I’ve been catching up with all the news and promotions I missed out on having just returned from Ireland and being offline for awhile, and was happy to see the Club Carlson Big Night Giveaway return. I’ll get to the controversy surrounding it in a moment, but in case you missed it, too, here are the promo details.

The first 100,000 people to register for it are eligible to receive 50,000 bonus Gold Points after completing a qualifying stay at any Radisson or Radisson Blu property worldwide between May 15 and July 15, 2012. The registration process is simple, although it requires you to watch a very short video. After successful registration, just complete a one-night stay before July 15th and the points should post within 6-8 weeks. The points can then be used for a free night at any Radisson or Radisson Blu worldwide.

The good news as of moments ago is that they have yet to reach 100,000 people. I just successfully registered and received my confirmation email:

For anyone reading this after they’ve reached the 100,000, you’ll still be eligible to get a bonus 15,000 points if you register and complete a qualifying stay – one night at any Radisson or Radisson Blu property before July 15. The full terms and conditions are shown at the bottom of the registration page.

Now to the controversy, which Loyalty Traveler completely spells out. The short of it is that Club Carlson representatives revealed days ahead of the official May 15^th release that existing bookings would qualify for the promotion so long as stays fell between the May 15 to July 15 window and registration was completed before check-out. When the promotion was announced, however, it spelled out preexisting reservations would NOT qualify – a huge smack in the face (and wallet) to those who specifically booked non-refundable reservations with that knowledge.

There has yet to be resolution of this PR mess and if Club Carlson wants to continue on a path to compete with the “majors,” I suggest they remove this condition and release a statement to that effect sooner rather than later. The more time that goes by, the more ill will generated and additional bad press, such as the second half of my post, will continue to appear.

[Edited 5/19/12 2:45pm PDT to add: Club Carlson contacted Loyalty Traveler directly and will be announcing that stays booked prior to 5/15/12 will qualify.]

While PR failures and loyalty promotions aren’t my usual focus on my Road Warrior CNBC.com blog, it might be a good way to get further word out.

In other hotel and travel industry news last week…

• In an attempt to steer traffic away from Online Travel Agencies like Expedia and Priceline – and the commissions paid to OTAs – several major hotel chains beta-launched Room Key. The brands include Best Western, Hilton, Hyatt, InterContinental, Marriott and Wyndham, and Room Key acts as a portal to a hotel company’s website where the booking actually takes place. It’s a pretty slick site, but I found it a bit slow in uploading choices when entering a city or zip code. They’re hoping to capture more chains and will fully launch this March.
• Club Carlson (Radisson, Country Inn & Suites, et al) has a pretty incredible promotion offering triple points for stays now through March 16, 2012. Registration is required and new this year (in the U.S., anyway), points are accrued for food and beverage purchases at the properties in addition to the room rate. Loyalty Traveler has an excellent breakdown of the promotion and its inherent value.
• A woman is suing the Starwood Hotels & Resorts chain claiming a man who received her room key at a property in Finland just by saying he was her husband sexually assaulted her. If true, it’s absolutely horrific. Her lawyer is Gloria Allred and whenever she enters the picture, I just never know what to think. She helped push Herman Cain out of the GOP running, but some of her other cases just seem peculiar to me. I don’t know why, but I’m always skeptical with her cases. Again, if true, by all means Starwood needs to face justice.
• The popular and well-known Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki completed its $45 million renovation of the Rainbow Tower. All 800 rooms were renovated and received new bathrooms, fixtures, furnishings and carpet. The top floor sports two suites – Duke Kahanamoku and Niumalu – both of which saw $1 million in upgrades. Pretty stunning. After the Outrigger Waikiki and Outrigger Reef on the Beach, the Hilton Hawaiian Village is my next favorite moderate hotel in Waikiki. Nothing beats the Halekulani, though.
• The former Carlton Hotel in midtown Manhattan, as a Preferred Hotel property, became a Marriott Autograph Collection hotel last week. The Autograph Collection was launched by Marriott in 2010 and features luxury and historic hotels around the world, including The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas and The Algonquin in Times Square. The Vice President of the Group mentioned additional properties would be coming online this year in the U.S. in New Orleans and South Beach.
• Four Seasons recently made an $18 million investment in their website and online presence. The company refuses to break down the details, but one article quotes it likely includes “the big, bright photography seen online, new booking process, mobile optimization, social media integration and personal profile technology.” One day I yearn to holiday at one of their properties, but it remains out of reach for the time being. The article also quoted something I found revealing – 32% of Four Seasons guests cite the ability to check-in without speaking to someone as valuable versus the 78% of airline passengers who claim the same importance. I guess it’s sort of apples to oranges here, though. A Four Seasons front desk “agent” (they probably have much better titles) is a much higher caliber position I’d have to guess.
• Finally, business travel growth shows signs of slowing (except on the luxury end), but at least it’s still growing. One leisure analyst thinks it could be a marker of overall trends in both business and leisure travel, but another report reveals that travel agency air sales increased 6.1% in 2011. Total transactions were down 2.1%, but things still sound pretty optimistic. After all, the major airlines launched a fare increase this week that appears to have stuck.

