I was developing a piece on Best Western’s Free Night summer promotion and today I came across Tim Winship’s piece on SmarterTravel.com. I hadn’t considered the airline miles earning angle in my Best Western promotion analysis. Ironically, the central topic my July InsideFlyer column is earning airline miles from hotel stays. Since I did not include Best Western Rewards in my magazine column, I will present the airline miles option here with a discussion of the free night promotion for two stays.

Best Western Rewards loyalty program offer: Summer promotion 2009 earns a free night voucher for every two stays between June 21, 2009 and August 16, 2009. A maximum of two free night vouchers may be earned.

There is also a Best Western Rewards online booking bonus of 250 points per completed stay for reservations booked online during promotion.

Restrictions:

- Promotion limited to residents of US, Canada, and Caribbean Islands.

- Free Night Voucher is equivalent to a level 3/16,000 points voucher – a relatively low level hotel redemption.

- Free night voucher expires six months after issue.

Loyalty Traveler Analysis:

My first thought on reading the terms and conditions of this promotion is a 16,000 points voucher is not valid for many hotels in my area. I made a survey of the hotel category for the 66 Best Western properties shown within 100 miles of Monterey, California.

Best Western free hotel nights are based on the hotel level. There are eight Rewards levels for Best Western hotels starting at 8,000 points per free night and increasing by 4,000 points for each level. A Best Western hotel will be categorized at one of the eight redemption levels for a free night:

Level 1 = 8,000 points

Level 2 = 12,000

Level 3 = 16,000

Level 4 = 20,000

Level 5 = 24,000

Level 6 = 28,000

Level 7 = 32,000

Level 8 = 36,000 points

Hotel Level for 66 Best Western Hotels within 100 miles of Monterey, California

* NA = Four hotels were not available using points for the date I checked. The hotel level was not indicated for these four hotels. I did not bother to search for an available free night date to find the hotel level for these four hotels.

To see the redemption level for a specific hotel requires the Best Western Rewards member be logged into the website and search for hotels using points. There are 66 Best Western hotels within 100 miles of Monterey. Only 6 of these hotels are at level 3 which is the free night voucher level. The other 60 hotels are higher points levels for the free night. It is unclear from the terms of the promotion whether a 4,000 points upgrade voucher can be used with this promotion to get a 20,000 points room.

My free night hotel choices within 100 miles of Monterey consist of 6 Best Western hotels. Nothing here looks too enticing for my travels. These are all inland valley places and I try to stay along the California coast as much as possible.

1.       Best Western Apricot Inn, Firebaugh, CA

2.       Best Western Villa del Lago, Patterson, CA

3.       Best Western Pleasanton Inn

4.       Best Western Luxury Inn, Tracy

5.       Best Western Town House Lodge, Modesto

6.       Best Western Executive Inn, Manteca

Best Western can be a good program for padding airline miles

While the free night voucher may not be a widely useable free night, I find there are good miles earning options with Best Western Rewards. There are 17 airline partners for earning miles from your hotel stays and most earn 250 miles per stay. Southwest is 0.5 credit and Miles & More is 500 miles per stay.

1.       Air Canada Aeroplan

2.       Air Berlin

3.       Air France/KLM Flying Blue

4.       Alaska Airlines

5.       Alitalia

6.       American Airlines

7.       Asiana Club

8.       China Southern

9.       Continental

10.   Czech Airlines

11.   Delta

12.   Hainan

13.   LanPass

14.   Miles & More (Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, LOT Polish) = 500 miles per stay

15.   Northwest

16.   Southwest = 0.5 credit per stay

17.   US Airways

Special Bonus Miles Hotel Offers

In addition to setting your earning preference to airline miles instead of Rewards points, there are also special hotel specific bonus mile offers.

Example: Best Western Inn Santa Clara Double Miles per minimum 3-night stay. This offer will earn double the normal 250 miles for 500 miles with most airlines or 1,000 miles with Miles & More.

The best special offer I saw was Halifax, Nova Scotia for triple miles on a one night stay.

Best Western Travel Cards and Bonus Airline Miles (link)

Tim Winship mentions American Airlines miles or Southwest Rewards credits as an additional promotion bonus miles when buying Best Western Travel cards. There are actually six other airlines for earning miles with these cards. Air Canada Aeroplan and American AAdvantage have the best earning at 500 miles per $50 Gift Card. Alaska, Continental, Delta, Northwest, and US Airways are 500 miles per $100 gift card. The Southwest Rewards offer of 0.5 credit per $100 is not as good as Aeroplan or AAdvantage miles in terms of the percentage of award miles earned towards a free domestic ticket.

All in all the limitation of the free night to the lowest hotel levels diminishes the value of this promotion in my evaluation. Don’t go out of your way to take advantage of this deal.

