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Updated March 2026
My family is planning various trips for 2026: visits to see family, maybe a vacation, and at least one North Dakota State Bison football game to one of their new Mountain West conference opponents. (Hawaii?! Vegas?! San Jose?! Colorado Springs?!)
That means we need a lot of hotel nights. Sure, we have a bunch of hotel credit cards with “free” night certificates. But I also remembered a benefit a lot of people seem to forget: the Delta Stays credits from the Delta SkyMiles® American Express Cards!
Plus, you can use the Delta Stays credit during your first year of card membership — which is really quite the extra kicker considering that Delta Amexes feature limited time welcome offers right now through April 1.
What is the Delta Stays American Express Card Credit?
As part of the great Delta Amex refresh of February ’24, each of the premium cards (except the Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card) received several statement credit opportunities.
One of them is credit for eligible bookings made through the Delta Stays program.
Because you, too, might be making travel plans for this year — or even early 2027 — I figured now is a good time to remind us about the Delta Stays credit.
(Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.)Easiest Ways to Use Your Delta Stays Credit
Need some ideas for how to use your Delta Stays credit?
Airport hotel for an early flight
Got a early morning departure? Book a cheap prepaid airport hotel and knock out the credit.
One-Night Staycation
Find a nearby hotel for a quick getaway — even a $150-$200 stay can net solid value.
Book Now, Travel Later
Lock in a prepaid stay for later this year (or even next year) and trigger the credit now.
Use It Where Status Doesn’t Matter
This is kind of an “in addition to” the other three above. Since Delta Stays is a third-party booking site, you usually won’t get elite hotel perks — so use it for independent hotels or quick stays where that doesn’t matter.
I’m not saying you’ll never get elite benefits. I actually did for a couple of stays. It depends on who’s behind the front desk — and how well they understand (or want to follow) the rules of their loyalty program.
Which Cards Offer the Delta Stays Amex Credit?
Here are the eligible credit cards and their Delta Stays statement credit amounts.
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card: up to $250 each year
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card: up to $200 each year
- Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card: up to $200 each year
- Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card: up to $150 each year
- Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card: up to $150 each year
- Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card: up to $100 each year
Keep in mind these are fixed dollar amounts — not dollar values per night. You might be able to find a great deal for a multi-night stay and have it all covered by your Delta Stays credit.
The benefit is per calendar year — and your stay doesn’t have to be completed before the end of the year. You could book a stay now for some time in 2027 and still receive the credit for this year.
Get Back That Annual Fee Money!
Using the Delta Stays benefit is a great way to recoup some of those famous American Express annual fees.
Consider:
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card: $650 annual fee (Rates and Fees)
- Delta Stays credit = brings the card’s fee to “as low as” $400 before any other perks
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card: $650 annual fee (Rates and Fees)
- Delta Stays credit = brings the card’s fee to “as low as” $400 before any other perks
- Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card: $350 annual fee (Rates and Fees)
- Delta Stays credit = brings the card’s fee to “as low as” $150 before any other perks
- Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card: $350 annual fee (Rates and Fees)
- Delta Stays credit = brings the card’s fee to “as low as” $200 before any other perks
- Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card: $0 introductory fee for the first year, then $150 (Rates and Fees)
- Delta Stays credit = brings the card’s fee to “as low as” $0 before any other perks
- Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card: $0 introductory fee for the first year, then $150 (Rates and Fees)
- Delta Stays credit = you can easily come out ahead!
Where Do You Book a Delta Stays Reservation?
When you’re ready to book a hotel or vacation rental reservation, go to delta.com/stays. Search for your destination and dates like you would with any other online travel agency.
Keep in mind that hotel bookings made through an OTA generally don’t entitle you to any elite status benefits. (I opted for a stay on an executive lounge floor because it was only about $30 more expensive than a standard room.)
You aren’t able to split payment across multiple cards. However, I had no problems booking back-to-back stays across different Delta Amexes.
How Long Does It Take for the Delta Stays Statement Credit to Appear
My statement credit hit a couple of days after I booked a stay with my Delta Business Reserve Amex, but it posted for the same date as my purchase.