Late last month I posted a review of how travel managers ranked airlines, those people who have contracts with Fortune 500-type businesses who are responsible for planning travel. The same outfit, Business Travel News, also surveyed a similar 519 corporate travel department officials who rated hotel chains across 13 categories.

As with the last post, these reviews come from not the end-user of the hotel room, but the department that books it for their clients. They certainly receive feedback from the travelers, but I think it’s worthwhile to see how hotels are viewed from a contractual booking-type basis. The chain I’m loyal to didn’t come in to well… eh hem… Hilton.

Each category was ranked on a 1- to 5-point scale and I’ll share the results below broken across seven tier categories from Deluxe to Mid-price extended-stay hotels. The USA Today reported on these results and further interviewed a few end-users, one of which praised Marriott claiming, “When a reservation is booked, I never have to worry about my room being there for me.” This gentleman spends 125 nights annually on the road, so also enjoys Marriott’s top-tier loyalty benefits.

The Ritz Carlton took a hit in this year’s review, dropping to third among the Deluxe properties. Marriott won the Upper Upscale category, Crown Plaza took Upscale – which is a surprise to me… my last several Crowne Plaza stays were rather mediocre – and Holiday Inn swept the Midprice range. Sheraton’s Four Points took the top honor for Select Service hotels, Staybridge Suites won Upscale extended-stay and TownPlace Suites by Marriott finished out on top for Midprice extended-stay.

I’m on my way to achieve Hilton Diamond status this year and might have to reconsider whom I book with in 2012. I feel a status match in my future with either Priority Club or Starwood. I’m definitely open to advice and recommendations, so please chime in with any comments.

And now the results… please click into each one for a full view. All images courtesy Business Travel News.

In other airline, hotel and travel industry news this week…

• A survey of the 50 most popular U.S. destinations conducted by the Global Business Travel Association found Chicago to be the city charging the highest total taxes for travelers. Not to worry, New York was number two so don’t get your hopes up for an inexpensive trip to the Big Apple, but I was kind of surprised it didn’t take the top spot. The lowest tax burden can be found in Ft. Lauderdale with two more Sunshine State locations taking the next two on the list. California sees some love with five cities taking the award for lowest discriminatory travel taxes: Orange County, San Diego, San Jose, Burbank and Ontario.
• American Airlines again suspends New York JFK – Tokyo Haneda (HND) flights from September 3 this year through June 1, 2012. Delta Air Lines also suspended its service from Detroit and United Airlines balked at the government filing an argument to ensure American’s suspension would be capped to match Delta’s. United still sounds pissed to have lost out on access to the close-in Tokyo airport, but I’m sure they’d be in the same boat seeing lack of demand and seeking relief. Separately, American is also dropping San Francisco – Honolulu (you’re welcome United) and Los Angeles – San Salvador service.
• A boutique hotel near LAX airport recently completed a “refresh” and it sounds fantastic. The Custom Hotel offers a “creative, hip and playful” environment including a 12^th floor relaxation room called the Stratosphere, a Transonic gaming lounge with Xbox and Wii games, the LAX Lounge inspired by VIP airport lounges and a lot more. Airport pickup is via their Mercedes Benz Sprinter luxury van complete with complimentary bottled water and hot (or cold) towel service. I’m not flying next month, so I might have to book a stay and review this chic sounding property. (Hat tip: USA Today).
• Staying on hotels for a moment, Club Carlson is offering double points on hotel stays now through September 15, 2011. Registration is required and is available at participating Radisson, Country Inn & Suites, Park Inn and Park Plaza hotels (apparently not Radisson Blu properties). I still haven’t decided what I’m going to do with my 100,000 points in Club Carlson, but I’m leaning towards converting them into 18,000 American AAdvantage miles. I’d still love some additional advice on that… click here and leave a comment, please.
• Citing unprofitability, Southwest Airlines is cutting four routes from their Philadelphia offering with Jacksonville (JAX), Manchester (MHT), Pittsburgh (PIT) and Providence (PVD) being axed. Service to Boston will also be reduced from eight to five nonstops daily beginning in February. I’ve taken many a mileage run from LAX to MHT and PVD with fares being incredibly inexpensive due to Southwest’s presence in both of those cities, but I doubt these cuts will affect overall fare action.
• Qantas is also looking to make adjustments to their route network and will likely drop their daily Los Angeles – New York JFK flight. Not too long ago it was operated with a Boeing 747, but they downguaged it to an Airbus A330 and still don’t seem to be making enough money with limited through traffic from Australia. As such, alliance partner American will pick up the traffic if Qantas indeed drops the route. Further restructuring is expected in the ailing international arm of the Australian carrier with a detailed announcement schedule for August 24, 2011.
• JetBlue’s All You Can Jet (AYCJ) didn’t return this year, but the carrier is offering a BluePass out of Boston or Long Beach for those seeking unlimited travel from August 22 to November 22 this year. Not quite as nice as the AYCJ in that these passes carry greater restrictions in cities offered and limits open jaw, circle trip & multi-city abilities. Boston is the winner here with the select pass at $1,499 for service to 13 cities or the $1,999 option for the entire JetBlue offering from BOS. The Long Beach pass is $1,299 and opens travel to Las Vegas, Oakland, San Francisco, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, Portland, Seattle, Austin and Chicago.
• And finally, totally unexciting and not at all unexpected, United extended their deal with Visa, Inc. to keep their co-branded credit card deal in place and offer the Mileage Plus Visa once Continental’s OnePass program terminates December 31, 2011. United has offered a Visacard since 1987.

