Oyster Hotel Reviews is a website offering users an abundance of visual information through hundreds of photos for a single hotel. This colorful photo hotel review site has been developing a portfolio of hotel reviews, one city at a time, for the past year. I like the concept of showing numerous photos of a hotel. Recently, San Francisco hotels were added to the site.

I commented to a hotelier once that when I write about hotels I want bias in my review. There is the AAA Tour Guide for a sterile, just the facts hotel description. A reader benefits from finding a reviewer with similar travel style and interests. Most Oyster Hotel Reviews have personality.

The interesting aspect of the Oyster Hotel Reviews is the different take I have on many of the hotels and neighborhoods described by the reviewers in San Francisco. I think travel reviewers are like music DJs.

My experience may not have been the typical experience for a hotel guest, but it was my experience. I try to reflect my stays accurately, good and bad, when I choose to review a hotel. I try to separate what may be one time circumstantial inadequacies from what appear to be systemic issues with the hotel experience. As always, hotel loyalty elite membership usually makes a significant impact on the hotel stay experience.

A common statement I see repeatedly in the Oyster hotel reviews for San Francisco are locals don’t hang out in the SOMA arts district, Union Square shopping and theatre district, or the Financial District. That doesn’t help me as a hotel guest with the hotel location. You don’t tell me where locals hang out. Besides, do I really want to be where the locals hang out? I’m a tourist.

Together with Fisherman’s Wharf, another area where locals don’t hang out much, these four areas contain 90% of the hotel rooms in San Francisco. There are 10,000 to 20,000+ tourists in these neighborhoods on any given day and plenty of businesses to cater to them. Restaurants, bars, and cafes are all around the downtown area. The central Financial District around the Mandarin Oriental and Le Meridien is a location a little more closed up at night and weekends, but there are great pubs and restaurants scattered throughout even the financial district.

The entire central business district of San Francisco is the hotel area for 95% of the city’s rooms. Of the city’s 750,000 locals, 95% live in other parts of San Francisco. San Francisco seems like a small city until you try moving from one end to the other in a bus or taxi.

Oyster Hotel Review – Starwood Hotels Luxury Collection – The Palace 

In the service section the reviewer states there was no doorman at arrival to help with bags and follows with the statement, “That wouldn’t happen at the St. Regis.”  Well, that did happen to me at the St. Regis last June when I was ignored by the doormen. Car valets were standing within 15 feet of me and didn’t bother to assist me at a time when no other guests were arriving.

One issue I have noticed with the Oyster reviews is the tendency to label hotel rooms as suites when there is not a separate sitting area room.

My helpful suggestion to make the photo sets more user-friendly is please use the same labels as the hotel’s own website uses for room types so a reader can match the Oyster photos to the correct room rate when searching hotel rates.

I find it interesting that the bed at the Palace Hotel was described as “sumptuous”.  Perhaps I like an abnormally firm bed since in my opinion I found the soft, bouncy bed the most serious flaw of the property after staying in three different rooms at the Palace Hotel this year.  The reviewer may have never had a back injury to know the value of a firm mattress.

Loyalty Traveler Palace Hotel review April 20, 2009 

History of the San Francisco Palace Hotel and California Earthquakes – Loyalty Traveler April 23, 2009

Maxfield Parrish painting in The Pied Piper bar at the Palace Hotel

St. Regis San Francisco

Oyster Hotel reviews rates the St. Regis San Francisco as the best luxury hotel in the city. I won’t argue with that since I haven’t stayed in all the other luxury hotels. The St. Regis beds are the best I have slept on in 2009. The Oyster reviewer states a large staff prevented front desk pile-ups and the hotel has some of the best service in town.

A hotel may have only one opportunity to make a great impression. My three stays at the St. Regis San Francisco this year had me convinced the hotel had cut back too much on service. I didn’t feel the front desk was adequately staffed on several occasions. I saw inconsistencies in service between stays. The butler service is a standout feature of the hotel and that aspect of the service worked fine during all my stays.

