Hilton HHonors Point Stretcher Rewards Hotel List for 2008

Hilton HHonors Point Stretcher Free Night Rewards offer a 40% discount on points compared to the Standard Free Hotel Night Reward cost.  The best values tend to be for hotels in Europe where the lowest room rates can frequently be over $250USD per night.  Point Stretcher dates are extremely limited and becoming more so each year.  November and December dates around Thanksgiving and the end-of-year holiday season seem to be the best availability.  And this can be a great opportunity for hotel savings for travelers taking holidays.  Link to the 2008 Point Stretcher Hotel List.

Hilton Pointe Tapatio Cliffs waterfall, Phoenix, Arizona

Hilton HHonors offers Point Stretcher Rewards for participating hotels and dates from their Category 2 through Category 6 hotels.  Waldorf=Astoria Collection luxury properties are not offered as a Point Stretcher option.  These days it is rare to even find a Conrad brand hotel on the Point Stretcher list.  And you won’t find Opportunity or Category 1 hotels on the Point Stretcher list either.  The current offer shows about 150 hotels worldwide (about 5% of total Hilton family).

Point Stretcher Rewards         Standard Rewards

Opportunity                                                     7,500 points

Category 1                                                      10,000

Category 2                  12,000 points              20,000

Category 3                  15,000                         25,000

Category 4                  18,000                         30,000

Category 5                  21,000                         35,000

Category 6                  24,000                         40,000

Hilton Pointe Tapatio Cliffs pool, Phoeniz, Arizona

Airline Miles to HHonors Points Exchange

You may find difficulty in redeeming 90,000 AAdvantage miles for a Business Class ticket to Europe this December (and the cost increases to 100,000 miles for USA-Europe award tickets after Oct. 1, 2008). You definitely want better value for your earned miles than spending 120,000 miles for an AAnytime Economy class award ticket to Europe. 

An alternative is to exchange those hard to use miles into Hilton HHonors points with HHonors Miles-to-Points Exchanges available with American Airlines, (also available with Hawaiian, Mexicana, South African Airways, and Virgin Atlantic).  90,000 AAdvantage miles can be exchanged for 180,000 HHonors points.  Redeeming your HHonors points for free hotel nights is a breeze compared to finding an available airline ticket using miles. 

Back in 2000 when the LatinPass airline loyalty program ran the 1,000,000 mile bonus promotion I took advantage of the LatinPass agreement with HHonors to transfer over 600,000 airline miles into 1,200,000 Hilton HHonors points over the course of a few years.  That was a lot of free hotel nights from airline miles and I used Point Stretcher awards for hotels in Singapore, Belfast, Budapest, and a number of other cities. 

Hilton Amsterdam

Buying Points Sometimes is the Best Solution

At times you may find just buying Hilton HHonors points for a Point Stretcher free night a cheaper option than the lowest available rate.

The Hilton Budapest hotel is a Category 4 HHonors property with Point Stretcher dates during October.  A free room night is 18,000 points per night.  A room rate search for Wednesday, October 8 to Sunday, October 12 for a 4-night stay shows the lowest available rate at 169EUR per night.  At today’s currency exchange rate that is $249USD/night or basically $1,000 for a 4-night stay. 

The Hilton Budapest hotel is located in the lovely Castle District on the hill overlooking the Danube River.  I had one of my best hotel stays ever at this property in 2002.  My wife and I were upgraded to the King Duna Suite on a Point Stretcher stay in July.

So, you don’t have 72,000 HHonors points or airline miles to manage a Miles-to-Points exchange. 

Simply buy the points.  HHonors members can buy up to 40,000 points in a calendar year.  A couple can each buy 36,000 points for $360.  Points will be deposited into the member’s account almost immediately. 

$720 for a 4-night stay in Budapest would reduce the total cost of the hotel stay by nearly 30% compared to the lowest available rates.

HHonors HHoliday Travel

In the past I have frequently planned my air travel around Point Stretcher Reward dates to get a good quality room at a significant discount for stays.  Here is a sample Point Stretcher deal for travelers desiring a vacation in London this coming Christmas season. 

Hilton London Canary Wharf

Dec  20-27 for 7 nights stay. 

87.20 GBP per night reservation. Nonrefundable, nonchangeable rate. 

($1.83USD = 1 GBP; 87.2 x 1.83 = $160USD/night).

Point Stretcher Reward for this Category 6 hotel for 7 nights = 24,000 x 7 = 168,000 points. 

This is 37,000 fewer points than the 205,000 points normally required with a VIP-only GLONP07 reward for a 7-night stay at a Category 6 hotel.