Last year I began my mattress running addiction with the Carlson group of hotels, mainly Radisson and Country Inn & Suites here in the U.S., after having stayed at several properties and been comped Silver elite status. Not usually in any conversation in terms of preferred hotel loyalty programs, I started with Radisson since they were often within my price range when I didn’t use Hotwire or Priceline to book a hotel. That, and they didn’t charge for internet access so it was the right fit for me way back then in 2010.

I’ve vested myself in the Hilton HHonors program now and will keep my Gold status through 2012, so the likelihood I’ll be staying at another Carlson property is pretty slim at this stage in the game. As such, I’m sitting on a smidge more than 100,000 points and wondering what I should do with them. Here are my thoughts and I’d love your input.

First I looked at redemption options. Carlson has 6 categories of hotels in their program and to be frank, booking anything under a category 4 is a) no longer in my snobby elitist demographic and b) a waste of points when many hotels therein would be less than $85-95/night. Not a good idea in my opinion. There are some decent budget Park Inn properties in Europe at the category 4 level for 38,000 points/night, but that doesn’t settle right with me either.

So, category 5 and 6 redemptions require 44,000 and 50,000 points/night respectively. Here are a couple of examples from each category for properties I’d definitely consider staying at (and have). For what it’s worth, I picked a couple of dates in November as I’m looking to travel then and the amounts shown are for a two-night stay.

From a purely financial standpoint, redeeming my full 100K for the Radisson in Zurich seems to be the best, and I don’t think the “discount” for the points+cash option is appealing. Okay, so there’s that.

Next up is a flat conversion of the points to airline miles, and I would net 18,000 American or United miles. I place a higher value to me here with American since I’m currently only a Gold and earning 18,000 miles by flying would take longer with only a 25% mileage bonus versus my 100% bonus for flying on United as a 1K. I haven’t looked at award redemptions yet with American, but I have a feeling that 18K in AAdvantage would put me closer to a better award.

Lastly, I can just sit on them longer as they won’t expire so long as I have some type of activity within 24-months from the last transaction. The risk of devaluation is there, of course, should Carlson change the game up again. I sort of want to be done with Carlson, though, and move on so sitting on them isn’t all that appealing.

I realize it’s pretty subjective and really up to what matters most to me, but if you were in the same position, which option would you choose?

a) Redeem them on a stay

b) Convert them to airline miles

c) Let ‘em sit there

d) Something I haven’t thought of

Replacing the GoldPoints Plus hotel loyalty program, the Carlson line of hotels (Radisson, Park Inn, Country Inn & Suites, and Park Plaza), officially launched Club Carlson today. Supporting the re-branding, and likely their entry into the quarterly promotions most other hotel loyalty programs already provide, they are offering a “Stay Twice, Earn a Free Night” promotion. Registration is required, and the two stays are necessary between April 15 and June 15, 2011, with the free night redemption required by December 31, 2011.

