You can now travel using fewer points at Qantas Hotels and Qantas Holidays

Using Qantas Points on the ground is now more rewarding, with fresh improvements to redemption rates at Qantas Hotels and Qantas Holidays.

On Points Plus Pay reservations, members now require up to 45% fewer Qantas Points than before. But are these bookings good value? Here’s how the numbers stack up.

Save on points when booking accommodation through Qantas Hotels

Travellers have long been able to make hotel reservations using points via Qantas Hotels. But from today, ‘Points Plus Pay’ bookings require 30% fewer Qantas Points than before.

It’s a move that significantly reduces the hit to your Qantas Frequent Flyer account when spending rewards on the ground. But it’s separate to Qantas’ Classic Hotel Rewards, which still prove even better value.

Here’s a look at how today’s reduction cuts those Points Plus Pay rates.

Under the previous Points Plus Pay pricing, every Qantas Point spent unlocked around 0.6 cents in value. But through these new and improved redemption rates, that’s boosted to approximately 0.86 cents per point.

If you can snag them, Qantas Classic Hotel Rewards remain better value, returning around one cent in savings per Qantas Point spent in the examples above.

Of course, here at Point Hacks, we value Qantas Points at 1.90 cents each. This suggests you’ll find better value by saving your frequent flyer points to fly, rather than using them for hotel bookings. But if you were going to spend points on the ground, using them at Qantas Hotels is certainly a better proposition than before.

Your Qantas Points will also go further at Qantas Hotels than on some other ground-based redemptions, like using Qantas Points at BP. When spent at the pump, you’ll get 0.526 cents in value per point redeemed: but could get up to double that value through Qantas Hotels.

Book hotels and flights together to save even more

There’s another way to book hotels using Qantas Points, and that’s through Qantas Holidays. This website helps take the hassle out of travel planning, by combining your Qantas or Jetstar flights and accommodation onto a single booking.

Now when using Points Plus Pay, the asking price in Qantas Points is 45% lower than before. That’s a significant shift.

We’re increasing the power of a point when booking hotels and holidays because we want to reinvest in a program that has performed extremely well during COVID.

We saw more than seven billion points used to redeem flights in just four weeks following borders reopening and we want to keep that momentum going by making points go further for hotels and holidays, which in turn encourages members to keep earning with our partners and with the airline.

– Olivia Wirth, Qantas Loyalty CEO, 4 February 2022

For example, let’s say you’re booking return flights from Sydney to Cairns for two adults. On the same booking, you’re also staying for five nights at the Crystalbrook Riley hotel, in an Urban King Room.

If booked before this latest discount took effect, you’d have parted with 525,834 Qantas Points. That’s more than it costs for a round the world journey with Qantas and its partners in First Class!

But now, that same Cairns itinerary clocks in at 289,209 Qantas Points. For context, that’s only marginally more than a round the world ticket in Premium Economy Class for one person. Yet it includes return flights for two, along with that hotel stay which you’d otherwise have booked with cash.

If paying the sticker price, that same itinerary currently sells for $3,035 ($1,517.50 per person). This represents a shift in value from 0.57 cents to around 1.05 cents per Qantas Point redeemed.

Fewer Qantas Points needed for Points Plus Pay flights

While the changes above reflect a permanent shift, there’s also short-term promotion for straight out flight bookings.

Using Points Plus Pay, Qantas Frequent Flyer members will spend 20% fewer points on flights with Qantas, Jetstar and eligible partner airlines. This applies to bookings made by the end of April 2022, for travel until April 2023.

Of course, it’s still better value to use your points for a Classic Flight Reward. But for those times when you absolutely must fly, and don’t fancy paying full price for the ticket, Points Plus Pay could bring some welcome cash savings.

Summing up

Qantas’ permanent changes to Points Plus Pay rates on hotel and holiday bookings comes as a welcome development.

While the savviest travellers will recognise the value in spending points on higher-value redemptions, these cash-based rewards still have their place. Particularly for flyers who have large mountains of points stashed up, this could be one reasonable way to spend them if not jetting further afield.

Featured image courtesy Thorsten Technoman/Pexels.