Using AAdvantage Elite Status to Book with American Airlines Miles or Get Big Discounts on Hotels

A few months ago, Points Summary wrote a post on redeeming American Airlines miles for hotels. Platinum and Executive Platinum American Airlines AAdvantage elite members can use their American Airlines miles as an additional option to get good deals on hotels. I was able to use his method for an upcoming hotel stay in Zurich and I am quite happy with the deal I got! I booked through the UseAAMiles.com portal and scored the Renaissance Zurich Hotel at a rate of $142 total + 1,000 American Airlines miles when the nightly rate was $450. 

Points Summary already went over how to use American Airlines miles for hotels so I refer everyone to his post for an introduction on using American Airlines miles to book hotels. He also has a post about redeeming American Airlines miles for car rentals and often gets a great deal on those as well. Given his excellent overview, I will not go into detail on what he already explained. Instead, I am going to focus on the additional lucrative option to pay with cash through the UseAAMiles portal. Using this option, I booked a 415 CHF hotel in Zurich for just 1,000 AA miles + $142.

Finding a Hotel Deal With The American Airlines AAdvantage Portal

I needed a hotel in Zurich for just one night from Aug 12 – 13 for an upcoming trip to Europe. My plan involves arriving in Zurich in the evening and flying out the following morning. While it’s only one night, I do enjoy having a nice hotel on my trips to Europe and was hoping to find a good deal.

I personally don’t have any kind of elite status with American Airlines, but my cousin Roman is a Platinum elite member. He travels for work on a regular basis and American Airlines is his choice in loyalty. With his account, I logged into the UseAAMiles portal and checked rates for Aug 12- 13. Immediately, I saw a deal for 10,600 AA miles for the Renaissance Hotel Zurich.

I had already done my research for rates in Zurich and knew hotels were pretty expensive that night for whatever reason. More expensive than usual. But this particular hotel was actually 415 CHF (or $450) for a prepaid rate before taxes. That means I was getting a rate of over 4 cents per American Airlines mile, an amazing deal on the hotel. Moreover, the 10,600 AA mile rate was much lower than the Starwood, Hyatt or Hilton points rate at comparable hotels in the city (the Marriott hotels didn’t even have anything with points).

The Renaissance Hotel Zurich turns out to be very conveniently located and also offers an airport shuttle for my morning flight. In addition, I have Gold status with Marriott Rewards right now by matching my United 1K status with the new United and Marriott partnership. This is a perfect hotel for my stay.

When I select the hotel, I get to choose which room I want to book. This gives the American Airlines portal a noted advantage over hidden hotel sites such as Hotwire or Priceline. While Hotwire and Priceline do allow you to make room requests, you can get stuck with whatever room type they have left over if the hotel is particularly full on your dates.

Choosing the Pay With Cash Option For a Big Discount

Now here’s where the deal gets more interesting. After everything is selected, on the final payment page, you can use American Airlines miles or you can pay with cash. As I said, 10,600 American Airlines miles for a hotel costing over $400 is already a great deal. However, at this point in the process, the portal is actually willing to sell you miles at 1.48 cents each. You get a slider where you split as much as you like between cash and American Airlines miles as long as you use at least 1,000 miles for your payment. You don’t even need to have enough miles in your account to cover the rate you are given in miles.

I personally value American Airlines miles at higher than 1.5 cents each (because I know how to use 20,000 AA miles total to get me a ticket from LA to New York and from New York to Rio de Janeiro for Carnival) so it made sense for me to use cash instead. 

Also, I was booking through my cousin Roman’s account. While I am sure he would be happy to work out a deal with me in exchange for the 10,600 miles, I liked the option of simply paying for the hotel myself at a massive discount. Finally, the $142 purchase gets coded as AA Vacations on your credit card under the Travel category, making this an eligible redemption for Barclaycard Arrival miles. 

The ability to get a big discount without using more than 1,000 miles and being able to book rooms for others opens up some nice options. The good hotel rate is no longer tied to being able to use American Airlines miles. Anyone who simply knows a Platinum or an Executive Platinum American Airlines member is now eligible for big discounts. As far as discounted hotel rates go, I am a big fan of Priceline and Hotwire and did check both prior to booking the rate through the UseAAMiles portal. Getting a good hotel rate involves a bit of comparison shopping and checking out the American Airlines portal is certainly worth it in case you come across a good rate like I did. 

Cousin Roman, I’m sure with our big family, you’ll now be getting lots of requests to use your status for discounted hotels all over the world! And, of course, thank you again, Points Summary, for sharing this tip with us!

Summary

• The UseAAMiles booking portal at times offers American Airlines AAdvantage Platinum and Executive Platinum good value to redeem American Airlines miles for hotels.
• The portal offers the option to pay with cash at a rate of 1.48 cents per mile allowing for a potentially big discount on hotel rooms.
• I was able to use the portal and the pay with cash option to book a $450 a night Renaissance Zurich Hotel for only 1,000 American Airlines miles + $142.

Other posts you may like:

• Hotel Promotions July 2013: Marriott, Starwood, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG Rewards Club
• Don’t Pay For That Hyatt Suite! How To Get Free Suites and Upgrades
• Priceline Hotel Bidding: How to Get Hotels at a Fraction of the Price
• Priceline Hotel Bidding: Trick to Find out the Secret Lowest Price Without Paying

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