Qantas Frequent Flyers members collectively have redeemed 4.7 billion points over the course of 2018, with glamorous beach resorts around the world claiming all of the top 10 spots for popularity among the airline’s customers.
According to research from Qantas Hotels released today, the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki provided the most popular hotel for Frequent Flyers to redeem their points during 2018. Resorts in Hawaii claimed a further three places in the rankings but were forced to sit behind Indonesia in the overall tally, with Bali properties making up half the list. The only other resort to rank among the Top 10 was the Hilton Fiji Beach Resort & Spa.
Back at home, Melbourne was the most popular destination for hotel stays booked using Frequent Flyer points in 2018. Breaking down the results further, the Crown Metropol Hotel was the most popular individual hotel, with loyal Qantas customers burning 4.8 million points on stays there over the course of the year.
Speaking of earning and burning points, the final tally for 2018 showed an astonishing 12.7 billion points were redeemed across the entire Qantas Hotels range of some 200,000 properties. In return, more than 920 million points were earned, less than a tenth of the number burned.
“Hotel bookings often consume a significant chunk of the holiday budget so having the opportunity to earn points that can be used for the next trip or redeem points to make a holiday more affordable through Qantas Hotels is really appealing to Frequent Flyers,” said a Qantas spokesperson on the data’s release.
The most cashed-up active member of the Qantas Frequent Flyers program certainly had an active year, the results showed. One individual was named as the top ‘hotel booker’, earning more than 230,000 points on hotel stays. This figure was barely a blip on his or her overall balance, as the person redeemed 12.2 million points by themselves on eight hotel stays through the year, including 7.2 million on one reservation for a stay at the exotic Mykonos Blu Grecotel Exclusive Resort in Greece.