Newly introduced is a Concierge elite level with generous 75% point bonuses, a 3,000 point bonus for online reservations, free continental breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant, and hints at a “Concierge Service” to begin mid-2011. To achieve the top spot requires 30 stays per year, or 75 nights total. Silver and Gold status remain the same as before at 10 stays (15 nights) and 20 stays (35 nights), respectively.

New benefits include earning point for food & beverage (U.S. properties previously didn’t grant points for charging F&B to your room), and elite rollover nights to carry forward “unused” nights into the next year’s race to status. As a Silver, you also now qualify for early check-in (up to two hours), which was previously only a Gold benefit. Late check-out remains a perk for all elites as it did previously.

The biggest change comes to their reshuffling of properties in the respective categories. Category 1 now only has 24 U.S. properties, although the free nights here have been reduced to 9,000 points from 15,000. Many properties have shifted a category or two up, such as the Radisson Los Angeles Airport went from Category 2 (25,000 points for a free night) to a Category 4 (38,000 points). The Loyalty Traveler provides an excellent summary of the category shifts & related dilution in many of the tiers.

I believe the changes to the program are bringing the Carlson hotels more in line with the other major chains, although the brand still lacks some perks found at the others, such as suite upgrades & lounge offerings. The Radisson Blu hotels are a strong offering in Europe, and this is where I see the program excelling. Here in the United States, I’m not so certain this program or the hotels are a good value proposition for frequent business travelers. Although I began my hotel loyalty addiction with Radisson whose price-points are generally in line with my budget, I have since started gaining status with Hilton, and will likely continue my loyalty there.

Here’s a summary of some hot news items from this week covering airlines, airfares, airplanes and hotels.

• Delta Air Lines: Delta announced that retroactive to January 1, 2011, there is no longer an expiration policy to frequent flyer miles earned in the SkyMiles program. This makes Delta the first major carrier to offer such an olive branch to the infrequent traveler whose miles may sit inactive for extended periods of time. Continental’s OnePass program states that “miles currently have no expiry date,” but your account would be subject to cancellation if no activity occurred in 18 months (same thing in my book). Also announced at Delta is their Gold Medallion level (those who fly 50,000 miles and/or 60 segments annually) will receive SkyTeam Elite Plus status. This brings them in line with other carriers’ mid-level programs, and when flying internationally, provides lounge access, priority baggage handling and oversell protection options.
• Airfares: Ack! I’ve had a busy week and missed a pretty incredible airfare mistake on Delta. Several East Coast to Europe fares were available for between $150 to $250 roundtrip all-in! Insanely cheap pricing and even though I’m not a Delta flyer, how could you not book a trip that cheap? It was quickly discovered and within hours shut down, but many Flyertalkers cashed in. On the domestic side, though, I’ve seen some “decent” deals expanded through May now, and while not in the 3 cpm mileage running range, they’re pretty good deals to most major markets. Think Tuesday & Wednesday travel, though!
• 

  Image courtesy The Boeing Company

  Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental: Now the longest jetliner in the world, the newest generation of Boeing’s flagship was officially unveiled this week in Everett, Washington. Stretched an additional 18.3 feet from previous 747 models, it features an expanded upper-deck, redesigned wings, larger windows, reconfigured overhead bins, and many more enhancements. Sadly, orders for the passenger version are small, and currently Lufthansa has 20 on order, and Korean Air 5. She’s a sexy bird, in my opinion, and I’ll definitely be booking a ride when Lufthansa has them in service.

• Club Carlson: The Carlson group of hotels (Radisson, Country Inn & Suites, Park Inn, and Park Plaza) is getting a loyalty program overhaul. GoldPoints Plus is changing to Club Carlson beginning March 31, 2011. While the exact program hasn’t been announced publicly, Ric Garrido over at Loyalty Traveler provides a few headlines, namely a new top-tier Concierge level and some earning & redemption point-level changes. I’ve been planning on switching my loyalty to Hilton, and once the full program is announced, will likely make a unique posting and make my final decision then.

The Hilton HHonors program is offering instant Silver elite status, and requires only 4 stays in 90-days to achieve Gold status just for being a United Airlines Mileage Plus elite member. They’re also being smart to further entice you with an additional 2,000 bonus award miles on United after the 5^th stay.