[Loyalty Traveler note on this post at 2:30 PST, 8-26-08:  The Marriott Rewards program enhancements information reported here was posted on the Marriott website this morning and was removed from the website about 90 minutes after I posted the changes on FlyerTalk. 

Marriott Singapore

A Marriott representative posted this statement on the FlyerTalk thread about two hours later.

"Earlier today, information about possible changes to the Marriott Rewards program was mistakenly published on Marriott.com.

Based upon your feedback regarding blackout dates and capacity controls, we are evaluating potential program enhancements. We have nothing to announce at this time. We’re sorry for any confusion this might have caused and we'll be sure to provide advanced notice of any future changes.

[The paragraphs below are Loyalty Traveler's original post on the enhancements.]

Marriott Rewards Program Enhancements Coming in 2009

Marriott Rewards has announced several hotel loyalty program changes to take effect January 15, 2009. 

The big three changes:

1.      No Blackout dates –you can redeem points for your hotel stay if a standard room is available.  This will be a global system-wide benefit.

2.      Redeem points for 3 nights and the 4^th night will be free. 

3.      Platinum elite members (75 nights in a calendar year) will receive a 50% bonus on base points; an increase from the current 30% elite bonus.

These are welcome enhancements.  I just hope the benefit of receiving a free fourth night on a 3 night hotel stay using points is not accompanied by an increase in the required points per night.  Currently Marriott Rewards has a generous schedule for multi-night redemptions.  Basically, the more nights a member redeems using points for an extended hotel stay the lower the per night cost in points. 

For example:  Redeeming Marriott Rewards points for a Category 5 hotel for 1 night costs 25,000 points.

A Category 5 stay for 3 nights costs 65,000 points (21,667 points per night).

Four nights at a Category 5 hotel costs 80,000 points (20,000 points per night).

Seven nights at a Category 5 hotel costs 115,000 points (16,429 points per night).

The per night cost in points decreases with a longer stay from 25,000 points for a 1-night stay down to 20,000 points per night for a 4-night stay, to under 16,429 points per night for a 7-night stay.

Hopefully Marriott Rewards will maintain the current redemption levels for hotels

The important factor for the member is whether the overall Marriott Rewards point redemption chart will remain relatively the same in 2009.  Will the enhancements mean a 4-night stay at a Category 5 hotel will still be 65,000 points in 2009?  Or will the 3-night stay at a Category 5 hotel cost more in 2009 and be closer to 80,000 points?  In the hotel loyalty program industry the trend has been to raise the number of points for free room nights while simultaneously making room redemption easier.

Time and more details will tell if the program enhancements truly enhance the Marriott Rewards program for all members.

IHG Priority Club Rewards Gold, Platinum, Ambassador, and Royal Ambassador

The InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is the parent company of Holiday Inn.  IHG Priority Club Rewards is the hotel loyalty program for this hotel chain with the brands of Holiday Inn Express on the lower end of its economic scale of room rates to the Crowne Plaza brand on the upscale and InterContinental Hotels on the upper upscale to luxury end of room rates.  Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites are the extended stay brands of IHG.

Priority Club operates one of the more complex hotel loyalty programs. 

Let’s blame it on beer — Bass ale to be more precise.

The British brewer Bass diversified into hotels in the 1990s acquiring first the ubiquitous Holiday Inn brand. 

Holiday Inn Park View, Singapore

Bass Breweries also acquired the InterContinental Hotels luxury brand properties in 1998.  This hotel chain was established by Pan Am Airways in the era of post-WWII global travel, and hotels are currently located in about 140 major global cities and prominent resorts around the world. 

InterContinental Mark Hopkins San Francisco

InterContinental Hotels was an early player in the hotel loyalty industry and Six Continents Club was established in 1966.  It is the longest running frequent guest hotel loyalty program.  The merger of the Priority Club Rewards program with the Six Continents Club loyalty program of InterContinental Hotels began in 2003 when the InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) corporation was established with the break-up of the Bass empire.   

[InBev, the Belgian-Brazilian company that just bought Budweiser, also bought Bass Breweries and Becks in the past decade and pretty much controls global beer distribution along with the Dutch (Heineken) and Danish (Carlsberg).  This is my UC Davis fermentation science beer background  coming to the forefront.  Time for another Stella Artois.]

The main distinction of the IHG Priority Club hotel loyalty program from other major loyalty programs is the ability to buy elite membership.  Two of the four elite levels as a Priority Club member are available for a fee.  Priority Club Rewards Gold membership is $50 for a calendar year and InterContinental Hotels Ambassador membership is $150 with complimentary Priority Club Rewards Gold status included and generally a far better deal if you can work an InterContinental Hotel stay in your travels.

