Starwood Preferred Guest has enhanced its Night After Night promotional offer with an additional 500 points per night for stays at select hotels in the US and Canada, French Polynesia, and Asia.

Now, SPG members will receive 1,000 bonus points per night at about 30% of Starwood Hotels.  Stay 10 nights by April 30 and the bonus comes out to 1,500 points per night.

The first quarter SPG promotion, Night after Night, offers 500 points per night and a 5,000 points bonus after 10 nights for stays through April 30, 2009. Registration is required by April 15, 2009.

This promotion had value before, but not enough to make my stay.

Now SPG has my attention.

Two weeks ago I stayed at the Westin Market Street in San Francisco on a $99 rate.  I earned the 500 points for the Night after Night bonus.  As a SPG Platinum elite, I also received a 500 Starpoints amenity gift for the stay.  The $99 stay earned 297 base points + 1,000 bonus points = 1,297 points.

For SPG members without elite status the points earned for Westin Market Street with this additional 500 points per night bonus will be 1,198 points on a $99 stay.  The points work out to about a $42 rebate if you get a redemption value of 3.5 cents on a future stay.

I regularly receive 3.5 cents per point when I redeem points.  The past couple of years I have used most of my Starpoints for Cash & Points awards. Last year at the Westin Kierland Resort in Scottsdale I stayed for 4,800 points and $90 for a night when the lowest available rate for the hotel was something like $420 per night after tax.  Spending 4,800 points instead of $330 cash is nearly 7 cents per point redemption value.

Even better, the Westin Kierland upgraded me to a full suite.

Points Math for SPG

I am looking to rack up hotel points for our trip to Australia this summer.  My wife and I would like to return to the Sheraton Noosa for a five night stay.  Noosa is dropping from a Category 5 to a Category 4 hotel in the 2009 SPG Category realignment going into effect next week.  This hotel was a category 3 when we stayed there in 2003.

I need 40,000 points for a five night stay at the Category 4 Sheraton Noosa using the 5^th Night Free award stay option. The hotel is currently offering rooms for around $200US per night.

I tend to approach hotel promotions with a points earning target and a hotel redemption goal in mind. I have a summer vacation in Australia and I want to estimate how many Starwood nights I need to earn 40,000 points with a projected redemption value of $1,000.  That is only 2.5 cents per point and below my average redemption rate, but then again spending $1,000 is more money out-of-pocket this summer.  I will go with a Cash & Points rate, available now, rather than free nights if I have that option later in the year.

In the San Francisco area there are at least five hotels with weekend rates in the $80 to $120 range over the past month on the select hotels list offering the additional 500 points per night.  Category 5 Le Meridien San Francisco ($119) and Sheraton SFO and Four Points SFO are frequently around $80 per night on weekends.

Assume I get 10 nights with SPG during the promotion at an average $100 per night.

10 nights  x 1,000 points per night = 10,000 points for Night after Night + 5,000 points for 10-nights bonus = 15,000 Night after Night bonus points.

$1,000 x 2 points per $1 = 2,000 base points

1,000 elite bonus points (Gold and Platinum members)

If I have 10 separate one night stays x 500 platinum amenity points per stay = 5,000 points.

10 nights could earn 23,000 points for $1,000 as a platinum elite.  A Gold member could have one 10-night stay and earn 18,000 points and a non-elite would earn 17,000 points.  I am well short of the 40,000 points for five free nights, however, SPG is offering Cash & Points for my projected hotel stay dates.

Category 4 Cash & Points = $60 + 4,000 points per night.  In this instance, I would spend $300 + 20,000 points for 5 nights.  My 20,000 points would save $700 on the current room cost of $1,000 for 5 nights and my redemption value increases to 3.5 cents per point.

Value of points earned with 10 nights at the select hotels offering 1,000 bonus points per night in the Night After Night SPG promotion (based on $100 average room rate).

Non-elite = 17,000 points x 3.5 cents = $595 in SPG future hotel value.

Gold elite = 18,000 points x 3.5 cents = $630 in SPG future hotel value.

Platinum elite (earning 500 points per stay and all 1 night stays) = 23,000 points =$805 in future hotel value.

Your hotel choice and stay pattern is often dictated by necessity, but even for a discretionary investment, there is high rebate value in this offer.

I see SPG potential for my hotel stays over the next two months.  My analysis here shows me I can spend $1,000 and with the right combination of hotels and low rates I will see a potential of receiving nearly $2,000 in room value for about $1,150 after taxes expenditure. And I am not even factoring likely room upgrades for most of the hotel stays.

Or from another viewpoint, I can spend 10 nights in hotels here in the USA ($1,150 assuming $100 average room rate + 15% tax) and I will earn sufficient points to effectively receive a 70% rebate on my spending now that I can apply to my summer vacation hotel stays.

The rebate value drops if your average daily room rate is higher, however, even a $200 per night spender with no elite status could see a 30%+ rebate value through this promotion.  Spend $2,000 and receive points good for about $600 in future hotel stays.

The amended SPG Night after Night promotion offer has got my attention now.  This promotion has gone from just average in SPG historical terms to a recommended investment in my opinion.

Fountain Glass Sculpture at Sheraton Noosa, Queensland, Australia

“Lunatic bloggers can have the blog sphere all to themselves as our people are far too busy driving down the cost of air travel”.

