Want to experience a more unique side of travel? Airbnb can often be a great way to book stays in far-flung destinations or to enjoy more space in cities where hotels are traditionally small and expensive.

Airbnb doesn’t have its own dedicated loyalty program. Instead, it teams up with select airline loyalty programs so you can earn bonus points for every dollar spent. Even better, there are now opportunities to earn thousands more bonus supermarket loyalty points when buying Airbnb gift cards in Australia!

Putting it all together can be an effective way to boost your points balance while planning your next trip. Here’s how.

Buy Airbnb gift cards when there’s a promotion

Over the last few years, Airbnb gift cards have regularly appeared on special at Coles and Woolworths. You can usually earn 20x bonus Flybuys or Everyday Rewards points when the offer appears in the catalogue.

An example Airbnb offer with Flybuys.

To put that into perspective, every $100 you spend on Airbnb gift cards could earn you 2,000 Flybuys or Everyday Rewards points. That’s enough for:

  • $10 off at the checkout (Coles or Woolworths, respectively)
  • Transferred to 1,000 Qantas or Velocity Points (respectively)

It’s not out of the realm of impossibility to spend $2,000 on Airbnb for a big family trip, for example. Buying that amount in gift cards would be worth 40,000 supermarket loyalty points. That’s equal to $200 off at the checkout or 20,000 Qantas or Velocity Points, depending on the supermarket.

An example of bonus points I earned with Flybuys offers on Airbnb gift cards.
Ad – Scroll down to continue reading.Minimum spend, terms & conditions apply.

Earn extra frequent flyer points with Airbnb

On top of the bonus points you can earn with Airbnb gift cards, you can also earn frequent flyer points for every dollar spent! Simply by clicking through one of these links, you’ll pick up points on every booking

Frequent flyer programEarn rate
Qantas Frequent Flyer1 Qantas Point per AUD spent
British Airways Avios3 Avios per USD/EUR/GBP spent
Delta SkyMiles1 SkyMile per USD spent
Earn a larger 3 Avios per US$1 spent if you click through British Airways.

In detail: how to earn Qantas Points with Airbnb stays

  1. Start your Airbnb accommodation search and booking via the Qantas/Airbnb portal, ensuring you are logged in with your frequent flyer number.
  2. Confirm on the Airbnb homepage that you see the banner showing the Qantas logo.
  3. Find the listing you are looking to book.
  4. Complete checkout (including with Airbnb gift cards if you have them).
  5. You’ll earn the bonus Qantas Points up to 8 weeks after the stay.
You can also earn 1 Qantas Points per AU$1 spent.

The method to earn British Airways Avios or Delta SkyMiles is essentially the same as above. Simply start your Airbnb accommodation search through the British Airways or Delta portal, ensuring you are logged into the respective frequent flyer account.

Summing up

Where possible, try to buy your Airbnb gift cards when there is a bonus points offer and then use an airline portal to book for extra points. It goes without saying that you should also pay with a points-earning rewards credit card to triple-dip on points.

For a $2,000 Airbnb booking, it’s possible to earn the following:

  • 20,000 Qantas or Velocity Points (via Everyday Rewards or Flybuys offers).
  • 2,000 Qantas Points or around 4,000 Avios (converted from USD rate).
  • And credit card points per dollar spent on the gift cards or leftover amounts.

Best of all, this is also possible at no extra cost compared to if you booked without any offers.

Supplementary images courtesy Airbnb and respective frequent flyer programs.

This content contains affiliate links from which Point Hacks may earn commissions from transactions generated from new customers, bookings and general enquiries. Find out more here.

How to earn more points on Airbnb stays was last modified: January 16th, 2024 by Brandon Loo