Best Way to Earn Points & Miles on Airbnb Rentals

I love hotels for the fantastic amenities, elite benefits and collecting hotel points for future free stays. However, sometimes, staying in a hotel isn’t the best option. For example, you may stay somewhere for a longer time, making the room rates prohibitive. Or maybe the trip involves many people, and you all want to stay in the same location. Or your destination doesn’t have any hotels brands that work for you.

You don’t need to give up earning points and miles for whatever reason you need or want to rent an apartment or entire home through a vacation rental. Let me explain how to do this, so you don’t miss out on any bonus rewards.

How to Earn with Airbnb

You can earn bonus points and miles with Airbnb through several airline loyalty programs. Best of all, there are opportunities to double and even triple dip to earn more points and miles. Functioning just like an online shopping portal, several airlines have partnered with Airbnb to offer miles with every eligible booking.

You can earn miles with All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan’s largest airline, British Airways, Delta Airlines, Qantas Airways (Australia’s largest airline), and United Airlines. Except for United, all of the above airlines have an online shopping portal you need to click to earn their specific miles. To earn United Miles, you will need to buy an Airbnb gift card from the United MileagePlusX app and apply that to your Airbnb account.

• All Nippon Airways: Earn 1x mile for every 200 yen spent on Airbnb. First-time users will get a 3,000 yen Airbnb coupon and earn 2x miles for every 200 spent on Airbnb.
• British Airways: Earn 2x miles per $1 spent on Airbnb & 3x per miles on Airbnb Experiences. First-time users will earn 6x miles per $1 spent on Airbnb.
• Delta Airlines: Earn 1x mile per $1 spent on Airbnb stays.
• Qantas Airways: Earn 1x mile per $1 AU spent on Airbnb stays. First-time users will earn 500 bonus Qantas points with their first stay.
• United Airlines: Earn 2x miles per $1 spent on Airbnb stays via the United MileagePlusX app. Download the app at your favorite app store (Apple/Android).

Next time you look to book your next vacation rental, consider clicking through one of these loyalty programs. If you are a first-time user of Airbnb, some of these programs offer attractive offers. However, since you can only take advantage of the first-time user offer one time, it would be best to use it on a more expensive accommodation stay.

Stacking Opportunities

Airbnb currently doesn’t offer a loyalty program to take advantage of, but you can still earn many points. Here are some of the best ways to points and miles in multiple loyalty programs for just one stay at Airbnb.

First off, the most direct way to earn points and miles with an Airbnb stay is to use a credit card that has travel as one of its bonus categories. Some of the best options are the Chase Sapphire Reserve (3x points on travel), American Express Green Card (3x points on travel), Citi Premier Card (3x points on hotels).

In addition, if you have a business credit card that earns bonus points in office supply stores such as the Ink Business Cash Credit Card (5x on office supply stores), or the Blue Business Plus Credit Card (2x on all purchases), you could buy Airbnb gift cards and apply them to your Airbnb account.

As mentioned earlier, you can buy Airbnb e-gift cards from the United MileagePlus X app and earn 2x United miles per $1 spent. You may also find discounted Airbnb gift cards online at various gift card sites.

Maximize Earning Strategy

My favorite strategy for earning miles with Airbnb is to stack several opportunities per stay. For instance, suppose I wanted to book a large Airbnb for a family reunion for $1,000. So I would first use my Chase Sapphire Reserve card to purchase a $1,000 United Airbnb E-gift card. Then I would load them onto my Airbnb account, utilizing the British Airways Airbnb portal to book the property.

I would then earn:

• 3,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards
• 2,000 United Miles
• 2,000 British Airways Avios

The points earned above represent a nearly 12% return on the Airbnb stay based on my value of all the points ability to earn future travel.

Military Considerations

To get value out of Airbnb rentals, you will want to use one of the credit cards mentioned above that have travel or hotels as a bonus category. The Chase Sapphire Reserve and American Express Green Card will waive annual fees for active-duty military. It saves you $550 and $150 respectively each year.

Which miles to earn will ultimately depend on which airline miles you value the most or a particular travel goal you want to achieve. All Nippon Airways and Qantas miles will be more beneficial for military members in the PACOM area of operations. Especially for those stationed in Japan or visiting Australia airline routes.

For military members stationed in NORTHCOM or EUCOM, you’ll probably want to earn with British Airways or if you’re near a Delta Hub with Delta Airways.

Bottom Line

Circumstances may mean that a vacation rental could be a better idea than booking a hotel to earn hotel points or elite status. Whether because of the location, the space needed to accommodate more people or simply social distancing. Vacation rentals typically can provide you with the area and privacy you are looking to achieve, and now you can earn points while staying at a non-brand hotel location.

Operating just like a shopping portal clicking through one of the airline loyalty program portals before booking an Airbnb is easy. Your points earning can be pretty significant if you combine the above methods in the article. If you frequently use Airbnb or rent out an expensive home for a special occasion, it’s worth adding an extra step in the booking process.