This New Travel Rewards Program Lets You Earn and Redeem Points on Flights, Hotels, Car Rentals, Cruises, and Vacation Rentals

Expedia's new rewards program, One Key, unites Hotels.com, Expedia, and Vrbo.

Travel loyalty programs can be rewarding — but confusing. Every airline alliance, hotel group, and booking platform seems to have its own system, making it hard to keep track of various kinds of points earned, let alone how to redeem them. That’s exactly why Expedia Group has taken three of its flagship brands — Expedia, Hotels.com, and Vrbo — and built one unifying rewards program called One Key. It launched on July 17 in the U.S.

Here's how it works: after signing up for the free One Key membership, every booking made on any of the three platforms earns the same OneKeyCash points. Those points can then be redeemed on Expedia, Hotels.com, or Vrbo. Notably, Vrbo being part of OneKey marks the first time any major vacation rental platform has offered a rewards program.

“We designed One Key to reward every traveler, no matter how they choose to travel,” says Lauri Metrose, Expedia Group Brands’ senior vice president of global communications, in an interview with Travel + Leisure. “One Key is simple and flexible, allowing you to save, achieve status, and earn OneKeyCash for any type of trip you take, whether it involves flying, renting a car, staying in a hotel room, or relaxing in a private vacation rental.”

Adding to the ease is a straightforward earning system. “Members will earn the same percentage of OneKeyCash on eligible hotel, vacation rental, car rental, cruise, package, and activity bookings across Expedia, Hotels.com, and Vrbo,” Metrose says. But where it really pays off is for flight bookings. “The rate is different for air travel, but travelers can earn OneKeyCash on top of their airline miles and can earn up to 10 times more if they book their flight as part of a package,” she adds.

In addition to earning rewards, One Key members will be able to take advantage of other benefits based on their status, similar to airline loyalty programs. New members are immediately classified as Blue and can move up to three higher tiers, based not on money spent, but by “trip elements” booked. Each night in a hotel room, vacation rental, or aboard a cruise counts as one element. But so does an eligible flight, a one-day car rental, a round-trip ground transportation ticket (like airport shuttles and transfers), or an activity ticket (like a theme park ticket or a private tour). The only monetary factor is that each element must be at least $25 prior to fees and taxes.

One Key members receive Silver status after purchasing five trip elements in a year across Vrbo, Hotels.com, and Expedia; Gold for 15 trip elements; and Platinum for 30 trip elements. What that means is that it’s possible to move up to Silver with just one trip, whether it’s with a single five-night stay in a hotel, or with a flight, two-night vacation rental, and two-day car rental.

Each tier earns more access to benefits, like further discounts at Expedia's VIP Access properties (the company’s collection of highest-rates properties that meet a certain quality standard). On flights booked on the Expedia app, Gold and Platinum members also automatically get Price Drop Protection, normally an add-on feature that will automatically keep monitoring the flight price daily until takeoff, refunding any difference in the form of OneKeyCash after the trip ends.

Expedia Group has been working on this program for two years. “This program enables travelers to easily earn rewards for any way they travel and use them on any of our three platforms,” Metrose says. “In fact, 83 percent of travelers don’t travel enough to earn status or meaningful benefits with other travel loyalty programs. One Key is for everyone — the infrequent travelers and the frequent travelers. The goal was to make it simple and flexible for consumers."

Those who were part of Expedia or Hotels.com’s previous loyalty programs started to migrate over to the unified system on July 6. “We converted their rewards to OneKeyCash at their full value, and eligible travel activity from the past year counts toward their One Key status,” Metrose explains.

While other major booking sites like Hotwire, Travelocity, and Orbitz, are also a part of Expedia Group, they’re not part of One Key at this time, and those members will continue earning rewards within the individual platforms’ programs.  Currently only available in the U.S., One Key will roll out globally starting in 2024.

“One Key exemplifies our dedication to remaining at the forefront of innovation and delivering exceptional experiences to our valued travelers," Metrose concludes.

You can enroll in One Key here.

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