Can you combine hotel points and a free night certificate for a fourth or fifth night free?

Some customer loyalty program provide a valuable perk to select travelers: a Wednesday or Thursday night free on award stays. But, some best hotel credit cards also offers free night certificates to cardholders. In particular, some The best hotel credit cards offer a free night every year.

So, travelers often wonder if you can only get the fourth or fifth night free by redeeming points only. We often get asked if you can use a combination of points and a free night certificate when getting your fourth or fifth night free. So in this guide, I’ll answer this question for three popular loyalty programs that offer a free fourth or fifth night on award stays.

Marriott Bonvoy

Marriott Bonvoy offers a “Stay for 5, Pay for 4” perk that lets you get a free night when you redeem Marriott points for five consecutive nights. Best of all, when you redeem points for standard points or PointSavers rewards for a single booking, you’ll only need to redeem points for four nights. However, you won’t get a free Thursday night. Instead, you won’t need to pay for the lowest redemption night of your stay.

However, Marriott Bonvoy Terms and Conditions note:

Stay 5, Pay for 4 offer does not apply to Reward Stays using Free Night Awards, Premium Room Change Rewards, Cash + Points Rewards and Nightly Upgrade Rewards.

So you can’t use the “Stay 5, Pay for 4” perk unless you redeem points for five nights. Below is an example where redeeming a free night reward of up to 35,000 points would yield only 4,500 points of value. Ultimately, you need to redeem 81,000 points for the stay if using the free night bonus, or 85,500 points if you use the “Stay 5, Pay for 4” perk instead of the free night bonus.

However, you can get the “Stay for 5, Pay for 4” perk and redeem a free night voucher with a credit card during the same stay if you redeem points for at least five nights. For example, consider this six-night stay sample:

Redeeming free night rewards on six-night stays can offer good value. After all, between the certificate and the “Stay 5, Pay 4” perk, you’ll get two out of six nights free. You can earn free night prizes in many ways, including through selection Marriott Bonvoy Card And Benefits of choosing Marriott.

Related: 5 ways to maximize Marriott Bonvoy reward night redemptions

IHG One Rewards

Some IHG credit card provide a Wednesday night free rewards perks. Cardholders of eligible cards can use this perk every time they do redeem IHG One Rewards points to book a standard room award night stay of four or more consecutive nights at the same hotel. When you use this perk, you pay the reward night rate for the first three nights and no points for the fourth night.

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I have saved a lot IHG One Rewards points thanks to the Wednesday night free rewards perk and I got a lot of value from IHG Anniversary Night Certificate. Unfortunately, however, you cannot use these perks together in the same booking. Finally, IHG directs its members to celebrate:

Please book the Free Night in their separate booking, one room at a time. To book additional paid nights, please create a separate additional booking.

Meanwhile, offer details of Premier IHG One Rewards credit cardthe IHG One Rewards Premier business credit card and IHG One Rewards travel credit card all state the following about the Wednesday free night bonus:

Only applicable for 4 or more consecutive nights in the same room to redeem Reward Nights at the same hotel. With this benefit, eligible members will receive a Reward Night redemption rate for the first 3 nights and 0 points for the 4th night of stay, if applicable.

If you want to use your anniversary night and your 4th night free award at the same property, you must stay at least five nights and make two separate reservations. After booking, you can ask the hotel to link your booking so you can stay in the same room.

Related: How to maximize redemptions with the IHG One Rewards program

Hilton Title

You can earn Hilton free night certificate with options Hilton Honors credit card. More, Hilton Title elite members get the fifth night free when staying in a standard room award for five or more consecutive nights (up to four per stay).

The Hilton Honors Terms and Conditions note that the fifth night free perk only applies “within the same full Standard Room Rewards stay at the same property, up to 20 nights, when confirmed at time of booking.” Therefore, you will need to book back-to-back rooms and stay at least six nights if you want to use your free night certificate and receive the fifth night free with your stay reward.

Related: 7 great ways to use your 100,000 Hilton Honors points and free night rewards