The Leading Hotels of the World $19.28 Promotion post is the most popular post ever on Loyalty Traveler.  Thankfully I hit a chord with readers.

This luxury hotel deal makes me think of a few words of advice about great travel deals.

Great deals come along every travel season. 

Don’t blow all your cash to take advantage of a two day trip when three months from now an even better vacation plan comes along. 

Purchase good travel value when the opportunity strikes, like a $19.28 luxury hotel room, however, maintain perspective on the overall cost of travel.   If you get a great hotel in Venice and then realize the cost of airfare, the cost of additional nights at the LHW hotel or some other hotel, the cost of several days or a week living, sightseeing, and traveling in Europe is going to break the bank for the next year, then let the deal go.  Remember it is only $38.56 you have at stake if you are lucky enough to secure a two-night reservation at a great LHW luxury hotel.

I say this as someone who blew off a Venice $270 flight because the weather was too hot in Italy (summer 2003), skipped a Business Class award flight to Argentina to help my wife edit a graduate school paper, and passed up on $50 pre-paid timeshare luxury villas in Palm Springs and the Caribbean because I couldn’t find good priced flights. 

Sometimes life and finances get in the way of a good deal. 

I’ll revise that to say that life and finances usually get in the way of a good deal.

I feel like telling a story today.

Last month my parents had a garage sale. My mother who has always been a social talker somehow turned her conversation with a neighborly couple my parents did not know into a transfer offer for a one-week timeshare in Vermont for the cost of a name change. 

The garage sale neighbors transferred an RCI timeshare to my parents for $50.  They received a great deal on a place that normally goes for $1,000 plus per week.  My mom took time to research the timeshare prior to settling the transfer.  The property looked nice and a bargain even though the reviews were not all raving about the resort.

My parents are there now in a two bedroom ski resort condo. 

Mom said the colors of the trees were beautiful right now in northwestern Vermont.

The problem for my parents in traveling to Vermont was they had already booked frequent flyer tickets with Delta SkyMiles for a trip to New York.  Talking about her trip to New York is what led to the generous gift offer for the timeshare in Vermont.  My parents were scheduled to fly back the day after the timeshare rental week started.  My mom decided she wanted to pay $50 for the timeshare and vacation in Vermont. 

So, I asked her, “Have you checked about trying to change the frequent flyer awards and if you can change the dates and what that will cost?”

“No,” she replied,  “Your dad will go pay the neighbor tonight and I will deal with the airline tomorrow.”

and I knew trouble was on the horizon.

The next day my mom called and was frustrated that she couldn’t get a date change and the only option was to cancel the awards and pay a $100 miles reinstatement fee for each award ticket and then spend 50,000 miles per ticket for new Delta awards.  She was considering doing that and wiping out her Delta Skymiles account.  I reasoned with her.

I looked up the cost to buy two new tickets and they were $400 each to fly to Rochester, New York, fly to Burlington, Vermont, and then return home.   So now it would cost them $800 for new tickets and $200 in fees for reinstatement of her 50,000 Delta miles.  Or she could spend 100,000 miles and $200 for ticket change fees.

I worked out some other  itinerary options and mom finally decided they would not use the timeshare. She offered the Vermont timeshare to me.  I could have flown roundtrip between San Francisco and Vermont for $307 for the vacation timeshare week.  

A couple of weeks passed and I told her I didn’t think it would work out for me to head to Vermont for a week at the end of September.  In truth, it would have worked for me, but leaving Ms. LT at home working while I vacationed and hiked alone in the Green Mountains did not seem like the wisest choice to make at the time.

A few days after turning down the timeshare I learned my mom  purchased new one-way airline tickets from New York to Vermont and Vermont to home for about $325 each and planned to throw away the return trip of the Delta award tickets.

So, their great $50 bargain timeshare vacation week ultimately cost them an extra $650 to actually arrange the travel flights to and from Vermont.  Still a good deal, if not a great bargain. 

And I roll my eyes when thinking how she used 50,000 miles for two domestic one-way awards.

At least the colors are vibrant for their vacation in the Green (yellow, red, and orange) Mountains of Vermont.