InterContinental Monterey, The Clement, suite bed with view to bath

Note on qualifying for Priority Club elite status on points

Priority Club is quite lenient from a frequent guest perspective in counting points earned from a variety of activities for elite membership qualification like purchased points, affinity credit cards, and hotel promotional bonuses rather than just base points from hotel stays. Hilton HHonors requires 100,000 base points for HHonors Diamond and this is essentially $10,000 in hotel stay spending in a calendar year.  Priority Club Platinum membership requires 60,000 earned points in a calendar year and with all the ways to earn points this threshold can be achieved for under $2,000 with a bit of planning and for far fewer than 50 nights in hotels.

InterContinental Monterey suite living room, The Clement, Monterey, CA

InterContinental Hotels Group elite membership levels

Priority Club Gold is earned with 20 paid nights or 20,000 earned points in a calendar year.  Gold level membership lasts for the remainder of the year earned and until the end of the following calendar year.  Gold membership is also available for $50 for the calendar year, but has the disadvantage of expiring at the end of the same calendar year.  Your status will be upgraded within 48 hours of purchase.  Another strategy, particularly if you are fairly certain an InterContinental Hotel luxury trip is not in your near future, is to buy 20,000 Priority Club points for $230 and earn Gold Elite based on points and you will have the points ready for good hotel room redemption opportunities like PointBreaks 5,000 point free nights. 

Gold Elite Benefits

·         10% Priority Club bonus on base points (base points are 10 points/$1 for hotel spending and Gold members earn 11 points/$1).

Priority Club Platinum = 50 nights or earn 60,000 points in a calendar year 

·         50% Priority Club points bonus on base points (base points are 10 points/$1 for hotel spending and Platinum members earn 15 points/$1).

·         Complimentary upgrade on paid hotel rooms which might include a higher floor, corner room, or preferred view.  The hotel is not required to provide an upgrade to a suite, however, anecdotal evidence indicates this is frequently a benefit.  The upgrade benefit does not apply to award room nights (but again, anecdotal evidence indicates Platinum members are typically upgraded on award night stays.)

InterContinental Monterey, suite TV and Fireplace, The Clement

InterContinental Ambassador = $150 (includes complimentary upgrade to Priority Club Gold) or renewal is currently 20,000 Priority Club points.

Following Benefits apply only to InterContinental Hotel stays:

·         Your $150 membership fee includes a certificate for a free second night when a minimum two-night weekend stay is booked at an InterContinental Hotel and the first night is a paid night.  Certificate is valid for six months.  Considering there are very few hotels in the InterContinental chain that have a lowest room rate for any room at under $150, your Buy One, Get One (BOGO) certificate is essentially a complete rebate of your $150 membership fee and even more.  Weekend nights are defined as Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for most locations.  Certificate is non-transferable.

·         Membership packet also includes a 5,000 points Priority Club Rewards certificate

·         Guaranteed Room Upgrade (this will be a $50 to $100+ per night benefit at most hotels)

·         Free “pay” TV film per stay

·         Fresh fruit or mineral water

·         Late check-out of 4pm.

InterContinental Royal Ambassador = by invitation, but anecdotal evidence from FlyerTalk.com indicates stays in at least 3 to 5 different InterContinental Hotels and 50 nights overall  (Platinum elite status) in IHG hotels during the Ambassador membership year (one year from Ambassador membership enrollment date and not the calendar year) may trigger an invitation.

Royal Ambassador Benefits in addition to above:

·         Complimentary mini-bar beverages

·         Early check-in available at 8am

·         Complimentary use of health club facilities

·         Royal Ambassador members receive a Royal Ambassador membership referral allowing another person to receive Royal Ambassador status for $150

I have a feeling 2009 is a going to be a much closer year between IHG and this Loyalty Traveler. 

Comparison of Hotel Loyalty Program Affinity Credit Cards

Over the years in my conversations with travelers it seems to me that many people develop hotel loyalty based initially on their acquisition of a hotel loyalty program affinity credit card.  I frequently state that I don’t consider credit card earnings in my analysis of hotel stay promotions. 

Loyalty Traveler took a look at hotel loyalty credit cards for the major upscale hotel programs of Hilton HHonors, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) Priority Club Rewards, Marriott Rewards, and Starwood Preferred Guest.  The new card member bonuses and interest rates are based on the affinity card offer presently shown on the hotel loyalty program website on 8-22-08.