Ryanair spokesperson comment to blogger posts regarding Ryanair website glitch showing £0.00 fares. Story link.

My first flight on Ryanair was in 1997.  When our plane landed at Dublin, the flight attendants refused to open the door of the aircraft until they located a watch that had disappeared from the duty free cart.

The young lady told the passengers, “Nobody is getting off this plane until we find the criminal who stole the watch.”

A couple of minutes later a passenger located the watch under a seat. That was my introduction to Ryanair customer service.

Ryanair pay-to-pee fee 

I just had to add this story link making the rounds today, Feb 27, 2009.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/news/article5814577.ece

Earn a Marriott $50 Bonus Bucks Certificate after just one weekend night at a Residence Inn during 2009.

Promotion Offer: Simply stay a Friday or Saturday night at a Marriott Residence Inn in the continental USA or Canada and you will receive a $50 certificate good towards a minimum two-night weekend stay (Thursday through Sunday) at any Marriott property globally.

Promotion dates: February 13 – December 31, 2009

Promotional Code: use RPN when searching Residence Inn rates.

Marriott Residence Inn 50 Bonus Bucks promotion link. 

Terms of promotion link.

Promotion Value: Marriott has 15 Residence Inn properties within 50 miles of San Jose throughout the Silicon Valley and San Francisco Bay. Rates are between $89 and $149 for this next weekend. This deal is good for Marriott Rewards members.  There are more than 500 Residence Inn hotels in the USA.

You earn only 5 points per $1 for Residence Inn stays instead of the normal 10 points per $1 for most Marriott hotel stays.

Anyone anticipating a two-night weekend stay at any Marriott in 2009 will get a good rebate on a future stay with this offer.

Marriott Residence Inn, Pleasanton, California

Extended-Stay Hotels Beginning to Feel the Downturn

A recent industry report on the extended-stay hotel market segment states profits fell for the first time in six years.  The extended-stay market segment are apartment style hotels, generally a kitchen with one or two bedrooms. 

The extended-stay market was seen as one of the most profitable market segments during the hotel boom of the past few years and new hotel developments started in the good years are now in the opening phase. 

2009 should see an increase in extended stay rooms that outpaces demand.  Price pressure in this segment may lead to good bargains for the traveler seeking a home away from home in 2009.

Brands in the extended stay hotel sector include Marriott Residence Inn, IHG Staybridge Suites, Hilton Homewood Suites, and Starwood’s new brand, Element by Westin.

Last year I spent my tax rebate stimulus money on Hyatt Hotel stays during the Stays Count Double Gold Passport promotion. I earned Diamond status during the last two weeks of March 2008. I figured the investment would be worthwhile if I stayed about 20 more times before my Diamond status expires in February 2010.  

I also earned SPG Platinum elite in 2008. I now have the ability in 2009 to choose hotels between these two programs while maintaining maximum benefits.

Is maintaining hotel loyalty a good value in 2009?

That question is foremost for many travelers in this economic climate.

I have grappled with the question of the value of hotel loyalty myself in these tough economic times.

Do you know the way to San Jose?

Loyalty Traveler is hotel hopping in San Jose for the week.  I am almost ashamed to say that the last thing I worked on before taking K to the hospital for surgery last Friday was an analysis of the best hotel program for stays this week in San Jose.

Kaiser San Jose is at the southern end of San Jose, a city of one million people.  San Jose Airport and most of the major hotels are at the north end of San Jose, and in the cities north of San Jose like Santa Clara, Milpitas, Fremont, Sunnyvale, and Palo Alto.

Like many places around the USA, there are Holiday Inns, Marriott Courtyards, and Hampton Inns scattered around the metropolitan area. In the vicinity of the hospital, within a 5 to 15 mile distance are some IHG, Hilton, and Marriott hotels.  Hyatt and Starwood hotels mean a 20 to 25 mile drive north of the hospital.

Last week I analyzed the Priceline option for this week’s hotel stays.  I don’t need to be wasting money and I could have probably landed a place closer to the hospital with Priceline.

Bidding forTravel.com showed Holiday Inn San Jose as a possible $39 per night winning bid from someone who had posted previously and just posted again Friday, Feb. 20.  This hotel is just off Highway 101 at the San Jose Airport exit and used to be the Hyatt San Jose Airport.

$39 plus around $12 for booking fees = $51 for a hotel night, and likely the San Jose Holiday Inn through Priceline.

Can a loyalty program beat that rate?  In my opinion, yes.

Here are my hotel stay expenses for Friday and Sunday nights.

Friday Feb, 20 Hyatt Regency Santa Clara $98 room rate, and $108 after tax

Sunday Feb, 22 Hyatt Place $71 room rate, and $78 after tax.

So what kind of analyst argues paying $186 to Hyatt for two hotel nights works out to be a better deal than $102 to Priceline for two Holiday Inn nights?

I paid $84 more than I would have paid using Priceline for two hotel nights due to my loyalty program preference with Hyatt. 

In my analysis, Gold Passport points more than make up the difference in price between Hyatt and Priceline.

Here is my analysis:

Hyatt Santa Clara $108 after tax vs. Priceline Holiday Inn San Jose possibly at $51 through Priceline.

Points Math:

$98 room rate Hyatt x 5 points per $1 = 490 points

I made my reservation using the Hyatt Gold Passport bonus offers.  Hyatt Santa Clara is offering 1,500 points for stays checking in on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday through May 2009. 