Loyalty traveler St. Regis San Francisco hotel review part 1 – June 15, 2009

Loyalty traveler St. Regis San Francisco hotel review part 2 – June 16, 2009

Loyalty Traveler Best Bed Award goes to St. Regis San Francisco

Westin St. Francis

The Oyster.com reviewer suggests to readers to pick the Palace Hotel over the St. Francis. The rooms in the historic building are described as “small – 200 square feet or so.”

Sure, there are small rooms in the historic tower. I saw a woman once working her way around the bed in a tiny interior room and I wondered if she regretted booking the St. Francis. I have not stayed in one of those 200 square feet rooms.

I absolutely love the historic building rooms facing Union Square with windows that open and the sound of cable cars clanging below on Powell Street and musicians playing in the Square. My wife and I find the historic building of St. Francis to be some of the most romantic hotel rooms in the city. 

I am a Starwood Preferred Guest Platinum member. I book those 200 square feet room rates all the time when staying at the St. Francis. SPG elite-level membership means I have never actually had to stay in one of those small rooms. The Tower rooms are good for views, but lack the ambience of the historic section.

Loyalty Traveler Westin St. Francis Hotel review – June 7, 2009

Union Square late night view from historic St. Francis Hotel

Hyatt San Francisco

“Spitting distance from the Embarcadero and Union Square.”

The Embarcadero? True. The hotel is actually called the Hyatt Regency at the Embarcadero on building nameplates.

Spitting distance from Union Square? False

I recall being rather late for a meeting after a 15 minute walk to meet my sister last year.  I left the Hyatt Regency Club to meet her at the Starlight Room at the top of the Sir Francis Drake Hotel at Union Square. Even Tiger Woods would require a few long club drives to get his ball the 0.75 mile distance from the Hyatt Embarcadero to Union Square.

There is little mention of the top floor Regency lounge in the Oyster review. As a Hyatt Diamond elite-level member of Gold Passport I get complimentary access to the Regency lounge. This is a great lounge for relaxing, viewing the waterfront, eating snacks and breakfast, using computers, or relaxing in a full body massage chair. The lounge makes this hotel my favorite in San Francisco when the rates are low.

The reviewer also lists this hotel as a dull part of town at night. I love the food places at the Ferry building and there is a bit of life here after dark. Take a night ferry on San Francisco Bay. The hotel is physically connected to the Embarcadero Complex offering a few blocks of shopping, a variety of restaurants, a movie theater, and overground pedestrian bridges linking the complex from the Hyatt hotel  to Le Meridien Hotel (formerly Park Hyatt) on the opposite end of the complex. There isn’t going to be a 4am rave happening in the Embarcadero Complex, but if you want to eat and drink, go to a comedy club (The Punchline), or see a movie, you can find it all in this neighborhood.

Loyalty Traveler Hyatt Regency photos and website useability issue – August 25, 2009

Loyalty Traveler Hyatt Regency San Francisco review – August 5, 2008

Hyatt Regency San Francisco Bay view

Bottom line on hotel reviews: There are all types of travelers and all types of reviewers. One person’s experience and expectations may not mirror another’s.

I am glad to see Starwood Hotels St. Regis (Best Luxury Hotel), Westin St. Francis (Best Hotel Restaurant) and Le Meridien (Best Business Hotel) rate highly with Oyster Hotel Reviews for their best in class picks.

Oyster Hotel Reviews San Francisco Best Hotels link.

View of Union Square from 10th floor St. Francis historic building junior suite

Starwood Hotels launched a cyberMonday 72-hour sale today for select resort properties in the US, Caribbean, and French Polynesia. Rooms must be booked by Wednesday, December 2 for stays from January 1 through April 30, 2010. These limited time offer rates are nonrefundable.

The best deals I saw was for  Le Meridien Bora Bora (property link) overwater bungalow with glass floor for about US$715 per night (57,000 XPF after 10% VAT). The cheapest room at the Le Meridien is around $500 per night with this sale. The St. Regis Bora Bora is a few hundred dollars more per night.

