All Sonesta properties cost 60,000 points per night.

The FM team has been more intrigued lately by the Sonesta Travel Pass, a program we usually ignore. This is largely due to the power of Sonesta points combined with a sensational welcome offer for the Sonesta Mastercard and a relatively strong “Big Spend Bonus” offer.

Sonesta does not have a published award chart, but hotels have set redemption tiers that range from 10,000 to 50,000 points per night. There is no fluctuation between low and high season, so a 30,000 hotel will always cost 30,000 points when an award is available, regardless of the time of year or cash price.

However, one FM reader noticed that some of the 30k properties she had been watching were now being offered for 60k… effectively doubling the price without any notice. When I looked into it, I found that not only was she right, but it was even stranger still…Each individual Sonesta hotel appears to be worth 60,000 points per night.

Short thoughts

There are two interesting things here. First, Sonesta awards have previously been listed at 50,000 points/night; this is the first time we've seen an award of 60,000 points. Second, all hotels are currently priced the same at 60,000 points, regardless of cash price. Here's the America's Best Value Inn in Denver, which would normally cost 15,000 points/night:

Of course, that's an insane price for a hotel that costs $85/night in cash. I looked at over twenty cheap places to stay and they all had the same prices.

This makes me think there is a technical glitch somewhere. My guess is that Sonesta introduces a new peak price of 60,000 points (and possibly changes the prices on certain properties) and then someone went “whoops”. Now all properties are showing 60,000 points.

If Sonesta does indeed move to a fixed redemption amount of 60k for all hotels and resorts, it would be one of the worst devaluations we've ever seen in a loyalty program. I think it's much more likely that prices will come back down within the next few days, as some very high-end hotels are now at 60k and others have moved from one price tier to the next.

Be sure not to make any short-term redemptions at Sonesta as the rates are astronomical. We will keep an eye on this and update as needed.

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