American Express cardmembers now have another hotel loyalty program they can redeem rewards with.
About American Express’s Point Transfer Partnership with Leading Hotels of the World:
Yesterday, it was revealed that Leading Hotels of the World had become the latest American Express transfer partner. As The Points Guy notes, Amex members can now transfer Membership Rewards points to The Leading Hotels of the World’s Leaders Club at a rate of 4:1. This means that 1,000 Amex MR points can be converted to 250 Leaders Club points. Note that a minimum transfer amount of 1,000 points applies (as well as a 999,000-point daily maximum) and that transfers can take up to 72 hours.
With this update, Leaders Club now becomes the fourth hotel loyalty program to become an Amex transfer partner, joining Hilton Honors, Marriott Bonvoy, and Choice Privileges. Both Marriott Bonvoy and Choice Privileges have transfer rates of 1:1, while Hilton Honors has a 1:2 rate, meaning 1,000 MR points become 2,000 Honors points. Meanwhile, 16 airline loyalty programs are also available for transfers.
Unlike other hotel chains, Leading Hotels of the World is actually a collection of more than 400 independent luxury hotels. That includes more than 30 properties in the United States, with destinations as large as New York City and as small as Sedona, Arizona featured. Other properties can be found across every continent (except Antarctica).
The addition of Leaders Club follows a different partnership between Amex and Leading Hotels of the World. When the American Express Platinum Card was refreshed last fall, it was announced that Platinum cardmembers could enjoy complimentary Leaders Club Sterling status. With this status, members can enjoy up to 5 pre-arrival upgrades annually, daily continental breakfast for two, and more. To activate that perk, customers must link their Leaders Club account, which can be done by visiting the Benefits section of their Amex Platinum account.
My Thoughts:
I’m always in favor of having more options, so I’m happy to see Amex adding another transfer partner — although I am a bit surprised it took so long after previously partnering with Leading Hotels of the World for the Amex Platinum’s status perk.
Of course, in order to evaluate whether a new transfer partner is worth it, you need to take a look at what you can get for your points. So, I punched up a night at a random hotel on a random date, landing on a hotel in Paris for the night of September 15th. What I found was that the cash price was $829.03 while the point price was 10,385. That means you’d need to spend 41,540 Membership Rewards points to book this night. That works out to about 2¢ per point, which is pretty solid!
With that context, while the opportunities to use this option are limited due to the short list of properties, it seems as though this could be a decent way to enjoy a luxurious stay at a decent rewards redemption value.
