A handful of hotel loyalty programs stand out from the rest in terms of family-friendly perks like room upgrades and free breakfast. These may not necessarily be the same programs that would appeal to business or solo travelers, which is why it’s important to decide where your loyalty should lie when you travel as a family.
Here are our top hotel loyalty programs for families.
Hilton Honors
Good for connecting rooms and chains with free breakfast
With more than 7,000 properties worldwide, you are never far from a family-friendly Hilton where you can earn or redeem Hilton Honors points.
Hilton uniquely guarantees adjoining rooms through its Confirmed Connecting Rooms program. With most hotel brands, you need to call or make a note on your reservation; then, just hope and pray that they honor your request. At Hilton hotels, you can book guaranteed connecting rooms online during the reservation process.
Hilton also has several brands that offer complimentary breakfast for every guest staying in the room. This can save your family hundreds of dollars over the course of your vacation. Plus, you won’t need to waste time and effort finding somewhere to eat breakfast each morning.
You can typically find free breakfast at the following Hilton brands:
- Embassy Suites
- Hampton Inn
- Homewood Suites
- Home2 Suites
- Project H3 by Hilton
- Spark by Hilton
- Tru by Hilton
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Embassy Suites Aruba. MELANIE LIEBERMAN/THE POINTS GUY
Hilton also allows families to pool Hilton Honors points into one account. If you and your partner both travel to Hilton properties, you can transfer points to one member’s account and redeem them for a family trip when you’ve accumulated enough for your dream vacation. And as a Hilton Honors member, resort fees are waived on award stays.
In terms of loyalty program perks, Hilton Honors offers benefits that make travel more convenient for families even at its basic Member level. If your kids love a sky-high view, you can choose a room on a high floor via the Hilton mobile app up to 24 hours in advance. If you have a light sleeper, you can choose a room furthest from the elevator. Hilton Honors members can also skip the front desk and get the kids straight to the room with digital check-in and a digital key (also available via the Hilton app).
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When you earn enough nights to hit some of Hilton Honors’ higher elite tiers, you can earn perks like a fifth night free on award stays, bonus points, daily food and beverage credits, room upgrades and more.
If you want to fast-track your way to reaping larger Hilton rewards, you can get automatic Hilton status through some of its cobranded American Express cards:
World of Hyatt
Great resort properties and fantastic loyalty program
As a World of Hyatt member, you can take advantage of perks at some of TPG’s favorite family-friendly properties, including the Hyatt Ziva Cancun, the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa and the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek, to name a few.
World of Hyatt members can share points with any other member, so if you want to pool your points to cover your family vacation, you can. It does require a form and an email, but it sounds worse than it is and usually happens within a business day or two. You can also rack up points with the Chase Ultimate Rewards program and cards such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, which can transfer to Hyatt at a 1:1 ratio.
Base-level World of Hyatt members can earn points toward award nights and have resort fees waived when redeeming points for award nights. If you need more space, all World of Hyatt members can save up to 50% off the standard cash rate when booking a second room through the Hyatt Family Plan Rate. This rate isn’t available at all properties (it’s more common internationally), the discount can be less than 50% and you do have to call to book, but it can save you a lot of money if you need more than one room when you travel as a family.
When you move up to the Discoverist or Explorist level, you are eligible for room upgrades (based on availability), bonus points, 2 p.m. late checkout and more.
Related: 22 best Hyatt hotels in the world
Where this program really shines for families, though, is when you reach World of Hyatt Globalist status.
Hyatt Globalist members enjoy benefits like standard suite upgrades, 4 p.m. late checkout at nonresorts (so you can squeeze every last minute of fun out of your vacation), waived resort fees on paid and award stays, free parking on award stays, hotel lounge access or complimentary full breakfast at hotels without lounges, and more. The free breakfast benefit is valid for up to two adults and two children, unlike similar loyalty programs that only offer this perk to two guests per room.
Earning Hyatt’s top-tier Globalist status is no easy feat. You need 60 tier-qualifying nights or 100,000 base points per calendar year to qualify. There are a few shortcuts you can take, though, including spending on the World of Hyatt Credit Card.
The World of Hyatt Credit Card offers automatic Discoverist status, but you can also earn tier-qualifying nights toward Globalist status to reap the high-tier benefits. You can automatically get five tier-qualifying night credits every calendar year, and you’ll earn two additional tier-qualifying night credits every time you spend $5,000 on your card. If you do the math, you could spend $140,000 on your World of Hyatt card each calendar year to get Hyatt Globalist status.
Marriott Bonvoy
Well-located hotels and easy-to-earn status
When it comes to family trips, Marriott knows it’s all about location, location, location.
Marriott has properties near popular vacation destinations like Hilton Head Island, Paradise Island, Walt Disney World and Disneyland. Not only does Marriott have properties on prime real estate, but several locations have family suites with bunk beds and on-property water parks.
Related: The 10 best Marriott hotels for families for a carefree vacation
As a Marriott Bonvoy member, you can get even more out of your time at these properties with perks like discounted rates, the ability to share points between family members, mobile check-in, fifth night free on award stays, and the ability to earn and redeem points on stays.
Of course, the higher your elite tier level, the better the perks. As a Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite member, you can get a 2 p.m. late checkout (so you aren’t rushing to pack your family up and get out of the room on your departure day), room upgrades and more. Your mileage may vary, but Marriott seems to come through often. For example, the brand often gives decent room upgrades, such as from a standard-view room to a balcony room or more spacious digs.
Related: Guide to Marriott and Hilton elite status with the Amex Platinum and Business Platinum
Several credit cards come with Marriott Gold elite status as a perk for cardholders:
But if you have the Marriott Brilliant Card, you actually get instant Marriott Platinum status. This is very useful, especially with its included breakfast benefit at some brands. Sadly, it doesn’t technically extend to more than two people per room, but some properties do go above and beyond the stated rules.
Only a handful of Marriott brands — including Fairfield by Marriott, Residence Inn by Marriott, SpringHill Suites by Marriott and TownePlace Suites by Marriott — offer free breakfast without elite status. But that’s another way to score complimentary bacon and eggs when you stay with Marriott.
Related: Marriott elite status: What it is and how to earn it
Bottom line
It doesn’t matter if you sign up for a free base-level account or travel often enough to climb a hotel’s elite status tiers, there are several hotel programs that can improve your family’s travels. You can further bolster your status — and perks — with several of the hotel loyalty programs in this guide when you sign up for one of their cobranded credit cards.
Whether you are looking for free breakfast as your kids grow up or connecting rooms as your family grows larger, each of these hotel loyalty programs excels in different ways for families.
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