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Although the brand is nearly 100 years old, Sonesta hotels have long flown under the radar with very few properties. However, over the past few years, Sonesta Hotels and its loyalty program, Sonesta Travel Pass, have exploded to include over 1,200 properties worldwide. The brand's rise has been so impressive that it is now worth a closer look.
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Sonesta Travel Pass Program Overview
The Sonesta Travel Pass program is one of the less complex hotel programs around, and its features include the following:
- Sonesta Travel Pass is free to join.
- The program has four membership levels — from Bronze to top-tier Platinum.
- Earn 10 points per $1 spent on eligible stays.
- Reward redemptions start at 10,000 points per night. Unfortunately, Sonesta has eliminated its award chart, so travelers no longer can find how many points a particular property should cost.
Sonesta Travel Pass Elite Status Levels
The refreshed Sonesta Travel Pass program has four levels: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Each has its own set of benefits, as follows.
Bronze
This is the entry-level tier, which you receive when you enroll. Upon enrollment, you are eligible for a bonus. Bronze members receive the following benefits:
- Special rates and promotions
- Complimentary upgraded Wi-Fi during your stay
- Eligible for partner benefits and offers
- Earn and redeem points for free nights
Silver
Sonesta Travel Pass Silver is the first step on the elite status ladder. Reaching it requires 10 nights or 10,000 points. Members receive all the benefits of Bronze membership, plus the following:
- 50% tier bonus point multiplier
- Early check-in and late check-out
- Exclusive reservation line
- Complimentary room upgrades when available
- Welcome gift
Gold
Sonesta Travel Pass Gold is the penultimate step on the elite status ladder. Reaching it requires 20 nights or 20,000 points. Members receive all the benefits of Silver membership, plus the following:
- 75% tier bonus point multiplier
- Priority self-parking
- Complimentary continental breakfast daily for the member (provided as a voucher for up to $15, including tax)
Related: Best Mid-Tier Hotel Elite Statuses And How To Earn Them
Platinum
Sonesta Travel Pass Platinum is the program's top-tier status level. Reaching it requires 40 nights or 40,000 points. Members receive all the benefits of Gold membership, plus a 100% tier bonus point multiplier.
Interestingly, there is no significant difference between Gold and Platinum in terms of the benefits you receive. The only difference is receiving 30% more bonus points on stays. While this is nice, it raises a question: Is it worth doubling your investment in nights and points to earn an extra 30% bonus points? Arguably not; many members will likely not push past Gold for Platinum status without organically earning it.
Earning Sonesta Travel Pass Points
The number of points you earn depends on the Sonesta property you are staying at:
- Earn five points per $1 spent on qualifying room revenue at Sonesta Simply Suites hotels.
- Earn 10 points per $1 spent on qualifying room revenue at all other Sonesta properties.
Qualifying Room Revenue excludes taxes, fees, and other surcharges. It's also possible to earn points on up to two additional rooms outside the room you're staying in if they're included in your same reservation. There's a maximum of 100,000 points per stay per room.
The earning rates are excellent and make reaching status easy. Considering the status requirements, you only need to spend $2,000 to reach Sonesta Travel Pass Gold. This makes the Sonesta Travel Pass Program one of the easiest to hit elite status using points from stays.
Earning points through a co-branded credit card
You can also earn Sonesta Travel Pass points from purchases with your Sonesta World Mastercard® from Bank of America. The card earns points at the following rates.
- 3X on eligible spend at Sonesta properties.
- 2X on car rental, airfare, and dining.
- 1X on other purchases.
The card carries an annual fee of $75 (waived for the first year). While the network of available Sonesta Travel Pass co-branded credit cards is not as well developed as the cards that earn Hilton Honors points or the cards that earn Marriott Bonvoy points, it is still better than nothing.
Earning points through promotions
Sonesta Travel Pass doesn't offer nearly as many promotions as its heavyweight competitors like Marriott and Hilton. However, occasional Sonesta promotions can offer double points, bonus points on every stay, or other offers. It's worth checking the current offers before making a reservation.
Redeeming Your Sonesta Travel Pass Points
Historically, Sonesta Travel Pass published an award chart with 12 tiers. However, during the program changes in the summer of 2024, Sonesta abolished its chart and moved to what can only be described as an opaque and dynamic pricing model.
Sonesta does not actually state that it has switched to dynamic pricing. The company only states that you have to follow these simple steps to make a redemption.
- Log into your Sonesta account.
- Search for your desired room at the desired property.
- The price per night in points will be displayed below the cost in cash.
Sonesta Travel Pass does not state the relationship between cash and points prices. Therefore, it is hard to tell whether it is a fixed-value redemption rate or whether other factors are taken into account when calculating an award's points cost.
Sonesta Travel Pass points expiration
Your Sonesta Travel Pass points expire if your account has no activity for 24 months. Sonesta defines activity as earning or redeeming reward points or having a qualifying stay. You'll need to stay at least one night every 24 months to keep your points active.
