The way to earn tons of American Airways Loyalty Factors by reserving with AAdvantage Inns

I will be sincere; when American Airways overhauled the American Airways AAdvantage program a couple of years again so that you simply earn elite standing based totally on spending with the airline, its cobranded bank cards and different companions, I figured I might hardly ever make it previous AAdvantage Gold or AAdvantage Platinum standing. And that is largely been true.

I are inclined to fly with lots of completely different airways, and I put spending on a wide range of rewards bank cards at any given time, relying on what welcome bonuses and different advantages can be found to me.

This 12 months, nonetheless, I used to be inside spitting distance of AAdvantage Platinum Professional standing and its perks by the point October rolled round, so I began desirous about methods to get previous that threshold, and I turned to considered one of my secret weapons for incomes lots of Loyalty Factors shortly throughout a visit to Buenos Aires, Argentina: AAdvantage Inns bookings.

AAdvantage Inns: My secret weapon for incomes elite standing

You see, you possibly can earn hundreds of bonus miles and Loyalty Factors on AAdvantage Inns reservations — even on brief stays.

For instance, reserving a two-night keep on the Dream Downtown in New York Metropolis final 12 months helped me nab a cool 15,000 Loyalty Factors, and that obtained me over the road to AAdvantage Platinum standing after a 12 months of flying and spending on my Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Choose® World Elite Mastercard® (see charges and charges).

The data for the Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Choose card has been collected independently by The Factors Man. The cardboard particulars on this web page haven’t been reviewed or offered by the cardboard issuer.

Loyalty Factors are what rely towards elite standing, and AAdvantage bonus miles are frequent flyer miles you possibly can redeem for award tickets with American Airways and its companions.

You are inclined to earn extra Loyalty Factors and AAdvantage miles on AAdvantage Inns stays when you have AAdvantage elite standing and likewise maintain an AAdvantage cobranded card. As luck would have it, I’ve each.

In October, I used to be considering of taking a fast jaunt right down to Buenos Aires, so along with searching for first rate award charges at outdated TPG favorites just like the Palacio Duhau — Park Hyatt Buenos Aires, I made a decision to see what AAdvantage Inns bookings had been out there.

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Incomes 29,000 Loyalty Factors and 23,000 AAdvantage miles with simply 1 resort keep

That is how I got here throughout a two-night keep on the Park Tower, a Luxurious Assortment Lodge, Buenos Aires for $790, together with taxes and charges, on which I might earn 15,000 Loyalty Factors as an AAdvantage Platinum member with a number of AAdvantage cobranded playing cards. I paid for my reservation with my Citi® / AAdvantage® Govt World Elite Mastercard® (see charges and charges), which I had just lately utilized for and earns 10 AAdvantage miles per greenback spent on AAdvantage Inns bookings. The keep was refundable up till a couple of days earlier than check-in, making it further versatile.

The factor about airline cobranded playing cards and airline elite standing is that every tends to allow you to compound your earnings in attention-grabbing methods, and my AAdvantage Inns keep on the Park Tower crystallized that for me.

First, I earned 15,000 bonus American Airways AAdvantage miles for my keep, plus 10 miles per greenback spent with my Citi / AAdvantage Govt World Elite card, which netted me a further 7,100 miles on prime of the 790 further miles I earned from the $790 cost for the keep. So, I ended up with 22,890 bonus AAdvantage miles for my keep. Because of a few expenses on the resort, that rounded as much as 23,000 miles.

I additionally earned 15,000 Loyalty Factors towards elite standing due to the reserving circumstances, plus 790 extra Loyalty Factors for placing the cost for the keep on my AAdvantage card (1 Loyalty Level per greenback that I spent).

Here is the place issues obtained attention-grabbing, although. As a result of I had already earned 60,000 Loyalty Factors, I had unlocked a couple of Loyalty Level Rewards. These included a 20% bonus on qualifying exercise with companions, together with AAdvantage Inns bookings, inside six months of incomes these 60,000 Loyalty Factors. That meant that as a substitute of incomes 15,000 Loyalty Factors, I earned 18,000 of them throughout this keep.

What’s extra, this resort keep put me over 90,000 Loyalty Factors earned for the 12 months to this point. That triggered a further 10,000 bonus Loyalty Factors as a good thing about my Citi / AAdvantage Govt World Elite card.

So, when the ultimate numbers had been in, I had earned simply over 29,000 Loyalty Factors (due to some expenses on the resort) by the point I checked out.

The downsides to reserving AAdvantage Inns

I do not usually e book AAdvantage Inns all year long for a wide range of causes.

First, to earn essentially the most miles and Loyalty Factors, you are inclined to have to remain at costly resorts with excessive nightly charges — typically properly over $1,000.

Second, should you e book a resort inside a sequence, similar to Hyatt or Hilton, you can’t anticipate to earn resort factors or take pleasure in your elite standing advantages. I used to be fortunate that the Park Tower honored a few of my Marriott Bonvoy elite advantages like free breakfast and late checkout, however that tends to be very hit and miss based mostly on TPG staffers’ experiences.

Nonetheless, it may be price forgoing the resort factors and elite perks for giant Loyalty Factors and AAdvantage miles paydays like I loved on this current journey, particularly when you possibly can unlock sure advantages just like the Citi / AAdvantage Govt World Elite card’s Loyalty Factors enhance and Loyalty Level Rewards to compound your earnings even additional.

Backside line

My keep on the Park Tower in Buenos Aires obtained me even nearer to AAdvantage Platinum Professional standing than I anticipated. Now, I am considering I’d simply have the ability to shoot for AAdvantage Govt Platinum standing with a couple of well-timed AAdvantage Inns bookings earlier than Feb. 28, 2026, the tip of the elite standing interval.

Since I’ve earned over 100,000 Loyalty Factors, I’ve already unlocked one other Loyalty Level Reward to earn 30% with companions inside the subsequent six months, that means my subsequent AAdvantage Inns reserving could possibly be much more profitable. I’ve three months to strategize each resort keep till the elite standing 12 months resets with American Airways, however a couple of work and leisure journeys could also be simply the ticket to AAdvantage Govt Platinum standing for me in 2026.