My analysis shows American Express affinity cards for Hilton HHonors and Starwood Preferred Guest have the greatest earning power based on a sample scenario of $15,000 in annual spending.  The Hilton HHonors American Express card has the best earning power for non-hotel spending as it awards a generous 5 points per $1 for restaurants, wireless phone payments, groceries, and gas.

Hilton HHonors VISA  (no annual fee)  Signature card (14.99%); Gold Card (16.99%)

Automatic upgrade to HHonors silver elite membership

·         Earn 6 HHonors points for every dollar spent at Hilton Family hotels.

·         3 HHonors points for purchases made at grocery stores, drugstores, and gas stations.

·         2 HHonors points for purchases made at other sites.

·         Enrollment bonus of 15,000 points for a purchase within two months of card membership.

Hilton HHonors American Express (no annual fee) (14.99%)

Automatic upgrade to HHonors silver elite membership and cardholder will be upgraded to Gold membership if $20,000 is charged to card in calendar year.

·         Earn 5 HHonors points for every dollar spent at Hilton Family hotels.

·         5 HHonors points for purchases made at grocery stores, drugstores, gas stations, restaurants, US postal service, and wireless phone bills.

·         3 HHonors points for purchases made at other sites.

·         Earn 500 points online booking bonus when booking your stay on a Hilton website with your HHonors American Express.

·         10,000 points bonus for first purchase within the first year of card membership.

·         2,500 points bonus for each of first four Hilton Family hotel stays paid with Hilton HHonors American Express card.

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) Priority Club Rewards VISA (12.99%)

·         $29 per year after no-fee first year

·         Earn 3 points per $1 spent at IHG hotels

·         Earn 1 point per $1 spent at other locations.

·         Receive a 10,000 points bonus for first purchase made after spending $15,000 or more in the card member’s year.  [LT note: The card member’s annual year is based on the enrollment date as a card member and subsequent anniversary dates – not the calendar year.]

·         One-time upgrade to Gold membership (a $50 value) through December of the year after the year of card member activation.  [LT note: This rule favors waiting until the beginning of a calendar year for maximizing the length of complimentary elite status.]

·         One-time bonus offer of 30,000 points after first purchase for first-time card members with new accounts.

·         One-time $20 credit on statement after first card purchase.

·         Priority Club VISA Business Card has same earning power except the spending bonus is 15,000 points bonus for first purchase made after spending $20,000 or more in the card member’s year. 

Marriott Rewards VISA (14.99%)

·         $30 per year after no-fee first year

·         Earn 3 points per $1 spent at Marriott Family hotels

·         Earn 1 point per $1 spent elsewhere.

·         10 nights credit toward elite status every year of card membership.

·         One-time bonus offer of 20,000 points after first purchase or balance transfer for first-time card members with new accounts.

·         One-time bonus offer of 5,000 points after first purchase for first-time card members with new accounts.

·         One-time free night certificate valid for a Category 1 to Category 4 hotel property.

Starwood Preferred Guest American Express (14.99%)

·         $45 per year after no-fee first year

·         Earn 2 points per $1 spent at Starwood brand hotels

·         Earn 1 point per $1 spent elsewhere.

·         One-time bonus offer of 10,000 points after first purchase during first year of card membership for first-time card members with new accounts.

***********************************************************

Comparison of hotel points earned annually by a new cardmember

Assume annual spending includes $3,000 at the hotel chain, $6,000 at grocery stores, drugstores, and gas stations, and $6,000 elsewhere during the membership year.

Hilton HHonors VISA

63,000 points for new member; ($630 value based on $10/1,000 points)

48,000 points without new member bonuses ($480 value)

New member bonus = 15,000 points

Hotel stays = $3,000 x 6 points = 18,000 points

Groceries and gas = $6,000 x 3 points = 18,000 points

Other charges = $6,000 x 2 points = 12,000 points

Hilton HHonors American Express

89,000 points for new member;  ($890 value based on $10/1,000 points)

69,000 points without new member bonuses ($690 value)

New member bonus = 10,000 points

Hotel stays = $3,000 x 5 points = 15,000 points

Groceries, gas, restaurants, wireless phone bill = $9,000 x 5 points = 45,000 points

Other charges = $3,000 x 3 points = 9,000 points

First four Hilton Family hotel stays = 10,000 points

Priority Club VISA

61,000 points for new member;  ($610 value based on $10/1,000 points)

31,000 points without new member bonus and spending $15,000+ annually  ($310 value)

21,000 points without bonuses for $15,000 in spending ($210 value)

New member bonus = 30,000 points

Hotel stays = $3,000 x 3 points = 9,000 points

Other charges = $12,000 x 1 points = 12,000 points

Bonus points for $15,000+ spending = 10,000 points

Marriott Rewards VISA

66,000 points for new member ($660 value based on $10/1,000 points)

21,000 points without new member bonuses ($210 value)

New member bonus = 25,000 points

Hotel stays = $3,000 x 3 points = 9,000 points

Other charges = $12,000 x 1 points = 12,000 points

One-time free night at Category 4 hotel = equivalent to 20,000 points

10 nights elite credit may or may not have significant value depending on member’s hotel lifestyle.  Mid-tier elite status requires 50 nights for Marriott Rewards Gold membership.

