2026 Hotel Points Buying Calendar: Marriott, Hilton, IHG Best Times & Complete Comparison (U.S. Edition)

My rule is brutally simple: never buy hotel points at full price. Marriott, Hilton, and IHG run aggressive buy-points promotions – often with bonuses of 40% to 100% – at least four times a year each. Paying the sticker price is just burning cash. When you time the promotions right, you can slash your purchase cost to as little as 0.5 cents per point (USD), effectively turning points into a 50%–70% discount on high-end hotel stays. I’ve been stacking these deals for years, and the 2026 calendar is already starting to take shape. In this guide, I’ll walk you through the predicted best times to buy points for each of the Big Three hotel loyalty programs, what the math actually looks like, and how to squeeze every last drop of value out of the system – all from a U.S. traveler’s perspective.

2026 Hotel Points Buying Calendar at a Glance

Before we dig into the nitty-gritty of each program, here’s the battle plan. I’ve mapped out the historical rhythm of bonus promotions for Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, and IHG One Rewards, then projected the most likely windows for 2026. The table below is your cheat sheet – if you only remember one thing from this article, make it this schedule.

Hotel Program	Typical Max Bonus	Best Cents Per Point (CPP)	Predicted 2026 Promo Windows	When to Pull the Trigger
Marriott Bonvoy	50% (occasionally 60% targeted)	0.67–0.83 CPP	Late Feb, May, Sep, early Dec	Sep or Dec for holiday planning; May if you see a surprise 50%
Hilton Honors	100% (capped at 80k–100k base purchase)	0.50 CPP	Feb–Mar, Jun–Jul, Oct–Nov	Whenever the 100% banner appears – don’t wait for a “better” one
IHG One Rewards	100% (sometimes 80% but frequent 100%)	0.50–0.56 CPP	Jan, Mar–Apr, Jul–Aug, Nov–Dec	Flash sales around Black Friday / Cyber Monday and year-end are nearly guaranteed

Keep this page bookmarked. I’ll explain the “why” behind each window, plus how to layer on credit card rewards so that your net cost drops even lower.

How Hotel Points Sales Work – And Why You Must Wait for a Bonus

All three chains sell points through a portal operated by Points.com. The baseline price is always $10 per 1,000 points (1 cent per point), with a few wrinkles:

• Marriott lets you buy up to 100,000 base points per calendar year (sometimes raised to 150,000 during promos).
• Hilton caps base purchases at 80,000 points per year, but they occasionally lift that to 160,000 when a bonus is active.
• IHG allows 150,000 base points per calendar year, and the limit resets on January 1.

When a promotion runs, you’ll see a bonus tacked on top: “Buy 80,000 points, get 80,000 more” is a 100% bonus. The bonus points don’t count against your annual cap – the cap only applies to the base purchase. That’s why buying during a promotion effectively doubles (or more) your purchasing power.

At full price, 1 cent per point is a terrible deal. You’d be hard-pressed to find a redemption that yields more than 1 CPP, so you’d just be pre-paying a hotel stay at roughly the same cash rate – often worse, because you lose out on earning points and elite night credits on the stay. With a bonus, the math flips. Let me show you exactly how.

Marriott Bonvoy: Buy Points Only When the Clock Strikes 50%

Marriott is the stingiest of the three when it comes to bonuses. A 50% bump is the best you’ll reliably see on the public offer, though some members get targeted for 60% via email. I’ve tracked these sales for years, and 2026 will almost certainly follow the same pattern: late winter (February), late spring (May), early fall (September), and a pre-holiday push in early December. The September and December windows tend to be the most dependable.

Cost per point under a 50% bonus: Buy 100,000 base points for $1,000 and receive 50,000 bonus points (total 150,000 points). $1,000 ÷ 150,000 = 0.67 cents per point. If you are lucky enough to snag a targeted 60% offer, the cost drops to 0.625 CPP.

Even at 0.67 CPP, you need to be strategic. Marriott’s award chart is dynamic, but high-end properties routinely go for 50,000–100,000 points per night. Let’s run a real-world example: The St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort can cost $1,500+ per night. In 2025, I saw standard nights at 100,000 points. Using points bought at 0.67 CPP, that’s $670 per night – a 56% discount off the cash rate. That’s the kind of redemption that makes buying Marriott points worthwhile.

Pro tip: Marriott also runs “Buy Points and get a free night certificate” promotions a couple of times a year. If you can stack a free-night voucher on top of a 50% bonus, the value skyrockets. I’ll be watching for that combo in September 2026.

Check the latest Marriott Bonvoy buy points promotion here.

Hilton Honors: The 0.5 CPP Sweet Spot Returns Like Clockwork

Hilton is the gold standard for buying points on sale. Two or three times a year, Hilton flips the switch on a 100% bonus, and when that happens, you can load up on points for exactly 0.5 cents apiece. In 2024 and 2025, these offers appeared in late February/early March, again in June, and then around October or November. For 2026, I’m penciling in the same cadence.

The math under a 100% bonus: The maximum base purchase is typically 80,000 points ($800). With a 100% match, you end up with 160,000 points. $800 ÷ 160,000 = 0.5 CPP. Occasionally Hilton raises the cap to 160,000 base points during a promotion, meaning you can buy 160,000 + 160,000 = 320,000 points for $1,600 – still at 0.5 CPP.

At 0.5 CPP, the value proposition is outrageous. A top-tier Waldorf Astoria or Conrad that charges 120,000 points per night would cost just $600 in purchased points. Compare that to a $1,200 cash rate, and you’re saving 50% – plus Hilton elites get 5th night free on award stays, stretching those points even more.

One caveat: Hilton runs frequent 80% or “up to 100%” tiered offers where you need to buy a large bundle to trigger the full bonus. Don’t bite on the 80% unless you’re in