Preferred Hotels & Resorts just announced 28 new member hotels that joined between July 1 and Sept. 30, 2026, and it’s attaching a small bonus to get you to try them: 2,500 I Prefer points on eligible stays at participating new hotels. CEO Lindsey Ueberroth called it the group’s largest quarterly addition since 2024.
The bonus itself is modest (we’ll do the math below), but the list of hotels is worth a look, especially if you’ve got a 2027 trip in the works.
The new hotels that stand out
- United States: The Stelle (Deer Valley East, Utah) and Washington Duke Inn & Golf Club (Durham, North Carolina).
- Mexico and the Caribbean: Nobu Hotel Los Cabos and Wymara Resort + Villas in Turks and Caicos.
- Asia: The Fujiya Hotel in Hakone, Japan, plus Nuju Uluwatu in Bali, The Leela Coorg Forest Sanctuary in India and two hotels in China (Wuhan and Chengdu).
- Europe: UMusic Hotel Madrid, BLESS Barcelona, Bless Ibiza The Site, Palazzo Trezza in Verona, Ville Sull’Arno in Florence, Hôtel California Paris, St. Helen’s Hotel in Dublin, Grand Tirolia Kitzbühel, and several hotels in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Iceland.
- Elsewhere: Diamonds Thudufushi in the Maldives, Palais Jamai in Fès, Morocco, and Duke Beach Hotel & Spa in Brazil.
Bonus details (as of November 2026)
- Bonus: 2,500 I Prefer points on a qualifying stay at a participating new hotel.
- Book by: Dec. 31, 2026.
- Stay by: March 31, 2027, per the I Prefer offer page. (Preferred’s own announcement lists March 31, 2026, which looks like a typo since it’s before the booking deadline. Go by the offer page and its terms.)
- How to book: Through PreferredHotels.com, iPrefer.com, the I Prefer app or Preferred’s reservations line, with your I Prefer number on the booking before you arrive.
- Fine print: Not every new hotel participates. A minimum stay may apply, blackout dates may apply, and the bonus points don’t count toward elite status. Points post after the stay.
What 2,500 points is actually worth
I Prefer points don’t buy free nights off a chart. You trade them for reward certificates with a fixed cash value, and 25,000 points gets you a $50 certificate. That works out to 0.2 cents a point, so the 2,500-point bonus is worth about $5. For comparison, members earn around 10 points per dollar on most eligible room spend (some hotels earn less), so the bonus is roughly what you’d earn on a $250 room bill anyway.
Who this affects and what to do
- Already booking one of these hotels? Make sure you book through a Preferred channel with your I Prefer number attached. It’s free money, just not much of it.
- Booked through an online travel agency? You likely won’t qualify, since the terms require booking through Preferred’s own channels.
- Not an I Prefer member? It’s free to join, and Preferred says the offer is open to new and existing members.
Our take
The hotels are the story here, not the bonus. A $5 sweetener isn’t going to change where anyone stays, and we’d never pick a hotel or skip a better rate elsewhere to get it.
What does make this worth knowing: I Prefer is one of the few ways to earn hotel rewards at independent luxury properties, and this batch includes some real bucket-list spots. The Fujiya Hotel in Hakone and Palais Jamai in Fès are historic hotels, and Nobu Los Cabos and Wymara are the kind of beach resorts that usually aren’t in a big-chain program. If one of them is already on your list, book direct with your member number and collect the points. If not, this isn’t a reason to go.
Related on Points Capital: Four Seasons Deals: How to Get More Value Without a Points Program (October 2026), Booking.com Genius Explained: Levels, Discounts and the Trade-Offs of Booking Through an OTA and Deal of the Day: ALL Accor Pays Double Points on 2-Night Stays Through Dec. 31.
Source: Preferred Hotels & Resorts announcement; I Prefer Newest Additions offer and offer terms; coverage via Conference & Meetings World.
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