Starwood Preferred Guest American Express

28,000 points for new member ($980 value based on $35/1,000 points)

18,000 points without new member bonuses ($630 value)

New member bonus = 10,000 points

Hotel stays = $3,000 x 2 points = 6,000 points

Other charges = $12,000 x 1 points = 12,000 points

This is a simple analysis of the different affinity cards currently being offered through links on the hotel loyalty program websites.  Please provide comments to enlighten the Loyalty Traveler readers to other considerations not addressed in this summary.

Hyatt Gold Passport Fall 2008 Faster Free Nights (FFN) Promotion

The hotel industry’s most generous hotel loyalty program offer, Hyatt’s Faster Free Nights, has once again been officially announced by Hyatt Gold Passport.

Hyatt Regency Santa Clara

Promotion Offer:  Every two stays at a Hyatt brand hotel earns one free night at any hotel in the Hyatt system*.  Promotion registration is required at www.goldpassport.com or by calling Hyatt Reservations and asking for offer code FFNF08.  The number of nights you can earn is not limited.

Promotion dates: September 1 – December 30, 2008 for qualifying stays at Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, Hyatt Place, and Hyatt Summerfield Suites.

Faster Free Nights Award Redemption dates: September 15 – February 28, 2009

Bonus Offer: 2,000 Hyatt Gold Passport bonus points will be awarded for Hyatt stays paid with a MasterCard.

Hyatt Singapore hallway to elevators

Terms for Faster Free Nights Promotion:

*Amerisuites hotel stays are not eligible for Faster Free Nights promotion.

*Two hotels are not eligible for Faster Free Nights award redemption – Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego and Hyatt Regency Paris – Madeleine.

Only one room per night will be credited towards the member’s Faster Free Nights awards.

Redemption of Faster Free Nights requires a 3-night minimum for a midweek (Monday-Thursday) stay at a non-resort hotel.  [LT note: This means you will need to earn at least 3 nights with 6 hotel stays to use your FFN complimentary nights for maximum flexibility or have sufficient points to add up to a 3-night stay.]

Faster Free Nights awards are not transferrable.

****************************************

This is a great promotion for leveraging your loyalty with Hyatt.  Finding room rates of $75 or less per night is not that difficult in many locations and redeeming free nights can potentially save $400+ per night in many resort and urban Hyatt hotels.

Marriott Rewards Fall Megabonus with VISA Card Payment

Registration required for promotion bonus. 

Promotional Period: September 15, 2008 – January 15, 2009

FrequentFlyerBonuses.com reports six variations of Marriott Rewards Fall Megabonus for 25,000 to 50,000 points depending on the specific offer targeted to your member account.

My offer was for 5,000 bonus points after every 3^rd stay, up to 25,000 bonus points.  Assuming one-night stays I could earn 25,000 points for 15 hotel nights.  I currently have no Marriott Rewards elite membership status and I haven’t stayed at a Marriott brand hotel in 2008.

The bonus is a nice addition to regular points earning for Marriott Rewards, but the offer is not enough of an enticement for me to deliberately steer hotel nights to Marriott when there are other options for my hotel loyalty. 

By the numbers:

Assume an $80 per night room rate at a Marriott hotel brand and one-night stays.

$240 in base spending (excluding hotel taxes) for 3 stays could earn 10 points per dollar for 2,400 points.  (Only 5 points per $1 earned with Residence Inn or TownePlace Suites brands.)

2,400 points + 5,000 bonus points = 7,400 points after first 3-stay bonus. 

I could have 22,200 points after 9 stays.  This would be sufficient for a 1-night Pointsavers hotel award for the New York JFK Airport Marriott Courtyard (20,000 points over November and December holidays).  I kind of favor this hotel option after spending 3 hours to commute to Newark, New Jersey for a reasonably priced hotel last year.  But 9 stays is quite a commitment to Marriott when there are so many hotel chains offering hotel stay incentives this fall.