Diamond amenity gift of 1,000 points for the Hyatt stay = 1,000 points

I could have opted for a movie, snacks, or an alcohol gift as my diamond amenity for this hotel stay, but after 11 hours at the hospital waiting for K to get through surgery and recovery, I just wanted a bed for the night.

My Hyatt Santa Clara stay earned 2,990 Gold Passport points.

Value of Hyatt Gold Passport Points

I value Gold Passport points at 2 cents per point. 

This Hyatt Regency Santa Clara $108 hotel stay provided a $59.80 future Hyatt hotel stay value.

Priceline would probably have given me a room for $51 for the night, and probably among the lower quality rooms at the Holiday Inn San Jose hotel since I have no Priority Club status and I booked a cheap Priceline rate. I am thinking 101 freeway side of the hotel.

The overall rate was about the same for the Hyatt Santa Clara as it would have been for the Holiday Inn San Jose using Priceline considering the $60 rebate value for points earned on the Hyatt hotel stay. 

I had to drive an extra 7 miles past the Holiday Inn San Jose to get to the Hyatt Santa Clara.

Hyatt Place Fremont $78 after tax rate vs. Priceline Holiday Inn at $51.

Hyatt Place $71 room rate x 5 points/$1 = 355 points.

Diamond amenity gift = 500 points for Hyatt Place.

Remember that Hyatt Summerfield Suites and Hyatt Place are lower tier earning hotels for Diamond amenity points at 500 points per stay. Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt, and Hyatt Regency earn 1,000 points diamond amenity per stay.

Hyatt Gold Passport’s current 20,000 bonus points promotion from Jan 9 –April 30, 2009 earns 2,000 points after two nights.  Hyatt Place Fremont earned the second night for this promotion in my account.

Hyatt Place Fremont points = 2,855 points or in my analysis a $57.10 future value on a hotel stay.

The objective part of this analysis is the points earned =5,845 points. 

The subjective part of this analysis is the value of these Gold Passport points.

I state these points are worth about $117 for a future Hyatt stay.

Is that precise or accurate?

I repeatedly state that points have no value unless redeemed. There is a potential that I will never use these points and I ultimately paid $84 more for hotels than was necessary.

On the flip side, I could redeem 5,000 points for the Hyatt Place Fremont for tomorrow night and get a free room that would otherwise cost $123 plus tax.

Last year for the Freddies Awards night I stayed in Phoenix at the Hyatt Regency for 8,000 points when the lowest rate was $240 or so.  I know I will get at least $20 in room value for every 1,000 points I earn, and possibly even better redemption value.

Am I being consistent in logic? 

Holiday Inn San Jose would be just $153 for three nights through Priceline. 

So haven’t I still overpaid $33 to Hyatt Hotels for three nights at $186?

The Diamond factor

I am a traveler who typically spends 50 to 80 nights per year in hotel rooms.

Here is the subjective part of hotel stays that loyalty traveler elites get, but the Priceline crowd typically does not comprehend.

Hyatt Regency Santa Clara wasn’t just a 1,000 point diamond bonus perk. I also received a coupon for free breakfast in the Tresca Restaurant. 

Saturday morning I had a leisurely hour breakfast reading the paper in a fine dining atmosphere.  I was supposed to have paid $4 extra for the full buffet breakfast, but since I only ate fruit and oatmeal with a scoop of roasted red potatoes, the waitress did not even charge the extra $4 for the meal.

Hyatt Regency Santa Clara Club Lounge

The lounge in the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara is a large room with seating for 50 or more and a computer center.  I would have been charged $9.95 for computer access during my stay, but I had lounge privileges as a diamond elite benefit and access to free internet.  I was able to send off a few emails and check the Tour of California cycling race results. 

The lounge operates Monday through Thursday for evening drinks and appetizers and morning breakfast service is offered Monday through Friday. When I arrived Friday afternoon I was still able to access the lobby lounge, use the computers, and get juice, soda, and water bottles. This benefit is available all weekend.

Hyatt Place Fremont

Hyatt Place in Fremont offered me a free hot breakfast due to electronics issues when the room I was assigned had no remote control for the TV and the phone wasn’t working.  A nice compensatory measure for what amounted to an elevator trip downstairs to get a remote control.  A staff member fixed the phone after three minutes in the room.

Normally you have free continental breakfast in the morning with coffee, juices, bread, fruit, yogurt, and cereals. Cook-to-order meals are available for a fee, mostly $6.50 for omelette, breakfast burrito, or French Toast at the Fremont Hyatt Place.

I am now only 23 hotel stays from renewing my Gold Passport Diamond status in 2009 with Hyatt.  I have earned nearly 6,000 points this weekend. 

Hotel loyalty programs have privileges for a price.  Priceline has rooms, possibly for a lower price.  In my analysis based on actual circumstances this week, I think I got a better deal with Hyatt while paying $84 more for two hotel nights.

And the next two nights will be a 4,000 points bonus to make the analysis weigh more heavily to Hyatt hotel stays.

Hyatt Regency Santa Clara Club lounge computer room

On an unrelated personal note:

A month ago I had wanted to do a cycling-fan vacation around the Tour of California that ended yesterday.  Instead, I took on a writing gig last month to make some extra money since K was diagnosed with cancer and she is going to have her pay reduced by 10% or more for this school year.  The project deadline was last Wednesday which kept me from working on the Loyalty Traveler blog last week.

