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If you’re a member of Canada’s top rewards program, you’ve probably received emails from Aeroplan about their promotion for their hotel redemption option, HotelSavers. In the vast majority of cases, it’s not a very attractive promotion.

We often tell you, just because there’s a promotion, it doesn’t mean it’s good.

But more importantly, just because you can use your points for something, it really doesn’t mean it’s good.

Here are the details of the Aeroplan HotelSavers promotion (and general tips on the value of Aeroplan points).

 

Overview of the Aeroplan HotelSavers promotion

Here are the highlights:

  • Promotion for hotels booked with Aeroplan points
    • It’s a pretty bad value even with the promotion
    • It’s better than without a promotion at least
    • It may be a good option for some travelers
    • These are variable-value points, so it depends…
  • Discount based on the length of stay
    • 1 to 3 nights: 10% back in points
    • 4+ nights: 20% back in points
  • For example, you pay 20,000 points for 1 night
    • They will give you back 2,000 points (10%)

Here are the logistics:

  • Limited dates
    • Reservations before April 25th
    • Stays before September 30th
  • Registration is mandatory for the promotion
    • As is almost always the case for promotions
    • It takes 10 seconds
    • On the promotion website
HotelSavers promotion banner (image credit: Aeroplan)

 

Details of the Aeroplan HotelSavers promotion

Our ultimate guide to Aeroplan coming in May is going to have a lot more details on all the redemption options, including Aeroplan HotelSavers. But here are a few details.

 

Logistics of the Aeroplan HotelSavers promotion

You register for the promotion in 2 clicks on the Aeroplan HotelSavers promotion site.

(We highly recommend 1Password to manage all your passwords and account details, for simplicity and security!)

Registration page (image credit: Aeroplan)

 

You then go to the Aeroplan HotelSavers booking tool to find a hotel stay that must be completed by September 30th.

Reservation tool (image credit: Aeroplan)

 

You need to book it before April 25th.

It’s just like when you book any hotel online… but you book on the Aeroplan HotelSavers booking tool instead of Hotels.com, Booking.com, Hotwire, or others. Many ask us for beginner-level posts for some help, so the next time I book a hotel (and a flight), I will take screenshots to show you the step by step.

And finally, you’ll get your 10% or 20% back in points within weeks of your stay. That’s why promotions with points back like this (as opposed to a discount upfront) are slightly less appealing, as you don’t have access to your points in the meantime.

That said, you should review your rewards strategy and plan better if you don’t have enough points fast enough: get more cards, it’s that simple!

 

Basics of redemptions by rewards type

As a rule of thumb, to maximize them, hotel chain points should be used for reward nights (even if you can use them for flights).

And so to maximize them, airline points should be used for reward flights (even if you can use them for hotels).

Most importantly, ALL points should always be used for travel (NEVER use them for merchandise or anything like that).

The phrase “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should” is a good one to remember when it comes to travel rewards. It’s vital to simply compare and do the math.

 

Value of hotel redemptions

Our Flytrippers Valuation of Aeroplan points is ≈ 1.5¢ per point, a conservative value for average travelers who book economy flights and are at least somewhat careful about redeeming points correctly.

But Aeroplan points have unlimited value and can give you outsized value. For example, it’s worth even more if you redeem them for business class flights: it can give you 2¢ or even 3¢ per point (and more).

But if you don’t use them as well, they can give you just 1.1¢ for flights too (to get any seat on any Air Canada flight for example).

In short, hotel redemptions with Aeroplan HotelSavers simply give a lower value.

 

Scenarios when it makes sense to take advantage of the Aeroplan HotelSavers hotel promotion

If you use your Aeroplan points to book any seat on any flight on Air Canada without being careful to maximize them, then the value of the hotel redemptions may be similar (or even higher thanks to this promotion, even though it’s lower than the past 25%/15% back promo).

In that case, it might be okay to use them for hotels since you don’t want to maximize anyway. Every traveler is different. It’s up to you to decide what you want to do, but as experts, we advise you to use them better.

Because even though hotel points as such are rarer in Canada, we have plenty of simple bank points that can’t give outsized value that you can use for your hotels, like the free $825 with the increased welcome bonus on the TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card, the highest offer for simple points ever seen in Canada.

It’s those that you should add to your rewards strategy, to pay for your hotels. Especially since almost all of these bank points can be easily earned each year to quickly replenish your stashes!

