SMART TRAVELLER

How to donate your hotel loyalty points to charity

Following our February round-up of frequent flyer programmes that allow you to donate unwanted air miles to charity (see businesstraveller.com/ tag/loyalty), here we look at what some of the main hotel loyalty schemes have to offer in this regard.

Accor

The Accor Live Limitless (ALL) programme lets you convert your points into a donation to either the Accor Solidarity, an endowment fund that helps local NGOs supporting people at risk of poverty, or Plant for the Planet, a initiative for planting trees globally and supporting small-scale farmers. all.accor.com

Best Western

The Best Western Rewards scheme allows guests to donate points to the hotel group’s partnered charity, Shelter. bestwestern.co.uk

Hilton

Hilton Honors has teamed up with Point Worthy to enable you to donate points to a good cause. To take part, you have to open an account on pointworthy.com, which links to your Honors account. Make a donation of at least 4,000 points to one of the charities, which include American Red Cross and Make A Wish Foundation, and Hilton will convert this into an equivalent cash sum – 4,000 points equates to US$10. hiltonhonors3.hilton.com

Hyatt

The World of Hyatt programme does not have a points donation platform, but the group allows members to convert points into a cash donation to the American Red Cross and Mercy Corps during times of natural disasters in areas with a Hyatt presence – members last year donated points to the former during Hurricane Dorian which hit the Bahamas. world.hyatt.com

IHG

IHG’s Rewards Club allows you to redeem points within a 12-month period. On the drop-down “More Rewards” tab, choose “IHG Rewards Club Charities”, which in the UK includes five organisations: Care International UK, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Goodwill Industries International, the Prince’s Trust and Youth Career Initiative. You can donate 2,500, 5,000 or 10,000 points. ihg.com/rewardsclub

Marriott International

Marriott Bonvoy allows you to donate points as part of its Serve 360 CSR programme, which has four pillars, with associated charities for each one. Nurture focuses on aiding communities, Sustain on reducing the brand’s environmental impact, Empower on ensuring access to opportunities, and Welcome on advocating for human rights. There are 25 charities, including American Red Cross, Unicef, International Rescue Committee, and Immigration Equality. You can donate in increments of 2,500 points, from a minimum of 2,500 (US$10) to 125,000 (US$500). giving.marriott.com

NH Hotel Group

With NH Rewards you can contribute your reward points to non-governmental organisations. Let NH Hotel Group know how many points you wish to donate and it will transfer the equivalent amount in cash on your behalf. nh-hotels.com/nhrewards

Radisson Hotels

Radisson Rewards enables you to donate points to SOS Children’s Villages, American Red Cross or carbon offset organisation First Climate. There is a 3,000-point minimum for the first two charities, and a 4,000-point minimum for the third. radissonhotels.com

Shangri-La

The Golden Circle programme allows you to donate your points to Oxfam Hong Kong and Med Art, a Hong Kong charity that cares for people in psychiatric institutions, prisons and hospices, and the medical needs of orphaned children. You can also donate to the brand’s corporate social responsibility projects. Donations start at 2,000 points and cap at 10,000, with 1,000 points equal to US$20. shangri-la.com

Wyndham’s Rewards online shop lets you donate to its 15 partnered charities

Wyndham Hotels and Resorts

Wyndham’s Rewards online shop lets you donate to its 15 partnered charities – these include Save the Children and Clean the World Foundation. Donations start at 500 points for all charities, apart from Jack and Jill Late Stage Cancer Foundation, which starts at 3,000. wyndhamhotels.com