Still, I took off from writing during the afternoon hours to watch the Tour of California race with K. I felt so French with a three hour lunch break and beer, watching the cyclists race through San Francisco and Santa Cruz. 

What a rain storm we had last week here on the Central Coast of California.  Monday’s rain on Highway 1 was quite a contrast to the beautiful weather for our coastal drive K and I made from San Francisco to Santa Cruz the Monday before.

We could tell the race announcer was from southern California since he kept referring to Highway 1 as PCH-Pacific Coast Highway. We watched the race Monday through Wednesday.  K went to the hospital Thursday and back again Friday for cancer surgery We didn’t see any more of the Tour of California cycling.

K and I watched Lance Armstrong race the Tour de France while living in hotels in Europe for the last six years of his consecutive wins.  K is a huge Lance Armstong fan.  I saw at the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara that Lance posts on Twitter.

And this year K celebrates Lance’s “Livestrong” comeback with her own cancer surgery and recovery during the Tour of California. She was wearing her yellow bracelet up until surgery time.  I hope she lives strong from here on out.

     “Pictures on the nightstand, TV’s on in the den
     Your house is waiting, your house is waiting
     For you to walk in, for you to walk in
     But you’re missing, you’re missing
     You’re missing when I shut out the lights
     You’re missing when I close my eyes
     You’re missing when I see the sun rise
     You’re missing”

“Missing” – Bruce Springsteen

The St. Regis San Francisco has about 200 hotel guest rooms up to Floor 20 and 103 residences from Floor 22 to 40.

The Penthouse Residence is on the market and has seen a price drop of $21,000,000 in the past six months from $70 million to $49 million.

The 50% rack rate of $295 for a basic St. Regis San Francisco room sounds like a bargain. 

A $1,000 night suite for 40 years would cost under $14M. 

http://www.sothebyshomes.com/norcal/sales/0083990

St. Regis San Francisco tall skyscraper on right, left skyscraper is 43-story Paramount Building luxury apartments, view from 33rd floor Westin Market Street Hotel across Third Street.

Hilton HHonors hooked up with Miles & More to offer two-night hotel stays in Europe at select hotels.  Loyalty Traveler looked into the value of a miles-for-hotel-stay exchange.

There are several categories of hotels grouped within mileage redemption opportunities.

36,000 miles from Miles & More is sufficient for a weekend stay at these Hilton hotel properties:

·         Hilton Innsbruck

·         Hilton Vienna Danube

·         Hilton Nuremberg

·         Hilton Paris Orly

47,000 miles for a weekend at these properties:

·         Barcelona

·         Bonn

·         Bremen

·         Brussels City

·         Budapest West End

·         Dresden

·         Istanbul (Park)

·         London Docklands

·         London Olympia

·         Paris CDG Airport

·         Rotterdam

·         Valencia

67,000 miles for a weekend at these properties:

·         Amsterdam Schiphol Airport

·         Barcelona Diagonal Mar

·         Berlin

·         Brussels

·         Budapest Castle Hill

·         Evian

·         Helsinki

·         Istanbul

·         Cologne (Köln)

·         London (Kensington, Metropole, Hyde Park)

·         Milan

·         Munich

·         Paris La Defense

·         Prague

·         Stockholm

·         Vilamoura, Portugal

·         Vienna

100,000 miles for a weekend at these properties:

·         Amsterdam

·         Athens

·         Bucharest

·         Florence

·         Paris

·         Prague (Old Town)

126,000 miles for a weekend at these properties:

·         Rome Cavalieri, A Waldorf-Astoria Collection Hotel

·         Paris Arc de Triomphe

·         Venice Molino Stucky

There may be some reasonable value exchanges in the 47,000 to 67,000 mile categories, however, the exchange is generally a quite poor use of miles.

Value Example:

Hilton Molino Stucky Venice is an HHonors Category 6 hotel requiring 40,000 HHonors points per night.  A VIP-elite 6-night award stay is 175,000 points through HHonors. 

A two-night hotel weekend award stay for arrival on Friday or Saturday night through Miles & More awards requires 126,000 miles. 

April 17-19, 2009 weekend rates for Friday and Saturday night

Rome Cavalieri 222.50EUR/night  60,000 HHonors points per night

Paris Arc de Triomphe 295EUR/night or 40,000 HHonors points per night

Hilton Molino Stucky Venice, Italy 295EUR/night or 40,000 HHonors points per night

A Hilton Hotel weekend award for 126,000 miles may be worth as little as $600 and perhaps as much as $1,200.

And it is not simply a poor rate of exchange between Miles & More with Hilton Hotels. 

Other hotel brand redemption options are no better value:

InterContinental Hotel 2-night Weekend Stay = 89,000 miles

·         Berlin

·         Düsseldorf

·         Frankfurt/Main

·         Hamburg

·         Cologne

Le Meridien (Starwood) Hotels 2-night Weekend Stay = 118,000 miles

·         Algarve

·         Barcelona

·         Paris

·         Vienna

Hyatt Hotels 2-night Weekend Stay = 139,000 miles

·         Dubai

·         Hong Kong

·         London (2 hotels)

·         Madrid

·         Milan

·         Moscow

·         Paris

·         Tokyo (2 hotels)

·         Zurich

There is not much value in redeeming Miles & More miles for hotel awards with properties participating in the major hotel chain loyalty programs like Hilton, Starwood, or Hyatt.

