From sky-high rates for business class seats to avoiding basic economy and even paying for checked bags , the list of bad ways to use your Delta SkyMiles is long. Add another one to the list.
Delta flyers can now redeem SkyMiles toward hotels and vacation rentals booked via Delta Stays , the airline's dedicated booking portal for hotels, rental cars, and more. But you should skip it: Our research shows you'll typically get just .8 to .9 cents for every mile you redeem on Delta Stays, sometimes even less – meaning a $100 hotel stay would cost you at least 11,000 SkyMiles.
Is it actually brand new? Well, not really: It's been available since at least February when Delta revamped its Expedia-powered portal and overhauled its portfolio of co-branded American Express cards with new perks and higher annual fees. But Delta just began advertising this option, including an email to SkyMiles members on Monday.
Trust us: You can do much better than blowing your SkyMiles on a hotel stay.
Sure, SkyMiles might not be the world's most valuable mileage program. They're the butt of jokes and derogatory names among all too many points and miles aficionados … for good reason. But that doesn't mean they're worthless.
At the very least, you should always be able to get at least 1 cent per SkyMile whether you're booking a normal roundtrip flight or using Delta's novel “Pay with Miles” redemption to book a cheap cash fare. Yet there are some far better ways to use your miles with Delta to wring even more value out of them:
There are still frequent SkyMiles flash sales with deeply discounted rates, like 34,000 SkyMiles to Europe or 10,000 SkyMiles to Hawaii and back
Booking a cheap domestic flight starting at 8,000 SkyMiles roundtrip (or less) is a much better redemption, too
Lately, upgrading to Delta One business class on a flight to Europe or Asia has been much more reasonable – as low as 50,000 SkyMiles each way
After an improvement last year, you get a flat 1.15 cents for every SkyMile you put toward Delta Vacations packages
Heck, using SkyMiles to buy champagne in a Delta Sky Club might be the single most valuable way to redeem them
Compared to those options, putting SkyMiles toward a hotel or vacation rental – and getting less than a penny for every mile – is a poor choice. And since Delta SkyMiles never expire, there's no rush: You can afford to wait for a better deal.
For example, booking the MGM Grand on the Las Vegas Strip for just 9,555 SkyMiles a night total seems like a decent deal …
… until you realize you can book that exact same room in cash through Delta Stays for under $67. Do the math ($67 / 9,555) and you'll see that means you're getting just over .7 cents for each SkyMile. Pass – hard pass.
One slight plus: Your miles cover most of the additional taxes and fees. But if you're staying in a location like Las Vegas or New York City where hotels charge pesky resort fees, you'll still be on the hook for those at check-in just as you would with a normal booking.
If there's one silver lining of this new way to use SkyMiles, it's for travelers with a Delta Amex card and a new Delta Stays credit to put to use. From the *delta skymiles gold card* to the top-tier *delta reserve card* , cardholders now get an annual credit of at least $100 (to as much as $250) to put toward prepaid Delta Stays reservations.
And since you can split these hotel reservations between miles and cash, you can redeem some SkyMiles while putting your once-a-year credit to use. That's exactly what our credit card and award travel reporter Long did earlier this year, burning up a small stash of SkyMiles while charging the remainder to his Delta SkyMiles Gold Card.
A few days later, that $100 credit kicked in – no problem.
It's an elegant and easy way to stack some miles with a Delta Stays credit to reduce your travel costs even further … even if there are better ways to get more bang for your buck – or SkyMiles, rather.
Why It's No Good
Delta portrays moves like this as a good thing for flyers. In reality, this is one of the worst ways to use your SkyMiles yet.
Sure, it gives members more options to use their SkyMiles the way they want. And it's undeniably true that's something flyers want: The confusing world of frequent flyer miles and how they work is one of the primary complaints from travelers.
But trading convenience for value isn't a win at all. And just because Delta is making SkyMiles easier to use doesn't mean they're making them easier to use well. Just the opposite.
With more low-value options like baggage fees and now booking hotel stays, Delta wants to keep convincing travelers to trade in their SkyMiles without getting much in return. These new options simply limit how much Delta loses on SkyMiles redemptions. As more of these creative options to use miles come onboard, Delta just claims more control over SkyMiles .
This new option to redeem SkyMiles is worse than any of them, delivering less than a penny of value for every mile you use. I t's the latest and clearest example yet of Delta's ceaseless pursuit to drive the value of SkyMiles down as far as they can.
It's a trap. Don't fall for it.
Bottom Line
There's a (relatively) new way to use Delta SkyMiles. And here's a shocker: It isn't any good.
While the allure of booking a hotel or vacation stay using your SkyMiles might be strong, Delta is giving customers terrible value when redeeming SkyMiles via Delta Stays. It might be a short list, but there are still worthwhile ways to use SkyMiles.
This won't be on it. In fact, it might be the worst one yet.
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