But keep in mind the opportunity to earn airline miles through Best Western hotel stays and Best Western Travel card purchases. This is a good way to pick up miles when you find yourself needing a Best Western hotel.

The little nuisances of travel purchases and loyalty programs rear their ugly heads when it comes time to cancel, change, or follow-up on missing credit, points, miles, and refunds.

I know some of you out there must be like me and blow off  some miles, points, or cash now and then just because it is too time consuming to track down the travel details and receipts to seek a fair solution.

As consumers we play with a double-edged sword on the travel field. We have an expectation that we will receive benefits automatically and we trust our points and miles will post correctly without our intervention. The sharper edge of travel is when we need personalized attention and just want a rational response to exigent circumstances that require a change of travel plans.

All too often we then face the travel rule book known as the “terms and conditions” or “fare rules”. Bending the rules in favor of customer service can be a daunting journey for the traveler consumer.

I have loads of travel issues going on currently that many other travelers face at some time or another.

Trip Cancellations

First on my travel woes is canceling our sub-$500 V Australia tickets to Sydney, Australia next month.

Last October I landed the incredible fare launch with V Australia, the new low-cost airline for Australia and the USA. The deal was a $185 fare + $300 tax for a $485 roundtrip ticket Los Angeles – Sydney, Australia for two weeks in July.

After calling to check my ticket options I was informed that I can have a whopping $97 credit on my ticket or rebook for a change fee of $100, but the trip has to begin by October 2009. The young woman at V Australia told me it was 4am in Australia and perhaps a supervisor can provide more assistance if I call back in another five hours.

I’m pulling the cancer card and hoping to get some relief. After missing a half year of work for cancer treatment scheduled to end in September, my wife will not be excused from her classroom to use her $500 ticket to Australia for a much needed vacation in October. The Sheraton Noosa and Noosa Beach must be grand in October. I’ll have to be a sweet talker to work this one out.

Cancellation Fees

Starwood Preferred Guest free weekend nights are supposed to be about planning that dream night in a favorite city. Well, I had no problem making a reservation at the lovely St. Regis San Francisco using one of my free nights earned last month (I am currently at 7 free nights).

The lowest room rate currently listed for the St. Regis San Francisco comes in at $397 all-in per night for a AAA rate Superior room. On the other rate extreme is $1,017 all-in per night for a high floor Metropolitan Suite.

So here is the part of the dream hotel stay that gives me a cold sweat. The cancellation penalty is a stellar $649 for the night if I no-show for the hotel.

Is there tax added to that?

I can imagine a San Francisco car crash (it seems I narrowly avoid one every drive into the city) and telling the ambulance driver – “Please stop off at the St. Regis so I can check-in, and then take me to the hospital.”

Missing Points

After 16 nights in Starwood Hotels in May 2009 I went through my points earned. The new Starwood Preferred Guest activity listing specifying hotel name and points earned or redeemed certainly is an improvement for the member tracking hotel activity.

I was missing about 8,000 points from 5 different hotel stays in May.

I probably spent close to 30 minutes with the Starwood Preferred Guest Platinum desk agents. I am confident the points will post over the next week, but tracking down points and miles is just another chore that is an inherent task in maintaining a loyalty program account.

Overcharges – Last week I paid $58 for parking at the Burlingame Parking Center for a week. That is an incredible deal for parking at San Francisco Airport. My issue was that this great deal was actually advertised as $40 per week on the sign at the parking lot entrance. The entire lot is automated so I could not complain about the overcharge when I paid the fee with my credit card.

At home I call the number on the parking lot receipt. The number is the parking lot ticketing machine company and they are simply equipment suppliers. I look up Burlingame Parking on the web. The contact number does not work as a functioning business number. The message just loops and never connects to a person.

I call the website number listed for persons needing after-hours parking lot pick-up service. I am surprised to reach the front desk of the Sheraton Gateway San Francisco Airport. I guess Burlingame Parking is owned by the hotel owners. I explain that I have been overcharged and she connects me with a hotel accountant. Supposedly I will receive a credit to my credit card. 

Something else I need to follow-up on and verify next month. 

(Update: the credit posted on my card within one day of my call.)

OMG – I am Passport-less

My passport expired two weeks ago. I am trapped in the USA.

Trying to get an appointment at the San Francisco Passport Agency, but the process requires having a ticket for a trip out of the country within 14 days.

The passport renewal fee is $75 whether by mail or in person at an agency.

There is a $60 expedite fee for mail-in applications for passports and this speeds up the process from 4 to 6 weeks down to 2 to 3 weeks.

Alternatively, there is only a $25 fee to get a same-day passport at a U.S. Passport Agency.

I have a feeling I won’t be canceling that July 2009 travel V Australia ticket just yet.

Noosa Beach, Queensland, Australia