I have advice for all of you Miles & More members and other frequent flyers who are willing to waste a large chunk of miles on low value redemptions.

Please visit the Coupon Connection at FlyerTalk and offer to trade your miles.  There are plenty of honest travelers looking for ways to get airline tickets in the Star Alliance who will give you an exchange much closer to fair value.

Miles & More will take a person roundtrip from North America to Australia, Asia, or the Middle East in Business Class for only 120,000 miles.  These are $4,000 to $10,000 flight awards.   

Trade 120,000 Miles & More miles for 175,000 Hilton HHonors points and let someone supply you with a six night hotel vacation at the Venice Hilton or the Paris Hilton Arc de Triomphe.

Trade 120,000 Miles& More miles for 120,000 American AAdvantage miles.  You don’t actually have to transfer miles to each other’s account.  Simply redeem awards for each other from your own accounts.

120,000 AAdvantage miles  can be exchanged through Hilton HHonors for 240,000 HHonors points.  As long as the account holder is a Silver VIP, requiring only four stays in a year or HHonors credit card membership, a VIP hotel stay award at a Category 6 hotel is only 235,000 points for 8 nights.

Don’t redeem your miles with Miles & More for poor value awards.  Take advantage of social networks and find someone seeking a fair travel exchange.  Rather than a simple weekend hotel getaway, your 126,000 miles can be exchanged for six to eight (6 to 8) Hilton Hotel nights at a Category 6 property if you put a little effort into getting fair value for your miles.

Remember we are fellow travelers on this globe.  Don’t waste the value of your travel miles by trading them back to the company for a low value item.  Share your wealth with a new found friend who can give you a fair value trade of a different airline flight or hotel stay option. 

In these economic times we need to retain whatever value we can in the assets we have.

Last year Starwood Preferred Guest sent me a SPG Platinum member postcard telling me I had earned a 50% off award for up to 5 nights at a Category 1-5 property.  The catch was I had only 10 days to book a reservation to be used before the end of May.  I had no set plans for a trip and the award went unused.

SPG has a different offer this year. 

Platinum members were offered the choice of a $75 gift certificate for Starwood Hotels or a free weekend night, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday at a Category 1 to 5 hotel to be used by December 27, 2009.

SPG Platinum member gift choices

At the time I registered for the free night, the website showed 82% of Platinum members had chosen this gift over the $75 gift certificate.  I am thinking Westin Sydney, Australia this July.

Gold members were not neglected.  SPG gave Gold elites a choice of a $25 Starwood certificate or 1,000 Starpoints.

Design Your Own Platinum member card

This was an interesting feature for the SPG card, however, almost all the hotels I looked for were not included in the image list.  No hotel choices from San Francisco.

Hotel Images for SPG card face

My card also has a “10 Year Member” icon on the card face.  I joined SPG and redeemed my first awards in 1999.  I was a member of the Westin Hotels loyalty program since way back in 1990.

My SPG card face selection is Sheraton Mirage, Gold Coast, Australia

This is an unusual trip to San Francisco. 

Normally the beauty of the city would keep us up, ‘til late at night, staring out the window at city lights. These high rise nights connect us as humans with shared stories and ideas and all the creativity that happens when you are in the center of a million busy bodies and the energy pulsates through your brain from kinetic energy vibrations and you are seated in the window of a 34^th floor view room gazing out on one of the most beautiful cities of the world.

The 20^th of January is what we had waited for over eight interminable bushwhacked years.  The day was the start of a new beginning. 

Change is on the agenda.

My wife received the call on Tuesday afternoon, January 20, 2009. She had undergone a routine medical annual physical the week before.  Overhearing her on the phone I knew what she had been told.

Off the phone she said to me, “I have cancer.”

Change is on the agenda.

This is an unusual trip to San Francisco. 

Last month we celebrated the first weekend of the new year in San Francisco with a Friday night concert of the Wailers in a rocking reggae show.  We felt positive vibrations hanging with a longtime friend who had accompanied my wife and I on our first date at a Black Uhuru reggae show in Santa Cruz way back in 1982. We reminisced while luxuriating, before and after the show, in a hotel suite at the Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf.  Times had changed.  We are so much older, yet so much the same.

Three weeks ago Monday, K and I celebrated 20 years of marriage.  We like to laugh when telling others we spent seven years together before I decided that marriage was in order since we had passed the statistical half-life of marriage. In the late 80s, half of married couples divorced by seven years. I have always been a statistics geek.   

We married on the last day of the Reagan presidency, hallelujah.  We celebrated our 20^th anniversary on the last day of being Bush-whacked.  Or so we thought.

Twenty years and one day of our married life together and the TV celebration was awe-inspiring as Obama was inaugurated, and bands played on the National Mall. 

 Then the news came to our little home in Monterey, California. 

An upgrade to C class is normally frequent flyer speak for a business class international flight upgrade.  We celebrate a C upgrade as another victory in the frequent flyer game.

An upgrade to C class takes on an entirely more sobering meaning when the C upgrade means your tumor is not benign, but instead is cancerous.

Today, my wife is in the Geary Street San Francisco Kaiser hospital to determine the extent of the tumor.  The tests so far have been positively hopeful results.  The procedures today are the final ones before the surgeon decides the next course of action. 

