Ever since my first Airbnb stay back in 2012, I've always wished for an Airbnb credit card or loyalty program so that I can get some extra value through my everyday spending. Although they haven't quite gotten their yet, this week American Express announced that they have added Airbnb as a partner in their Membership Rewards program, thus allowing cardmembers to redeem their points for Airbnb gift cards.
For those that don't know, Airbnb is a website that allows people to both occupy and/or rent out personal accommodations for a short period of time. I love this website as it allows me to stay in areas where hotels might be too expensive or if I simply wanted something bit more cozy like a house with a kitchen.
Cardmembers can redeem their Membership Reward (MR) points for either $100 or $250 dollar Airbnb gift cards with 10,000 and 25,000 points respectively. This comes out to a 1¢ valuation.
Although a 1¢ valuation is low for MR points (they can have an average worth of 1.9¢) having Airbnb as a redemption partner is a welcome addition to the MR partner family. Taking advantage of things like the 40,000 MR point signup bonuses for their charge cards and knowing which cards get you double or triple points on certain categories can add up and offset any sort of low valuation to begin with.
My favorite Amex card at the moment is the newly released American Express Everyday card. You get 10,000 Membership Reward points after your first $1,000 in spend, a free year of Amazon Prime (a $99 value), and a 20% earning bonus after you make 20 purchases in a month. This brings the earning value of your points to about 1.2¢ per dollar of spend if you make your 20 purchases every month and even more if you take advantage of their 2x points on groceries.
In my opinion, you can still get a better value through the Barclay arrival card, as you get around 2.1 cents back with every dollar you spend when it comes to redeeming for travel related purchases (which includes Airbnb). However, the fact that Membership Rewards can be used in so many different ways is definitely a plus worth considering. If you choose to earn exclusively in the Membership Rewards world, you can redeem your rewards for the trip you want to plan vs. being locked into one type of program.
Regardless, I'd love to to see other banks like Chase and Citi follow American Express' lead, but I've got a gut feeling that this deal has some time exclusivity attached to it. The exact same thing happened with Amazon... so I wouldn't doubt that it's probably already in the works!
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