Frequent travelers redeem more miles as recession lingers

— -- Not so long ago, Art Manask would sit on his hotel points, letting them stack up like jets on a crowded runway.

But in the past 12 months, with business lagging at his hospitality consulting company, Manask has used his Hilton HHonors points at least half a dozen times to get free rooms. He even plans some of his trips around whether there's a Hilton property nearby with a room he can snag as a reward.

"I'm more concerned about costs now than I was," says Manask, president of the Burbank, Calif.-based company Manask & Associates. "Our firm's billings are down like everybody else's ... so you learn to cut corners."

Many travelers, particularly business people who amass tens of thousands of reward points and miles because of hotel stays and frequent flights, are cashing them in more often in the midst of a deep, national recession that is straining corporate and personal budgets.

They're using them for seat upgrades that their businesses will no longer cover, free flights or hotel stays for their family's vacation, shopping trips to Target, or just because they don't want to get stuck with the points if airlines change their rewards programs to bolster their bottom lines.

United Airlines saw its number of reward program members who cashed in their miles go up 12% in 2008 over the previous year. And hotel groups such as InterContinental and Best Western have also seen significant increases in the number of travelers cashing in points.

"Business travelers are using their miles to upgrade to business class, especially on overseas flights, as a result of travel policy changes within their companies," says Robin Urbanski, a spokeswoman for United Airlines.

Fliers redeeming the lowest amount of miles are also taking advantage of more seats being freed up for them by United, Urbanski says. And they're using them for shorter trips rather than grand getaways.

"Customers are using their miles for family visits, summer vacations, or for a short, weekend getaway in lieu of the traditional two-week trip to Europe," she says.