A free hotel night systemwide with Kimpton Hotels is awarded after 7 stays.  Hyatt Gold Passport is rumored to be starting Faster Free Nights in September and this promotion awards a free hotel night in the Hyatt system after two stays.  Starwood Preferred Guest is launching their Fall 2008 promotion in September and details will be released September 16.  In the meantime, I can earn combined Starwood  bonuses using the Summer Stay 1,000 points bonus and the FlyerTalk 500 points bonus per night for stays through September 30.  And Hilton just seems out to lunch in trying to promote hotel activity through promotions.  I feel like I neglect Hilton HHonors, but honestly, I rarely see a competitive promotion from them and I feel they neglect me as a hotel consumer. 

Marriott Rewards is a great program for road warriors on the business circuit or for a leisure traveler just seeking a good quality hotel every once in a while.  The high threshold for elite status with Marriott Rewards keeps me staying with other chains where frequent guest loyalty is rewarded at a lower cost and free hotel nights are easier to obtain.

Other Variations of the Marriott Rewards Fall MegaBonus Targeted Offers:

·         50,000 points:  Earn 35,000 points after 20 nights paid with VISA and an additional 15,000 points after a total of 25 nights.

·         35,000 points after 20 nights paid with VISA.

·         25,000 points after 15 nights paid with VISA, and an additional 10,000 points after 20 nights.

·         25,000 points after 15 nights paid with VISA.

·         2,500 points after every VISA-paid stay, up to 25,000 points.  (This is the best option for the basic Marriott member in my opinion and the offer I would have preferred.  I do like my offer better than the ones which require the member to complete either 15 or 20 nights to receive any bonus points.)

Hyatt 25% Rate Discount Special Offer- Book by August 26

Book by August 26 and save 25% at participating Hyatt Hotels for stays between August 28 and October 1, 2008. 

Terms:

·         Offer valid at participating hotels in USA, Canada, and the Caribbean.  Hyatt has made it easy to find the offer as participating hotels are individually listed by destination.         List of participating hotels

·         Nonrefundable room prepayment required

·         25% savings is based on prevailing rate/best available rate.

·         Offer not valid at Andaz or Park Hyatt hotels.

·        Reservations must be made at Hyatt.com or by calling 1-800-233-1234 and requesting offer code LT0105 

The rumor on FlyerTalk reported last week is Hyatt Gold Passport’s Faster Free Nights (FFN) periodic promotion will begin September 1 and last through December 30, 2008 when every two Hyatt stays earns a certificate for one free night at any Hyatt location globally.  Free nights may be redeemed between September 15, 2008 and February 28, 2009.  This offer has not officially been released to the public, but several FlyerTalkers state the terms have been revealed to them by Hyatt personnel.  Faster Free Nights is one of the highest potential value hotel loyalty promotions offered.

Since the 25% offer is nonrefundable and terms state the special offer rate is not combinable with other promotions, the Hyatt traveler needs to decide if a discount rate for a prepaid stay is a better value than the potential for earning free night credit for stays from September 1-30 if you wait for the Faster Free Nights promotion to be officially launched.

Hyatt Gold Passport – Many of the Hyatt hotel specific ‘G bonuses’ from summer have been extended into fall 2008 for an opportunity to add 1,000 to 2,000 points per stay simply by booking through the Gold Passport bonus offers links.  Reservations made using the links on the Hyatt Gold Passport Bonus Offers page significantly increase your points earning with each stay. 

Hyatt has a large number of hotels in the Category 1 to Category 2 points redemption range.   Category 1 hotels are 5,000 points for a free night.  Category 2 hotels cost 8,000 points per free night and Category 3 hotels jump to 12,000 points.  There are a number of airport Hyatt Place hotels in the USA at Category 1 and several urban locations and even some international  resorts in Category 2 where rates can be well over $200 per night. 

On a $100 per night paid stay a member can potentially earn 2,500 points or 50% of the cost of a free Category 1 hotel room or 30% of a Category 2 hotel award room.

Hyatt Regency Santa Clara, California (Category 3 hotel)

2,000 points G bonus (through August 31)

Friday, August 22-23

$96.75 nonrefundable rate

General  Member = 2,000 bonus points + 483 regular base points = 2,483 points

Diamond member = 2,000 bonus points + 483 regular base points + 1,000 diamond amenity points + 144 elite bonus points (30% on base points)= 3,627 points

Potential Redemption value:

Hyatt Place Fremont, California

Tue Sep 16

Redemption for a free room at this Category 1 hotel is 5,000 points

or

you can pay $151 per night for this weekday date.

