Hotel loyalty programmes are the quiet half of award travel. Flights get most of the attention, but a free hotel night can be worth as much as a flight, and the best programmes make free nights genuinely easy to earn and use. A single free night at a good hotel can save 200 to 500 dollars, and a week of free nights can be worth more than the flight that got you there. The trick is choosing a programme whose hotels you actually stay at and whose award prices make sense.

World of Hyatt is the best hotel loyalty programme for free nights, because its award chart is simple and its prices are low. Standard rooms start at 5,000 points per night at Category 1 properties, and even top-tier Park Hyatt hotels cost 45,000 points against cash rates of 1,200 to 1,800 dollars. Hyatt also charges no resort fees on award stays and has no blackout dates, which makes free nights easy to use when you actually want them. The only real weakness is coverage: Hyatt has fewer hotels than Marriott or Hilton, so it suits travellers who plan around its properties rather than expecting a Hyatt everywhere.

Marriott Bonvoy has the largest hotel network in the world, with more than 8,000 properties, so you can use points almost anywhere you travel. Its award pricing is dynamic, which means prices rise at popular hotels and on popular dates, and the value per point is lower than Hyatt's on average. But Marriott runs regular promotions, its credit cards offer a free night certificate every year, and its sheer coverage means you are rarely stuck without a redemption option. Marriott suits travellers who value being able to use points anywhere over getting the maximum value from each point.

Hilton Honors points are easy to earn, with generous earning rates on its credit cards and frequent promotions, and its fifth night free benefit on award stays is genuinely valuable on longer trips: book four nights with points and the fifth is free. Hilton also lets you combine points and cash, which is useful when you are short of the full amount for a night. The trade-off is that Hilton points are worth less per point than Hyatt points, so you need more of them for the same room, and its top-tier hotels can be expensive in points. Even so, Hilton is a strong choice for travellers who stay at mid-range hotels often and want their points to stretch.

IHG One Rewards is often overlooked, but it offers good value at mid-range hotels and its credit card includes a free night certificate every year. Its points are easy to earn through promotions, and its award pricing is reasonable at the brands most travellers actually use, such as Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, and InterContinental. IHG also runs regular points sales and bonus promotions that make topping up a balance cheap. It is a solid choice if your travel is mostly mid-range hotels in cities where IHG has good coverage, and it pairs well with a programme like Hyatt for higher-end stays.

Which programme should you choose? Pick the one whose hotels you actually stay at, because a loyalty programme only works if you use it consistently. Hyatt is best for value, Marriott for coverage, Hilton for easy earning, and IHG for mid-range stays. If you hold Chase Ultimate Rewards points, Hyatt is the obvious choice, because Chase transfers to Hyatt and no other major bank currency does. Concentrate your stays in one programme rather than spreading them across four, and let the free nights build up. A single programme with a meaningful balance is worth far more than four programmes with a few thousand points each.