US resort locations revealed some discounts, however, given the nonrefundable terms and the forecast for rates to continue dropping, particularly for resorts in 2010, I would be reluctant to recommend this sale as a great bargain. The handful of hotels I checked in Arizona and California for some sample dates did reveal these rates to be the lower than AAA rates, but generally only about 20% lower.

If the South Pacific Bali Ha’i sirens are calling you, then this might be your cyber-Monday deal of the day for a Bora Bora resort vacation.

US Airways 1,000 Bonus Miles offer

This cyberMonday Starwood Resort special offer also comes with a US Airways 1,000 miles per stay bonus if you choose Airline Direct Deposit miles for your stay. Members choosing airline miles direct deposit have Starpoints earned from a hotel stay converted automatically into miles. You receive 1 mile for every Starpoint you earn for the stay. The 1,000 Dividend Miles are in addition to regular earning of miles. You will not earn Starpoints for your hotel stay if you choose Airline Direct Deposit of miles.

Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) Instant Gold Elite Offer for new members

Upgrade your Starwood Hotel lifestyle with 1,000 bonus points per night and instant Gold elite-level membership. Just send me an email to ricgarridolt@gmail.com and I will refer you for SPG Gold elite membership. This offer is only available to new members of SPG.

USA Today’s Barbara DeLollis, writer of the Hotel Check-In column, published an interview November 24 discussing the Hilton HHonors loyalty program changes with Jeff Diskin, Senior Vice President, Customer Marketing, Hilton Hotels Corporation.

She asked Mr. Diskin for a response to members who are upset over the coming changes. I particularly like this quote, “We offer one of the fastest if not the fastest track to elite-level status in the industry and members can earn more points faster with Hilton.”

As an aside, let me start out by telling you a comment made in a travel track forum at Blog World Expo 2009 by a hotel industry person when asked what hotel marketing people look for when deciding whether to work with a travel blogger. He said he looks for multi-paragraph comments in response to blog posts. I chuckled when I heard that standard.

I comment frequently on other people’s blogs and I often feel like I am hijacking a blog since I am one of the few people I ever see writing a lengthy comment. I hijacked Barb DeLollis’ blog with two lengthy analyses of Hilton HHonors that are probably longer than the entire Jeff Diskin interview. And I cut out several points I wanted to make.

I suggest you read the Jeff Diskin HHonors interview in USA Today.

And then read my analysis of certain comments made with regard to a comparative analysis of HHonors to the other major loyalty programs of Hyatt Gold Passport, IHG Priority Club, Marriott Rewards, and Starwood Preferred Guest.

Hilton Hotels has a good product on par with the other major hotel loyalty programs.  There are many facets to the HHonors loyalty program and things like Miles & Points, discounts on award stays of 6 nights or more, and the ability to convert airline miles into HHonors points are admirable attributes benefitting members.

My concern is that Hilton HHonors is pushing the bar higher towards a devaluation of points across hotel loyalty programs. These changes push Hilton farther outside the norm with regard to other hotel loyalty programs.  At the upper end hotels, currently Category 5 and 6, and soon to be Categories 6 and 7,  the Hilton HHonors program is still competitive with regard to hotel free nights using points, but the Hilton chain is allocating a much larger proportion of their hotels to the upper tier categories relative to the other four hotel chains’ loyalty programs. Starwood Preferred Guest is really a poor value at the high end Category 6 and 7 hotels in terms of how much spending is required to earn a free night, but a relatively small number of hotels are in the top two categories. I would argue the quality of a Starwood Category 6 hotel is much higher than a Hilton Category 6 – soon to be Category 7 property.

I think Hilton HHonors is not as good a value as the other hotel chains at the mid-level and low-level category hotels. Increasing PointStretcher award availability would go a long way to improving that aspect of the program. The past several years have seen hotels available for PointStretcher awards, a 40% discount using points for a free night, dwindle down to no hotels at all for the last six months of 2009.

The primary objection to the Hilton HHonors changes, in my opinion, is not the addition of a new higher category 7 to the Hilton HHonors reward table. The hint from HHonors representatives that the changes will result in a large scale shift of hotels upward within the new categories is the truly objectionable aspect of the changes if they turn out to be true.