If saving for a beach vacation is more your style, then the Hyatt Cancun Caribe Resort is a bargain at 8,000 points per night for a beach resort where daily rates often top $200 per night in the winter season.

Gold Passport Bonus Offers are a great way to increase your points earnings on paid hotel stays.

Fall 2008 PointBreaks List Currently Available for IHG Priority Club Rewards Reservations for Stays through November 30, 2008

PointBreaks are one of the best available hotel loyalty deals for the traveler.  The new list of participating hotels in the InterContinental Hotels Group for Priority Club Rewards PointBreaks is out and contains nearly 140 hotels around the world available for just 5,000 points per reward night.

·         Middle East = 5 hotels in Egypt, Eritrea, Israel, Lebanon, and Yemen

·         Asia = 21 hotels in China, India, Japan, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka

·         Oceania = 4 hotels in Australia and Fiji

·         Europe = 20 hotels in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and the UK.

·         Central and South America = 6 hotels in Brazil, El Salvador, and Guatemala

·         Mexico = 6 hotels

·         Canada = 11 hotels in 6 provinces

·         USA = 65 hotels in 17 states

In Fall 2007 there were 49 hotels in Europe on the PointBreaks list and this year there are only 20 hotels in the Fall 2008 PointBreaks offer.  Still, although the participating hotels are fewer, there are great savings to be had if one of the properties matches your destination.

Haifa, Israel has a Crowne Plaza hotel where I saw 6 nights availability for 30,000 points in October using Pointbreaks.  The lowest available rate for the Crowne Plaza Haifa during the dates checked for Pointbreaks availability was $156US/night. 

For a traveler planning to stay in Haifa for six nights the choice becomes 30,000 points or $936?  If you are paying the bill with your own funds, consider 30,000 Priority Club Rewards points can be purchased for $345 online on the Priority Club Rewards website.

I tried a dozen dates for the Crowne Plaza Milan, Italy and could not find any availability using PointBreaks.  With room rates in the 150-200 Euro per night range, the PointBreaks would be quite valuable at this location if you can locate availability.

October 14-17, 2008 sample dates for 3-night hotel stay searches:

Crowne Plaza Hannover, Germany had availability for a 3-night stay in October on my first date search.  The lowest available room rate for these dates was a nonrefundable 117€/night ($1.47/€ = $172US/night).  15,000 Priority Club points would save $516 on this stay.

Holiday Inn Jaipur, India had availability for a 3-night stay in October for 15,000 points using PointBreaks.  The lowest available rate was 6,750 Indian Rupees ($158US) or $474US for a 3-night stay.

Hotel Indigo Fishers Indy’s Uptown, Fishers, Indiana, USA

3-night stay will cost 15,000 Priority Club Rewards points or $159 (+ 12% tax)/night or $534.24 for a 3-night stay at a Hotel Indigo in Indiana.

Priority Club Points Purchase when used for PointBreaks Award Nights.  Members can purchase up to 40,000 points in a 12-month period.

5,000 points = $67.50  at $13.50 per 1,000 points. 

1-night PointBreaks award costs $67.50.

15,000 points = $187.50 ($12.50 per 1,000 points.

3-night PointBreaks reward costs $62.50/night.

25,000 points = $287.50 ($11.50 per 1,000 points.

5-night PointBreaks reward costs $57.50/night.

Priority Club has a real treat for the savvy consumer who can fit Pointbreaks Reward nights into your travel itinerary.

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The hotel frequent guest promotions were flying out of the internet this week as I was busy helping my wife move from one classroom to her new kindergarten classroom (the amount of classroom stuff she has is equivalent to moving our household).

And then there are the Beijing 2008 Olympics.  I watched the opening ceremonies online Friday morning, August 8, on Russian and German TV.  I watched Michael Phelps win his first gold medal live over the internet on Saudi TV.  And each day as I learned of new sites for online viewing access, the sites were made inaccessible to viewers in the USA.  Big brother is squeezing the internet and the American viewers suffer through this Olympics.  Some of us more than others.  At least east coast USA is seeing some of the Olympics live, particularly Michael Phelps swimming races.  I have been spending 8 to 9 pm every evening online picking up the posted times and scores of the races here in California while running a verbal rant against the corporate idiots who subject American viewers to tape-delay sports while simultaneously blocking access to live video feeds of the Olympic events over the internet. 

Roger Federer and the Williams sisters should have considered sleeping in a Beijing Holiday Inn Express.  The Tennis US Open is just around the corner and unfortunately the new IHG Priority Club PointBreaks list for Fall stays does not include Beijing, California, or New York for those of us finished watching tennis breakpoints. 

