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?

Priority Club Rewards has filled their 25^th Anniversary year with one great hotel loyalty program bonus after another.  Frequent guests of hotels in the InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) this year have been getting points and miles boosts. 

Priority Club Fall 2008 Promotion:

Double Miles or Double Points beginning with second stay at an IHG hotel brand or beginning with first stay for Candlewood Suites and Staybridge Suites brand hotels.

Dates: Between 15 September – 15 December, 2008

Terms:

·         Registration required.  No retroactive bonus for stays prior to registration.

·         A stay is defined as one night or consecutive nights at the same hotel regardless of check-in/check-out frequency.

·         Only one room per member per night at a hotel will earn bonus points or miles.

·         Must have miles preference selected in user profile to earn miles.

·         Most business and leisure rates qualify (AAA and senior rates).

·         Participating brands:

1.      InterContinental Hotels

2.      Crowne Plaza

3.      Hotel Indigo

4.      Holiday Inn

5.      Holiday Inn Express

6.      Express by Holiday Inn (this is the international name for hotels like Holiday Inn Express)

7.      Staybridge Suites

8.      Candlewood Suites

 

Earning Priority Club Points

 

Eligible spending is room rate (not taxes), food and beverage, telephone, laundry, and in-room movies charged to the member’s room.

 

Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites stays normally earn 5 points per $1.00 in eligible spending.  Fall 2008 Double Points promotion will earn 10 points/$1.00.

 

InterContinental Hotels normally earn a flat rate of 2,000 points per stay.

Fall 2008 Double Points promotion will earn 4,000 points/stay.

 

Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Crowne Plaza, and Hotel Indigo stays normally earn 10 points/$1.00.

Fall 2008 Double Points promotion will earn 20 points/$1.00.

 

Elite member hotel points bonuses are applied normally on the base points charges for members selecting hotel points earning.

     

Earning Airline Miles

Due to 13 different earning structures in the Priority Club airline miles charts, the only one covered here is for the main structure of miles earning used by the legacy airlines of United, American, Delta, Continental, Northwest, Alaska, US Airways and some other airlines.

 

Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Hotel Indigo stays earn 2 miles / $1 in eligible charges.

 

Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites stays earn 1 mile / $1 in eligible charges.

 

InterContinental Hotels stays earn 500 miles / stay.

 

Earning Points vs. Miles in Real Travel

The real value in this promotion is for those members with lower cost stays at Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, and HI Express. 

Assume 6 stays at $100 each for Holiday Inn compared to 2 stays at InterContinental Hotels at $300 each.  Member has no elite status.

 

Holiday Inn (6 stays at $100/stay)

Stay 1 = 1,000 points or 200 miles

Stay 2 = 2,000 points or 400 miles (Fall 2008 bonus applies)

Stay 3-6 = 8,000 points or 1,600 miles

Total

11,000 points ($126.50 value at $11.50/1,000 points purchase price equivalent)

or

2,200 miles ($60 value at purchase price equivalent of $27/1,000 miles)

 

InterContinental Hotels (2 stays at $300/stay)

Stay 1 = 2,000 points or 500 miles

Stay 2 = 4,000 points or 1,000 miles (Fall 2008 bonus applies)

Total: 6,000 points ($69.00 value at $11.50/1,000 points purchase price equivalent)

or 1,500 miles ($40.50 value at purchase price equivalent of $27/1,000 miles)

 

As usual, I find better value in earning hotel points for this promotion than choosing miles.  Better yet is the fact a member can earn elite status with IHG Priority Club based on the number of points earned in a calendar year (Gold = 20,000 points and Platinum = 60,000 points).  In many cases it is an easier qualification standard for a frequent guest to reach Priority Club top elite Platinum membership on points when the member is not quite so frequent a guest as 50 nights in a year.

 

 

 

 

 

The ultimate question for every loyalty traveler is:

            What is the best hotel frequent guest program for me?

I could work out an individual profile for your travel lifestyle to suggest the best hotel program, but you will have to pay me for that kind of personal attention.  For all you internet freeloaders I have this blog which should help you make an educated decision based on information.

