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 in 2024 (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.

The British Airways Club

The British Airways 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: 1.56 mpd
• EUR: 1.34 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 a recent Christmas stay and yes it really did take the full 60 days for the points to be credited to my Avios account – 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 Club and Qatar Airways Privilege Club accounts and they are at least 30 days old.

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 JAL Business Class from Singapore to Tokyo for 41,500 Avios (via Finnair Plus) and expensive UK domestic flights for just 6,500 Avios one-way with minimal taxes (via Loganair Loyalty).

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 1.09 mpd

Taxes and service fees do not accrue points.

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 sometimes runs promotions for Airbnb with bonus points or inflated earn rates, so look out for any offers.

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 0.62 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 one of two Merchant Category Codes (MCCs):

• 4722: Travel Agencies and Tour Operators
• 7011: Lodging – Hotels, Motels and Resorts – not elsewhere classified.

Unfortunately there seems to be no rhyme or reason which of these MCCs your booking will fall under!

Nonetheless, there are three Singapore credit cards that offer bonus earn rates of 4 mpd on your spend whichever MCC it turns out to be, 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$750 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	Capped at S$1,000 per calendar month.
Maybank XL Rewards (see our review)	4 mpd	Capped at S$1,000 per calendar month, with min. card spend of S$500 in the same calendar month

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 (4 mpd + 1.56 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 MCCs 4722 and 7011.

Unfortunately the HSBC Revolution Card includes MCC 7011 in its bonus category, but excludes MCC 4722, and since you won’t have any control over which MCC applies to your Airbnb booking we recommend avoiding this card too.

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 1.56 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 exact same property for less.

(Cover Photo: Airbnb)