What Are Sonesta Travel Pass Points Worth?
Budget-friendly properties
To assess the value of your Sonesta Travel Pass points, we looked at a few redemptions across the spectrum of the program's hotel properties. Take the Sonesta Simply Suites Detroit Warren, MI, for example. We found nights for $101 or 15,000 points. This works out at a less-than-inspiring 0.67 cents per point.
Mid-tier and upper-mid-tier properties
A night at the mid-tier Sonesta ES Suites Annapolis Hotel will set you back 17,500 points or $187 per night. Crunching the numbers, that is a more acceptable value of 1.06 cents per point.
Looking at the more upscale side of things, The Royal Sonesta Washington DC Dupont Circle's value is similar to lower-tiered properties. We found rates from 27,500 points per night or $272 per night. Again, the value holds steady at 0.98 cents per point.
Luxury properties
Heading overseas to the more luxurious end of the Sonesta portfolio, the Sonesta Ocean Point Resort in St. Maarten will set you back 50,000 points per night. The same rooms will set you back from $467 per night. This works out at a value of 0.93 cents per point.
We also looked at one of Sonesta’s most luxurious properties. The Gardens Sonesta ES Suites New York will set you back from 60,000 points per night. Again, we found rooms the same rooms for a whopping $887 per night. Crunching the numbers, this is the best value we have seen and works out at an impressive 1.47 cents per point.
You must be strategic and plan well to get decent value for your points. Judging by the point value spread, it seems you are better off targeting mid- and upper-middle properties to get the biggest bang for your points. The pricing for lower-end and luxury properties does not allow you to generate significant value from your awards.
Our Take
Although not the biggest or most lucrative program, Sonesta Travel Pass is still a good option for some travelers. The brand has a diverse portfolio of properties (which recently grew with the incorporation of Red Lion), giving you plenty of opportunities to book stays, especially if you travel a little off the beaten track.
Can you see the Sonesta Travel Pass program working for you? Let us know in the comments below.
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
I am living in Germany. Can I join the Travel Pass?
I don’t see anything in the terms and conditions that would prevent you from joining the Travel Pass program. Even better, you can get 1,000 bonus points for joining! https://www.sonesta.com/join-travel-pass
My introduction was staying at a previous Marriott. In comparison: they did not introduce or push travel pass program. Rooms remained the same in decor. Amenities were sadlly lacking. Towels were poor condition and minimal. Women need a second towel for their hair. Requested more towels and quickly received them – much better quality towels. Room was clean and interactions with staff pleasant. We already booked a multi-family trip without knowledge of rewards program and fear we have missed out. Always believe in a second chance. Hopefully Sonesta rises to the challenge of maintaining the bars of other operators that were before them – I believe that will further that word of mouth and brand loyalty.
I think that the Sonesta hotel chain is one of the best in terms of service. It is good that promotions after the pandemic that I hope ends soon.
It will be interesting to see how Sonesta develops as s chain, but at the moment they have too small a footprint for me to pay much attention to them.
hopefully there will be a chance to test, finally
Will they further enhance their program beyond earning points from and redeeming points on hotel stays?
Are they linked with any of thr frequent flyer programs?
Sonesta brand hotels are my new favorite hotel chain. They recently bought out the local holiday Inn near Disney and its an amazing hotel experience, I highly recommend booking your next stay at a Sonesta hotel.
Have enhancements come with the rebrand?
I have not heard of this hotel brand so really appreciate this writeup. Can’t wait to do research now – to see if I can find one of these hotels on routes I go – so I can try them out and potentially become a member. Earning elite status sounds appealing.
Sonesta is a smaller chain, ive been keeping it on my radar as it grows.
The issue with Sonesta is that they are buying a lot of crappy hotels and rebranding, but not making any changes.
A hotel chain which is expanding is very welcomed.
Hope to see more competition.
The growth of the hotel chain is quite significant and with the new loyalty program offering 8,000 bonus points per stay in the USA and Canada this summer it looks like a great opportunity.
I see, the pandemic has brought about the rise of this chain.
It’s a solid enough offer. Discovered Sonesta about 15 years ago in Panamá and Colombia. Really enjoyed the properties. Then the program was useless as points were not awarded at International hotels. It’s a sleeper.
Hotel chains are focused on captured guest again!! Smart movement!!
Great step in the right direction of customer service for Sonesta. Good move there!
I’ve seen a few hotels (former Marriott and IHG) here in Florida and up north in Atlanta which rebranded to Sonesta. I’d heard a tiny bit about the chain some months back here on Awardwallet when they big brands didn’t pay their bills, but now that they’re experiencing high growth, it can’t hurt to join their loyalty program just to put the feather in the cap and keep my options open on future travels.