Last week I addressed the issue of hotel brands in hotel market segments using the JD Power survey on guest satisfaction.  The more important aspect of brands for the loyalty traveler choosing a hotel program is knowledge of the proportion of hotel brands in the different market segments and the proportion of USA and international hotels participating in a frequent guest program. 

Choosing the “best fit” hotel loyalty program should be based on matching the hotel brands and locations with your desired travel pattern.  The best hotel program can vary depending on the market segment you tend to travel within (free breakfast at a midscale hotel or full restaurant room service dinner at upscale hotels?), your hotel stay pattern (single nights vs. multi-night stays), your hotel room redemption opportunities (do you want lots of nights at midscale hotels or a few nights at luxury hotels?), and whether the locations you travel are strictly USA, global travel, or particular cities and regions.

I look at this stuff all the time and I have difficulty remembering the ratios of USA vs. international hotels and the ratio of upscale brands vs. mid-scale brands.  I decided to recheck information for this post on choosing the best hotel program for your travel lifestyle.

Loyalty Traveler’s Look at Hotel Market Segment and Geography by Hotel Loyalty Program

Marriott Hotels Corporation

USA = 2,518 hotels  (434 upscale hotels; 1,753 midscale; 860 extended stay)

International = 369 hotels (269 upscale hotels; 81 midscale; 19 extended stay)

Marriott Brands:

·         JW Marriott = 39 hotels (16 USA, 23 international)

·         Marriott  = 521 hotels (343 USA, 178 international)

·         Renaissance Hotels = 143 (75 USA, 68 international)

·         Courtyard = 770 (697 USA, 73 international)

·         Residence Inn = 547 (529 USA, 18 international)

·         Fairfield Inn = 535 (527 USA, 8 international)

·         TownePlace Suites = 145 (145 USA)

·         SpringHill Suites = 187 (186 USA, 1 international)

Marriott Rewards has the competitive advantage of the number of hotels in several different market segments.

Marriott has the competitive strength in the extended stay market with nearly 900 hotels in three brands: Residence Inn, TownePlace Suites, and SpringHill Suites.  Extended stay hotels are where hotel guests have the ability to live apartment-style with a refrigerator and stove in the room.  Starwood is just entering the extended stay market with their Element Hotel brand.  Hyatt has Summerfield Suites as a new brand in Gold Passport for 2008, but with only 31 hotels this is not yet a real player in the extended stay market.  Hilton’s extended stay brand, Homewood Suites, is still relatively small at 200 hotels.  IHG has Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites, but these still number only 300 hotels total.

At the high end (think over $200/night much of the time, but some locations and dates will have rates in the $100 to $150 range some of the time), Marriott has luxury and resort locations in 3 hotel brands, JW Marriott, Marriott, and Renaissance, each with a strong international presence. 

For the midscale hotel traveler the average hotel rates tend to be in the $70 to $100/night for much of the country.  Some locations will have midscale rates as low as $50 at times and other popular locations will go over $200 at times. Marriott has a range of midscale hotels in two brands of over 500 hotels each in the USA.  The upper midscale brand (Courtyard) is often combined with an adjacent Residence Inn property allowing some facilities and services to be shared.  The two properties combined have an economy of scale to meet two market segments of short-stay and extended stay hotel guests. Marriott also has the lower midscale brand  of Fairfield Inn hotels offering the basic room and often with limited hotel facilities. 

For USA travelers there are over 2,000 Marriott Rewards participating hotels located in the USA with five hotel brands (Courtyard, Residence Inn, Fairfield Inn, TownePlace Suites, SpringHill Suites) in the midscale segment. 

The full-service brand hotels in the upscale market segment approach 450 hotels in the USA and another 300 international hotels in the Marriott and Renaissance brands.

2,500 hotels in the USA across several market segments from upscale to extended stay to a range of midscale hotel brand options makes Marriott Rewards a strong program for a traveler who needs hotels in places where other chains might not be present.  Marriott is the only major hotel chain to have hotels in the city of Salinas, California – population 150,000 and the largest city in Monterey County.

 

How the other hotel programs compare by number of hotels:

Hilton Hotels Corporation Brands – over 2,800 hotels  (HHonors repeatedly uses over 3,000 hotels in their press releases, however, the brand fact sheets only add up to a little more than 2,800 hotels currently open.)

