For discount travel enthusiasts, loyalty programs are everything. No matter how you earn points — buying airfare or hotel stays directly from the brand, to using credit cards to pick up rewards — being smart with your spending can directly turn into discounted rewards. But what if you are reward program agnostic and book your trips based on budget and not affinity to a single airline or hotel chain?
Yes, there’s a loyalty program for that, too.
One Key Rewards is the loyalty program for Expedia, Hotels.com, and VRBO. With one login, travelers can earn rewards across all three websites. Depending on what members book and their loyalty status, they earn between 1% and 6% cash back in OneKeyCash rewards, which are directly redeemable on all three sites: $1 in OneKeyCash equates to $1 USD.
With a recent hotel booking for my next Las Vegas trip, I earned One Key Silver status through February 2027. The first question I asked when I got the notifying email was: “Do I really want this?”
What Do I Get With One Key Status?
There are four levels of One Key status, earned through your “trip elements.” Trip elements include the following pieces booked through Expedia, Hotels.com, or VRBO:
- Hotel room nights and vacation rental nights
- Flight tickets
- Car rental days
- Cruise cabin nights
- Activity tickets
In many situations, “trip elements” can stack with each other, making it possible to earn status in one trip. For instance, if you booked two airline tickets, three hotel nights, and three rental car days, you would have eight “trip elements,” which is enough for Silver status.
Earning status through “trip elements” is different than what you earn in OneKeyRewards cash back. No matter how many “trip elements” you have, your OneKeyRewards will vary based on what you are buying/where you are booking, how much you paid, and your status.
So what do you get for that status? Here are their tier benefits as of October 8, 2025:
At my lowly Silver status, I won’t get much for my loyalty to Hotels.com. With a 15% discount and 3% OneKeyCash on over 10,000 select properties, I’d have to be very careful about what I book to get the most value.
With 15 elements (15 hotel nights in my case), I could get Gold status with 20% savings and 4% OneKeyCash on that same list of properties, along with extra perks which could make the status worth while. The extra perks, room upgrades and price drop protection on flights are quite a lot for those who shun single loyalty program perks for flexibility in available properties and pricing.
If I didn’t want to earn One Key Gold status through spending, I could also get it through the OneKey+ credit card, issued by Wells Fargo. The card comes with a $99 annual fee, but also gives Gold status and $100 in annual OneKeyRewards, immediately returning value if I use it within the 12 months.
Is One Key Rewards Valuable for My Travel Style?
Recently, I’ve only used Hotels.com to book my nights at the El Cortez in Las Vegas for multiple reasons:
- I prefer to stay at gaming resorts in Las Vegas
- It’s a 21+ property, which I find more relaxing
- The El Cortez is next to the Fremont Street Experience
- The hotel offers one of the last free valets in the city
- Booking through Hotels.com is usually cheaper than booking direct
Unfortunately, the El Cortez is not a “VIP Access” property, though they do offer an occasional discount for elites. The good news is there are properties I would stay at on the VIP Access list, letting me take advantage of the One Key Rewards benefits. Some of the locations include Aliante, Circa, Fontainebleau Las Vegas, Sahara, and M Resort.
For most of my stays, I’ll get the most value booking directly through the brand instead of an online travel agency. As a self-declared “Hilton Fanboy,” I generally prioritize staying at a Hilton on all my trips before looking elsewhere. If I’m booking on the Las Vegas strip, I’ll book directly with Caesars (despite their recent credit card devaluation) or MGM to maximize rewards. But for those one-off stays where the points wouldn’t matter (like Aliante or Sahara), One Key Silver status might come in handy.
Bottom Line: Do YOU Want One Key Rewards Status?
The answer is: Maybe. Are you a price-sensitive traveler who wants the best deal above everything else? Then One Key Rewards may offer you some extended value, especially if you are doing all of your booking through Expedia’s sites and are using a credit card that offers bonus points or cash back on any travel purchase.
As with all things in life: Your value may vary.
Editor’s note: PlayingPoints.com does not have affiliate relationships with any product mentioned, and will not earn a commission on any of the above links. While every effort is made to keep an article updated, products are subject to change without notice.
Feature Photo by Tom Podmore on Unsplash
