The earthquake in Haiti has affected 3 million people, with casualties expected to be in excess of 50,000. Aid is being mobilized on a worldwide scale and the needs and logistics are astoundingly massive.

Haiti Presidential Palace (before & after ) quake

If you wish to donate, listed below are the travel companies who collect loyalty points from members and forward equivalent cash donations to the Red Cross.

Also listed alongside are the dollar values of the donated loyalty points, which is interesting since this value is usually subjective due to the large number of variables involved - such as membership level; and how, where and when you choose to spend the points, etc.

Starwood Starpoints – Starwood allows SPG members to transfer Starpoints to charities including the American Red Cross. For every 4000 Starpoints donated, Starwood will make a $50 donation. Each Starpoint = $0.0125

Hilton HHonors - Under the Hilton HHonors Giving Back program, for every 10,000 points donated, Hilton HHonors will send U.S. $25 to the charity of your choice. Each Hilton HHonors point = $0.0025 

Marriott Rewards – Marriott has a quantitative grading level for converting points into cash donations. A donation of 18,000 points will result in a $50 American Red Cross Marriott Cheque. $100=33,000; $250=60,000; and $1000=180,000

So the more points you donate, the higher the donated cash value of each point. The donated cash dollar value of each point thus varies from in between $0.0027 to $0.0055.  The average comes out to $0.0038

IHG Priority Club Rewards – No dollar value specified.

 Choice Priviliges Points - Every 1000 donated Choice Priviliges points result in a $5 donation. Each Choice Priviliges Point = $0.005

If you think it’s too simplistic to peg each Hilton HHonors point at $0.0025 just because a donation of 10,000 Hilton HHonors points results in a $25 cash donation, I agree. So read this and this. The study for Starwood is here and the one for Marriott is here.

Has to be mentioned here that Bill Marriott says his foundation is sending $500,000 to the Red Cross Haiti Relief and Development Fund. This is independent of any donations made via Marriott Rewards points.

It is a bit easier for the airlines, who can offer in kind services to aid organizations.

United‘s system is probably the best of the lot. They’re asking for mileage donations, which are then used by the American Red Cross to assist in getting aid workers to affected areas. There’s no dollar conversion involved. To top it off, the United Airlines Foundation is also matching contributions up to a total of fifty thousand dollars to the American Red Cross.

American and Spirit are going in a direction opposite to the hotels - asking for cash donations, and rewarding contributors with bonus miles.

If you want to donate directly to the Red Cross, you can donate $10 to Haiti relief by texting ‘Haiti’ to 90999. If you want to donate online, here’s the Haiti donation link on RedCross.org.

Before photo by M_Eriksson; After photo by plasmastik