How To Transfer Hotel Points To Someone Else

Combining points with family and friends is one of the fastest ways to accumulate points to book your next vacation. Thankfully, all the major hotel programs allow you to transfer points to and from other members. Are they all free though? Let's take a look at how to transfer hotel points to others for each major hotel loyalty program.

Combining Points with Each Hotel Program

The process on how to transfer hotel points to others varies among hotel programs, with some being easier than others. Each hotel program has their own sets of limitations to keep in mind. With the exception of IHG One Rewards, none of the programs listed below charge a fee for transferring points (but see a workaround for IHG below).

Hilton

Hilton offers two methods for people trying to figure out how to transfer hotel points to others–pooling points and transferring points. They both accomplish the same thing, and neither method incurs any fees.

Pooling points involves transferring your Hilton points to up to 10 other friends or family. To transfer points via points pooling, you must first invite the recipient to join your pool. You can invite Hilton Honors members to join your pool through this page.

Transferring points works exactly like it sounds–you just send your points over to another Hilton Honors member's account. All you need is the recipient's name, email address, and Hilton Honors account number. You can transfer Hilton Honors points through this page.

Limitations On Transferring Hilton Hotel Points

You can transfer up to 500,000 points and receive up to 2 million points in increments of 1,000 per calendar year. These limits apply across both points pooling and transferring. This means you can only receive up to 2 million points per year across both methods, and not 2 million points through either for a total of 4 million points. Each Hilton member is limited to making 6 pooling transactions and 6 transfers per calendar year.

Overall Thoughts On How To Transfer Hilton Points

Hilton leads the pack when it comes to flexibility and ease of use for how to transfer hotel points. Transferring points online automatically with no human interaction should be the norm in this day in age. And the 500,000-point limit is enough to gift a 5-night stay at Hilton's most expensive properties, when you factor in Hilton's fifth night free policy.

RELATED: If you need more in depth detail on the process then you can read our full blown guide on how to pool Hilton Honors points here.

Marriott

Marriott lets you transfer hotel points directly online to other Bonvoy members. Both Marriott accounts must have been open for at least 30 days with qualifying activity, or 90 days without qualifying activity. Qualifying activity includes stays and earning Bonvoy points through any method, such as spending on a Marriott co-branded credit card.

Marriott does not charge a fee for transferring points. Points typically transfer instantly, although Marriott's website says it can take up to 24 hours.

You can initiate a transfer of Marriott Bonvoy points through this page.

Limitations On Transferring Marriott Bonvoy Hotel Points

A member can send up to 100,000 points per calendar year and receive up to a maximum of 500,000 points per calendar year. Transfers must be in increments of 1,000 points.

Overall Thoughts On How To Transfer Marriott Bonvoy Points

It's surprising that Marriott hasn't increased the limits for transfers ever since it switched to dynamic pricing. Marriott has introduced 85,000 free night certificates and allows members to now ToP off free night certificates with up to 15,000 points, thereby admitting that the prices of their awards have increased over the years. For this same reason, Bonvoy members should be allowed to transfer more points to each other. After all, 100,000 points might not even be enough for a one-night stay at a high-end property.

Hyatt

World of Hyatt members can transfer hotel points to other members, but they must do so by filling out a form and emailing it to worldofhyatt@hyatt.com. (You can actually also mail it to their customer service center in Omaha, NE.)

The form requires the name, mailing address, World of Hyatt account number, email address, and phone number for both the member transferring the points and the recipient. Both members must also actually sign the form. It's like Hyatt is trapped in the 2000s.

Limitations On Transferring Hyatt Hotel Points

Members may only participate in one hotel points transfer every 30 days, whether you're sending or receiving points. Hyatt does not have any limits published addressing the amount of points a member may send or receive.

Overall Thoughts On How To Transfer Hyatt Points

Points transfers are a glaring shortcoming of the World of Hyatt program. Both the 30-day limit and the need to submit a paper form make transferring hotel points with Hyatt a more cumbersome process than necessary. Fixing either of these issues would already come a long way. One silver lining is that Globalist members can enlist their concierge to process points transfers more quickly.

RELATED: If you need more in depth detail on the process then you can read our full blown guide on how to combine Hyatt points here.

IHG

If you were wondering how to transfer hotel points for IHG One Rewards then you are half in luck. The good part is transferring IHG points to others can be done online. The bad part is, that like a cell phone company charging for individual text messages, IHG actually charges a fee to transfer points. IHG charges a fee of $5 per 1,000 points. This is not a joke. But there are a couple of workarounds.

IHG Business Rewards members and top tier IHG Diamond Elite members can transfer points for free. IHG Business Rewards is IHG's small business program, which is free to join. Business Rewards members can initiate points transfers through this page. IHG Diamond members can transfer points free of charge through this page. And remaining IHG members can transfer IHG One Rewards points through this page, subject to the transfer fee.

Limitations On Transferring IHG Hotel Points

Members can transfer up to 500,000 points per calendar year.

Overall Thoughts On How To Transfer IHG Points

Simply put, charging to transfer points is an airline move. And this isn't even a nominal fee. Considering you need tens of thousands of points for an award night with the IHG program, you're looking at hundreds of dollars for a “free” stay when transferring points. Thankfully, the IHG Business Rewards program offers a solution for free points transfers.

Tips for Combining Points With Someone Else

Hotel programs are a lot less strict with points transfers than credit cards. For example, Chase only lets you transfer points among members of the same household, and Amex does not allow points transfers. This makes hotel programs a great workaround for combining credit card points. Let's say you and your P2 want to book a big Hilton stay but need to ToP off one of your Hilton accounts by transferring over some Membership Rewards. You can use either of your Amex points to accomplish this since Hilton lets you transfer points to other members.

Now that you know how to transfer hotel points to others it can be helpful to book something for extended family. If you have a relative or two who travel a lot for work but don't have use for their hotel points, they can contribute to your award traveling efforts easily!

The ease with which you can transfer hotel points also means no points should ever go to waste. If your P2 had some random cash stay with a program they don't use much, they can still transfer those points to you.

How To Transfer Hotel Points To Others: ToP Thoughts

Hotel points are a lot easier to transfer than credit card points or most airline miles. Combining hotel points among friends and family can help you book your next vacation a lot sooner. So make sure to leave no loyalty account unturned!