Amex’s newest hotel transfer partner is a sleeper hit

Amex Membership Rewards’ newest transfer partner may be its most underrated yet.

In July, Leading Hotels of the World slipped in under the radar as a new Amex transfer partner without getting quite as much initial fanfare as it deserves. Its intimidating-sounding 4:1 transfer ratio certainly didn’t help, nor did a portfolio that includes ultraluxury properties such as The Ritz Paris and Brown’s Hotel in London, where award rates may sound prohibitively expensive.

But I’m here to tell you: This is big news.

In fact — spoiler alert — there are plenty of situations where a high-end Leading Hotels of the World property can cost roughly the same number of transferred Amex points from cards such as the American Express® Gold Card or American Express Platinum Card® as a Moxy or Hampton Inn booked through two of Amex’s other major hotel transfer partners, Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors.

Yes, really.

Here’s what you need to know about Amex’s newest hotel transfer partner.

Related: Guide to Amex transfer partners

Why you should care about the Leading Hotels of the World program

I’m going to be really honest: My Leaders Club loyalty account with Leading Hotels of the World is less than a week old.

I absolutely love a fancy hotel as much as the next guy, but if my only real option is to book it with $1,000 or more in cash per night, I’m probably going to wistfully steal a glance at the hotel as I walk by and keep it moving. Sorry, not sorry.

But now that Leaders Club is an American Express transfer partner, the program has my attention. And I quickly learned that almost everything you might assume about this program is potentially wrong. Or, at least, it was for me.

Rooms at these top hotels around the world start at just 4,500 points per night.

With the 4:1 transfer ratio from Amex, 4,500 Leaders Club points would require 18,000 transferred Amex Membership Rewards points — and that’s still pretty darn good.

In fact, our analysis found that the value of a Leaders Club point averaged an impressive 8 cents per point, with some variability on either side.

Even when you factor in that it takes 4 Amex points to earn 1 Leaders Club point, it still works out to around 2 cents in value per Amex point. That’s right in line with TPG’s valuation of Membership Rewards points, and a level of value that can sometimes be hard to get from an Amex hotel transfer partner.

Related: How to redeem Amex Membership Rewards points for maximum value

Booking top hotels from around 4,000 points

In a world where some hotels now cost well over 100,000 points per night, it’s refreshing to see that’s not the case with Leaders Club, where I found hotels available for around 4,500 points per night.

Even in the Maldives, I found multiple options from 7,000 to 8,000 points per night for a villa and two-bedroom villas with a pool that sleep four for just 15,000 points per night.

Looking closer to home, I found nights in New York City starting around 5,000 to 6,000 points at certain times of the year at properties such as The Hotel Chelsea and The Knickerbocker Hotel.

Even during pricier seasons when cash rates spike above $1,000 per night, you may still find rates available for around 11,000 to 12,000 points per night. You’ll need to multiply that number by four to determine how many Amex points you’d need to transfer, but the result can still be a very good deal.

And then, of course, some hotels cost more points, such as the Ritz Paris, where cash rates can easily top $2,000 per night.

Award rates there seem to start at close to 30,000 Leaders Club points per night and go up from there. At the 4:1 transfer ratio, that’s the equivalent of 120,000 Amex points. That’s a lot of points, but depending on the cash rate, it may still represent one of the best ways to use Amex points for a high-end hotel stay.

It may cost fewer points than transfers to Hilton or Marriott

Using the Ritz Paris example above, 120,000 Amex points per night is a lot. However, there are plenty of nights when Marriott properties in Paris can cost that many points or more.

For example, on one date next summer, a Marriott Luxury Collection property costs 172,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per night. Since Marriott is a 1:1 Amex transfer partner, you’d need to transfer 172,000 Membership Rewards points to book it as opposed to 120,000 for the Ritz Paris.

I’m sure it’s a lovely property, but when the Ritz Paris can potentially be booked for fewer Amex points, that’s a pretty compelling comparison.

The same thing happens at lower price points.

I’m actively planning a trip to New York City, and The Hotel Chelsea costs 11,875 Leaders Club points per night on my sample date of Sept. 22. At the 4:1 transfer ratio, that’s 47,500 Amex points.

Very few Hilton or Marriott properties in Manhattan are available for the same or fewer Amex points after transfer on that date.

And as you can see below, the ones that come close tend to be in the Hampton Inn or Aloft category, likely offering a very different experience from what you’d get at a Leading Hotels of the World property for a similar, or potentially even lower, number of Amex points.

The cost per point is calculated by dividing the cash rate by the number of Amex Membership Rewards points required.

That’s the part of the 4:1 transfer ratio that’s easy to miss: The ratio sounds bad until you look at how few Leaders Club points some of these hotels actually require.

Related: Why all travelers should earn transferable points

Leaders Club offers all members upgrades and free breakfast

Leaders Club also offers several underrated benefits, including some you get without having elite status at all.

All members receive a daily continental breakfast for two, and after your first paid stay, you’ll earn a prearrival upgrade that you can use on a future stay.

But, like with almost everything else I’ve discovered about this program, it gets even better.

Those with a American Express Platinum Card® can get top-tier Sterling status simply by opting in. Normally, earning Sterling status the old-fashioned way requires $5,000 in qualifying spend in a calendar year.

Sterling status comes with five prearrival upgrades per year, along with a 5% points bonus on qualifying stays.

Is this too good to be true?

Is booking business class with transferred Amex points too good to be true?

Is getting a villa at the Conrad Bora Bora with points transferred to Hilton Honors too good to be true?

I don’t know, maybe. But those opportunities have been around for a long time. Points can do amazing things if you let them.

Of course, some sweet spots come and go, and programs can change. But right now, Leaders Club is a frontrunner for one of my favorite new transfer partners of the year.

I’ve already gone from barely knowing the program to actively searching its hotels for upcoming trips. I already plan on booking a stay myself in the near future.

Bottom line

Leading Hotels of the World may not have looked like an obvious winner when it joined Amex Membership Rewards with a 4:1 transfer ratio, but that number doesn’t tell the full story.

Once you look at what award nights actually cost, Leaders Club can pretty consistently deliver around 2 cents per Amex point in value. In some cases, it can put genuinely high-end hotels within reach for the same number of Membership Rewards points you’d otherwise transfer for a midrange property with Hilton or Marriott.

That doesn’t mean every Leaders Club redemption will be a home run, and you’ll still want to compare cash rates and award pricing before transferring points.

But with luxury hotels starting at surprisingly reasonable award rates, useful benefits even for entry-level members and an easy path to higher-tier status for some Amex cardmembers, this is a transfer partner worth your attention.

Related: These are our favorite Amex cards