USA = 2,506 hotels; upscale 600 hotels; midscale 1,700 hotels; extended stay 220 hotels

International = about 350 hotels (almost all upscale)

·         Homewood Suites – 220 hotels (almost all in USA)

·         Hilton Garden Inn – 312 hotels (293 USA, 19 international)

·         Embassy Suites – 185 hotels (almost all in USA)

·         Doubletree Hotels – 180 hotels (almost all in USA)

·         Hampton Inn – 1,400+ hotels (almost all in USA)

·         Hilton Hotels – 511 hotels (231 USA, 280 international)

·         Conrad Hotels – 18 hotels (3 USA, 15 international)

·         Waldorf=Astoria Hotels – 5 hotels (4 USA, 1 Saudi Arabia)

Hilton HHonors is well-matched with Marriott Rewards for hotel brand segments.  Hilton has the edge over Marriott with more upscale properties in the USA and international, and is comparable to Marriott domestically in the number of midscale hotels, while Marriott has more hotels in the extended stay market.

 

InterContinental Hotels Group

IHG Fact Sheet: http://www.ihgplc.com/files/pdf/factsheets/group_at_a_glance.pdf

·         InterContinental Hotels – 153 hotels (20 USA, 133 international)

·         Crowne Plaza – 308 hotels (140 USA, 168 international)

·         Hotel Indigo – 14 hotels (12 USA, 2 international)

·         Holiday Inn – 1,369 hotels (809 USA, 560 international)

·         Holiday Inn Express – 1,819 hotels (1,532 USA, 287 international)

·         Staybridge Suites – 130 hotels (121 USA, 9 international)

·         Candlewood Suites – 169 hotels (168 USA, 1 international)

3,962 hotels globally

Upscale – 1035 hotels  (Many international Holiday Inn hotels fall in upscale market and are included here.  Most USA Holiday Inns included in midscale market segment.)

Midscale – 2,600 hotels – Holiday Inn Express and most Holiday Inns in USA

Extended Stay – 299 hotels in Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites

USA = 2,500 hotels (upscale 200 hotels; midscale 2,100 hotels, extended stay 290 hotels)

International = 1,160 hotels (upscale 860 hotels; midscale 300 hotels; extended stay 10 hotels)

Competitive advantage: IHG has the largest number of upscale hotels internationally with more upscale hotels outside the USA than Marriott and Hilton combined.  The Priority Club loyalty program offers plenty of opportunities to earn points at lower rates than a program like Starwood, but with many more hotels for redemption opportunities.  The upscale side of Priority Club is best experienced with travel outside the USA.

 

Hyatt Hotels Corporation

399 hotels globally (Upscale 241 hotels; midscale 127 hotels; extended stay 31 hotels)

USA 284 hotels; (upscale 126 hotels; midscale 127 hotels; extended stay 31 hotels),

International 115 hotels; (all upscale)

·         Grand Hyatt – 36 hotels (USA 11, international 25)

·         Hyatt Regency – 164 hotels (USA 99, international 65)

·         Park Hyatt – 27 hotels (USA 3, international 24)

·         Andaz – 1 hotel (international 1)

·         Hyatt Summerfield Suites – 31 hotels (USA 31)

·         Hyatt Place – 127 hotels (USA 127)

·         Hyatt Vacation Club – 13 hotels (USA 13)

Hyatt is the small hotel program in this set.  Frequent guest promotions are high-value in this program and loyalty is well rewarded if your travel pattern includes destinations with Hyatt Hotels.