Points like Aeroplan, which can give you outsized value, are much rarer and harder to get in large quantities, in comparison. So even more valuable because of that, plus they are the only ones that can be worth so much more and give you an even better deal.

So our recommendation is not to “waste” them on low value redemptions, because we like to maximize everything — and we want to help you do that too.

 

Examples of redemptions with the Aeroplan HotelSavers promotion

Since we haven’t done this yet since the launch of the Aeroplan HotelSavers program, I took this opportunity to do a (very) quick analysis of the value of the points, including with the discounts from this promotion.

In short, I took 7 hotels in Miami (so you can see the value across different price ranges with everything else being equal in the same market), 4 hotels in Bangkok, 3 hotels in Antigua Guatemala, 3 hotels in Istanbul, and 3 hotels in Paris. It’s very preliminary, it’s just to give you an idea at high level very quickly.

And I chose a mix of normal hotels and hotels in the HotelSavers categories (I’ll explain in the guide because it’s not so relevant today).

I show you the value of these 20 redemptions, which unsurprisingly is quite bad (but gets a little less bad the more expensive the hotel, again unsurprisingly as the most valuable travel rewards are always worth more for those who were going to spend more on more luxurious travel).

I remind you that how to calculate the value of a points redemption is always extremely simple: the number of dollars saved divided by the number of points redeemed.

Finally, just for simplicity’s sake for today, I also assumed that the price in cash that is listed on the HotelSavers booking tool is really the cheapest price available, which is almost certainly not the case.

So the real value of the points is actually even lower than what is listed, unfortunately. What I mean by that is that I calculated the value of the first hotel assuming that the $172/night cash price that Aeroplan shows is really the cheapest price. That gives a value of 0.79¢/pt.

But using an aggregator like HotelsCombined or TripAdvisor, there’s probably a booking site that sells that same hotel a little cheaper, as is always the case (that’s why you should always use an aggregator for everything). So if it’s really $150/night and not $172/night, the value of the redemption actually drops to an even worse 0.7¢/pt.

I’ll have more details on this important aspect in the next travel rewards update, with concrete examples (both for hotels… and flights too).

Let’s look at the 20 examples.

 

7 hotels in Miami Beach on September 29th (1 night)

Calculations:

  • Number of dollars saved: $172
  • Number of Aeroplan points redeemed: 21,550 pts
  • Value of redemption: 0.79¢/pt
  • Value with 10% discount: 0.92¢/pt
  • Value with 20% discount: 1¢/pt

 

Calculations:

  • Number of dollars saved: $180
  • Number of Aeroplan points redeemed: 22,450 pts
  • Value of redemption: 0.8¢/pt
  • Value with 10% discount: 0.89¢/pt
  • Value with 20% discount: 1¢/pt

 

Calculations:

  • Number of dollars saved: $248
  • Number of Aeroplan points redeemed: 27,400 pts
  • Value of redemption: 0.88¢/pt
  • Value with 10% discount: 0.97¢/pt
  • Value with 20% discount: 1¢/pt

 

Calculations:

  • Number of dollars saved: $330
  • Number of Aeroplan points redeemed: 30,850 pts
  • Value of redemption: 1¢/pt
  • Value with 10% discount: 1.2¢/pt
  • Value with 20% discount: 1.3¢/pt

 

Calculations:

  • Number of dollars saved: $396
  • Number of Aeroplan points redeemed: 40,500 pts
  • Value of redemption: 0.98¢/pt
  • Value with 10% discount: 1¢/pt
  • Value with 20% discount: 1.2¢/pt

 

Calculations:

  • Number of dollars saved: $428
  • Number of Aeroplan points redeemed: 42,150 pts
  • Value of redemption: 1¢/pt
  • Value with 10% discount: 1.1¢/pt
  • Value with 20% discount: 1.3¢/pt

 

Calculations:

  • Number of dollars saved: $1,619
  • Number of Aeroplan points redeemed: 152,150 pts
  • Value of redemption: 1¢/pt
  • Value with 10% discount: 1.2¢/pt
  • Value with 20% discount: 1.3¢/pt

 

4 hotels in Bangkok on September 26th (1 night)

Calculations:

  • Number of dollars saved: $44
  • Number of Aeroplan points redeemed: 4,900 pts
  • Value of redemption: 0.9 ¢/pt
  • Value with 10% discount: 1 ¢/pt
  • Value with 20% discount: 1.1 ¢/pt

 

Calculations:

