How one can earn tons of American Airways Loyalty Factors by reserving with AAdvantage Resorts

I will be sincere; when American Airways overhauled the American Airways AAdvantage program a couple of years again so that you just earn elite standing based on spending with the airline, its cobranded bank cards and different companions, I figured I might not often make it previous AAdvantage Gold or AAdvantage Platinum standing. And that is largely been true.

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

This yr, nevertheless, I used to be inside spitting distance of AAdvantage Platinum Professional standing and its perks by the point October rolled round, so I began occupied with methods to get previous that threshold, and I turned to one in all my secret weapons for incomes plenty of Loyalty Factors rapidly throughout a visit to Buenos Aires, Argentina: AAdvantage Resorts bookings.

AAdvantage Resorts: My secret weapon for incomes elite standing

You see, you’ll be able to earn 1000’s of bonus miles and Loyalty Factors on AAdvantage Resorts reservations — even on quick stays.

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

The knowledge 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 depend towards elite standing, and AAdvantage bonus miles are frequent flyer miles you’ll be able to redeem for award tickets with American Airways and its companions.

You are inclined to earn extra Loyalty Factors and AAdvantage miles on AAdvantage Resorts stays if in case you have AAdvantage elite standing and in addition maintain an AAdvantage cobranded card. As luck would have it, I’ve each.

In October, I used to be pondering of taking a fast jaunt right down to Buenos Aires, so along with in search of first rate award charges at previous TPG favorites just like the Palacio Duhau — Park Hyatt Buenos Aires, I made a decision to see what AAdvantage Resorts bookings have been obtainable.

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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 Resort, Buenos Aires for $790, together with taxes and charges, on which I’d 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 lately utilized for and earns 10 AAdvantage miles per greenback spent on AAdvantage Resorts 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 Resorts 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 high 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 fees on the resort, that rounded as much as 23,000 miles.

I additionally earned 15,000 Loyalty Factors towards elite standing because of the reserving situations, 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 received 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 Resorts bookings, inside six months of incomes these 60,000 Loyalty Factors. That meant that as an alternative 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 yr thus far. 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 have been in, I had earned simply over 29,000 Loyalty Factors (because of some fees on the resort) by the point I checked out.

The downsides to reserving AAdvantage Resorts

I do not usually ebook AAdvantage Resorts all year long for quite a lot of causes.

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

Second, if you happen to ebook a resort inside a series, akin to Hyatt or Hilton, you can’t anticipate to earn resort factors or get pleasure from 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 primarily based on TPG staffers’ experiences.

Nonetheless, it may be value forgoing the resort factors and elite perks for large Loyalty Factors and AAdvantage miles paydays like I loved on this latest journey, particularly when you’ll be able to 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 received me even nearer to AAdvantage Platinum Professional standing than I anticipated. Now, I am pondering I’d simply be capable to shoot for AAdvantage Govt Platinum standing with a couple of well-timed AAdvantage Resorts 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 throughout the subsequent six months, which means my subsequent AAdvantage Resorts reserving may very well be much more profitable. I’ve three months to strategize each resort keep till the elite standing yr 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.