especially for top-tier elite members who receive far more perks than nonmembers in most loyalty programs.

You probably know that you can redeem hotel points for free nights, and if you hold status in that program, you can enjoy your status benefits during your stay, regardless of whether you booked the stay with cash or hotel points.

Related: Best hotel rewards programs in the world: Which one is right for you?

Be aware that when you book through a third-party accommodation provider like Booking.com, you will usually be unable to use status benefits and will not accrue elite night stays from that booking. This is because hotel providers want to encourage you to book directly with them rather than paying a commission to a third party. So, they offer fewer perks if you choose to book indirectly.

Did you know that booking free nights with hotel points at the following programs counts toward your status level like cash rates booked directly with the hotel do?

• Choice Privileges
• Hilton Honors
• IHG One Rewards
• Marriott Bonvoy
• World of Hyatt
• Wyndham Rewards

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This can be an especially handy benefit if you're hoping to earn and requalify for a particular elite status level before the end of the calendar year and are points-rich but cash-poor.

You could consider doing a "mattress run" by redeeming points at a lower-priced property within the program to earn the necessary elite nights to secure the status in time. Aside from the points you choose to redeem, this would have very little out of pocket costs.

Related: Last-minute tips for locking in hotel elite status

Bottom line

Earning elite night credits is a generous way for popular hotel programs to help you reach your elite status goals. You don't need to worry about whether you are paying cash or redeeming points to earn status, as both will do the job for the above programs. This differs greatly from most airline loyalty programs, where award seats do not earn elite status tier points or qualification dollars (with a few exceptions).

Also, don't forget World of Hyatt's unique Brand Explorer promotion, where you can earn a free Category 1-4 night for every five different Hyatt brands you stay at. There is no time limit to complete the stays, so you have years to complete the challenge, and if you are traveling to destinations with multiple Hyatt brands, it could be easy to earn several free nights by choosing different brands for your stays.