 

Starwood Hotels Corporation

June 30, 2008 data: source

899 hotels (Upscale 768 hotels; midscale 130 hotels; extended stay 1 hotel)

North America 453 hotels (361 hotels upscale; 91 hotels midscale; 1 hotel extended stay)

International 446 hotels (408 hotels upscale; 38 hotels midscale)

·         Sheraton Hotels – 404 hotels; 141,000 rooms (205 hotels North America)

·         Westin Hotels – 158 hotels; 63,000 rooms (104 hotels North America)

·         Four Points – 130 hotels; 23,000 rooms (92 hotels in North America)

·         W Hotels – 22 hotels; 6,600 rooms (18 in North America)

·         Luxury Collection – 57 hotels; 9,700 rooms (12 in North America)

·         St. Regis – 13 hotels; 2,900 rooms; (8 in North America)

·         Le Meridien – 111 hotels; 29,000 rooms (10 North America)

·         Aloft – 3 hotels; 400 rooms

·         Element – 1 hotel (Lexington KY)

Starwood is heavily weighted to the upscale market segment.  Only Hilton Hotels has more upscale properties in the USA and only InterContinental Hotels Group has more upscale properties internationally.  This is another program with great loyalty program promotions if the more limited locations fit your travel lifestyle. 

New York Times published a news article last week on the state of the hotel industry, “Terrible Timing for a Hotel Boom”.

Some interesting data:

-         Across the USA occupancy levels are down 5% from 2007.

-         New York City is the nation’s bright spot with high hotel rates and high occupancy.  Foreign tourism is benefiting New York City.

-         2007 was the year of record profits for the hotel industry.  No wonder.  2007 was the year of record room rates for the hotel traveler.

-         6,000 new hotels with 800,000 rooms are in some development phase. 

-         2,000 hotels are currently under construction, but many of the other 4,000 planned hotels may be slow to develop.  A few months ago I carefully went through the Starwood web site and there were 100 or so hotels with web sites although some of these hotels were not scheduled to open until 2010 or 2011.

-         327 hotel projects have been canceled in the last three months.

The New York Times article quotes an academic, Professor Bjorn Hanson from the Tisch Center for Hospitality at New York University.   He warns the good times for New York hotels at the present time can see a severe downturn with continued poor economic times.  The effect of fewer city hotel occupants means neighboring businesses feel the economic ripple.  Many cities are already experiencing this impact.

Dr. Hanson says hotels tend to break even at 54% occupancy and that reminds me of the many articles I have been seeing about Hawaii hotel occupancy declines the past two months. 

The decline in flights to the Hawaiian Islands has helped bring the average hotel occupancy on the Big Island of Hawaii down to 57% for June 2008.  Despite the low occupancy on Hawaii, the average room rate is still $202.  Oahu is the bargain island at $173 compared to Maui’s $278 average hotel rate, and Kauai at $219.   

Tim Winship posted an article on SmarterTravel.com “How to Evaluate Frequent Flyer Promotions”.  This is a great read and the information applies equally to hotel frequent guest programs.  My interest with Loyalty Traveler is to evaluate hotel loyalty program special offers and provide that information in summary form to hotel travelers. 

“But whether you’re a member of the Pudding Club or just an average consumer looking to do the smart thing, mileage-wise, it pays to do the math.”

-         Tim Winship

 

I could not agree more whole-heartedly.

 

 

The weather was once again fabulous when I stayed in San Francisco this past weekend at the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero.  I had planned on going to San Francisco.  I had not planned on staying at the Hyatt Regency. 

I kept going back and forth on a Starwood stay at the Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf on their $149 Summer Value special or the Westin Market which dropped to $159 (the Summer Value special rate was higher at $169).  I currently have a Stays Count Double promotion offer from SPG.  Then, there was the Kimpton Hotels special offer for a free night after 3 stays and their hotels were as low as $109/night using the special offer rate.  I decided against Kimpton Hotels because technically the special offer rate at $109 for the Harbor Court Hotel should not be combinable with the free night after 3 stays promotion.

Then, the day before my hotel stay I receive a special offer email from Hyatt Hotels.  Apparently, they miss me so badly since I haven’t visited them for a while that they gave me an offer too good to refuse.  I reached Diamond elite status during my March Madness Tax Stimulus Hotel Hop around the San Francisco Bay area a few months ago.  The email was an offer for a free night at any Hyatt in the world if I completed a stay by late September. 

Why wait?

I booked the Hyatt Regency San Francisco at the Embarcadero a few hours before heading up to the City.  I asked my wife if we had to choose between a remodeled room without a balcony or an older room with a balcony, which one would she want?  She picked the balcony and it is good I asked because I would have gone for the upgraded room.  I wanted the opportunity to take better photos of that TV screen embedded in the bathroom mirror.