Ric Garrido, Bay of Islands, New Zealand (2005)

$19.65 for First Class Award ticket LAX-AKL

Hilton Rome Cavalieri Rebranded as Waldorf=Astoria

Waldorf=Astoria Collection, The Cavalieri, Rome, Italy  (photo courtesy of Hilton)

The Rome Cavalieri has been the premier European hotel property of Hilton International for years.  This hotel was one of the few HHonors Category 6 hotels when I started looking in 2000 for wonderful Hilton Hotels to spend my points.  Unfortunately my plans to Italy were canceled twice and I have never made it to Rome to visit this prestigious hotel.

Rome Cavalieri Free Nights Using Points

Don’t Delay and Book Today while you can still get a free night at the Rome Cavalieri for 40,000 points or even better, a VIP-only GLONP2 6-night reward for 175,000 points. 

I was able to find availability for a 175,000 points, six-night GLONP2 on my first selection of dates for November 13-19, 2008 when I called HHonors reservations today.

Stays at the Waldorf=Astoria Cavalieri beginning after February 28, 2009 will require 60,000 points per free night or a VIP-Only Waldorf=Astoria Collection award will cost 265,000 points for a 6-night stay. 

The HHonors redemption level increases to 60,000 points per night from March 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009.  This Loyalty Traveler does not expect to see the redemption rate drop back to 40,000 points per night again. [link here for Rome Cavalieri redemption chart]

Get more value out of your Hilton HHonors points and plan that Italian getaway.

You don’t really want to spend $400 for a paid night, do you?

November 17-20, 2008 Monday to Thursday stay:  $1,200USD for the 3-night stay

Nonrefundable internet rate = 275€/night (tax included) or about $400USD per night.

There is a long-running FlyerTalk thread on the Rome Cavalieri.  This link goes to page 77 of this discussion with comments about the hotel from September 2008.

Hilton links:

Waldorf=Astoria Collection Rome Cavalieri home

Links to HHonors information at top right of Rome Cavalieri home page or use links below and navigate from the benefits page to pages showing Colosseo lounge and free night redemption levels:

Rome Cavalieri HHonors benefits selection

Rome Cavalieri Colosseo Lounge

News Story on Rome Cavalieri rebranding from Hotels’ Daily News Service

Hilton HHonors Members – Send me your HHonors questions

I will be having a meeting next week with Adam Burke, Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Hilton HHonors Worldwide. 

Post your HHonors questions here in the comments section or send me an email with questions or comments to ricgarrido@frequentguest.net if you prefer more privacy.

Hilton Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Leading Hotels of the World $19.28 Promotion for 80 Minutes on Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Leading Hotels of the World (LHW) is the largest luxury hotel brand around the globe.

Bernardus Lodge, Carmel Valley, California, Leading Hotels of the World participating member in 1928 promotion

The LHW Offer:  6,000 luxury hotel rooms — 96 luxury hotels — 45 nights — $19.28 room rates

… if you are lucky enough to secure a reservation.

Booking Window: Wednesday, October 1, 2008 beginning at 8am Eastern time for an 80 minute window at $19.28 rates.

Eligible hotel stay period:  November 1 – December 15, 2008 is the stay period eligible for $19.28 room rates.

Registration required at this LHW link to be eligible for $19.28 rates.

Maximum of one hotel reservation per household and maximum 2 nights at $19.28 rate.

LHW 1928 Promotion Terms and Conditions – link here.

Bernardus Lodge croquet lawn, Carmel Valley, California

Steps to success:

1.      Register for LHW promotion here.

2.      Study the hotel properties.  Pick your top 3 to 5 hotel locations for destinations that you are confident in being able to travel to during the 45 days eligible for the $19.28 rates.  

3.      Remember one reservation per household for a maximum two nights at $19.28 per night.

4.      Keep in mind that hotel urban locations tend to have better availability on weekends and resort locations tend to have better availability on weekdays.  This may or may not be the case for this promotion.

Bernardus Lodge pool, Carmel Valley, CA

This is a good promotion for exposing travelers to the Leading Hotels of the World group of luxury accommodations.  And this is an incredible opportunity for hotel room rate savings with the most expensive luxury hotel brand in the world.  A news report last February showed the average room rate for the Leading Hotels of the World hotel members in 2007 was $470.  This group of hotels had the highest average room rate of the luxury hotel segment. 

