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Renting a car comes with a lot of decision-making if you're a points and miles nerd. There are dozens of different programs that provide rental car status, discounts, and even bonus rental time. Plus, some rental car companies allow you to earn rewards to put towards future rentals, or to credit points or miles back to an airline or hotel loyalty program. The options are seemingly endless.
This post will be focused on one specific rental car company, Hertz. Should you earn Hertz Gold Plus Rewards points for your next rental? Or instead, credit the cost of your rental to a partner airline or hotel loyalty program? Let's review the options.
The Basics of Earning Points and Miles on Hertz Car Rentals
There are two ways to reward yourself for Hertz car rentals. You can credit the cost of your rental to Hertz Gold Plus Rewards and earn status and free rental days for your rentals. Or, you can credit to a partner loyalty program, and earn bonus points or miles.
Earning Hertz Gold Plus Rewards on your rentals
Hertz operates a revenue-based loyalty program. You'll earn a minimum of 1 Hertz Gold Plus Rewards point per $1 spent on your rental. You'll only earn points on the base rate of your rental. Taxes, fees, and options are excluded. If you happen to hold Hertz status, you'll earn more points for every dollar you spend. Here's the breakdown for earning points:
- Gold status: 1 point per $1 spent on base rental rate
- Five Star: 1.25 points per $1 spent on base rental rate
- President's Circle: 1.5 points per $1 spent on base rental rate.
If you're looking for a shortcut to Hertz elite status, you can get Hertz President's Circle elite status just for being a Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card cardholder!
- 10X miles per $1 on hotels and rental cars booked via Capital One Travel
- 5X miles per $1 on purchases through Capital One Entertainment (through 12/31/2025)
- 5X miles per $1 on flights when booking via Capital One Travel
- 5X miles per $1 on vacation rentals booked via Capital One Travel
- 2X miles per $1 on all other eligible purchases
While we won't dive into strategies for earning Hertz status in this post, just know that your credit card may offer complimentary Hertz status. For example, I enjoy President's Circle status through my American Express Platinum Card®.
Redeeming Hertz Gold Plus Rewards
Once you earn Hertz points, you can redeem them for daily or weekly rentals on standard or peak dates. Peak dates vary by location, but you can review Hertz's tool to figure out what days your rental falls under.
Or, you can convert Hertz points to travel partner loyalty programs by transferring them. Most are pegged at a fixed transfer rate of 600 Hertz points to 500 miles or points, but three programs have a decent transfer ratio:
- 600 Hertz points = 1,000 Marriott Bonvoy points
- 600 Hertz points = 1,000 IHG One points
- 600 Hertz points = 1,200 Southwest Rapid Rewards points
The value of your Hertz points depends on how and where you redeem them. If you're a frequent renter and can save for a two-week rental, the potential redemption value could be quite high. Alternatively, if you don't have a rental planned, you could choose to transfer them to Marriott Bonvoy, IHG One, or Southwest Rapid Rewards to receive real value for your Hertz points.
However, you may be better off choosing to earn points or miles directly for your rental from your favorite loyalty program. Let's review the options.
Earning points or miles with Hertz partners
Hertz partners with 47 airline partners, at least according to their partner page. However, the list includes defunct airlines like U.S. Airways and Virgin America, so take it with a grain of salt.
To earn points or miles with one of these airline partners for your Hertz rentals, you'll need to include the CDP number and membership number for the program you wish to credit to at the time of booking. Depending on the program you choose to credit to, you'll earn based on base dollars spent, the number of rental days for the contract, or a flat rate per rental. Keep in mind, there are frequent promotions with partner airlines that you should keep an eye out for to boost your earnings.
Here's a chart listing the airline, earning rates, and extra benefits for choosing to credit Hertz rentals to the partner.