We received a balcony room with great views of the Bay and even a view of Coit Tower from the corner of the room.  The room was not the upgraded rooms, but it was located on the 15^th floor.  The remodeled rooms are on Floors 16 and 17 and since my wife did not know what she was missing, all was well.

The Regency Club was an experience like a cruise ship.  There seemed to always be a food service going on and the 360 degree views from the floor to ceiling glass windows at the top of the hotel provide one of the best scenic seats in the City.

The 5-8pm evening reception was called the Fisherman’s Wharf selection and featured a couple of kinds of baked fish, vegetables and salad.  Alcohol is self-service, but not complimentary.  Beer $3, Wine $4, cocktails $5 and the guest fills out a card and deposits it in a box for room charges.  We ate some of the food and headed out to meet people at the Starlight Room on top of the Sir Francis Drake Hotel, a Kimpton Hotel (and $139/night). 

 

Back at the Hyatt Regency, we arrived just for the tail end of the 8-10pm dessert hours.  There were only a couple of guests present and the German chocolate cake had hardly been touched.  The cake melted in my mouth and I needed will power to stop at two slices.  My sister asked me if it was as good as our mother’s cakes.  I have to confess – yes.

The next morning I was up at the lounge at 7am and accessed the internet on one of the two computers in the Club.  The Regency Club has free wireless access for guests.  A couple of hours later we ate from the breakfast spread of bagels and breads, smoked salmon, fruits and cereals.

There were far too many noisy toddlers in the Regency Club to make breakfast relaxing.  Twenty minutes in the two massage chairs helped relieve the tension.  You can even check out an i-pod from the concierge for your time in the lounge.  And the morning sun was so bright.

In retrospect, I received a 1,000 point bonus for my stay as a Hyatt Diamond member gift, complimentary internet, three meals, a massage, and in a week or two I will have a free night credit for any Hyatt hotel in the world (actually, the  Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego and Hyatt Regency Paris Madeleine are excluded from the offer).

A Category 5 Hyatt property costs 18,000 points for a free night.  I hadn’t planned to stay at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco last weekend since so many wonderful hotel loyalty bonus offers are available at the moment, but Hyatt trumped them all with their targeted pay for one night and get one night free offer.

I had a wonderful hotel stay and earned the equivalent of nearly 20,000 points.  I have until the end of the year to redeem my free night.  And if plans for international travel or a high value redemption like New York City does not pan out, I can always go eight miles down the road and stay at the Hyatt Highlands Inn, a category 5 hotel in Carmel Highlands for my free night. 

 

Tomorrow, August 6, 2008, Wednesday, 12 noon Eastern Time

Be ready to apply for free golf tournament tickets at

https://www.spgpromos.com/pgatickets/.

There are ten pairs of passes available to the following tournaments:

THE BARCLAYS – Paramus, NJ;

Deutsche Bank Championship – Norton, MA;

BMW Championship – St. Louis, MO;

SAS Championship – Cary, NC;

THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola – Atlanta, GA;

Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship – Timonium, MD;

Valero Texas Open – San Antonio, TX;

Administaff Small Business Classic – The Woodlands, TX;

AT&T Championship – San Antonio, TX;

Charles Schwab Cup Championship – Sonoma, CA.

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has some of the best discount rate offers available for the online shopper.  Loyalty Traveler is a true fan of the frequently offered 2 Nights for the Price of 1 special rates; a frequent discount rate for hotels in Europe that can save you hundreds of dollars with one reservation. 

Another special rate is the prepaid (nonrefundable) 25% Off Weekend Bed and Breakfast stays in Europe and the Middle East.  This offer is valid through 2008 primarily for weekend stays on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, however, some locations may offer mid-week special rates.  Terms for this offer. 

My searches showed much lower nightly rates for the 2-for-1 special offer rate than with the 25% B&B link.

Holiday Inn Amsterdam, Netherlands,  Sep 19-21, 2008

79.50€/night or 159€ for the 2-night rate compared to

105€/night using the 25% off rate. 