Currently I’m a Radisson GoldPointsPlus Silver member, and had blogged back in December that I was considering the switch to Hilton. I think my decision has just been made for me, and given that the promotion is valid until September 30, 2011, I’ll now just need to figure out when to start that 90-day clock to secure Gold. I’m committed to Radisson at least through February, so I can top off my account to 100,000 points. At that level, I could cash them in for 18,000 Mileage Plus miles, or keep them in my bank for free hotel stays. Probably sometime in March I’ll jump on this offer and start fresh with Hilton.

(Tip of the hat to Ben at One Mile at a Time)

Radisson has introduced a new promotion this morning branding it as “Experience the World of Radisson.” Unlike the current Country Inn & Suites promotion I blogged about recently, this one is eligible for a one-night stay any day of the week, so the commonly less expensive Friday and Saturday night stays qualify. You can only earn this bonus once during the promotion period, and the full terms and conditions can be found here.

The promotion rate plan books into Radisson’s Business Class rooms, which give you an “upgraded room” (not a suite, just best-in-category) that features additional items such as a bathrobe and enhanced bathroom amenities. Also included are a drink and breakfast voucher for one, as well as the extra 1,000 bonus Gold Points per night normally given for booking a Business Class room.

Taking a look at hotels locally here in Los Angeles, I see the Radisson LAX has weekend rates under this promotion available for $119. Currently, as a Silver member, I would earn the following points for a one-night stay:

So, if you’re an elite member of GoldPointsPlus and need a stay in the next month, this promotion provides excellent value and gives enough points (15,000) for a free one-night stay at a category one hotel in the future.

Country Inn & Suites is offering 10,000 bonus goldpoints by staying just one night (Sunday through Thursday) before February 17, 2010. I took advantage of a similar deal last year, and fully intend to make a qualifying stay once again. My goal for 2011 is to hit 100,000 points in the program, and will then decide if I want to redeem them for 18,000 United Airlines miles, or for hotel room(s) during my future travels. Having just returned from staying at the Radisson Blu Hotel at Zurich Airport, I now have more than 54,000 points, so I’m well on my way to that goal.

Last time I did a mattress run at the Ontario, CA Country Inn & Suites, I literally checked in, rustled up the bed, moved a couple of items around, and left shortly after. I had an overall good impression of the property and room, so this time I will likely stay the night giving me a chance to do a proper hotel review.

Tip of the hat to Ric Garrido at Loyalty Traveler for first posting about this ‘Country Means Business’ deal, and giving an excellent analysis of the rebate value of such an offer. Check out his posting here.

Up until this year, I haven’t paid too much attention to loyalty programs on the hotel side. I generally would just research historical winning bids over at betterbidding.com, and go on a bidding spree on Priceline. I got pretty good at it, actually, and enjoyed the challenge & frequently won lower winning bids than those I saw posted.  Otherwise, I’d just look for the least expensive of the mid-tier type of hotel, such as Doubletree, Crown Plaza or Radisson.

Early this year, I ended up staying a few times at the same Radisson as their rates were always reasonable, not to mention they didn’t charge for wi-fi service. I would always put my United Airlines Mileage Plus number down to earn the 500 miles per stay, and didn’t think much else of it. A few months ago, I received an email offering Silver status in their goldpointsplus program after my very next stay. Lured in with the appeal of a new elite card to add to my collection, I booked a stay.

I know I am definitely in the minority by going with Radisson for my primary hotel elite program, but I’m going to stick with them at least for a few months, maybe all of 2011. I came across this fantastic comparison of hotel loyalty programs by InsideFlyer, and although it’s a couple of years old, it provides the best side-by-side breakdown of each program. I fall into the “low spend traveler” category, meaning I stay approximately 19 nights per year at an average rate of around $100/night. Here is what that stay pattern would yield in the Radisson program after one year:

(Note: # of free nights would be at their lowest category 1 level)

Now here’s the reason I’m sticking with Radisson for now. Through combining a couple of mattress runs with already planned stays, I will have 53,858 points at the end of this month. I purposefully stayed at a couple of bonus point properties (15,000 and 10,000 respectively) to bolster my account, and will have only spent about $650 for all six stays. Now I’m torn whether or not to continue on with Radisson, or bank the free nights/miles, and switch over to another program, such as Hilton HHonors. According to InsideFlyer, Hilton is where I should focus my very limited hotel spend dollars:

“The overall champ here is Hilton HHonors by finishing with the pack on basic award redemption at the lowest level but excelling in the Opportunity offer and the tie-breaker is, of course, all those additional frequent flyer miles earned because of their Double Dip Options program.”

The lure of double-dipping to earn both points and miles with Hilton might just make me break-up with Radisson before they even had a chance. Decisions, decisions.