| Airline | Earning | Extra Benefits |
|---|---|---|
| Aegean Airlines | 1 Day: 350 to 500 miles 2-3 Days: 700-1,000 miles 4+ days: 1250-1500 miles | 10% off best available rates Gold Miles+Bonus members are entitled to free upgrade of their vehicle category in Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine, Croatia and Montenegro |
| Aeromexico | 1 Day: 600 Premier Points 2 Days: 800 Premier Points 3 Days: 1,000 Premier Points | Club Premier Gold Member earns 20% (over base points) Club Premier Platinum Member earns 40% (over base points) Club Premier Titanium Member earns 60% (over base points) |
| Air France/KLM/Transavia | 12 Flying Blue Miles for every euro spent | 15% discount on rentals |
| Air Transat | No earning benefits listed | N/A |
| ANA | 50 miles per rental day | N/A |
| American Airlines | 1 AAdvantage mile per $1 spent (subject to 7.5% Excise Tax on cost of miles, about 6 cents per day) | N/A |
| Avianca | 50 miles per rental day | Special discounts |
| Cathay Pacific | 500 Asia Miles per rental day on leisure rate outside of Asia 250 Asia Miles per rental day on leisure rate within Asia 250 Asia Miles per commercial/government rental worldwide | Special discounts |
| Delta Airlines | Base SkyMiles Members: 4 miles per every $1 spent Silver Medallion® Members: 5 miles per every $1 spent Gold Medallion® Members: 6 miles per every $1 spent Platinum Medallion® Members: 7 miles per every $1 spent Diamond Medallion® Members: 8 miles per every $1 spent All miles subject to 7.5% Excise Tax on cost of miles. | Special discounts |
| El Al | 10 points for "retail only" | N/A |
| Emirates | Emirates Skywards Blue: 2 Miles per $1 spent Emirates Skywards Silver: 2.5 Miles per $1 spent Emirates Skywards Gold: 3 Miles per $1 spent Emirates Skywards Platinum: 3.5 Miles per $1 spent | N/A |
| EVA Air | 500 Infinity MileageLands miles per qualifying leisure rate rental outside Asia 250 Infinity MileageLands miles per qualifying leisure rate rental within Asia 250 Infinity MileageLands miles per qualifying commercial/ government contract rate rental worldwide | Special discounts |
| Finnair | Earn 400 Finnair Plus Avios per rental | 15% off worldwide car rentals |
| Frontier Airlines | Up to 500 Frontier miles per rental | N/A |
| Gulf Air | Earn 500 miles per rental using standard rates Earn 250 miles per rental using Corporate rates | 10% off worldwide rates |
| Hainan Airlines | 400 Fortune Wings Club Points per qualified rental at Hertz Affordable Rate within Asia (Except China) 800 Fortune Wings Club Points per qualified rental at Hertz Affordable Rate outside of Asia 400 Fortune Wings Club Points per qualified rental at Hertz Partner/Commercial Rate outside of Asia | 10% off worldwide rates |
| Icelandair | 500 points per rental | N/A |
| JetBlue Airways | 50 points for one day rentals 150 points for 2-4 day rentals 300 points for 5+ day rentals | 20% discount with CDP number 1790143 |
| Korean Air | 500 SKYPASS miles per qualifying leisure rate rental outside Asia 250 SKYPASS miles per qualifying leisure rate rental within Asia (Asia: Bangladesh, Brunei, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Philippines, Pakistan, Singapore, Thailand) Rentals in South Korea is in accordance with the Lotte Rental's T&C (excluding Jeju Island) 100 SKYPASS miles per day (up to 1,000 miles)) 250 SKYPASS miles per qualifying commercial/ government contract rate rental worldwide | Special rates |
| LATAM | 400 kilometers on qualifying Commercial/Government rentals.* 800 kilometers on all other qualifying rentals.* | Special rates with CDP 40942 |
| Lufthansa | 500 Miles and More points per rental | 15% discount |
| Malaysia Airlines | 600 Enrich Points per qualifying leisure rate rental outside Asia 300 Enrich Points per qualifying leisure rate rental within Asia 300 Enrich Points per qualifying commercial/ government contract rate rental worldwide | Special rates |
| MEA Airlines | 500 Cedar Miles per rental | Up to 10% discount |
| Philippine Airlines | 500 Mabuhay Miles per qualifying leisure rate rental outside Asia 250 Mabuhay Miles per qualifying leisure rate rental within Asia 250 Mabuhay Milesper qualifying commercial/government contract rate rental worldwide | Special rates |
| Porter Airlines | N/A | 20% off rates |
| Qatar Airways | 500 Avios for standard rentals 250 Avios for contract rentals | Up to 10% off rates |
| Royal Brunei Airlines | 500 Royal Skies Miles per qualifying rental on leisure rates outside Asia 250 Royal Skies Miles per qualifying rental on leisure rates in Asia 250 Royal Skies Miles per qualifying rental on commercial/ government contract rates worldwide | Special rates |
| SAS | 1,000 SAS EuroBonus Extra points for rentals of 1 – 6 days 1,500 SAS EuroBonus Extra points for rentals of 7 – 27 days 2,000 SAS EuroBonus Extra points for rentals of 28 days and longer | Up to 15% discount |