Sonesta Hotels are fine. Sonesta chain? I wish they were better. What a pain. Be aware if you want to search hotels on their website, you have to price them ONE AT A TIME. You can’t just get all their hotels in an area and prices for dates like every other chain. Phone app? Not yet. Have a lot of points and want to book online? Nope. Fill in a form and submit and hope it is accepted. What? It’s 2021. They added lots of hotels. I have points, I like their hotels in areas I need hotels. But such a pain I think I give up. All other chains make it easy to compare within the chain in an area, and have an app, and let you book online with your points any hour of the day instantly if rooms are available. So FYI before you get as involved with them as I did. I have to imagine this will change. But not so yet. That you are a travel site and you don’t mention these limitations stuns me. Suggests you have never tried to book anything even to see how they work.
Indeed, we haven’t had as much experience with Sonesta as you have! It’s been a very small program, so we are just getting to know it now that it’s expanding. If you want to warn other travelers, feel free to review Sonesta Travel Pass here: https://awardwallet.com/r/Sonesta-Travel-Pass
I completely understand. But you don’t need to spend or book to try their site. Pick a major area. San Jose, CA. SF. Try to price. Of course you would never ever expect that based on other chains and pricing. For using your points I could directly send you images. Can you think of any other chain where you essentially email them to use your points?! If they don’t have an App that’s not a great sign either. Put together? It’s like going back in time (a flip phone and no touch screen might be the analogy). 🙂
I am sure they will get better. Until then I just can’t bother. I had to price two of their hotels for a stay last night, one at a time, and one at a time for my potential dates therefore, and memorize comparisons? Nah. We frequent travelers (I pretty much live in hotels) don’t have the time for drudgery like that. 🙂
That does sound like a really antiquated system! Hopefully Sonesta will step it up now that it’s becoming a bigger player.
It looks like Sonesta lists the hotel prices here: https://www.sonesta.com/travel-pass/hotel-tiers. And wow, San Jose isn’t cheap!
I have never stayed at a Sonesta Hotel. When traveling to a destination I’ll check website for Hyatt, Hilton, and IHG. I would not waste a credit card application for a Sonesta credit card.
One of my previous go-to Candlewood suites has been rebranded as a Sonesta. Since I’m traveling for work these days, I’ve been staying at the Hyatt Place in that area (which is in danger of being re-branded also!) This might be an good time to try out the Sonesta brand.
Wow! That chain is growing very quickly! However, you have to spend a lot to get value out of the program it seems. If you earn 10 points per dollar and the cheapest redemption is 10,000 points, you have to spend $1,000 minimum to have any ability to redeem points for the most basic property.
I just learned about Sonesta… competition is good for the consumer so I’ll take this as a win!! Will have to see how good the value really is.
The world mastercard looks promising.
This is a fascinating evolution. It reminds me of when legacy airlines were in trouble and Southwest swooped in and boomed gobbling up share. It’d be great to see some more chain-sized competition.
I think that’s a great analogy. Sonesta is seizing what they perceive to be an opportunity, when existing players are certainly struggling and desperate to various degrees. The same thing will happen in many industries, producing winners and losers. At some point, hopefully very soon, it will actually be a rather great time to open a restaurant, since the competition herd has been dramatically thinned.
Well, at least the pandemic has created some opportunity for some.
Well its always nice to learn about something new. I guess I will have to look at this growing hotel company. You’re right I have not heard about Sonesta before. I would bet they made sure to hit the big cities? New York, LA, San Fran? Have ya’ll stayed at one?
As others have stated, I have never stayed at a Sonesta property, am troubled by both IHG and Marriott’s having defaulted on their debt service, and think Sonesta needs to offer a more compelling awards plan. Nonetheless, there’s no downside to enrolling, and I appreciate this informative article.
It will be a long road ahead for Sonesta to develop its loyalty program.
Not familiar with the Sonesta brand at all. More importantly to me though, it seems concerning that both IHG and Marriott are defaulting on payments.
Didn’t think we’d see the rise of a new, massive hotel chain in 2020. It’ll be interesting to see if Sonesta decides to really complete with the big players.
I’ve never stayed at a Sonesta hotel. Obviously we know that these hotels are based on their previous IHG levels, but anyone with experience with the company themselves?
Thanks! This overview arrives right on time as I was planning to look into this program after the recent property expansion. Do you know if they ever offer signup bonuses for joining the program? Even a few points would be a nice kickoff.
With that big addition in the US they are really becoming a player. Will certainly be worth a look.
I’m always open to a new hotel program but I don’t see any real benefits to joining the program at this time. It does remind me of the IHG program, and for good reason as a lot of the hotels seem to be previously branded Candlewood Suites and even a Kimpton or two. They need to sweeten the deal to get people to change their stays.
Great to see Sonesta is a growing brand. I’ve enjoyed my experiences there.
This is interesting, I was not previously familiar with Sonesta. I am looking forward to learning more about them this year.