1928 is the year the Leading Hotels of the World was founded hence the $19.28 promotional rates.

Bernardus Lodge lobby seating, Carmel Valley, CA

Total room night sales of 1.65 million in 2007 with fewer than 250,000 of those rooms booked over the internet at www.lhw.com may be a primary reason for this discount promotion.   With five of six hotel room nights booked for LHW stays not happening through the lhw.com website this promotion is a good marketing tool to increase reservations traffic over the internet.

Promotions like the 1928 online promotion are a clever marketing strategy for increasing LHW brand awareness, new Leaders Club members, and lhw.com website activity.  The Leading Hotels of the World has over 450 hotel members and about 84,000 rooms worldwide.  A bit more than 20% of the LHW hotel members are participating in this promotion. 

Bernardus Lodge cabin room surrounded by spring flowers, Carmel Valley, CA

Leaders Club is a $300 membership hotel loyalty program for Leading Hotels of the World.  For hotel travelers who plan to stay at a LHW member hotel on regular paid rates, the Leaders Club is a means to complimentary upgrades that will likely result in a rebate equivalent to the membership fee after one hotel stay.  Complimentary membership to Leaders Club is available for newsletters and special offers, but don’t expect the complimentary upgrades with a complimentary Leaders Club membership.

Bernardus Lodge fountain and rooms, Carmel Valley, CA

Geographic regions for 97 participating

hotel members in the 1928 promotion.

South Africa    2 hotels

South America    5 hotels

Caribbean    2 hotels

North America    14 hotels

Europe    63 hotels

Asia    11 hotels

Bernardus Lodge tennis courts, Carmel Valley, CA

If at first you don’t succeed…try…try…try again.

The past month has seen me frustrated with trying to secure these “first-come, first-served” promotions with unsuccessful attempts at getting the Sheraton San Diego for $5.01 a couple of weeks back (LT post here) and prior to that the Super 8 Motels $8.88 rooms (LT post here). 

Bernardus Lodge Spa, Carmel Valley, CA

While I don’t count on landing this incredible hotel deal, the opportunity to book a luxury hotel room night selling for less than 5% of the average daily rates for most of these participating hotels will have me setting my alarm clock, and readying my mouse finger for scrolling and clicking at 5am California time Wednesday morning, October 1. 

Bernardus Lodge Ingrid’s Vineyard, Carmel Valley, CA

The author William Burroughs described the title of his book ‘Naked Lunch’ as –

The title means exactly what the words say: naked lunch, a frozen moment when everyone sees what is on the end of every fork.” 

At least that is how Wikipedia shows the quote.

I ate a naked lunch looking over my Loyalty Traveler blog and reading other traveler’s blogs this week.

Loyalty Traveler blog maintenance today. I have been putting hours into editing older posts and adding tags and photos to provide search and visual cues to the blog words on the Loyalty Traveler posts.  I did not realize how many posts did not have categories and tags.  A few hundred more pictures adds some color and context to the pages too.

Harriett in 2003, Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo

1830-2006

Wanted: Affordable Luxury Hotel Vacation

Solution: Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) Cash and Points Awards

Last April I took a road trip from Monterey, California to Phoenix, Arizona and booked two of my hotel stays using Starwood Preferred Guest’s Cash & Points option for resorts in the Palm Springs and Scottsdale area.   In Palm Springs I stayed at the Westin Mission Hills Resort and Spa in Rancho Mirage and posted about the experience here, in “Wanted: Room with a View”.  In Scottsdale I was upgraded to a suite at the Westin Kierland Resort on my Cash & Points award stay.  I had a great view at the Westin Mission Hills, but I suspect there are hundreds of people every year disappointed with their parking lot view rooms.  A hotel loyalty plan for travel could prevent that let-down.

Cash and Points is a type of hotel loyalty program award allowing the frequent guest member to substitute a fixed amount of cash for a portion of the hotel points normally required for a free hotel stay.  This payment strategy can be one of the highest value ways to use your hard-earned hotel points.

Westin Kierland Resort & Spa, Scottsdale, Arizona

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

SPG Category 5 Hotel

Payment Option 1 – Best Available Rate: $479 per night ($538 per night with 12.27% taxes)

Payment Option 2 – Free Night Using Points: 12,000 Starpoints per night

Payment Option 3 – SPG Cash & Points award: $90 + 4,800 Starpoints per night

All Cash Payment:  Out of the three payment options for the Westin Kierland I toss option 1 out at first glance as it is $479/night.  That is the lowest rate, nonrefundable, and another 12.27% tax is on top of the $479 base room rate to reach $538 per night. 

