There are a range of hotel partners where you can earn Airpoints Dollars when you stay.
This guide is intended as an overview of the various options for those wanting to boost their Airpoints Dollar balances by staying at select hotels when travelling for leisure or business.
Airpoints Hotel Partners
Air New Zealand has partnered with a number of hotels and resorts inside and outside New Zealand. If you book directly with one of these partners, you’ll earn Airpoints Dollars for your stay, if on a qualifying rate.
To earn Airpoints Dollars, show your Air New Zealand membership card during check-in or add your frequent flyer number to the hotel booking over the phone or online before you stay.
This table has the participating Hotel Partners and the number of Airpoints Dollars you can earn. Note that spend rates are usually exclusive of taxes. Many of these hotels also provide some opportunity to earn points on other spend, such as room service and dining.
| Hotel or Brand | Airpoints Dollars (APD) earned on stays |
|---|---|
| Sofitel | 20APD per stay |
| Pullman Hotels | 1APD per NZD $15 spend |
| MGallery Hotels | 1APD per NZD $15 spend |
| Grand Mercure Hotels & Apartments | 1APD per NZD $15 spend |
| Novotel Hotels & Resorts | 1APD per NZD $15 spend |
| Mercure Hotels & Resorts | 1APD per NZD $15 spend |
| Choice Hotels | 1APD per NZD $20 spend in New Zealand 1APD per AUD $20 spend in Australia 10APD per stay in Singapore, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Europe*, United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Carribean |
| Commodore Airport Hotel Christchurch | 1APD per NZD $12 spend |
| Edgewater Resort & Spa Rarotonga | 1APD per NZD $20 spend |
| Hilton Portfolio of Properties | 1APD per USD $50 spend^ |
| Intercontinental Hotels & Resorts | 20APD per stay |
| HUALUXE Hotels & Resorts | 10APD per stay |
| Crowne Plaza | 10APD per stay |
| Hotel Indigo | 10APD per stay |
| EVEN Hotels | 10APD per stay |
| Holiday Inn | 10APD per stay |
| Holiday Inn Express | 10APD per stay |
| Staybridge Suites | 10APD per stay |
| Candlewood Suites | 10APD per stay |
| Langham Hotels & Resorts | 20APD per stay |
| Cordis Hotels | 20APD per stay |
| Eaton Hotel Hong Kong | 10APD per stay |
| Chelsea Hotel Toronto | 10APD per stay |
| Anantara Hotels, Resorts and Spas | 20APD per stay |
| Oaks Hotels & Resorts | 20APD per stay |
| Millenium Hotels & Resorts | 1APD per NZD $15 spend |
| Copthorne Hotels | 1APD per NZD $15 spend |
| Kingsgate Hotels | 1APD per NZD $15 spend |
| Pacific Resort Hotel Group | 1APD per NZD $20 spend |
| The Rarotongan Beach Resort & Spa | 1APD per NZD $20 spend |
| Aitutaki Lagoon Resort & Spa | 1APD per NZD $20 spend |
| Sanctuary Rarotonga | 1APD per NZD $20 spend |
| Starwood Hotels & Resorts | 40APD per stay in New Zealand and Australia 20APD per stay elsewhere in the world |
| Sudima Hotels & Resorts | 1APD per NZD $15 spend |
| All other hotels, when booked through Air New Zealand's Expedia Page | 1APD per NZD $75 spend |
* Excludes Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden. ^ Via Hilton points transfer only as of 2 April 2018
You’ll see that some hotels offer a fixed number of Airpoints Dollars regardless of stay length, others tie it to your spend. So you’ll need to calculate what hotel will offer the best return on your spend, based on room rate and length of stay.
Make sure you refer to each hotel partner’s website for more information on how to earn Airpoints Dollars and specific terms and conditions.
The key terms are:
- Hotel reservations booked through a travel agent, online booking site, Air New Zealand Holidays or the Air New Zealand website for stays at Airpoints hotel partners may not be eligible to earn Airpoints Dollars.
- Some stays or rates are not eligible to earn Airpoints Dollars and some properties within each brand do not participate in the Airpoints programme.
If you’re unsure, and earning Airpoints Dollars is important to you, make sure to always check with the hotel for further information. It’s often as simple as a quick email.
Stay a night at the Cordis Auckland, and earn 20 Airpoints Dollars
Earn Airpoints Dollars from hotel stays by transferring hotel loyalty program points to Airpoints
You can also earn Airpoints Dollars when you transfer your existing hotel loyalty program points from participating hotel partners to your Airpoints account.
The table below shows the transfer rate for the relevant hotel partner, and how much you need to spend to earn the minimum number of points required to redeem for Airpoints Dollars (APD). You usually won’t earn points on the tax component of hotel stays however Choice Hotels is the exception in the case of Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Fiji.
Note that these numbers are based on you not having elite status with any of these programs.
| Hotel Program | Hotel points earned on room rate ($USD, unless noted) | Minimum Transfer Rate | Minimum base spend required to earn number of hotel points for transfer ($USD, unless noted) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starwood Preferred Guest | 2 Starpoints for every $1 | 2,535 Starpoints = 39APD Transfer 34,975 Starpoints and receive 5,000 bonus Starpoints, for a total of 615APD | $1,268 |
| Choice Privileges | 10 points for every $1, excluding some countries | 20,000 Choice Privileges Points = 50APD | $2,000 |
| Hilton Honors | 10 points for every $1, except Home2 Suites and Tru by Hilton, which is 5 points for every $1 | 5,000 HHonors Points = 10APD (starting 2 April 2018) | $500 |
| IHG Rewards Club | 10 points for every $1, except Staybridge and Candlewood Suites, which is 5 points for every $1 | 10,000 IHG Rewards Club Points = 25APD | $1,000 |
While these programs offer the ability to convert their own membership points into APD, they also allow you to earn APD direct (excluding Hilton come 2 April 2018).