The distribution of hotels within the hotel categories is the primary concern around the proposed restructuring of HHonors category changes.

Basically the hotel chain is renumbering categories from the current HHonors system of Opportunity at the lowest end, along with Categories 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.  HHonors Category 6 is currently populated by some of the high end Hilton and Conrad hotels. Waldorf-Astoria Collection is a separate high end category within the HHonors program.

Hilton HHonors will still have the same number of hotel categories in 2010. There is no change in the points required for Category 3, 4, 5, and 6 hotels in 2010. The change we are awaiting is what proportion of hotels will be moved from their current category placement to a higher category.

Essentially, the HHonors hotel category labeled Opportunity is becoming Category 1 in the new 2010 system and these hotels will remain at 7,500 points for a free night. Currently, there are only 1% of the 3,300 Hilton Hotels in the Opportunity category and these hotels will likely be almost the same set of hotels in the new HHonors Category 1.

The real impact of the changes becomes apparent when looking at the current Category 1 to Category 5 hotels.

Here is a breakdown of 2009 Hilton HHonors hotels by category which is not precise, but probably accurate to 1 or 2% based on my Loyalty Traveler research. Hilton HHonors website makes it difficult to quickly determine what hotels are in each category. Hyatt, Starwood, and Marriott provide lists of hotels in each hotel reward category. Hilton requires a search by country. I attempted to update my Hilton spreadsheet last December, but stopped after two weeks due to time constraints. FlyerTalk member BlondeBomber has tracked Hilton Hotels category placement over several years and I used his spreadsheet for a quick estimate of how many hotels are located in each Hilton HHonors reward category.

HHonors Category Shift for 2010 Could be 20% Across the Chain

Here are my comments I posted on USA Today in response to the Barbara DeLollis’ Hotel Check-In interview with Jeff Diskin, along with additional tables I made showing comparisons of the hotel programs.

November 28 comment by Ric Garrido:

My readers at Loyalty traveler know I am a numbers person. There are some numerical errors in this piece.

Hilton, Marriott, and IHG award 10 base points per $1 spent at hotels. Starwood awards 2 base points per $1 hotel spend and Hyatt awards 5 points per $1 hotel spend. The article should state 2 and 5 points rather than $2 and $5.

In that same paragraph I understand the calculations used for the comparison of money spent to earn a free night. Apparently Mr. Diskin is comparing earning for highest elite members. These dollar amount calculations equate to the estimated earning for Hilton HHonors Diamond (28 stays or 60 nights in calendar year), Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond (25 stays or 50 nights), Marriott Rewards Platinum (75 nights), IHG Platinum (50 nights or 60,000 points earned), and Starwood Platinum (25 stays or 50 nights). [Note: SPG does not appear to be calculated correctly]

Hilton HHonors is based on a member choosing a “points & points” earning preference instead of “points & miles”. HHonors member earns 10 base points per $1 in hotel spending + 5 Diamond elite bonus points + 5 points per $1 for “points & points” for a total of 20 points per $1.

HHonors Diamond member = 20 points per $1 (Category 7 hotel = 50,000 points)
Marriott Rewards Platinum member = 15 points per $1 (Category 8 hotel = 40,000 points)
Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond = 6.5 points per $1 (category 5 hotel = 18,000 points)
IHG Priority Club Platinum = 15 points per $1 (InterContinental high tier = 40,000 points)
Starwood Preferred Guest Platinum = 3 points per $1 (Category 7 = 30,000 points)

The money spent to earn a free night in each chain:
HHonors 50,000/20 = $2,500
Marriott 40,000/15 = $2,667
IHG 40,000/15 = $2,667
Hyatt 18,000/6.5 = $2,769
SPG 30,000/3 = $10,000

The $4,000 for Starwood spending used in the article comparison looks incorrect to me. $4,000 would be correct for a Category 5 free night at a Starwood hotel, but the highest category hotel was used for the other 4 chains.

SPG always looks very bad in these comparisons, but SPG loyalty program members know most of the points earned are from promotions and elite bonuses rather than base hotel spending. Hilton is opposite in that most points are earned from base hotel spending.

