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In mid-July, Expedia Group launched One Key, the new combined loyalty program for Expedia, Hotels.com and Vrbo. This new program replaces the legacy Expedia Rewards and Hotels.com Rewards programs, the latter of which has been a favorite among frequent travelers for years.
The new One Key program aims to be a loyalty program that rewards consumers for all of their travel. Regardless of the hotel you stay at, the airline you book, the car rental company you reserve or the cruise line you sail, you’ll earn OneKeyCash and make progress toward the program’s next status tier.
And while One Key certainly is very simple to use, it has some downsides. Namely, booking hotel stays through Expedia, Hotels.com or any other online travel agency generally means you won’t earn hotel travel rewards or be able to use status benefits with that hotel loyalty program.
However, One Key can be a useful loyalty program for travelers who are not loyal to any specific hotel or other travel company and want a simple way to earn a rebate on their travel. Let’s take a closer look at One Key, how to earn and redeem OneKeyCash and its tier status levels.
What is Expedia One Key?
One Key is Expedia’s new loyalty program. It’s the new loyalty program for three major Expedia Group companies: Expedia, Hotels.com and Vrbo. Members earn OneKeyCash across all three websites into one cumulative pot of rewards that can be redeemed toward future travel.
Right now, One Key is only available in the US, but it will expand to other countries next year. If you already have an account with Expedia, Hotels.com or Vrbo, it will be automatically converted to a One Key account. If you have accounts with multiple programs, they have been combined into one account.
Further, your rewards in the former Expedia Rewards and Hotels.com Rewards programs have been converted to One Key rewards automatically, and your tier status has been matched. Hotels.com Reward Nights were converted at the exact same value (so a $200 Reward Night equals $200 OneKeyCash), while Stamps were converted to 10% of their value.
Meanwhile, Expedia Rewards points have been converted to OneKeyCash at a rate of 1 cent per point, so 100 points equals $1 in OneKeyCash. Vrbo did not have a loyalty program before One Key, so all future stays will automatically earn OneKeyCash.
Earning and redeeming rewards with Expedia One Key
If you’re a One Key member, you can earn OneKeyCash on virtually anything you book through Expedia, Hotels.com or Vrbo. However, the amount of rewards you’ll earn is based on what you book. For example, hotel stays earn far more OneKeyCash than flights.
Currently, members earn 2% in OneKeyCash per dollar spent on eligible activities, hotels, vacation rentals, travel packages, car rentals and cruises. Flights earn a much smaller 0.2% in OneKeyCash per dollar spent. That said, you can earn more OneKeyCash by earning tier status or booking VIP Access hotels, which earn more than standard hotels.
The person booking travel earns the OneKeyCash, which is advantageous if you’re booking flights or hotel rooms for friends, family or colleagues. It also makes it simpler for families, as there’s no need to make individual accounts for each family member.
You can redeem OneKeyCash toward virtually anything sold by Expedia, Hotels.com or Vrbo. That said, you must have enough OneKeyCash to cover the entire cost of a flight. So if you want to book a $100 flight with OneKeyCash, you must have at least $100 in OneKeyCash. For hotels, rental cars and other travel, you can redeem any amount of OneKeyCash even if you don’t have enough to cover the full booking.
On the hotel side, earnings are significantly lower than the old Hotels.com Rewards loyalty program. This program rewarded members one free night for every 10 nights booked through Hotels.com. The free night was worth the average price of all 10 nights, for an effective 10% return.
And as discussed earlier, booking hotels through an online travel agency like Expedia and Hotels.com means you cannot earn hotel points or use hotel elite status benefits in most cases. Keep this in mind before you book through Expedia or Hotels.com, as you might come out ahead by forgoing OneKeyCash for hotel points if you often stay with a single hotel group like Hilton, Hyatt or Marriott.
Do note that you can still earn airline miles and use elite status benefits when booking airfare through Expedia. However, it’s sometimes harder to change tickets booked through an online travel agency, as some airlines require you to do this through the travel agency. If you’re comfortable with this, the added 0.2% you’d earn in OneKeyCash could add up if you travel frequently.
Expedia One Key tier status levels and benefits
When it comes to benefits, the One Key program has several status levels that can ensure you have a more rewarding trip. One Key has four status tiers: Blue, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Everyone starts at the Blue level and can earn higher tiers by booking a set number of “trip elements.” Trip elements include:
- One airline ticket (one way or round trip)
- One hotel night (each night counts as one trip element)
- One night in a vacation rental
- One night on a cruise
- One-day car rental
- One round-trip ground transportation ticket
- One activity ticket
Note that each trip element must be at least $25 excluding taxes and fees to qualify. You’ll earn higher tier status when you book the following number of trip elements per year:
- Silver: 5 trip elements
- Gold: 15 trip elements
- Platinum: 30 trip elements
In theory, you could earn top-tier Platinum status on a single vacation. Say you’re going traveling in Europe for 14 days with a travel partner and book 13 hotel nights, 14 rental car days and two round-trip flights through Expedia. This would earn 31 trip elements, just over the 30 required for Platinum.
Benefits vary from tier to tier, with the largest being higher OneKeyCash earning rates on VIP Access hotel stays. Silver earns a 50% bonus, Gold earns a 100% bonus and Platinum earns a 200% bonus. Other benefits include extra perks and upgrades at VIP Access properties, higher discounts on member rates at eligible hotels and complimentary Price Drop Protection on select flight bookings.
These aren’t the most exciting benefits when compared to traditional hotel loyalty programs that offer chain-wide upgrades and hotel lounge access. However, these benefits can be worthwhile when booking VIP Access properties that aren’t a part of a larger hotel chain as you otherwise would have no added benefits for your travel loyalty.
Bottom line
Expedia’s new One Key program is a mixed bag for travelers. It’s less rewarding than the old Hotels.com Rewards program, but it gives travelers more ways to earn when booking with Expedia, Hotels.com or Vrbo. Now travelers can earn OneKeyCash when booking virtually any type of travel through one of these websites — a great way to be rewarded for your travels if you’re not loyal to one brand in particular. Plus, it’s the first time that Vrbo has a loyalty scheme.
That said, always compare your options when booking a hotel through any of these websites. You may come out ahead when booking directly with the hotel and earning hotel points. Plus, you can get more consistent benefits with hotel elite status that you can earn easily through a hotel-branded credit card.
At the same time, One Key is very simple to use. You effectively earn a rebate on future travel whenever you book with Expedia, Hotels.com and Vrbo. There are no award charts to remember or award space to search for. Just book the travel you want and apply your OneKeyCash to get a discount — it really doesn’t get much simpler than that.
One Key is totally free to use too, so there’s no harm in signing up and using it when it makes sense to do so.
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