You can use your points to book a hotel. You can get a fourth or fifth night free with any of the major hotel loyalty programs.

You can get the fourth or fifth night free when you redeem points for your stay. You can maximize your points by staying longer.

We'll discuss the benefits in this guide. You cannot use the free night on a different stay if you stay at the same hotel. There are three programs that offer this perk.

Marriott Bonvoy

JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay Resort & Spa in Vietnam. KATHRYN ROMEYN/THE POINTS GUY

Marriott's Bonvoy loyalty program has undergone a lot of changes in the past few years.

The Marriott Bonvoy program gives you the chance to stay for five and pay for four award stays. Marriott points can be redeemed for reward stays of five consecutive nights or more at any Marriott property, including Marriott's all-inclusive resorts.

MARRIOTT.COM

When you redeem Marriott points, you don't need to do anything special. You will see the discount when you use Marriott's website or mobile app.

Night award certificates can be used for some nights. If you redeem points for four nights of your stay, you will get the lowest point value night free.

MARRIOTT.COM

You can get a lot of free nights on long stays. Marriott will consider the entire stay if you redeem for a longer stay. You would get three free nights if you stayed 15 nights.

You can sign up for our newsletter.

MARRIOTT.COM

You can pay for four offers with Marriott's Points Advance feature. When you're short on points, you might be able to lock in award availability at hard-to-book properties, but remember that the number of points for your reservation won't be set until the points are deducted from your account. It is possible that the award rate will increase between when you book and finalize your reservation.

MARRIOTT.COM

If you redeem Marriott points for an upgrade, the stay for five will only apply to the standard award rate. You have to use additional points or pay the cash copay for the higher category room every night of your stay.

MARRIOTT.COM

If you want to use suite night awards on a stay for five, you have to pay for four award stays, but you can if you choose.

Is it possible to get a new Marriott Bonvoy card? The chart tells you whether or not it's true.

Hilton Honors

Dynamic pricing is used for the awards. You'll get every fifth night free on standard room reward stays of five nights or longer if you're a member of the elite program.

HILTON.COM

You won't get points for the fifth, 10th, 15th and 20th nights of a stay. You would have to pay the full standard room reward rate for the rest of your stay. Up to four free nights can be had per stay. An example of a 20- night stay.

HILTON.COM

If you want to get a free fifth night, you can't pay with cash or points. You will not get a fifth night free when you redeem your points for a premium room.

HILTON.COM

To get every fifth-night free on standard room reward stays, you have to be a silver member of the hotel's loyalty program. You can earn the honor if you stay at least one night or accumulate points. It's easy to get a perk of one of the cards.

The information for the card has been collected by a third party. The card issuer did not review or provide the card details on this page.

There are last-minute strategies for gaining elite status.

IHG One Rewards

It's not possible to get a free night when you redeem points in the Ihg One rewards program. Only members with the following cards have access to the fourth-night reward perk.

Every fourth night will cost zero points if you book a standard room reward night stay of four or more nights with any of the I hg rewards credit cards.

IHG.COM

You'll see the discount when you log into an I hg account with an eligible I hg rewards card and search for an award stay of at least four nights. You can get a lot of zero-cost nights when you stay longer.

IHG.COM

You can use this perk a lot. It doesn't apply to paid stays or Points & Cash bookings, you have to redeem I hg points for a stay of four or more nights at the same property to get every fourth night free.

There is an incredibly easy way to redeem the 4th night reward.

Bottom line

You can maximize your points by getting a free night on a longer stay in one of the major hotels.

Adding a hotel credit card to your wallet will allow you to redeem points for longer stays. The fourth-night reward is one of the reasons that TPG'sKatie Genter happily pays the annual fee on her ihg premier card

The additional reporting was done by Ehsan Haque and others.