Buzz
Joining a rewards program is an excellent way to cut down on travel expenses, but some programs offer significantly more advantages than others. The editors at U.S. News examined several popular reward programs to determine which ones stand out.
We've previously shared which airlines offer the best and worst rewards flexibility. Now, we expand on that by looking at both hotel and airline programs. While “best” can be subjective, U.S. News outlines their evaluation criteria.
For their second annual rankings, U.S. News editors assessed each loyalty program based on essential factors like the scale of the airline or hotel network and the speed at which you can earn enough miles or points for a free flight or stay. They also considered the number of ways to redeem rewards and the additional perks available to members.
You can check out their full methodology here. With this in mind, here are the top five hotel rewards programs, as ranked by U.S. News:
Marriott Bonvoy Rewards
Wyndham Rewards Program
Best Western Rewards Program
Club Carlson Rewards
IHG Rewards Club Program
Here are the top airline programs:
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
American Airlines AAdvantage Program
Southwest Rapid Rewards Program
JetBlue TrueBlue Program
HawaiianMiles Program
To explore the full list and understand the reasoning behind each selection, follow the link below for more details.
Photo courtesy of holgi.
