Airbnb launched the customer loyalty program Airbnb Rewards in 2018. Anyone can join for free and earn 1 mile for every dollar spent on qualifying booking that can be exchanged for a free night stay at participating locations.
To enroll as a member, you need to create an account and provide your email ID and other valid details and complete the sign-up process online.
You will receive a confirmation email with a member number after the enrollment. The existing member can log into their account with their username.
After signing up, you can start earning miles with a base reward of 1 mile per dollar on using Airbnb services. The earned miles can be redeemed for a free night stay and other benefits.
Airbnb Rewards Benefits
Airbnb Rewards program allows members to earn points and miles right after enrollment and benefit from eligible rewards and unlimited bonuses at participating hotels including hotel stays, gift card purchases, and purchase points.
- Free to join.
- Ability to earn and use points.
- Travel rewards.
- Point redemption using a Credit card.
- 1 mile for 1 dollar spent.
- Bonus points.
- Cardholder discounts.
- Referral points.
- Welcome bonus points for card purchase.
- Bonus miles for reserving stays.
How Does Airbnb Rewards Work?
Airbnb Reward miles can be earned by booking through your favorite airline or frequent flier program. Several airlines including Delta, British Airways, American, Qantas offer miles for each qualified booking when it is made through their website.
- Delta – 1x miles per dollar.
- British Airways – 3x miles per dollar and 500 points for the first booking.
- Qantas – 1x point per dollar and 500 points for the first booking.
You need to provide your membership number or frequent flier number and complete the booking of your Airbnb reservation. Then, you will be rewarded with miles and points.
Delta’s SkyMiles program allows members to earn points. You need to create an account and complete the sign-up process to become a member. The members need to access Airbnb through deltaairbnb.com.
Earning miles is applicable only for Airbnb transactions redirected from the Delta Airbnb website. You need to follow this way every time to be eligible to earn miles.
The booking should be made from their own Airbnb account and it should match the name of the SkyMiles account number. Miles will be credited to your account within 8 weeks.
You can earn points instead of miles if you use the travel rewards card for each purchase. The cards that help you earn points include Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, American Express Green Card, Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card.
- Chase Sapphire Preferred Card – 5x points
- American Express Green Card – 3x points
- Chase Sapphire Reserve Card – 3x points
- American Express Gold Card – 4x points
- Ink Business Cash Credit Card – 5x points
- Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card – 2x miles with bonus 6000 miles.
- United MileagePlus X app – 2x miles.
Chase Sapphire Preferred Card offers a welcome bonus of 60,000 points when you purchase for $4000 within 3 months. The $95 annual fee earns 5x points on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards points, 3x points on dining, and 2x on all other purchases.
These points can be transferred to different airline and hotel partners including United MileagePlus X and World of Hyatt at a ratio of 1:1. You can make flight, hotel, car bookings through Chase Travel Portal at a value of 0.25 cents per point.
Chase Sapphire Reserve Card allows you to earn 3x points for Airbnb purchases, 5x points on flights, and 10x points on hotel booking and car rental through Chase Ultimate Rewards. The cardholder gets a $300 annual travel credit that covers Airbnb bookings.
American Express Green Card allows you to earn 3x points for Airbnb purchases, restaurants including takeout and delivery. These points can be transferred to airlines including Delta SkyMiles, JetBlue, and hotels like Marriott.
You can earn 3x Delta miles per dollar at Airbnb booking. Additionally, Delta and Airbnb accounts can be linked to earning another 1x mile per dollar.
Ink Business Cash Credit Card offers 100,000 bonus points when you spend $15,000 on the first 3 months. You can earn 5x points for travel purchases through Airbnb. It has an annual fee of $95. These points can be transferred to different airline and hotel partners at a ratio of 1:1.
Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card offers 60,000 miles when you spend $3,000 within 3 months. You can earn 2x miles per dollar on purchases every day with an annual fee of $95.
United MileagePlus X helps you to earn 2 miles for every dollar spent on Airbnb gift cards using the app. Additionally, you can earn points, if you use a travel rewards card.
Chase Ultimate Rewards’ “Pay Yourself Back” allows Sapphire Reserve cardholders to use points for purchases at a rate of 1.25 cents per point and 100,000 points cover $1500 in purchases.
For Sapphire Preferred cardholders the purchase rate is 1.25 cents per point and 100,000 points cover $1250 in purchases.
What Can I Get With Airbnb Reward Points?
The best ways to use Airbnb points are to book hotel stays at participating locations, tours and activities, gift cards, merchandise, and charity donations. Using a credit card travel portal, you can book hotels or vacation homes by redeeming your earned points.
Another option to use the Airbnb points or miles is to pay for your purchases with your card and redeem your points for a statement credit.
For instance, when you transfer your miles to an airline or hotel, Capital One redeems it for travel purchases within 90 days. With a Capital One credit card, you can eliminate travel purchases directly from your statement.
The points can be used through different travel portals like Chase, American Express, Capital One to book vacation rentals as they get you more value to your points.
Chase Sapphire Reserve offers a $300 yearly travel credit that can be used for Airbnb hotel booking.
With the earned points, you can purchase Airbnb gift cards and you can use Chase Ultimate Rewards point at a rate of 1 cent for 1 Airbnb point for gift card conversion. Apple Pay and major credit cards are accepted for Airbnb gift card purchases.
Digital cards are available online and physical cards need to be purchased from participating stores like Target, Walmart, Walgreens, CVS.
When you buy Airbnb gift cards from office supply stores with the Ink Business Credit Card, you will get a 5% cashback offer.
The gift cards can be used for hotel stays, events, and experiences. To redeem gift cards,
- Go to Airbnb Gift Card Redemption.
- Enter your redemption details.
- Click the Redeem Gift Card button.
The balance of gift card funds will be automatically applied for each Airbnb hotel booking.
Once the gift card is added to your Airbnb account, the funds do not expire.
How To Redeem Airbnb Reward Points?
Point-based rewards can be redeemed through your card issuer’s redemption portal. After choosing the type of redemption like the gift card, shopping, travel, or cash back redemption, click the Redeem button and submit.
To redeem a travel purchase, you need to select the preferred travel reward and enter the points you want to apply. When you click the “Redeem” button next to it the points will be covered to that purchase.
The member’s current available point balance will be displayed on the right side next to your profile name on the home screen of your Airbnb account.
The travel credits will expire within 1 year from the date they are issued, so you must make use of it before that period.
Is Airbnb Rewards Worth It?
As it is easy to earn Airbnb points through stays, credit cards, and promotions the program is worth joining for anyone. Since credit card points have more redemption options, it is called “flexible rewards”.
These points can be redeemed and transferred as they provide more value to your points like more than 1 cent per point.
