Staying in a rental property on an overseas trip or even in your home country is a more popular and accessible alternative to a hotel stay than it ever has been, and that’s largely down to online marketplaces that make the process as simple as booking a hotel room.

The most popular of those portals is Airbnb, which has been offering short-term housing rentals for well over a decade and now boasts over 7 million active listings in over 100,000 towns and cities across the world.

That’s meant you’ll almost certainly find Airbnb options wherever you’re travelling, but while these can offer unique experiences, what often puts many of our readers off is the inability to both redeem and earn loyalty points or miles during your stay.

You can earn miles on Airbnb rentals

I made an Airbnb booking and stayed in a property in the UK over Christmas last year (though not the cover image one, sadly), and that naturally led me to explore how I could maximise miles earning for the stay on top of the credit card points accrual for the payment itself.

To my surprise, four frequent flyer programmes do support additional direct miles earning for Airbnb bookings made via their own portal links to the site, with no additional cost, and one of them stands out above the others.

British Airways Executive Club

The British Airways Executive Club was offering 3 Avios per USD / EUR / GBP spent on Airbnb bookings for some time, but unfortunately in 2024 the rate was cut to 2 Avios per USD / EUR / GBP spent.

Nonetheless, it’s still arguably the best of the bunch.

Here’s how the earn rate looks in SGD terms, depending on the currency your booking is made in:

• USD: 1.55 mpd
• EUR: 1.35 mpd
• GBP: 1.16 mpd

To benefit, you must book at the dedicated link provided on this page at the BA website.

Avios are earned on the base price of your booking, but not on taxes or service fees. Avios will be credited to your account within 60 days (around 8.5 weeks) of your completed stay.

This is how i booked my recent Christmas stay and yes it really did take the full 60 days for the points to be credited to my Avios account – do don’t rely on a quicker credit!

Remember your Avios points can then be transferred free at a 1:1 ratio into Qatar Airways Avios if you wish, provided you have linked your British Airways Executive Club and Qatar Airways Privilege Club accounts.

That’s useful if Qatar Avios are the ones you tend to collect and spend, not BA ones.

There’s also the option to transfer into other Avios programmes, including Finnair Plus and Loganair Loyalty, for some great value redemption options including expensive UK domestic flights for just 6,500 Avios one-way with minimal taxes.

Qantas Frequent Flyer

Qantas Frequent Flyer offers its members 1 point per AUD spent on Airbnb bookings, with an additional 500 points awarded for your first Airbnb booking as a new customer.

In terms of Singapore Dollars, that works out as 1.20 mpd

Taxes and service fees do not accrue points.

For a limited time, both new and returning customers can earn an additional 2,000 bonus Qantas Points on new bookings made between 16 and 25 June 2025. To qualify, your booking must cost more than A$150. Qantas says the promotion is valid for up to three bookings during this period.

Bookings must be made via the dedicated portal on the Qantas site.

Qantas points will be deposited into your account 8 weeks after completion of your stay.

Qantas currently has a promotion for bookings between 16th June 2025 and 25th June 2025, offering 2,000 bonus Qantas Points on new Airbnb bookings, provided the cost is AU$150 or more. This inflates the earn rate for an AUD$1,000 booking, for example, to an equivalent of 3.6 mpd in SGD terms.

Delta SkyMiles

Delta SkyMiles offers its members 1 point per USD spent on Airbnb bookings.

In terms of Singapore Dollars, that works out as 0.78 mpd

Taxes and service fees do not accrue miles.

Bookings must be made via the dedicated portal on the Delta site.

Miles will be deposited into your account 6-8 weeks after completion of your stay.

ANA Mileage Club

ANA Mileage Club offers its members 1 mile per JPY 200 spent on Airbnb bookings.

In terms of Singapore Dollars, that works out as only 0.57 mpd

Taxes and service fees do not accrue miles.

Full details including how to book are available at this dedicated page on the ANA website.

Miles will be credited to your account within two to three months after your stay.

Additional miles through your credit card

Airbnb payments fall under Merchant Category Code 7011: Lodging – Hotels, Motels and Resorts – not elsewhere classified.

That means there are two Singapore credit cards that offer bonus earn rates of 4 mpd or 6 mpd on your spend, in addition to the direct frequent flyer miles you’ll earn by making your booking via the frequent flyer programmes listed above.

Card	Earn Rate	Notes
UOB Lady’s Solitaire	4 mpd	Capped at S$2,000 per calendar month, provided Travel is selected as one of your bonus earn categories.
UOB Lady’s	4 mpd	Capped at S$1,000 per calendar month, provided Travel is selected as one of your bonus earn categories.
DBS WWMC (see our review)	4 mpd	For online spend, capped at S$1,500 per calendar month (S$1,000 per calendar month from August 2025).

At the top end, with an Airbnb booking in USD via the British Airways Avios portal, this can inflate your effective total earn rate to over 5.5 mpd (5 mpd + 1.55 mpd).

Don’t use the Citi Rewards Card for Airbnb bookings, since travel transactions are specifically excluded from 4 mpd online bonus rate earning, including MCC 7011.

Unfortunately the HSBC Revolution Card also recently added MCC 7011 to its exclusion list for online spend, meaning Airbnb transactions no longer earn 4 mpd with that one, since 1st January 2024.

Airbnb isn’t always the cheapest option

Even if you find your perfect property on the Airbnb site, do be aware that it may not be the cheapest way to secure a booking.

We often find that you can see the same property listed directly on local tourism accommodation websites at lower rates (Airbnb adds nearly 20% to the amount the host receives). Even competing sites like VrBo and Booking.com can sometimes have the same property available for a lower rate.

Booking.com also partners with some FFPs to offer miles for your payment (e.g. 6 BA Avios per GBP 1 spent).

It’s really therefore only worth earning additional miles though a frequent flyer programme for Airbnb bookings where that’s the cheapest option anyway for your preferred property.

Nonetheless, you may prefer the protection of Airbnb’s secure booking and payment platform and 24/7 customer service, instead of potentially a (more risky) direct arrangement and payment with the host.

If you’re a fan of Airbnb, and millions are, don’t miss out on additional miles when you book your stays, with four frequent flyer programmes offering the equivalent of up to 1.55 mpd on your booking.

These miles are on top of up to 4 mpd earning when you use the right credit card to book, for a total of over 5.5 mpd possible.

These FFP links don’t add any additional cost to your booking, but do shop around – Airbnb levies high fees to its hosts and alternative sites can even feature the same exact property for less.

(Cover Photo: Airbnb)