All Points Payment: Payment option 2 using 12,000 points for a free night is commonly the only other choice for a one night hotel stay.  An advantage of the Starwood hotel loyalty program is the easy redemption of points when and where you want to stay.  You can even buy 12,000 Starpoints from the SPG website for $35/1,000 points or $420 for 12,000 points if you needed to stay at the Westin Kierland.  The all points option will save $118 compared to the fully paid rate if you have to buy all 12,000 points.  Awards on points generally do not have additional taxes, which is a significant savings to consider. 

Cash & Points Payment:  Payment Option 3 uses a combination of $90 cash + 12.27% tax ($11.05), plus 4,800 points.  Cash & Points Hotel Night costs 4,800 points + $101.05 per night.

I feel much more comfortable parting with 4,800 Starpoints rather than 12,000 points for a hotel stay.  And financially the Cash & Points award is a fantastic savings on the nightly rate.

Purchasing Starpoints from SPG (link to SPG)

Assume you have zero Starpoints.  You can enroll for free in Starwood Preferred Guest if you are not a current member.  As soon as you are a member you can buy Starpoints.

You simply purchase 5,000 Starpoints for $175 from the SPG website link shown above.

Total cost for the Westin Kierland has been reduced from $538 for a fully paid one night stay down to $276.05 per night for a Cash & Points award stay. 

You can book a two-night stay using the SPG Cash & Points option for just a few dollars more than a one-night fully paid cash stay. 

SPG Cash & Points is one of the best hotel discount strategies available.

Another Sample Hotel Cash & Points Savings

W Mexico City, November 10-13

SPG Category 5

Lowest nightly rate: $394 (+17% tax) = $466.83/night or $1,400.49 for 3-night stay.

Cash & Points $90 + 4,800 points  = $105.30 (after tax) + 4,800 points per night.

You can purchase 15,000 Starpoints for $525 and the cash portion of the 3-night award stay will be $315.90 for a total cost of $840.90 at the Starwood Hotels W Mexico City.

W Mexico City, a 3-night stay will be at least $560 less using Cash & Points Award nights compared to the regular paid rate for the sample date searched.  And if you have SPG elite status you can anticipate an upgrade to an even better category room.

Important to remember

Cash&Points awards are capacity controlled and many Starwood hotels will not have this award option during peak seasons. 

I searched a couple of weekends in San Diego for October 2008 and there were no Cash & Points options for any of the San Diego area Starwood hotels. 

I did not see any Cash & Points options for New York City hotels over several dates I searched. 

Starwood Preferred Guest Category 5 and 6 hotels, the properties that trend toward a luxury and resort clientele, generally will have the high average room rates to make Cash & Points a lucrative savings opportunity. 

Cash & Points are a hotel savings strategy to consider when you want a luxury getaway at an affordable price.

Traveling with Children?  Read DeliciousBaby.com

Speaking with my sister-in-law yesterday I was blown away by her statement that she hasn’t had twenty-four hours alone with her husband since their baby daughter arrived.  And now they are heading to London in November to see his side of the family.  When I told her how she could take two flights and save a few hundred dollars compared to a non-stop I could hear her eyes roll over the phone.   She said her savings would need to be quite a few hundred dollars to stretch the trip to two flights and risk a missed connection and a layover with the child, stroller, and baby gear.

DeliciousBaby.com is a blog and website to check out when you are freaking out about travel with children.  Seattle-based blogger Debbie Dubrow has a great site with advice and travel tips for surviving trips with your kids. 

The City Guides section has loads of activities and sites useful for most travelers, not just families, and city guides provide lots of links to restaurants, hotels, shopping, activities, and sample activity itineraries.

DeliciousBaby.com is good travel reading whether or not you are sleeplessly frantic about that upcoming flight with the kid(s).

U.S. Hotels Forecast: 3 Consecutive Years Declining Occupancy

HotelMarketing.com has an article with sobering hotel industry statistics for travelers.  Hotel occupancy declined by 0.3% in 2007 according to Smith Travel Research.   PKF Hospitality Research forecasts 2008 and 2009 will see even greater occupancy declines. 

