Expedia's new One Key loyalty program rewards you for hotels, flights, car rentals and more

Expedia Group has launched One Key, a loyalty program that allows you to earn and redeem rewards across three of its travel brands — Expedia, Hotels.com and Vrbo.

The One Key program allows users to earn OneKeyCash, which is essentially cashback you can use on future bookings. Notably, you'll be able to earn OneKeyCash on Vrbo bookings, making it the only major vacation rental booking site to offer a loyalty program. However, the program isn't exceptionally rewarding for airfare and it's light on meaningful benefits for elite members.

Below, CNBC Select has the details on how to earn and redeem rewards through the One Key program. Plus, we take a look at when it makes sense to use this new program and the most rewarding credit cards to use.

One Key members earn OneKeyCash, which is a form of cashback you can use to pay for travel, activities and other bookings you make through Expedia, Vrbo or Hotels.com. The program is currently only available in the U.S. but will expand globally in 2024.

If you previously had accounts with Expedia, Hotels.com or Vrbo, those accounts will be merged into the new program, if you used the same email for each program. However, if you used multiple emails for these accounts, then you'll need to update your accounts to the same email address if you want to utilize a single One Key login.

For anyone with rewards in the Expedia Rewards or Hotels.com Rewards programs, existing balances will convert to OneKeyCash. Expedia Rewards points will convert to OneKeyCash at a rate of one cent per point, so 100 points equals $1. Since Hotels.com reward nights have a cash value, the conversion is easier. The cash value of each Hotels.com reward night will directly convert into OneKeyCash, so a $123 reward night is worth $123 in OneKeyCash. If you earned stamps under the old Hotels.com Rewards program but didn't earn 10 stamps for a reward night, then those stamps will be converted into OneKeyCash at a rate of 10% of the value of each stamp. For example, if you have three stamps with an average value of $200 each, you would receive $20 in OneKeyCash per stamp or $60 total.

One Key members earn 2% back on bookings made through Expedia, Hotels.com or Vrbo, including eligible:

• Car rentals
• Vacation rentals
• Activities
• Cruises
• Vacation packages
• Hotels

Flights only earn 0.2% back when not part of a package, and you don't earn rewards on taxes and fees. Unlike traditional frequent traveler programs, when booking travel for multiple people, the account that makes the booking will earn all of the rewards.

Keep in mind that when you book travel with the One Key program, you'll be able to stack the rewards on top of what you may earn with a travel credit card. And when you're booking flights, you'll typically still be able to earn frequent flyer miles and elite status credit with an eligible airline loyalty program. However, you typically won't earn points or be able to take advantage of elite status perks when booking hotels or car rentals through third-party sites like Expedia.

While the 2% return on most bookings is solid, you may be better off booking airfare elsewhere. For example, The Platinum Card® from American Express earns 5X Membership Rewards® points when you book airfare directly with the airlines or through Amex Travel. Experts generally value Membership Rewards points at two cents each, so you're effectively earning 10% back on airfare, which trumps the 0.2% OneKeyCash you'd earn booking airfare through Expedia. Terms apply.

In addition to rewards, One Key offers four status levels that can be reached by accumulating a certain number of "trip elements" in a year. The following qualify as one trip element:

• Hotel room night (each night counts as one trip element)
• Car rental day
• Cruise night
• Activity ticket (theme park tickets, tours, etc.)
• Vacation rental night
• Flight ticket (one-way or round-trip)
• Round-trip ground transportation: (airport shuttles, transfers, etc.)

A trip element must be worth at least $25 (not including taxes and fees) to qualify. Since you can earn multiple trip elements on a single booking, you could quickly move up the elite status tiers with just a few bookings. For example, if you booked a vacation rental for five days and a rental car for five days, you could earn 10 trip elements on that trip.

The four status tiers break down as follows:

• Blue (standard tier upon sign-up): Save 10% or more with member pricing.
• Silver (five trip elements in a calendar year): A 15% discount at select hotels, 50% OneKeyCash bonus at VIP Access properties (Expedia and Hotels.com only), an extra perk at VIP Access properties (i.e. food and beverage discounts), priority traveler support
• Gold (15 trip elements in a calendar year): A 20% discount at select hotels, 2X OneKeyCash at VIP Access properties, room upgrades (when available) at VIP Access properties, extra perks such as food and beverage discounts at VIP Access properties, Price Drop Protection on eligible flights, priority traveler support
• Platinum (30 trip elements in a calendar year): All of the Gold benefits, 3X OneKeyCash at VIP Access properties

It's not particularly difficult to earn elite status in the One Key program, but the status isn't exceptionally rewarding either. Many of the best benefits, such as bonus rewards and room upgrades, only apply to select VIP Access properties. If you're loyal to a particular hotel chain, earning rewards with that specific program could be more valuable. However, the Price Drop Protection is a nice feature for flights and it's easy to use. The price tracking and refund processes are automated — if you qualify, the refund process starts automatically after the trip ends.

Using your OneKeyCash is straightforward. You can redeem your rewards to either fully or partially offset the cost of a "Pay Now" booking for a participating hotel stay, vacation rental, car rental or activity. If you have $75 in OneKeyCash and you're booking a $150 hotel room, you could use your rewards and only pay $75 out of pocket.

Redeeming rewards for flights works similarly, but you can't make partial redemptions. If you want to use rewards on airfare, you'll need to have enough OneKeyCash in your account to cover the entire ticket, including taxes and fees.

You can use OneKeyCash to book travel for others, but you can't pool or transfer rewards between accounts, and OneKeyCash can't be redeemed for cash. OneKeyCash doesn't expire as long as you have activity in your account once every 18 months.

The rewards you earn with One Key stack on top of the rewards you earn with your credit card, which allows you to significantly increase the return on your purchase. You'll also be able to take advantage of other credit card benefits such as trip delay insurance, baggage delay reimbursement and trip cancellation/interruption insurance.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® has excellent built-in travel insurance benefits and it comes with an annual travel credit of up to $300, which helps offset the card's $550 annual fee. After you earn the card's travel credit, you'll earn 3X Chase Ultimate Rewards® points on general travel purchases, including Expedia, Hotels.com or Vrbo bookings. Ultimate Rewards points are useful because they can be redeemed for cash back, used to book travel or transferred to various airline and hotel partners.

If you prefer a card with a lower annual fee, consider the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, which only has a $95 annual fee (see rates and fees). It earns a flat 2X miles per dollar on every purchase, which can be used to offset travel purchases or transferred to Capital One's various travel partners.

The new One Key program offers rewards for eligible bookings with Expedia, Hotels.com and Vrbo. Most types of bookings earn a decent 2% return and the rewards are easy to redeem. Just be sure to price shop so you know you're getting the best deal outside of any rewards you'll earn.

However, the program isn't the most rewarding for booking airfare, and depending on what credit card you have, you may be better off booking direct. Also, the elite status benefits of the One Key program are fairly slim and generally aren't as widely applicable or as valuable as what frequent travelers can receive with some hotel loyalty programs.

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For rates and fees of the Platinum Card® from American Express, click here.