Mesa Becomes the First Program to Offer Transfers to Omni Hotels — A Free Night Anywhere Costs 30,000 Points and Includes Elite Status

Mesa – that “homeowner’s card” that awards points for mortgages – has added Omni Hotels & Resorts as a points transfer partner. This is the first program to offer transfers to Omni. I love the creativity!

• 30,000 Mesa Points transfer to 100 Omni Credits
  
• That’s enough for a free night at any Omni property
  
• Mesa cardmembers who transfer points within the first 3 months of the partnership receive Champion Status in Omni’s program.

Credit: Omni Hotels

Omni currently operates 51 hotels across 38 cities in the U.S. and Canada.

Asheville, NC	Atlanta, GA	Austin, TX
Bedford, PA	Boston, MA	Bretton Woods, NH
Broomfield, CO	Carlsbad, CA	Charlotte, NC
Charlottesville, VA	Chicago, IL	Corpus Christi, TX
Cumberland, GA	Dallas, TX	Eagan, MN
Fernandina Beach, FL	Fort Lauderdale, FL	Fort Worth, TX
Frisco, TX	Hilton Head, SC	Hot Springs, VA
Houston, TX	Indianapolis, IN	Las Colinas, TX
Los Angeles, CA	Louisville, KY	Montreal, QC
Nashville, TN	New Haven, CT	New Orleans, LA
New York, NY	Oklahoma City, OK	Orlando, FL
Palm Springs, CA	Pittsburgh, PA	Providence, RI
Richmond, VA	San Antonio, TX	San Diego, CA
San Francisco, CA	Scottsdale, AZ	Tempe, AZ
Toronto, ON	Tucson, AZ	Washington, DC

Credit: Omni Hotels

The addition of Omni brings Mesa’s total transfer partner list to:

Partner	Program	Transfer Rate
Accor	Accor Live Limitless	1.5 : 1
Air Canada	Aeroplan	1 : 1
Air India	Maharaja Club	1:1
Finnair	Finnair Plus	1:1
Hainan Airlines	Fortune Wings Club	1:1
Omni	Omni Select Guest	30,000 : 100
SAS	EuroBonus	1:1
Thai Airways	Royal Orchid Plus	1:1
Vietnam Airlines	LotusMiles	1:1

I don’t consider myself an expert in the Omni program, however on average I’d value value an Omni credit at $2.50 – $3 apiece. So 30,000 points might be worth $300 with Omni, which is a low penny per Mesa. However,

• The play here is to redeem at the expensive properties. 100 credits can be used on $1,000 per night rooms. Then you’re getting over 3 cents a Mesa point in value. So if you’re going to stay at peak times in New York this appears to offer good value.

• The addition of elite status could tilt the value proposition for some.

Credit: Omni Hotels

Champion status is mid-tier. It earns faster (10 Omni Credits per room night); is entitled to a space available one room type upgrade; plus 1 p.m. early check-in and 3 p.m. late check-out if available. It also comes with free bottled water and daily beverage delivered each morning and four shoe shines or pressings.

Bear in mind that free nights have blackout dates and that credits expire after three years if unused.

I don’t love the Omni program. I wish they’d never left GHA Discovery to go off on their own. A base member in the program only earns about a 5% rebate when spending an average rate of $250 per night and redeeming at a similar value property. There’s a lot of rounding down going on (earning for non-room spend) but increases the effective rebate. Champion status helps a lot in the basic value of the program, though. And there are some expensive rooms that you can redeem for. So this is an interesting strategic play that some people will get a lot of value out of, but it won’t be for everyone.

Mesa has let me rack up points quickly. In addition to earning points for my mortgage every month (without paying the mortgage using the card), I’ve been spending in 3x categories (like daycare, taxes, insurance, utilities and home improvement stores) and have twice earned 50,000 point bonuses they’ve offered. So I could spend 10 nights at an Omni in New York…