Hotel stay demand is softening just as 275,000 more hotel rooms are scheduled to open by the end of 2009 compared to the end of 2007.  This is predicted to be the first time in 20 years hotels have experienced two consecutive years of occupancy decline.

Don’t make the rational conclusion that three years of declining hotel occupancy will lower average hotel rates.  The average hotel room rate for the U.S. is still predicted to rise 3.6% for all of 2008, followed by another 1.3% in 2009. 

The Good News?

Mark Woodworth, President PKF Hospitality Research, states hotel rates should not exceed the rate of inflation until 2012. 

I wonder if that considers the inflationary impact of printing $2,000,000,000,000 in money to borrow our way out of the current economic melt-down (there sure are a lot of zeros in trillions).

The Good News, Really!  Starwood Lowers Rates for Some Hotels

Looking over hotel rates here in the San Francisco region I see several Starwood hotel properties with rate drops for weekend travel.  I have predicted all year that as hotel rates increase for business travel days, Sunday through Thursday nights, the weekend rates for Friday and Saturday should decline to attract leisure travelers.  Resort locations tend to have the opposite peak period of higher rates for Friday and Saturday and lower rates Sunday through Thursday.

Starwood Hotels has 21 properties in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Recently, I have noticed rate drops at several hotels for weekend stays to some of the lowest rates in over two years.

W Silicon Valley has been stuck on $109 weekend rates for over two years and suddenly I see rates back down to $79.  This is an even lower rate than the limited time “Summer Sale” special offer Starwood Hotels ran last month. 

Sheraton San Jose is at $84 for many weekends over the next couple of months.  This hotel has just remodeled many of their rooms and rates had been $99 average for the past year.

The Palace Hotel in San Francisco which had been going for under $150 for many weekends in 2006 suddenly jumped up to $200+ for much of 2007 and 2008.  I see November rates back down as low as $139 for weekend nights.

There appear to be more bargains for the leisure travelers in combination with some of the best hotel loyalty program promotions of 2008.

Use the Categories link for “Fall 2008 Promotions” on the left side of the page to read about currently available promotions in all the major hotel loyalty programs.

Please leave a comment if you are seeing similar reductions in hotel rates for your area.

Hotel industry statistical data source: HotelMarketing.com U.S. Hotels to Bottom Out in 2009

Link to HotelMarketing.com

Link to Loyalty Traveler post: Hospitality Researchers Advise No Hotel Rate Cuts in 2008

The Nation’s 11^th Annual Caribbean Cruise

Holland America Westerdam, December 14-21, 2008, Fort Lauderdale

I took my first cruise last year on Holland America’s Oosterdam ship to Alaska (not The Nation cruise). The room was small, the views were incredible, and my wife was quarantined to our room for the first 3 days of a 7 day cruise as she came down with an incredible case of food poisoning about 3 hours after leaving Seattle.  Thankfully we had a verandah for her to sit outside once she was feeling well enough to get out of bed.  Oh, and it was not the cruise ship food that made her sick!  Once she could eat again, the Holland America dining options for food were a treat.

Rather than song and dance shows I would prefer to be educated and have thoughtful discussion when stuck with a large group of people in a confined space.  A Caribbean cruise with intelligent speakers discussing the really important questions and issues of our time is a vacation idea that caught my attention today. 

The Nation’s 11^th Annual Cruise is billed as the ‘Bye, Bye (G.W.) Bush Caribbean Cruise’.   I laughed this morning when I heard presidential candidate Ralph Nader on Democracy Now refer to our President as King George.

The Nation Cruise could be your ‘Loveboat’ adventure or a week of purgatory depending on your political leaning –

port (The Nation) or starboard (National Review).

The Nation Cruise 11^th Annual Caribbean Cruise information links:

Itinerary

Speakers

Pricing

@LoyaltyTraveler ‘Halfway through this post I get to Hotel Traveler 2020 – please read entire message’

This past weekend I spent time at the Las Vegas Convention Center with a few thousand bloggers from around the USA and the globe convening for BlogWorld08.  What an eye-opener to the future of social media and mass communication! 

Have you “tweeted” someone today? 