 

Crowne Plaza – The City, London, UK,  Sep 19-21, 2008

£62.50 / night or £125.00 for 2-night stay using the Pay for 1, Get 2 nights special rate.

£113.00/night using the 25% off B&B rate. 

Priority Club Rewards 

The IHG hotel corporation loyalty program is Priority Club Rewards.  Priority Club was recognized for best award redemption for hotel loyalty programs in the Americas at the 2008 Freddies Awards.  The PointBreaks free nights for 5,000 points per night are one of the highest value hotel opportunities around.  Crowne Plaza free nights at 25,000 points regardless of location makes these hotels one of the best values for a free night in many cities when compared to the redemption rate for a comparable hotel in another loyalty program.  InterContinental Hotels are among the premier hotels for the region in many of their locations and the 30,000 points to 40,000 points per night are highly competitive with the redemption rates for comparable hotels in other programs.

 

About InterContinental Hotels Group

A hotel chain as large as the InterContinental Hotels Group makes Priority Club Rewards a valuable loyalty program investment for some travelers.  The Holiday Inn Express brand (1,700 Hotels) of IHG far surpasses in numbers and locations the entire Starwood Hotels group (about 800 hotels) and Hyatt Hotels group (fewer than 500 hotels).  Priority Club is one to rival Hilton and Marriott for road warriors.  InterContinental Hotels (about 150 hotels) and Crowne Plaza (about 300 hotels) are upscale redemption opportunities and offer a higher level of service than your typical Holiday Inn (1,400 hotels).  IHG’s new brand Hotel Indigo is still limited to a few markets with only 14 properties opened since launching in 2004.  Candlewood Suites (150 hotels) and Staybridge Suites (125 hotels) offer extended stay apartment style lodging.  IHG is a leading player in all market segments of the hotel industry.

 

Priority Club Fall 2008 Promotion for Double Points or Double Miles

Later this week I will write about the upcoming IHG Priority Club Rewards promotion for Double Points or Double Miles.  Registration is required.  The promotion starts September 15, 2008 and runs to December 15, 2008.

Learn more now, if you can’t wait for my post.

 

Starwood’s Summer Value hotel rates sale didn’t go off smoothly last week.  There were numerous examples of rates available at many hotels lower than the Summer Value sale offer.  Another quirk was the fact that the timer on the screen counting down the days and hours before the sale ended ran down to the final hour last evening while the fine print at the bottom of the Promotion Offer Page stated the sale ended at 11:59pm EDT on August 5, 2008 which is tonight.

 

Terms:

·         Reservations are prepaid, non-refundable and non-changeable.

·         Book by 11:59pm EDT on Monday, August 11, 2008 for stays by September 30, 2008.

·         Thursday, Friday, or Saturday arrival necessary for discount rates.  Some hotels may have minimum stay requirement.  (Terms do not mention Sunday, and the previous Summer Value sale included low room rates for Sunday.)

Starwood has extended the sale for another week and the terms and calendar are now aligned.  This is Day 1 of the 7-day sale and the sale ends at 11:59pm EDT on August 11, 2008.

My observation from dozens of searches is the sale fares show up during regular default searches on the Starwood Preferred Guest booking sites and there is no need to follow the promotional offer link above to get the lower rates. 

Bookings are non-refundable and non-changeable so make sure your plans are firm before booking.

My observation was several hotels in the San Francisco Bay Area had their lowest rates since 2006 with this offer.  W Silicon Valley ($87), Sheraton Palo Alto ($99), and Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf ($149 is a bargain for high season August and September.  Winter can be $129.) These rates are in the region of low off-season winter rates.

Other hotels like the W Hotel San Francisco, The Palace, and Le Meridien San Francisco have been $20 to $100 cheaper at times in 2008.

Bargains are there, but you have to look carefully.

HHonors will revert back to calendar year elite qualification and end rolling 12-month qualification as of January 1, 2009.  Members who reach an elite level in 2008 will maintain that status until March 31, 2010.  The membership year will now end in the month of March rather than April as had been the rule.   

Elite Membership Year:  Qualify for a membership level in 2008 and your elite status level will remain effective through March 31, 2010.