There have been challenges in our lives– just like everyone must face.  And as often is the case, it is only when we experience the challenges ourselves that we finally comprehend and reach out to others for assistance, help, support, comfort, and advice.  We are lucky to have families and friends.

Family and friends show their true colors at times like these.  Powerful thoughts of healing have come from so many people and it feels wonderful to know there are others thinking and praying and whatever good thoughts and actions people share to help others. 

Statistically, K has a 95% chance of five year survival if her tumor is Stage 1.  She has a 40% probability of being dead in 5 years if she is in Stage 2.  It has been three weeks and we still don’t know what stage her cancer is in.  Hopefully we will receive the diagnosis this week.

Change is on the agenda.

p.s. The test results from yesterday indicated the tumor is Stage 1 and may possibly only require surgery. 

Statistically, this is excellent news.

Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay

I drove us home via Highway 1 coast road from San Francisco to Santa Cruz and Monterey.  The day was gorgeous.  We stopped at the Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay for lunch.

“Ain’t it funny how you’re walking through life and it turns on a dime”

            “The Wildest Times of the World”

-          Vonda Shepard

Following up on yesterday’s Conde Nast 2009 Gold List with these lists of major hotel loyalty program properties. 

Major Hotel Loyalty Programs with Hotels on Conde Nast 2009 Gold List

2009 Conde Nast Gold List Hotels

Hotel Chain

Hilton  HHonors                           4

Hyatt Gold Passport                    13

InterContinental Priority Club      6

Marriott Rewards                       29

(Only 6 of 29 hotels are Marriott branded hotels for earning points.  Others are Partner Hotels in Ritz Carlton and Irish Castles.)

Starwood Preferred Guest          25

(St. Regis Lanesborough, London does not participate in SPG)

Happy Birthday Bob Marley

So don’t you forget no way…

Who you are, and where you stand in the struggle

-So Much Things to Say-

Bob Marley  - 

Feb 6, 1945 – May 11, 1981

 Loyalty Traveler analysis of 2008 Conde Nast Gold List

http://boardingarea.com/blogs/loyaltytraveler/2008/02/13/major-hotel-loyalty-program-brands-on-conde-nast-traveler-2008-hotel-gold-list/

(There are number of changes from 2008 to 2009.)

Marriott Rewards got me started on an analysis this week. The Marriott Rewards site has a Better Rewards webpage that makes bold statements like:

            “We’re just better than the competition.”

            “Marriott Rewards is not just better, but the best of all loyalty programs.”

There are three claims in answer to the question: “What makes Marriott Rewards better than other hotel loyalty programs?”

1.    Marriott Rewards lets you earn and redeem points at more than 2,900 hotels worldwide including many that are on the Condé Nast Gold List of the best hotels in the world.

2.    Marriott Rewards delivers a memorable and more personal experience based on saved guest preferences profile.

3.    Marriott Rewards was recently voted the 2008 Hotel Program of the Year.

The bullets under “More ways to earn rewards” and “And more ways to burn rewards” give nice summaries of benefits and rewards options.

My gripe is with the hotel loyalty program chart showing Marriott Rewards compared to Hilton HHonors, Starwood Preferred Guest, Hyatt Gold Passport, and InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club.  Broad group comparisons on the advantages of Marriott Rewards for earning points and redeeming points are made with no source data to allow me, as a consumer, to determine if the chart is accurate.

Just because it is on Marriott Rewards website does not mean it is accurate. 

The “Why Marriott Rewards is Best” chart is divided into Earning Points and Redeeming Points.  I have inserted my comments after outlining the comparison categories.

Why Marriott Rewards is Best (link)

            Earning Points

1.       Broadest portfolio of award-winning brands

a.    Full service,

b.    select service,

c.    extended stay

2.       More shopping options

a.    Online shopping mall

b.    Earn points with Visa

Loyalty traveler says:

Recent awards from whom? I would like to know which award competitions Marriott is citing.  As a consumer I want to know what other frequent hotel guests think about different hotel brands and hopefully find some rationale.  I am looking for the best hotel program. 

Telling me a brand in a hotel chain with 5 to 12 brands has won a nondescript award does not help me as a consumer learn about the award-winning hotel brands or what kind of groups give out awards to hotel brands.

And why exclude brands that have fewer than 100 hotels as stated in the footnote? 

This removes the brands of Park Hyatt, Hotel Indigo (IHG), Conrad (Hilton), W Hotels (Starwood), St. Regis (Starwood), Waldorf=Astoria (Hilton), aloft (Starwood), Andaz (Hyatt), element (Starwood).

Is JW Marriott excluded from this set for having less than 100 hotels?

A comparison of points earned for hotel stays is a better category in my opinion.  GoldPoints Plus offers that kind of points earning comparison on their “Do the Math” Calculator. 

The recent Marriott Rewards change to increase the Platinum elite bonus to 50% from 30% now makes the Marriott calculation too low on the GoldPoints Plus Hotel loyalty comparison program Calculator.

The Calculator processes Hilton HHonors correctly now.  I contacted GoldPoints Plus last June to explain how the calculator incorrectly tabulated Hilton HHonors points earning too high.  I wrote about the calculator in this post.

Earn points with Visa?  Come on.  I hope that is not a deciding factor in your hotel loyalty program choice.  Starwood American Express works fine for most transactions.

