Earning Hotel Points and Airline Miles with e-Rewards Surveys

Taking surveys is one of the simplest ways to earn hotel points and airline miles. It’s great for securing those last few miles needed to complete an award booking or to prevent your hard earned points from expiring. My favorite survey company is e-Rewards Opinion Panel. E-Rewards sends survey invitations to your inbox with different payouts depending on the length and topic. e-Rewards currency earned from surveys can then be redeemed for points and miles through different rewards programs. Since signing up for e-Rewards a few months ago my life has turned into an episode of True Life: I’m Addicted to Surveys. Seriously, it’s becoming a problem. But anyway, here’s everything you need to know about earning points and miles with e-Rewards.

Update 6/9/2017: Currently the only way to enroll is through an invitation directly from a participating loyalty program. If you sign-up for the various loyalty programs mentioned in this post, you may receive an invitation from them at some point in the future. I will update as public sign-up offers become available.

Travel Partners

e-Rewards partners with the following programs:

Airlines

• Air France/KLM Flying Blue
• Alaska Mileage Plan
• American Airlines AAdvantage
• Aeromexico Club Premier
• Etihad Guest
• Frontier Airlines
• Iberia Plus
• JetBlue True Blue
• Southwest Rapid Rewards
• United Mileage Plus
• Virgin America Elevate
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Hotels

• Choice Privileges
• Club Carlson
• IHG Rewards Club
• LaQuinta Returns
• Le Club Accor Hotels
• Wyndham Rewards

Getting Started

To sign up for e-Rewards, you generally have to choose a preferred loyalty program and sign up through their link. If you pick an airline, that will be the only airline through which you can redeem e-Reward currency for miles, but you will have access to the hotel options as well. Similarly, if you sign-up through a hotel program, you will have access to multiple airlines for redemptions but only that hotel. Redemption options may vary based on which program you sign up through. It may be possible to join e-Rewards more than once if you use separate email addresses. Whenever you redeem e-Rewards currency for points, make sure your information on the e-Rewards account matches that of the loyalty program. Here are current programs that allow direct e-Rewards sign-ups (with a bonus!):

Note: Offers available as of 12/4/2016. 

Airlines

• Air France/KLM (Flying Blue): 500 bonus miles when you complete your first survey within two months of enrolling
• Alaska Airlines: 250 bonus miles when you complete your first survey within two months of enrolling (currently unavailable)
• American Airlines: 250 bonus miles when you complete your first survey within three months of enrolling
• Club Premier (Aeroméxico): 400 bonus miles when you complete your first survey within three months of enrolling
• Frontier Airlines: 250 bonus miles when you complete your first survey within two months of enrolling (currently unavailable)
• JetBlue: 400 bonus miles when you complete your first survey within three months of enrolling (currently unavailable)
• Southwest: 500 bonus miles when you complete your first survey within three months of enrolling (currently unavailable)
• United: 250 bonus miles when you complete your first survey within three months of enrolling (currently unavailable)
• Virgin America: 150 bonus miles when you complete your first survey within three months of enrolling
• Virgin Atlantic: 500 bonus miles when you complete your first survey within two months of enrolling

Hotels

• Choice Privileges: 500 bonus points when you complete your first survey within three months of enrolling
• La Quinta Returns: 500 bonus points when you complete your first survey within three months of enrolling
• Le Club Accor Hotels: 250 bonus points when you complete your first survey (currently unavailable)

Redeeming for Points and Miles

The number of points received per redemption varies by program. For example, $100 e-Rewards currency is worth 4,000 IHG Rewards Club points or 2,000 United miles. Redemptions start at $25 e-Rewards currency. In some cases, you’ll get a better deal with the higher cost redemptions. Some loyalty programs have redemption limits where you can only redeem once per specified period. I didn’t realize this initially and I redeemed $25 for 500 United miles. When I earned another $25 I realized I couldn’t redeem again for another month. I recommend waiting until you reach the maximum redemption level for loyalty programs with redemption limits. The table below summarizes redemption options, limits, and top redemption values.

Final Thoughts

One of my favorite parts of e-Reward surveys is the partial credit you receive if you don’t qualify for the survey. It may only be $0.25 in e-Reward currency (less in actual USD) but it’s better than nothing. I’m focusing on earning United miles at the moment so I signed up for e-Rewards on the Mileage Plus site. Every month I redeem $100 for 2,000 miles. Since I have a bunch of hotel options available, I also redeem $125 every quarter for 7,000 Hilton HHonors points. Redeeming for IHG points is also a good option because the points count toward elite status. If you have some downtime while watching TV, taking surveys can help build your points bank over the course of the year.

Run out of e-Reward surveys? Check out the Complete Guide to Earning Points and Miles with Surveys. Also, check out how e-Rewards helped me book a flight from Europe for free.