Final Approach
A Delta Stays statement credit is now part of six Delta Amex cards. I normally spend a bunch of nights in hotels each year — and actually appreciate this statement credit opportunity. Remember to use it!
For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card, please visit this link.
For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card, please visit this link.
For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card, please visit this link.
For rates and fees of Delta SkyMiles® Business Platinum American Express Card, please visit this link.
For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card, please visit this link.
For rates and fees of Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card, please visit this link.
For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card, please visit this link.
Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and and may earn compensation when a customer clicks on a link, when an application is approved, or when an account is opened. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Some links on this page are affiliate or referral links. We may receive a commission or referral bonus for purchases or successful applications made during shopping sessions or signups initiated from clicking those links.
Can I use the credit if I book a room and pay for it for an adult child?
@Martha Barton – I would not see why not but before you book the non-refundable room I would call the location and see if you can add that persons name to the reservation and thus they can check-in and use the stay.
Thanks for the reminder just missed an opportunity last week to use it
have tried to book a stay using the Delta Stays portal and using my Delta Platinum Amex card. I enter all the data and then submit and it comes back with “We were not able to complete your booking. Please wait a moment and try again.” This has happened every time I have tried (probably a dozen times now) for the last 6 days. Two phone calls to Expedia and two calls to Delta have yielded nothing except an acknowledgment that something is wrong. By all appearances Delta cares nothing about actually delivering on this perk. Very frustrating and enough so that one should not count on this benefit at all.
Wow, interesting. I made three bookings with no problems.
I’m glad it worked for you. I just tried again with the same “try later” result. At least this means this is not a system-wide problem but something related to me somehow. Still, no idea how to get it resolved.
Chris or Rene can you comment on exactly how the room needs to be booked? ie non-refundable vs pay at time of booking (but with a refundable option within a certain period of time)? I noticed a couple hotels I searched did not have a specific non-refundable option. Thanks
@leslie – It is very simple. You just book at Delta.com/Stays (and pay with Delta card) and I always choose non-refundable as it bills right away and I have credit in a day or two to my Amex account. If non-refundable you may not see any credits until the say is completed.
If I select a refundable rate , do I get the credit after I stay ? Or is this for only no refund rates ?
I don’t see anything about refundable vs. non-refundable in the offer terms.
okay sorry I meant pre-paid rather than non-refundable to meet the benefit terms and not all hotels had that option necessarily. I think the key is making sure the payment goes through Delta Stays and not to pay at the hotel in order to receive the credit, correct?
Correct, you have to pre-pay through Delta Stays.
I tried booking a Delta Stays hotel last month but failed to select the pre-paid option and didn’t get the credit on my Reserve card. A reminder to self to read all the small print before using a new benefit.
I have an Amex consumer Reserve. If I make a prepaid or nonrefundable reservation for $375 for 1 night, do I get the $200 Delta Stays credit in one lump, or is the $200 credit earned over a series of stays?
If you spend over $200, if you’ll get the whole $200 statement credit in one lump.
Chris, this is months later, but I am trying to book a Hilton brand hotel and they all say non-refundable and don’t say pay now. It is frustrating trying to book a hotel so far. I booked a hotel in the spring as non-refundable and they didn’t bill me until I stayed and I got no credit.
Agreed with several of the comments above that the ‘non-refundable’ etc. are confusing… Here’s an example of I hotel I’ve used, and did a search for a few weeks in the future, the rates show something like this:
Cancellation policy per stay
(1) Fully refundable before Jul 1 + $0
(2) Fully refundable before Jun 27 + $60 Reserve now, pay later
However, option 2, after clicking the the ‘Reserve’ button offer two choices via a pop-up: (2a) “Pay the total now” and (2b) “Pay when you stay”.
When you actually get to the payment page, 2a shows this:
This reservation is eligible for the Delta Stays benefit available on select Delta SkyMiles® American Express Cards.
While 1 and 2b show this:
This reservation is not eligible for the Delta Stays benefit available on select Delta SkyMiles® American Express Cards. Only prepaid reservations are eligible.
So I look for those ‘eligible’/’not eligible’ lines to confirm whether the Delta Stay credit will apply or not…