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Hotel Points Toward a Companion Pass 2021

silver52900
Explorer C

Hi, 

I am at 92K total RR points working my way to a CP. I am booking a hotel stay for the end of September that says I will receive 16K points after my stay. It is also asking if I want to Boost my points and get an extra 12K points by paying an extra $216 on the reservation. My question is, will ALL of these points go towards my CP or will only the original 16K? Or, are those 16K considered "bonus" points? I'm so confused by the wording, and especially on the wording for the paying to "boost" my points. What have you seen recently? Any help would be greatly appreciated!! 

10 REPLIES 10

Re: Hotel Points Toward a Companion Pass 2021

jksobonya
Aviator A

Yes, I believe all the points should count. The "boost" is simply an offer where you pay  a little more to get more points. I wouldn't consider it a "promotion" per se, as in the terms it says "promotion bonus points" do not count towards Companion. Here you can read what does and does not count:

 

https://www.southwest.com/html/rapidrewards/eoy-tier-communication.html 

 

It does say that "Partner Hotel Stays" count, and I think the boosted points would too, if you pay for them. 

 

16K points is an amazing deal! May I ask where you are staying and for how long? I take shorter trips, and the most I've ever gotten on a hotel stay is 8K, and on average I get 1-3K offers, and a lot of times I get nothing (the $ you pay is the number of points you get, so a $150 stay would be 150 points). 

 

:edit:

 

It looks like the longer you stay, and the more expensive the hotel, the more points you get, which makes sense - I put in staying an entire week in various cities and I some point offers were 20,000 and above. With the boost, you're in the 35,000 point range. For one hotel stay! Do a couple of hotel stays a year like that and you'll have a ton of points! 

 

--Jessica

Re: Hotel Points Toward a Companion Pass 2021

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

When you say you are at 92k RR points, are you checking your RR account to verify all those were earned this calendar year and were CP qualifying?  The 16k hotel points will be CP qualifying, the boost points are uncertain and sound like a horrible deal to me, but I'm firmly on the "don't buy points" side of things and I realize others disagree.  There are plenty of ways to earn CP qualifying points without just throwing away money and getting nothing but points in return, ie shopping, flying, hotels, etc.

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: Hotel Points Toward a Companion Pass 2021

jksobonya
Aviator A

@TheMiddleSeat wrote:

The 16k hotel points will be CP qualifying, the boost points are uncertain and sound like a horrible deal to me


IMO the boost that you pay isn't that much more and you get thousands of points in return -- but if I had to guess, the cost is the same as if you were buying points directly on Southwest.com (including any current point promotions/sales that are running). I did some quick calculations looking up various hotels, and that appears to be the case. 

 

--Jessica

Re: Hotel Points Toward a Companion Pass 2021

dfwskier
Aviator A

at the Mirage going from 8000 points to 14000 points costs $88 or a bit under 1.5 cents a point

 

CP earning points rules say (bold is mine):

 

"Companion Pass qualifying points are earned from revenue flights booked through Southwest®, points earned on Southwest Rapid Rewards® Credit Cards, and base points earned from Rapid Rewards® partners"

 

 

I read that to mean that hotel bonus pints would not count.

 

Anybody read it differently?

 

Re: Hotel Points Toward a Companion Pass 2021

gsking
Aviator C

@dfwskier wrote:

at the Mirage going from 8000 points to 14000 points costs $88 or a bit under 1.5 cents a point

 

CP earning points rules say (bold is mine):

 

"Companion Pass qualifying points are earned from revenue flights booked through Southwest®, points earned on Southwest Rapid Rewards® Credit Cards, and base points earned from Rapid Rewards® partners"

 

 

I read that to mean that hotel bonus pints would not count.

 

Anybody read it differently?

 


I've done the same calculus.   But I've never ended up booking that room.   They are only common to me in Vegas,  and I didn't up picking a big hotel that offered them. 

 

I didn't conclude that those were bonus points,  but it would be good to know for sure.   I ended up getting close enough to CP this year that I won't have to worry,  but won't be so fortunate in the future. 

Re: Hotel Points Toward a Companion Pass 2021

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

Southwest provided everyone with a 25k boost, effectively reducing the requirement for CP from 125k to 100k for 2021. If you are looking at your account and seeing how many points you have of the required 125k then you are already factoring in the 25k points. If you have 92k showing now you've actually earned 67k yourself.

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: Hotel Points Toward a Companion Pass 2021

silver52900
Explorer C

Yes, my 92K points are qualifying. 

Re: Hotel Points Toward a Companion Pass 2021

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

If you already have 92k the additional 16k gets you over the threshold for CP and purchasing an additional "boost" is completely unnecessary.

 

Edit...depending on whether you are counting the 25k "boost" provided from Southwest in your 92k

 

And yes, the wording on bonus points is very confusing, but the hotel points have a history of posting as CPQ.

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: Hotel Points Toward a Companion Pass 2021

silver52900
Explorer C

Then I’m really confused as the SW app shows I need 125K points total to get a CP. Am I missing something? This is my first time even getting close to qualifying.