Alaska Airlines now enables Mileage Plan members to earn and redeem miles for hotel stays through its partnership with Expedia.

Alaska Airlines is the newest U.S. carrier to introduce a travel portal that allows frequent flyer members to book non-flight purchases, including hotel accommodations, rental properties, car rentals, and activities.

This follows the announcement earlier this year of a new collaboration between the Seattle-based airline and online booking giant Expedia Group.

With the Alaska Vacations portal launched this spring, users can combine flights, car rentals, and lodging bookings while earning Mileage Plan miles.

On Tuesday, Alaska announced further enhancements to the partnership, enabling Mileage Plan members to earn and redeem miles through a new feature called "Stays by Alaska Vacations."

The new booking portal empowers Mileage Plan members to access over 900,000 properties from Expedia's inventory, enabling them to earn Alaska miles on their bookings or redeem miles for their stays.

As part of the arrangement, holders of the Alaska cobranded credit card can earn extra miles on their bookings and enjoy improved redemption rates, as mentioned by the company.

"Stays by Alaska Vacations merges convenience and value by providing our guests with access to Expedia Group's extensive inventory and exclusive savings while earning status with an award-winning airline," stated Courtney Lansing, Alaska's managing director of business development and products, on Tuesday.

Exploring Stays by Alaska Vacations

Here's what the homepage of the Stays by Alaska Vacations portal looks like when you first arrive.

Similar to any other booking site, you can enter a city, airport, or landmark for your desired location, along with additional trip details such as your travel dates.

For instance, let’s say I want to plan a long weekend in Rome this October.

The portal will showcase options from Expedia's inventory. Right away, I can see the cash prices and, highlighted in blue, the number of Mileage Plan miles I can earn for the stay.

Looking to redeem miles instead? You can easily switch to the "redeem miles" option from the menu on the left.

Award pricing will then appear for each property.

Naturally, you'll want to evaluate the worth of your points and miles before making a redemption.

Earning miles with Alaska Vacations

Mileage Plan members receive 1 mile for every dollar spent on all Stays by Alaska Vacations reservations.

Holders of the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® credit card earn an extra 3 miles per dollar on qualifying prepaid stays. They also benefit from "preferred" redemption rates for award bookings.

The same applies to broader Alaska Vacations reservations: earn one mile per dollar on vacation packages (or 3 miles per dollar for credit cardholders). This is in addition to standard earnings for the flight segment of the trip.

One important thing to remember if you decide to book a hotel through the Alaska Vacations portal: while you will earn Mileage Plan miles, you may not be able to accumulate hotel points or access elite status benefits from major hotel loyalty programs, as bookings made through online travel agencies typically exclude these perks.

Bottom line

Alaska's collaboration with Expedia aligns with a trend among many U.S. airlines to broaden their loyalty programs to include non-flight reservations.

Several major carriers offer options that enable members to book vacation packages and earn (and/or redeem) frequent flyer miles.

Recently, JetBlue revealed the integration of home rental platform Vrbo into its Paisly booking portal, enabling TrueBlue members to earn rewards on vacation rental reservations.

At the same time, this new earning and redeeming option for Mileage Plan members comes just months after the program secured a significant credit card transfer partner in Bilt Rewards, providing additional avenues to swiftly accumulate Alaska miles.