The new membership year is a change from the prior membership year rules which allowed a member reaching an elite level in one calendar year to maintain that membership level through the month of April (HHonors member attaining Diamond elite in 2007 holds that level through April 2009).

HHonors has always done things just a little differently. 

·         HHonors is the only program that qualifies hotel stays using points towards frequent guest elite status activity.

·         HHonors requires a 6-night stay or longer to get the points reduction on multiple night hotel stay awards.

·         HHonors almost exclusively targets bonus points promotions tailored to specific members rather than recruiting frequent guests from the masses with open registration for high value promotions.  This targeted marketing strategy comes from the hotel program that used to give away thousands of points a year just for updating your guest profile online every quarter.

HHonors introduced “Rolling Tier” elite qualification in the beginning of 2005. 

HHonors has been the only major hotel loyalty program in the past few years to offer elite qualification on a 12-month rolling tier model where any 12-month period could be used for qualification.

Advantage of Rolling-Tier Elite Qualification

Even HHonors diamond members struggled to understand how HHonors rolling tier was calculated.  There is a 92-page thread on FlyerTalkto attest to the confusing aspects of the Hilton HHonors rolling tier elite qualifying method. 

In my opinion, rolling tier elite qualification was primarily a benefit for a frequent traveler who may have finished one calendar year (assume 2007) short of desired elite status. 

Let’s say the traveler started a new job in June 2007 and made 20 Hilton stays by December 31^st, 2007.  The member stayed enough to qualify for mid-level elite membership as HHonors Gold member after 16 stays, but the real benefits of hotel frequent guest program high-elite membership come with top-tier elite membership. The frequent guest needed 28 stays, 60 nights, or $10,000 of eligible hotel spending to reach 100,000 base points and qualify for HHonors Diamond elite membership.

Under most hotel loyalty programs (Hyatt, IHG, Marriott, Starwood) the member would have started January 1, 2008 of the new calendar year with a cleared slate of 0 Stays and 0 Nights towards elite membership qualification. 

The HHonors member with 20 stays on December 31, 2007 had a much lower threshold for elite status qualification in 2008.  Only 8 more stays by June 2008 in the rolling tier qualification period was needed to reach top-tier Diamond elite membership in Hilton HHonors. 

A hotel frequent guest seeking top elite status in one of the major programs but without this status on December 31, 2007 had minimal incentive to stay with their particular loyalty program for 2008.  Each program requires about the same amount of hotel activity for earning top elite status and the member starts from scratch on January 1, 2008.  Rolling tier qualification should have been a competitive advantage for Hilton HHonors in maintaining loyalty for 2008.

Qualification Criteria for Top-Tier Elite Membership

(all these programs now base elite qualification on hotel activity for Jan 1- Dec 31 calendar year)

Hilton HHonors Diamond: 28 stays, 60 nights, or earning 100,000 base points.

Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond: 25 stays or 50 nights

InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club Platinum: 50 nights or earn 60,000 points.

Marriott Rewards Platinum: 75 nights

Starwood Preferred Guest Platinum: 25 stays or 50 nights.

The transfer of loyalty to a different hotel frequent guest program becomes much more costly to the loyalty program member in terms of lost amenities and benefits once top-elite membership is attained in any hotel loyalty program. 

This is why most hotel loyalty programs will give a top-tier frequent guest in one program a complimentary status match to top-tier elite membership. 

And this is why the benefits and privileges of top-tier elite membership are usually generous as a means of keeping the high value frequent guest loyal to a particular hotel chain. 

Hilton HHonors has decided to eliminate rolling tier elite qualification, so apparently there was not ample competitive advantage with this hotel loyalty program feature.

 

 

 

Register by Friday, August 8^th to earn 888 bonus points for your next weekend stay. 

Terms and Conditions:

Offer is valid on new reservations only and reservation must be booked by September 28 for stays completed by September 30, 2008.

Offer valid only for arrivals on Friday or Saturday.

Participating properties are primarily located in 26 states east of the Mississippi River, Washington D.C., Canadian Provinces of Ontario, Nova Scotia, and Quebec, and some Caribbean hotels.