Redeeming Points

1.       More resorts, spas, and golf

a.    Resorts 

b.    On-site golf

c.    On-site spa

d.    Conde Nast Gold List

2.       More redemption options

a.    200+ merchandise items

b.    Cruises

c.    Customized awards

3.       No Hassles 

a.    No Blackout Dates

b.    Book rewards, then earn points

c.    Best rate Guarantee

Loyalty Traveler:

A Marriott Hotels website search for resorts only pulls up 121 resorts.  I guess all those Ritz-Carlton Hotels should be better integrated with the Marriott website. Hilton has a webpage showing 52 resorts and 31 spas.  Hilton should be better at promoting the other 64 resorts Marriott believes they have in their portfolio.  Starwood Hotels is one-third the size of Marriott and has almost the same number of resorts as Marriott.  Starwood looks pretty classy on that measure.

The Conde Nast Gold List is really puzzling to me.  The Gold List can be viewed online and I didn’t get anything close to the 51 hotels number shown on Marriott’s chart for Gold List hotels during my hasty survey.  I am not saying Marriott is inaccurate, but it is unclear to me how they derived the numbers.

My Gold List numbers were so far off from Marriott’s I believe the chart must include Reserve list hotels which are a subsection of the Gold List and are not part of the online Gold List.

My Gold List numbers came out on a quick count as: 

Marriott = 29 (23 of these are partner hotels: 21 Ritz Carlton Hotels and 2 Castles)

Hilton = 4

IHG = 6

Hyatt = 13

Starwood = 25 (Lanesborough London is a St. Regis hotel, but does not participate in SPG)

 Ritz Carlton San Francisco (Marriott Rewards partner hotel)

One difficulty in quickly categorizing the Gold List by hotel loyalty program is hotel brand is not identified for many of the chain hotels on the Gold List.  The Phoenician in Scottsdale is not described as a Starwood Luxury Collection hotel in the property listing for the Gold List.  Starwood’s Luxury Collection hotels have to be recognized by name.

Marriott Rewards hotels on the Gold List, I assume also include partner hotels like the Irish luxury hotels at  Ashford Castle and Dromoland Castle, in addition to the Ritz-Carlton hotels which are the majority of Marriott Gold List Hotels.  Unfortunate for the Marriott Rewards member is the inability to earn points at Ritz Carlton hotels.  These luxury properties are redemption opportunities only.   

Marriott’s chart shows Hilton HHonors does not have a Best Rate Guarantee?

http://www.hiltonworldwide.com/en/ww/ourbestrates/overview.jhtml

The best redemption value for Hilton HHonors points is generally a high category hotel on a HHonors VIP Reward of six or more nights. 

Hilton Auckland, New Zealand

What do you do when after a year of traveling you have 100,000 points and you want a vacation in three months at a Category 6 hotel or Waldorf=Astoria low season hotel stay for 6 nights, but you need 75,000 more points for the hotel stay reward?

HHonors allows a member to purchase points, up to 40,000 points in a calendar year at a rate as low as $10 per 1,000 points.  The points should be in your account and available for redemption in less than an hour. 

Still, after a $400 internet purchase of your maximum annual buying limit of 40,000 points at HHonors, you are 35,000 points short of the 175,000 points needed for a six-night Category 6 GLONP2 HHonors VIP reward.

What does a determined traveler do to get 35,000 points at minimal expense? 

HHonors Points Transfers

Hilton HHonors allows members to transfer or receive an unlimited number of points between member accounts.  The fee to transfer points is only 25% of the fee to buy points. 

10,000 points can be transferred from one account to another for a $25 fee.  35,000 points can be transferred from one member’s account to another member’s account for $87.50.

“Hilton HHonors® points can be transferred to another HHonors member in increments of 10,000 points, at a cost of $.0025 USD per point, or $25.00 USD per 10,000 points. There is no limit to the number of HHonors points a member can transfer or receive. Fees are based on the number of points a member transfers out of his or her account. After transferring 200,000 points in a calendar year, any subsequent transfers that calendar year are complimentary.”

http://hhonors1.hilton.com/en_US/hh/terms.do#hilton_hhonors_point_transfer_and_registry_program

Your potential ability to tap this option is proportional to your network of friends and family who have HHonors points and who are willing to transfer them. 

Recap:  Goal is 175,000 points

                You have 100,000 points in your account from hotel stays and credit card activity.

                You purchased 40,000 points for $400.

                You need 35,000 more points which is an $87.50 transfer fee.

                You need to find someone willing to transfer HHonors points to your account.

Welcome to FlyerTalk’s Coupon Connection Trading Network

The next piece of advice is the grey area of traveler strategies Loyalty Traveler generally does not touch upon in blog posts, but today I will discuss what routinely happens in the world of frequent flyer and hotel loyalty programs.

Travelers often find a great deal is just out of reach of your miles or points balance. 

Remember the corollary:

“Miles and Points have no real value, only potential value, until they are redeemed.” 

FlyerTalk has the Coupon Connection forum where members make exchanges of frequent flyer miles and hotel points through mutual agreement of terms.  There has been much discussion on FlyerTalk and elsewhere over the years of whether bartering these airline miles and hotel points is a violation of frequent flyer and hotel loyalty program terms and conditions.   All I can say is trades happen all the time and generally the only problems encountered are when a traveler sells miles to a broker. 