So which option is best? We’ve taken a look at the partners below, and show you how to get the most APD from your spend. Note that all of these calculations assume that there are no bonus offers on, which can affect the assessment, and that you will have the minimum number of program points required to make a transfer to APD:
Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG)
Starwood offer a generous fixed number of Airpoints Dollars per stay if you earn directly into your Airpoints account, particularly in Australia, and also in New Zealand once the Four Points by Sheraton opens in Auckland.
However for extended stays, short stays with a high nightly rate, or holidays overseas, you may be better off earning Starpoints and then converting into Airpoints Dollars.
- If you’re staying at a Starwood hotel in AU/NZ, and the cost of your stay will be US$1300 or less before tax, get your Airpoints Dollars credited directly into your Airpoints account. Anything more, choose to earn Starpoints instead.
If you’re staying at a Starwood hotel overseas, and the cost of your stay will be US$650 or less before tax, get your Airpoints Dollars credited directly into your Airpoints account. Anything more, choose to earn Starpoints instead.
Remember, Amex Platinum cardholders are entitled to complimentary SPG Gold Preferred status, which reduces the minimum transfer requirement to 1,500 Starpoints.
The Sydney Westin, a Starwood Hotel
Choice Privileges
In Australia and New Zealand, you will earn 1 Airpoints Dollar per AUD/NZD$20 spent at Choice Hotels.
If you choose to earn Choice Privileges points instead, and then convert, you would only earn 1 Airpoints Dollar per US$40 (AUD$53/NZD$56) spent. This is based on earning 10 points per US$1 spent.
Therefore for Choice Hotels in Australia and New Zealand, it is significantly better value to earn Airpoints Dollars directly.
Elsewhere in the world, you will earn 10 Airpoints Dollar per stay.
You can convert 20,000 Choice Privileges points to 50APD at your convenience. The transfer rate works out to be 1APD per 400 points.
To maximise how many APD you earn, consider the following:
- If your stay at a Choice Hotels property will cost over US$400, you’ll ‘earn’ more miles by opting to earn Rewards Club points, and then converting.
- Cheaper stays at these properties will see you earn more miles by opting to earn directly.
Quality Hotel Parnell, Auckland
IHG Rewards
With IHG Rewards Club, you can earn either:
- 20APD at Intercontinental, and 10APD at other brands; or
- 10 Rewards Club points per US$1 at InterContinental, Kimpton, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn, EVEN Hotels, and Hualuxe properties; and 5 Rewards Club points per US$1 at Staybridge and Candlewood Suites properties.
You can convert 10,000 Rewards Club points to 25APD at your convenience. The transfer rate works out to be 1APD per 400 Rewards Club points.
To maximise how many APD you earn, consider the following:
- If your stay at an Intercontinental, Staybridge or Candlewood Suites property will cost over US$800, or your stay at any other brand will cost over US$400, you’ll ‘earn’ more miles by opting to earn Rewards Club points, and then converting.
- Cheaper stays at these properties will see you earn more miles by opting to earn directly.
Intercontinental Wellington
Conclusion and Common Rules
You can generally change your earning preference at any time, so make sure you do the maths before your stay so you can work out what will earn you the highest number of Airpoints Dollars.
Choice Hotels makes the decision easy in Australia and New Zealand, with a decent direct earn rate that is far more competitive than earning and converting Choice Privileges Points.
For the others, you’ll need to do some quick maths before your stay, because the scenarios can work out different depending on the cost and location of your stay.
Also keep in mind these common rules:
- If you’re only staying at a hotel or brand on a one-off basis, you should opt to earn Airpoints Dollars directly in almost all cases. This is so you’re not left with an account balance that you cannot otherwise use.
- There are often hotel bonus promotions that allow you to earn extra points, which will often affect whether direct earn or conversion is the better deal.
- If you are an elite member of some of these programs, the minimum spend to earn points and convert to Airpoints Dollars will be even less – take this into account when doing the maths.
Missing Points?
Air New Zealand advises that you should allow up to 60 days for your Airpoints Dollars to appear in your account, and to retain your original receipts or invoices in order to claim any missing Airpoints Dollars. This is often not a problem with most of the hotel chains as your receipts and stay information tend to be tied to your account and available to access online.
Should you find yourself needing to make a claim, you can do so through logging into your Air New Zealand online account, and selecting the My Bookings tab, then the Claim missing Airpoints button. You must claim missing Airpoints Dollars within 6 months of your stay.
Summing up
There is a decent range of hotels that you can earn Airpoints Dollars at, and your earning ability is extended through their partnership with Expedia.
The number of Airpoints Dollars you could earn depends on how much you travel, whether it’s predominately domestic or international, and the nightly rates of individual hotels. Make sure you do the maths.
Keep an eye on your hotel bookings to make sure you’re not missing out on Airpoints Dollars for your next stay.
Featured Photo courtesy of Langham Sydney
