How to earn airline miles from hotels, car rentals and partners

You can earn airline miles on hotel stays, car rentals, rides and even coffee, usually by adding your frequent flyer number to the booking or choosing miles as your earning currency in the partner's program. The catch: at most hotel chains you earn miles instead of hotel points, not on top of them. Converting hotel points into airline miles is also possible, but the ratios are usually poor, so treat it as a way to top off an account rather than a strategy.

Here's how each route works, with real numbers from the airlines and hotel programs themselves.

Three ways partners pay you miles

1. Earn miles directly by giving your frequent flyer number to a hotel or rental company, or by setting miles as your preferred currency in its loyalty program.
2. Book through the airline's own travel site, which pays miles per dollar on hotels and cars sold there.
3. Convert points you already have from a hotel program into airline miles.

Each one has its own trade-offs, so it's worth knowing which you're using.

Earning miles on hotel stays

Hotel programs handle airline earning in two ways.

Miles instead of points. Marriott Bonvoy and IHG make you choose one currency for your stays, according to The Points Guy. With Marriott, you log in to your Bonvoy account, select miles as your preferred currency and save your frequent flyer number. Delta's partner page shows what that pays at the time of writing:

• 2 miles per $1 on eligible charges at brands such as The Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott, St. Regis, W Hotels, Westin, Sheraton, Marriott Hotels and Autograph Collection.
• 1 mile per $1 at brands such as Courtyard, AC Hotels, Four Points, SpringHill Suites and Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy.

That's a real trade. You give up your hotel points (and the free nights they buy) for a modest stream of miles. For most travelers this isn't worth it, unless you're close to an airline award or you need the miles for status.

Miles on top of points. World of Hyatt is the generous exception: The Points Guy notes that Hyatt members can earn both hotel points and airline miles on paid stays. Delta, for example, pays 500 miles per eligible stay at Hyatt brands including Andaz, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt Place and Park Hyatt. Give your SkyMiles number at check-in.

Booking hotels through the airline

Airlines also sell hotel rooms through their own sites. Delta Stays pays 2 miles per $1 on the base hotel rate for completed stays, and members get discounted rates and in-stay perks at selected hotels.

Read the small print before you book this way. Delta says hotel points and status may not apply to stays booked through its site, spend on these stays does not count toward Medallion Qualification Dollars unless a specific promotion says so, and miles can take up to 8 weeks to post. Compare the price with booking direct: a cheaper room booked direct often beats a pricier one that pays a few hundred miles.

Earning miles on car rentals

Car rentals are where airline earning is most straightforward. Delta lists these standard rates for rentals booked on delta.com at the time of writing:

Delta Medallion members also receive complimentary Hertz Gold+ elite status. A few rules apply: the name on the payment method used for the reservation must match your SkyMiles account, you get one SkyMiles number per booking, and you can request missing credit up to 6 months after the rental ends. These are bonus miles, so they don't count toward Million Miler status, and car spend doesn't count toward Medallion Qualification Dollars unless a promotion says otherwise.

If you rent directly and choose airline miles in the rental company's program, check for a surcharge. The Points Guy notes some companies add a small daily fee to deposit airline miles instead of their own points.

Everyday partners: rides, coffee and home rentals

Airlines keep adding partners you'd use on any ordinary week. Delta's current list is a good example of what's out there:

• Uber: link your accounts and earn 1 mile per $1 on UberX airport rides, 2 miles on Comfort, Uber XL, SUV and Black, and 3 miles on Uber Reserve. Uber Eats orders over $40 earn 1 mile per $1, excluding taxes, fees and tips. You can earn with only one loyalty partner at a time inside the Uber app.
• Starbucks: link your accounts to earn 1 mile per eligible $1 for 12 months from the date of your last Delta flight.
• Airbnb: link your accounts to earn 1 mile per $1 on qualifying homes and 3 miles per $1 on experiences and services. Linking opens a 10-day booking window that you renew through Delta's Airbnb page.

Other airlines run their own partner lineups, so check the earn page of your program on the airline programs hub.

Converting hotel points to airline miles

When a hotel program officially lets you move points to an airline, the ratio is the whole story.

Marriott Bonvoy has the broadest list. Points move to most of its more than 35 airline partners at 3 points to 1 mile, including Air Canada Aeroplan, Air France-KLM Flying Blue, American AAdvantage, Atmos Rewards, British Airways, Delta SkyMiles, Southwest Rapid Rewards and United MileagePlus. Air New Zealand is the outlier at 200:1. Marriott adds 5,000 bonus miles for every 60,000 points you transfer, and United MileagePlus members get 10,000 bonus miles instead. The bonus does not apply to American AAdvantage, Avianca LifeMiles or Delta SkyMiles. Your name generally has to match in both accounts.

So 60,000 Marriott points become 25,000 miles at most partners, 30,000 United miles, and 20,000 American or Delta miles.

Delta's conversion page shows how much worse other chains can be:

Delta's partnership with Shangri-La ended on September 30, 2026, so that option is gone.

A 10-to-1 conversion like Hilton's almost never makes sense, because those hotel points are nearly always worth more as hotel nights. Marriott's 3:1 with the bonus is the most usable, and it's best for topping off an account that's a few thousand miles short of a specific award. Treat every transfer as final, and confirm the award seat is bookable before you move points. Our guide to award charts vs dynamic pricing explains why the same miles can be worth very different amounts.

Do partner miles count toward elite status?

It depends on the airline.

• American Airlines: miles earned from hotel and car partners generally earn Loyalty Points as well, per The Points Guy, which can help you reach status. In 2026, American's extra partner bonus is a single 25% Loyalty Point bonus after you reach 60,000 Loyalty Points, lasting six months and capped at 25,000 bonus Loyalty Points, as View from the Wing reported on January 8, 2026.
• Delta: hotel and car spend booked through Delta does not count toward Medallion Qualification Dollars unless a specific offer says it does.
• Others: check your program's status rules, and assume partner miles are for redemptions only until the rules say otherwise.

Bottom line

For hotels, the best move is earning miles on top of points where it's allowed, as with Hyatt, rather than giving up hotel points. Car rentals and everyday partners like Uber, Starbucks and Airbnb are easy extra miles once your accounts are linked. Convert hotel points to miles only when you need a specific top-off, and Marriott's 3:1 with its transfer bonus is usually the only ratio worth considering.