I have been contacted many times over the years by companies wanting to buy my frequent flyer miles. These kinds of companies are sometimes listed in the classified section of USA Today and major papers with pitches like – Sell Your Miles for Cash. 

Basically they pay you to redeem your miles for an award ticket for someone else.  I have been offered $2,000 for 100,000 miles, and I presume, the company can sell the award ticket for $3,000 to $5,000 and make a profit.  I have never sold my miles, but I sure was tempted a few years ago when I was unemployed and sitting on more than one million frequent flyer miles. 

I like travel too much to sell my hard-earned miles or points.

Now – present day – a million people have lost jobs in the past six months, and many big-time road and air warriors currently find themselves miles-and-points rich and cash poor.  This is the time for some mutually beneficial trading.

The Value of a Point

Coupon Connection may be an avenue to find people with points, but why would anyone just give points to you, even if you offer to pay the transfer fee?  For the timid traveler who wants to avoid trading with someone for HHonors points there are other methods to quick HHonors points.

HHonors Partners for Miles to Points Exchanges

Hilton HHonors allows some airline frequent flyer miles to be exchanged for HHonors points.

5,000 airline frequent flyer miles can be exchanged for 10,000 HHonors points from these programs:

·         American Airlines ($25 fee)

·         Amtrak

·         Hawaiian Airlines

·         Icelandair

·         Mexicana

·         Virgin Atlantic has a lower exchange rate of 5,000 miles = 5,000 points.

I have to wonder how many thousands of flyers are sitting on 5,000 Icelandair miles that will likely go unused after that one trip to Europe on Icelandair.

Purchasing 35,000 points would cost $350 if you were allowed to purchase unlimited HHonors points.  A good value would be to get 35,000 points for $350 with a transfer.  After deducting $87.50 for the transfer fee, the member needing points still has $262.50 in trade value to offer someone else for their points. 

I’ll leave it up to the reader to fill in the details of what is a fair trade for 35,000 points.

American Express Membership Rewards

Another route to HHonors points is making a credit card exchange of Membership Rewards points to HHonors points.  The exchange rate is:

                1,000 Membership Rewards = 1,300 points

This is not a particularly favorable exchange considering HHonors sells 1,300 points for $13, whereas, an airline sells 1,000 miles for $25 to $35 and 1,000 Membership Rewards points can be exchanged for 1,000 miles in many programs. 

A better option is to exchange American Express Membership Rewards points to one of the HHonors miles-to-points partner airlines.  Hawaiian, Mexicana, and Virgin Atlantic are Membership Rewards points-to-miles exchange partners.

Transferring Membership Rewards points to Hawaiian Airlines is your best choice due to the fact it is a US based company and gives a better exchange rate than Virgin Atlantic. 

Feb 13 Update:  There is limited usefulness to this strategy since Mexican and Hawaiian both limit mileage transfers out to miles earned from flying.  WebFlyer has a mileage calculator with options for maximizing transfers from one program to another.  I suggest checking it out for creative ways of exchanging miles and points between programs.

http://www.webflyer.com/programs/mileage_converter/index.php

Mexicana Airlines has restrictions on transferring miles out of Mexicana Airlines.  I have had over 100,000 miles in Mexicana Airlines for over five years and I can’t transfer them to HHonors due to earning them from a promotional bonus.  This condition may not apply for Membership Rewards exchanges, but I wouldn’t risk hassling with Mexicana Airlines when you have Hawaiian as an alternative.

                1,000 membership Rewards = 1,000 Hawaiian Airlines miles = 2,000 HHonors points

Miles must be earned from flight activity to be eligible for transfers from Hawaiian miles to HHonors.

Starwood Preferred Guest as a route to HHonors points

Another option is to transfer 20,000 Starpoints to an airline for 25,000 miles.  American Airlines is a SPG airline partner. 

                20,000 Starpoints = 25,000 AAdvantage miles = 50,000 HHonors points

Diners Club Rewards as a route to HHonors points

Icelandair and Amtrak are  Diners Club Rewards exchange partners. 

                1,000 Diners Club Rewards points = 1,000 Icelandair miles = 2,000 HHonors points

Club Rewards points can be transferred directly to HHonors, but at a lower rate:

Direct transfer of Club Rewards points to HHonors:

 1,250 Diners Club Rewards points = 2,000 HHonors points

To recap ways to accrue HHonors points:

1.       Purchase HHonors Points at rate of $100/10,000 points

a.       (40,000 point limit in a calendar year)

2.       Transfer HHonors points

(transfer fee is $25 per 10,000 points)

3.       Exchange airline miles directly for HHonors points:

5,000 airline miles = 10,000 HHonors points.

4.       Exchange Starwood Preferred Guest points to airline miles and then to HHonors points.

20,000 Starpoints can be exchanged 25,000 American AAdvantage miles and then into 50,000 HHonors points.

5.       Exchange American Express Membership Rewards points to airline miles and then to HHonors points. 

5,000 MR points = 5,000 Virgin Flying Club miles = 5,000 HHonors points

6.       Exchange Diners Club Rewards points to airline miles and then to HHonors points

5,000 Club Rewards points = 5,000 Icelandair miles = 10,000 HHonors points

A direct transfer from Diners Club to HHonors results in 20% fewer points:

5,000 Club Rewards points = 8,000 HHonors points.