You Can Now Earn and Redeem Alaska Airlines Miles on Vacation Packages and Rental Properties

It seems like everyone is getting into the “earn and redeem points on vacations” these days, and Alaska Airlines has followed suit. You can now earn and redeem your Atmos Rewards points at over 900,000 properties.

The launch of Stays by Alaska Vacations comes on the heels of Packages by Alaska Vacations, launched earlier this year for booking vacation packages and earning Alaska miles along the way. Both platforms are powered by Expedia, meaning they’ll feel familiar during the booking process.

Earning and redeeming Alaska Airlines miles sounded enticing at first, but the excitement wore off when we started crunching the numbers.

Here’s what you should know about these new options for earning and redeeming Alaska Airlines miles on vacations.

What Is Stays by Alaska Vacations?

As its name implies, Stays by Alaska Vacations offers vacation rentals — including both hotels and rental properties — linked to Alaska Airlines Atmos Rewards. The program promises access to over “900,000 unique hotel and vacation rental properties,” and you can earn and redeem Alaska miles on these properties. That means paid stays earn miles, but you can choose to pay miles instead.

Alaska Airlines has partnered with Expedia to launch Stays by Alaska Vacations — the same booking engine that launched Packages by Alaska Vacations earlier this year. That platform offers Alaska miles when you book vacation packages, including airfare, hotels, rental cars, and activities.

“Stays by Alaska Vacations combines convenience and affordability, by giving our guests access to Expedia Group’s vast inventory and unlocking special savings while earning status on an award-winning airline.”

Courtney Lansing, managing director of business development and products, Alaska Airlines

How Does It Work?

On paid stays, you’ll earn 1 mile per dollar spent. That earning rate triples if you have an Alaska Airlines credit card; these cardholders earn 3x miles per dollar spent.

To book a stay, head to the booking portal and search as you normally would for either a stay or a vacation package.

Sample Booking

Let’s imagine a trip to the Andaz Mayakoba, located near Playa del Carmen, Mexico. This hotel is part of World of Hyatt, and we’ll compare the booking options here. We’re looking at a 4-night stay for 2 adults in October.

Booking through Stays by Alaska Vacations provides a price of $1,563 — assuming you prepay in full. However, Hyatt’s website is offering the same room on the same dates for just $1,176.29. That’s nearly 25% off the price on Alaska’s portal.

Since these rooms are available for redeeming miles, let’s look at those rates. Spending 167,385 miles for a $1,563 hotel stay provides a redemption rate just under 1 cent per mile. That’s far short of our average valuation of Alaska miles at 1.6 cents each.

An interesting benefit for those with the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature^® credit card (now discontinued; replaced with the Atmos™ Rewards Ascent Visa Signature^® card) is that you get “preferred” redemption rates when redeeming miles. I logged into my account to see what the discount would be, and the new price was 155,429 miles — a discount of more than 7% as a cardholder. The redemption rate improves slightly, reaching 1.01 cents per mile.

If you would pay with your Alaska Signature card, you could earn 4,689 miles on this stay. However, you would give up any benefits you might receive from Hyatt — such as World of Hyatt elite status perks, if you have elite status here — since this is a third-party booking. If you would book directly with Hyatt, you’d save nearly $387 and would earn at least 5,881 World of Hyatt points (or more, depending on your status tier).

Is It Worth It?

We admittedly tested just 1 property, but it’s not a good indication. The redemption rates are poor compared to other uses of Alaska Airlines miles. You’ll also sacrifice potential earnings with the hotel programs, if that’s something you’re interested in.

Moreover, paying extra for your stay by booking through a particular portal won’t make sense unless you’re getting a ton of value-added benefits. However, that’s not the case here, so you’re paying extra for the opportunity to earn Alaska miles instead of hotel points. Think long and hard about that.

Final Thoughts

Alaska Airlines has expanded its partnership with Expedia, allowing you to earn and redeem Atmos Rewards points on hotel stays, vacation packages, and more. Unfortunately, the pricing is higher than booking directly with the hotel in our example, and the redemption rates for miles are far less than what you can get using your miles for flights. For most people, this partnership won’t offer a better option than what’s already available.