| Saudia Airlines | Earn 3 Alfursan reward miles for every USD1 spent on your rental rate | Up to 10% off worldwide |
| Singapore Airlines | 500 KrisFlyer miles per qualifying leisure rate rental outside Asia 250 KrisFlyer miles per qualifying leisure rate rental within Asia 250 KrisFlyer miles per qualifying commercial/ government contract rate rental worldwide | Special rates |
| Southwest Airlines | 600 points for every qualifying rental For rentals in the U.S. when the renter chooses to receive Rapid Rewards points a Frequent Flyer Surcharge of $1.50 per day up to a maximum of $8.00 per rental will apply | N/A |
| Spirit Airlines | 50 points per rental day on rentals of 1 to 4 days 500 points per rental on rentals of 5 or more days | N/A |
| Suncountry | 1 point for 1-2 day rentals 2 points for 3-4 day rentals 3 points for 5+ day rentals | Up to 20% off 1-4 day rentals |
| TAP Portugal | 500 miles per rental for Miles Winner members 750 miles per rental for Silver Winner members 1,000 miles per rental for Gold Winner members | Miles and Silver members up to 10% off; Gold Winner members up to 15% off |
| Thai Airways | 500 Royal Orchid Plus miles per qualifying leisure rate rental outside Asia 250 Royal Orchid Plus miles per qualifying leisure rate rental within Asia 250 Royal Orchid Plus miles per qualifying commercial/ government contract rate rental worldwide | Special rates |
| Turkish Airways | Earn 500 Miles on qualifying Hertz car rentals of 1-3 days Earn 1,000 Miles on qualifying Hertz car rentals of 4 days or more | N/A |
| Virgin Atlantic | 1,000 Virgin Points on Leisure rentals 500 Virgin Points on Corporate rentals Additional 100 Virgin Points for Hertz Gold Plus Rewards members | Up to 10% off rates |
| Virgin Australia | Australia/New Zealand: 4-6 points per dollar, depending on airline status Worldwide: 800-1,600 points per rental, depending on airline status | N/A |
Hertz also has three hotel partners with which you can earn hotel points instead of Hertz points.
| Hotel | Earning | Extra benefits |
|---|---|---|
| Accor Live Limitless | Earn 5 ALL Reward points per euro spent on EV rentals. Earn 3 ALL Reward points per euro spent on Hertz petrol/diesel rentals. | Up to 10% off, and additional driver for free. |
| IHG One Rewards | 1,500 IHG One Rewards points per rental, plus 125 points per day for non-status holders, and 500 points per day for status holders. | Up to 35% off rentals |
| Marriott Bonvoy | 500 points per rental | N/A |
Should You Earn Hertz Points or Airline Miles?
As you can see, there are dozens of options for your next Hertz rental. The “best option” really depends on your travel habits. If you value free Hertz rentals, your 950 points for a one-day standard rental might be worth $50 to $100. But, depending on your status, you're spending between $633-$950 on base rates for Hertz rentals to earn those points.
Instead, consider the same spending with a partner like IHG One, which is awarding 1,500 IHG points per rental, plus 125 or 500 extra points per day for non-status and status holders, respectively. If you're a frequent IHG guest, you'll earn 3,000 IHG points for a three-day rental. AwardWallet users typically redeem IHG points for 0.68¢ per point each, meaning you'll earn $20.40 worth of points on a three-day rental.
Assuming each rental day is $50 per day base rate, you'll need over six three-day rentals with no Hertz status to earn enough Hertz points for a one-day standard redemption, valued at $50-$100. The same six rentals would earn IHG status members $123.60 worth of IHG points. IHG points earned through Hertz also count towards earning IHG status, so there's an extra benefit there, too.
For airlines, the math gets a bit murkier. For one, Hertz charges an excise tax when opting to earn miles with U.S.-based programs, which negates much of the value of the partnership in my eyes. Instead, consider an international program like Qatar Airways, which earns 500 Avios for every rental. These Avios are transferable to other airlines that earn Avios points, like British Airways.
AwardWallet users have redeemed Avios for 2.55¢ per point on average, giving a return of $12.75 per Hertz rental. This is especially valuable for one-day rentals. Longer-term rentals might benefit from a program that rewards based on spend, like Emirates, which awards 2-3.5 miles per $1 spent depending on your status with the airline.
Our Take
There are a myriad of options when it comes to earning rewards for Hertz rentals. Frequent renters should consider which program's earning scheme works best for their car rental habits. For short-term renters, a flat award rate per contract might make sense, while longer-term renters may benefit from a program that awards per dollar spent on base rates. Whatever your decision, we hope this guide helps you earn as many award points as possible for your next Hertz rental.
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