The Best Hotel Brands of 2025

The best hotel brands feature valuable rewards, low fees and excellent elite status benefits. NerdWallet’s travel experts spent months collecting and analyzing data to find the best hotel brand of 2025.

How we picked the best hotel brand

To keep our analysis objective, we focused on measurable benefits across these key factors:

• Rewards (point) value.

• Fees.

• Elite status benefits.

Each brand received ratings on a five-point scale in these categories. We rated each hotel brand across all of these categories on a five-point scale. We then used a weighted average to break out key factors to identify the overall winner.

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The best hotel program of 2025

Winner: Wyndham Hotels & Resorts

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts climbed to the top of the best hotels this year. Last year's winner, Choice Hotels, dropped down the podium to position number two, followed by Hyatt.

Why did Wyndham perform so well? It scored above average for its point-earning rate. According to NerdWallet's analysis, customers typically earn 11.75% back on cash stays in the form of points to be used for future stays, the highest of any hotel program we analyzed.

Wyndham also had relatively low fees, including low resort fees and low parking fees. Given how important (and despised) these fees have become for travelers, it makes sense that Wyndham’s low fees would help it catapult to the top of these rankings.

Losers: Hilton and IHG

IHG and Hilton are the brands that need the most improvement.

Last year, Hilton ranked second to last. In 2025, it dropped even lower. Hilton’s low point value and industry-worst fees had something to do with it. Meanwhile, IHG earned the lowest possible score of 1 for its rewards rate. Travelers typically earn just 5.2% back in the form of IHG points for their stays, which is the lowest of any brand.

How hotels performed by categories

So how did hotels perform in individual categories? If you're not one to join loyalty programs, you might not care about the rewards rate or elite status perks. If you never drive, then parking fees might not matter to you.

Here’s how the scoring played out across specific areas:

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Though Wyndham ranked among the lowest in terms of elite rewards rate (which basically means holding elite status at Wyndham isn't much of a flex), it earned high scores both in terms of how valuable its rewards are, as well as how low its fees are.

The only brand that fared better in terms of low fees was Best Western, but that's to be expected considering Best Western typically doesn't offer much in the way of resort-style amenities.

Methodology to determine the best hotel

How we picked the brands to evaluate

To be eligible, a hotel brand had to have properties in the majority of states in the U.S. and offer a loyalty program with a publicly available rewards search calendar. Rewards booking availability from 15 days to eight months from the time of search was also required.

Seven hotel brands met these requirements: Best Western, Choice, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG, Marriott and Wyndham.

How we chose the winner

We compared the rewards rate, the value of the elite status program, pet policies and add-on fees for each program. We rated each of these factors separately, then determined an overall rating based on the weighting described below.

How we rated and weighted each factor:

• Rewards rate (40%). We determined the dollar value of each program’s rewards points and the earnings rate of points. To determine the rewards rate, we multiplied the value of each point by the earnings rate and then multiplied by 100. For example, if a hotel’s rewards points were worth $0.01 apiece (the value of rewards points) and 10 points were earned per dollar spent (the earnings rate of points), its program would have a 10% rewards rate. (In this example, the two equations would be: first $0.01 x 10 = 0.1, then 0.1 x 100 = 10, or 10%.)

• Elite status value rate (30%). We determined both (a) the value and (b) the cost of earning elite status with each program, and determined an overall value by dividing (a) by (b). 

• Add-on fees (30%). We determined the average resort and parking fees across each program. 

How we assigned star ratings

For each factor, we subtracted the lowest value among all programs from the highest value among all programs to determine the range. Then, we split this range into separate “star rating” ranges. We assigned each hotel program an appropriate star rating based on where its value fell in the range.

How we verified our data

We independently spot-checked data collected to ensure accuracy. Information about loyalty programs was verified on the hotels’ websites.

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