  • Number of dollars saved: $101
  • Number of Aeroplan points redeemed: 7,300 pts
  • Value of redemption: 1.3 ¢/pt
  • Value with 10% discount: 1.5 ¢/pt
  • Value with 20% discount: 1.7 ¢/pt

 

Calculations:

  • Number of dollars saved: $82
  • Number of Aeroplan points redeemed: 10,000 pts
  • Value of redemption: 0.82 ¢/pt
  • Value with 10% discount: 0.91 ¢/pt
  • Value with 20% discount: 1 ¢/pt

 

Calculations:

  • Number of dollars saved: $123
  • Number of Aeroplan points redeemed: 12,000 pts
  • Value of redemption: 1 ¢/pt
  • Value with 10% discount: 1.1 ¢/pt
  • Value with 20% discount: 1.2 ¢/pt

 

3 hotels in Istanbul on September 23rd (1 night)

Calculations:

  • Number of dollars saved: $43
  • Number of Aeroplan points redeemed: 5,650 pts
  • Value of redemption: 0.76 ¢/pt
  • Value with 10% discount: 0.84 ¢/pt
  • Value with 20% discount: 0.95 ¢/pt

 

Calculations:

  • Number of dollars saved: $99
  • Number of Aeroplan points redeemed: 12,900 pts
  • Value of redemption: 0.76 ¢/pt
  • Value with 10% discount: 0.85 ¢/pt
  • Value with 20% discount: 0.95 ¢/pt

 

Calculations:

  • Number of dollars saved: $180
  • Number of Aeroplan points redeemed: 18,000 pts
  • Value of redemption: 1 ¢/pt
  • Value with 10% discount: 1.1 ¢/pt
  • Value with 20% discount: 1.2 ¢/pt

 

3 hotels in Antigua Guatemala on May 3rd (1 night)

Calculations:

  • Number of dollars saved: $50
  • Number of Aeroplan points redeemed: 6,100 pts
  • Value of redemption: 0.81 ¢/pt
  • Value with 10% discount: 0.91 ¢/pt
  • Value with 20% discount: 1 ¢/pt

 

Calculations:

  • Number of dollars saved: $79
  • Number of Aeroplan points redeemed: 9,100 pts
  • Value of redemption: 0.86 ¢/pt
  • Value with 10% discount: 0.96 ¢/pt
  • Value with 20% discount: 1 ¢/pt

 

Calculations:

  • Number of dollars saved: $299
  • Number of Aeroplan points redeemed: 25,000 pts
  • Value of redemption: 1.1 ¢/pt
  • Value with 10% discount: 1.3 ¢/pt
  • Value with 20% discount: 1.4 ¢/pt

 

3 hotels in Paris on June 12th (1 night)

Calculations:

  • Number of dollars saved: $139
  • Number of Aeroplan points redeemed: 19,400 pts
  • Value of redemption: 0.71 ¢/pt
  • Value with 10% discount: 0.79 ¢/pt
  • Value with 20% discount: 0.89 ¢/pt

 

Calculations:

  • Number of dollars saved: $176
  • Number of Aeroplan points redeemed: 22,900 pts
  • Value of redemption: 0.76 ¢/pt
  • Value with 10% discount: 0.85 ¢/pt
  • Value with 20% discount: 0.96 ¢/pt

 

Calculations:

  • Number of dollars saved: $281
  • Number of Aeroplan points redeemed: 26,100 pts
  • Value of redemption: 1 ¢/pt
  • Value with 10% discount: 1.1 ¢/pt
  • Value with 20% discount: 1.3 ¢/pt 

 

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Summary

The Aeroplan HotelSavers promotion is a good reminder that just because there’s a discount or sale, it doesn’t mean it’s good. For those who don’t maximize their Aeroplan points, it could be an option… but it’s still much better to redeem them for reward flights.

What would you like to know about the Aeroplan HotelSavers promotion? Tell us in the comments below.

 

See the deals we spot: Cheap flights

Explore awesome destinations: Travel inspiration

Learn pro tricks: Travel tips

Discover free travel: Travel rewards

 

Featured image: Kimpton Angler’s South Beach Hotel in Miami (image credit: IHG)

 

 

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Andrew D'Amours

Andrew is the co-founder of Flytrippers. He is passionate about traveling the world but also, as a former management consultant, about the travel industry itself. He shares his experiences to help you save money on travel. As a very cost-conscious traveler, he loves finding deals and getting free travel thanks to travel rewards points... to help him visit every country in the world (current count: 71/193 Countries, 47/50 US States & 9/10 Canadian Provinces).

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