This is a program that has been around for awhile, but I wanted to give a spotlight to the SPG Nights and Flights program. Starwood has a program that lets you redeem hotel points for a combination of hotel stays as well as airline miles.
Starwood is unique among hotel points in that it also allows transfers to many different airlines, usually at a 1:1 bonus
(SEE ALSO: 3 SPG transfer partners you do NOT want to use!)
SPG also offers the 5th night free on any award stay, so the SPG Nights and Flights program takes advantage of both of those deals but ALSO gives an additional discount
- Book a 5 night stay at a Category 3 hotel and get 50,000 airline miles for 60,000 points
- Book a 5 night stay at a Category 4 hotel and get 50,000 airline miles for 70,000 points
If you were to transfer 40,000 SPG points to an airline and spend 5 nights at a Category 3 hotel (7,000 points / night but 5th night free) that would cost 68,000 Starpoints, so you save 8,000 points. Similarly doing SPG Nights and Flights with a Category 4 you will save 10,000 points.
How to book an award with SPG Nights and Flights
Unfortunately, SPG Nights and Flights are not something that you can book online – you’ll have to call in to book them at 888-625-4988. They are only bookable with Category 3 and Category 4 hotels – you can see the list of Starwood Category 3 and Category 4 hotels on Starwood’s website.
Other things to know about SPG Nights and Flights
If you cancel a hotel stay you booked with SPG Nights and Flights, your hotel points are returned but your airline miles are not. This can actually be a positive, since it means that once your points are transferred to your airline of choice, SPG has no more sway on them – so that means that you can book a flight at the same time, or book a flight later on, or just keep the airline miles forever
Comparing SPG Nights and Flights to Marriott’s Hotel and Air packages
Marriott has a similar program to SPG Nights and Flights called Hotel and Air packages. Marriott’s packages are typically 7 nights, though 5 nights packages are available.
One nice thing about Marriott’s packages are that you can use them on any category of hotel, compared to SPG Nights and Flights that are limited to Category 3 and Category 4 hotels. You can also choose to transfer more Marriott points to airline miles. A con to the Marriott is that it requires a minimum of 200,000 Marriott points
How this will work long-term given that Marriott is buying Starwood still remains to be seen.
You can definitely get extra value from SPG Nights and Flights, especially if you’re already planning a 5 night stay somewhere where there is a Starwood Category 3 or 4 hotel.
Have you ever used the SPG Nights and Flights option?
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Can you combine SPG nights and flights with the current bonus on transfers of SPG points to American that is going on till end of August?
Yes you can – the current bonus is being done by AA (not SPG), so it should stack with the SPG nights and flights promotion (just like it would if you did a regular transfer from SPG -> AA)