Airbnb is becoming increasingly popular in NZ for holiday home bookings, and while doesn’t have it’s own dedicated loyalty program, that doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of some of the offers and partners it does have.

In this guide we’ll get into what’s on offer for new and frequent Airbnb users.

New option: Get a $50 USD credit for your first ‘Business Travel’ booking

If you have a work email address (basically any address other than a public domain like @gmail.com, @yahoo.com or @hotmail.com), then you can get a $50 USD credit after booking your next Airbnb stay as a ‘business trip’.

All you need to do is link your work email address to your existing Airbnb account through the Airbnb Business Travel page.

Pick up $40 with your first stay, or $100 for your first ‘hosting’

Airbnb offers a referral program where existing users can refer new users and both earn credit. Here’s our referral link, which will give you $40 AUD credit with your first booking.

Similarly, if you decide to rent out a room or apartment as a host, you can pick up $100 for using our link too.

If you’re already an Airbnb user you can create and share your own referral links here.

Collecting Elevate miles with Airbnb stays

Virgin America’s Elevate is the only airline loyalty program that earns points for using Airbnb as a guest or host and there are some lucrative earning opportunities to use points on Virgin Australia flights.

You could fly in Virgin Australia’s A330 Coast-to-Coast Business Cabin for 27,000 Elevate miles

Virgin America is a close cousin of Virgin Australia when it comes to loyalty programs, with both Virgin America’s Elevate and Virgin Australia’s Velocity program allowing reciprocal points earn and redemption across both airlines.

As a result, Elevate points earned from Airbnb stays can be earned and then redeemed for Virgin Australia flights, and at reasonable redemption rates – especially in Business Class – and these points can be topped up by using Elevate Miles purchases promos.

Airbnb doesn’t otherwise have a loyalty program or points earn tie-up anywhere else either.

Sure, if you have a card that bonuses you additional points for travel spend, you’ll pick up extra points anyway, but everyone can earn points via Airbnb stays through the Virgin America Elevate earn option.

As I’ve outlined in the guide to buying Elevate miles, there are many cheap Business Class redemption options for Virgin Australia flights when using Elevate miles, so even if you don’t have enough Elevate miles from your Airbnb stays, you can top them up when there’s an Elevate promotion running and take advantage then.

Domestic redemptions on Virgin Australia in Business Class start at 10,000 Elevate miles for a short-haul route like Melbourne to Sydney, or 27,000 Elevate miles for East-West Coast one-way.

For Kiwi’s a return business class award ticket with Virgin Australia across the Tasman or to the Pacific Islands, can also be had for just 27,000 Elevate miles. A great value target for those who can hack a few miles from Airbnb stays.

Earn 1,500 points + a $20 USD credit for using Airbnb as a guest for first time

Sign up as a new Airbnb user, make your first Airbnb booking (must be over $150 USD in value) clicking through from Elevate Airbnb launch page and you’ll pick up 1,500 bonus points, along with $20 USD in Airbnb credit.

Earn 1 Elevate point per $1 USD spent on Airbnb (ongoing)

Every time you book on Airbnb, you should do so through Elevate Airbnb launch page, earning you one Elevate point for every $1 USD you spent on Airbnb bookings.

It’s super easy – just input your Elevate number and hit Book Now, and you’ll be sent off to Airbnb’s site to book as normal.

The post Options for earning credits and points with Airbnb is from Point Hacks NZ.