A few days ago I copied a chart from the InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) website showing the number of hotels and rooms for each of the major 10 global hotel corporations.  [Loyalty Traveler note: the pdf on the IHG website appears to have changed in the past week and the chart showing the 10 major hotel loyalty programs now only has five programs.  I have used numbers from the earlier version of this file.]  Looking at the chart my thoughts for the frequent guest member is the number of rooms available for room redemption in the program is a competitive advantage of a hotel loyalty program.  One of the main points of the hotel loyalty program for the consumer is the opportunity to get a free room stay. 

And for the loyal consumer there is the probability that a larger hotel in terms of rooms is likely to have more room categories.  More types of rooms gives a room upgrade advantage to the elite frequent guest member.

IHG claims it is the largest global operator of hotels by number of rooms.  Showing a third piece of data shows Starwood Hotels has on average the most rooms per hotel of the major chains.

Hotel Chain               Number of hotels    Number of rooms    #rooms/#hotels

IHG                                   3,949 hotels     585,094 rooms              = 148

Wyndham Worldwide        6,544 hotels     550,576 rooms               = 84

Marriott International          2,901 hotels     517,909 rooms               = 179

Hilton Hotels                      2,959 hotels     497,365 rooms               = 168

Accor                                3,857 hotels     459,494 rooms               = 119

Choice International           5,516 hotels     445,254 rooms                = 81

Best Western                     4,035 hotels     308,636 rooms                = 76

Starwood Hotels                   897 hotels     274,535 rooms                = 306

Carlson Hospitality                971 hotels     148,551 rooms                = 153

Global Hyatt                         720 hotels      138,503 rooms                = 192

        TOTAL                   32,349 hotels       3,925,917 rooms            = 121

Source: MKG Hospitality as of Jan 2008

(Hyatt sold Hawthorne Suites brand in 2008 after this data was produced in January 2008 and now has fewer hotels and rooms than shown here.) [update 8-15-08: IHG released first half 2008 company figures showing 4,046 hotels and 598,165 rooms at end of June 2008.]

The interesting feature of the chart on the IHG site is seeing the average size of hotels when dividing the number of rooms in the hotel chain by the number of hotels in the hotel chain.  Starwood, on average, has a much higher average number of rooms per hotel than the other hotel chains.  This could simply be the effect of Marriott, IHG, and Hilton each having numerous hotels in their family and the large number of smaller mid-scale properties bring the average number down.

Is there any correlation between getting an upgrade and the size of the hotel? 

Is there a correlation between getting a free room using hotel points and the average size of the hotel in terms of number of rooms for the hotel chain?

These are interesting questions to consider, but unfortunately, I don’t have the answers.

800 rooms for 8 nights at Super 8 motels for $8.88/night (beginning 8pm Eastern USA time zone each night)

Wyndham Rewards member Super 8 Motel has a Super 888 Promotion special offer rate going on for another 7 nights.  The deal is each night, beginning at 8:00pm EDT,  800 rooms at Super 8 motels in the USA and Canada will be sold for a room rate of $8.88/night.

Terms:

·         Promotion runs each night at 8pm EDT for 8 nights from 8/8 through 8/15

·         First 800 guests to make a reservation can get an $8.88 per night rate.

·         Stay must occur within period from August 8-December 30, 2008.

·         Limit of one room and one night per person.

·         Rate valid at all participating Super 8 motels in USA and Canada.

·         Being logged into your Wyndham Rewards account will pre-populate personal information and expedite reservation confirmation, thus increasing your chances for the $8.88 / night room rate.

Last night, August 8^th, was the first night of the special $8.88 offer.  This thread on FlyerTalk reports of being stuck with an interminable yellow screen with “Is 8 your luck number?  Find out in just a moment…”, and by 8:10 pm the message “We’re sorry, but all 800 rooms for $8.88 allocated for tonight’s sale have been reserved.”  Others actually worked through the screens to make reservations and enter credit card information.  And after 20 to 30 minutes on the website, and waiting for confirmation, received a message that rooms were sold out.

Two FlyerTalkers reported getting the $8.88 room rate and the secret is “luck”.  It appears you need to be logged in to your Wyndham Rewards account, have a motel lined up and ready and be lucky in the first few seconds. 

The promotion begs the question – “If FlyerTalkers can’t get these deals, then how many people are actually trying to book the 800 rooms at 8:00pm EDT?”  Don’t fret.  It is just one night at a Super 8 on the line.

Contestants – warm your mouse fingers.  Ready?