If you are over the age of 40 you probably have no idea what that means.  Go ask someone under 30 to tell you about the social networking tool, Twitter, or brush up on your Wikipedia knowledge here because Dictionary.com doesn’t yet state this new “verb” meaning in its definition list for tweet.

Read Oliver Mark’s story, “Apple Founder Steve Wozniak Interview, Answers Your Tweeted Questions,” and you will get an idea of how most of the dialogue at the BlogWorld08 workshops was generated between workshop panelists and the audience sitting in the room.

In a workshop I attended Sunday one woman made the comment – speaking into the microphone from the stand in the center room aisle – she felt she was one of only three people who hadn’t “tweeted” during the conference. 

I was # 2 on that list.

@LoyaltyTraveler ‘Mike Shinoda is sitting behind me at the Blogger Credibility workshop.  Cool’

What does all this social media have to do with hotels and the Hotel Traveler in 2020?

Jitendra Jain, Starwood Hotels e-commerce manager in Dubai, has an interesting article in HotelMarketing.com – “Back to the Future: Meet the Hotel Guest of 2020” – on the role of the hotel guest in the ‘Hospitality Renaissance” of the coming decade.

“My stay. My choice.”

Yesterday I posted about Homewood Suites web technology allowing the guest to pre-select a hotel room prior to arrival.  Wouldn’t it be great to have the ability to pick your own hotel room like we can with airline seats?

“I stay. I sell.”

I also posted yesterday about a FlyerTalk thread discussion containing a list of the ‘Best Hilton Hotels in Europe’ and then went off on a tangent about Dresden, Germany.  Perhaps some day someone will make a decision to go to Dresden or read a Kurt Vonnegut book based on my post.  Social networks are influential in helping us decide what to do with our lives.  We are interconnected, but in a fragmented way. 

Corporate marketers are realizing the influential nature of social networking and looking for ways to monetize the medium.  I’m looking for ways to monetize myself.  The two objectives are not necessarily at odds with each other. 

I am a consumer advocate for getting value for the money you spend on hotel travel.  My experience has shown me hotel loyalty programs add value to hotel stays.  160,000 members on FlyerTalk convinces me there are many others who also find value in travel loyalty programs.

As JJ describes the Hotel Traveler 2020, “Why should I trust all the hype, marketing and advertising when I have perfectly good friends & like-minded acquaintances who’ve been there, done that?”

The same e-newsletter of HotelMarketing.com has this Hyatt Place article, “Creating the ideal hotel for today’s plugged-in traveler“.  The piece reads like corporate marketing.  Alison Kal, VP of Hyatt Hotels states, “We developed a comprehensive understanding of the mindset and habits of contemporary travelers and used that knowledge to create an experience that fosters guests’ satisfaction.”

Makes me want to go to a Hyatt Place tonight.

Seriously though, I really like Hyatt Place hotels.   My first stay at a Hyatt Place hotel had the consequential effect of winning free tickets to see Bruce Springsteen.  Amenities like a 42-inch flat screen TV that actually has HDTV service (at least in Fremont, CA), a large couch, a work desk, free internet access at a hotel computer station or free wireless throughout the hotel, and a lobby cafe for sandwiches and packaged food for a traveler who is running out of the hotel to the airport at the last minute.  These hotel features work for me.

Many of the 115 hotels in the USA have room rates under $75 all-in which makes Hyatt Place an incredible deal for earning Faster Free Nights over the next few months.

@ LoyaltyTraveler ‘I stay. I sell.’

Homewood Suites is offering 500 points for HHonors members using eCheck-in and Suite Selection by September 30. 

Loyalty Traveler is remiss in just now writing about this promotion as the offer has been available since August 1, so this is the last week for 500 points, but perhaps the offer will be extended.  Either way, the web feature is an innovative example of hotel technology for allowing the guest some choice in room selection.

The promotion link is here and the web page contains a link for a multimedia demonstration of “Choose Your Suite” that you can direct link to here.

Homewood Suites are an extended-stay brand with a kitchen and an apartment-style hotel with a central lobby for food and entertainment and a swiiming pool and activity areas. 

Extended-stay hotels are currently one of the high growth market segments in the hotel industry and Hilton has about 220 Homewood Suites properties around the USA.