As an SPG Platinum on a $100 stay I earn far more than 300 points. I typically receive 500 bonus points for a platinum amenity and almost always at least 1,000 points for a promotional bonus. 1,800 points for a $100 stay is far more earning power than indicated from a comparison of base spending.

The main point I make when evaluating hotel claims for the best earning potential is the “promotions make all the difference”.

The points earning potential of Hilton HHonors looks highly favorable when only base spending is compared. Hilton HHonors lags behind the other four chains compared here when it comes to points earning potential and free night offers through promotions.

IHG, Hyatt, Starwood and Marriott all ran earn a free night promotions in 2009 which made a free night possible for under $250 in total hotel spending with the other chains.

Where was Hilton?

November 29 comment by Ric Garrido

Here are some other relevant points to the HHonors changes and your article.

Mr. Diskin rationalizes the HHonors increase in points due to hotel rates increasing 30% over the past few years. The logic here is that Hilton HHonors is playing catch-up to changes other hotel chain loyalty programs have already made.

Here is my analysis comparing Hilton HHonors to other hotel loyalty programs.

A shift of almost all hotels upward in the categories, which I believe is what Hilton representatives implied might happen with the changes, will mean only 1% of hotels will be the same price in 2010 for a free night. Only the bottom level of hotels in the Hilton chain, the current Opportunity Category hotels moving to Category 1 level hotels in 2010 will be available at the same cost as 2009. Hilton’s other 3,300 or so hotels, around 98% of the global properties will increase in points for a free night in 2010 if Hilton HHonors increases the hotel category across the system for hotel rewards.

On average the increase is 20% across the 3,300 hotel chain based on the points needed to spend one free night at every Hilton-brand property in the world in 2009 compared to 2010 if all hotels move up one category in the 2010 realignment.

Hotel Competitive Sets

The other side of this argument is the issue of ‘hotel competitive sets” within any specific location. Mr. Diskin claims Hilton HHonors will still require the least spending to earn a free night at a top level Category 7 hotel even after the 25% increase next year compared to spending for a free night in the top hotel level for other major hotel chains. That argument is essentially correct, however, the comparison disregards the issue of a comparable competitive hotel set for most locations.

A hotel competitive set must be used when comparing hotel reward nights across different hotel chains. Comparing a Hampton Inn to an InterContinental or JW Marriott is not really meaningful since they are different market segments and different price segments.

Mr. Diskin uses the highest tier hotels in each chain as a competitive set to make his point that Hilton requires less spending for a free night. But aside from a few locations in the world like New York, Paris, London, Tokyo, Sydney, and Rome, the competitive set is not going to be based on the highest category hotels for most cities.

I’ll show the concept of a hotel competitive set using San Francisco hotels.

San Francisco has several hotel brands from each major hotel chain within close proximity of each other and also close in price. Hilton operates the Hilton Union Square and Hilton Financial District.

A competitive set of comparable hotels in the Central Business District of San Francisco to the two Hilton Hotels are Hyatt Regency San Francisco, Grand Hyatt San Francisco, Marriott Marquis, Marriott Union Square, Starwood Westin St. Francis, Starwood Westin Market Street, Starwood Luxury Collection Palace Hotel, Starwood Le Meridien, InterContinental San Francisco, and InterContinental Mark Hopkins.

Using the same variables from the article for hotel spending the comparison works out like this if the two San Francisco Hilton Hotels go from their current Category 6 to the new Category 7 for free nights:

Hilton Union Square, 50,000 points = $2,500
Hilton Financial District (Category 6 in 2009) Cat 7 = $2,500

Hyatt Regency San Francisco Category 4 = 15,000 points = $2,307
Grand Hyatt San Francisco Category 3 = 12,000 points = $1,846

Marriott Marquis, Category 6 = 30,000 points = $2,000
Renaissance Stanford Court, Category 6 = 30,000 points = $2,000
JW Marriott San Francisco, Category 6 = 30,000 points = $2,000
Marriott Union Square, Category 6 = 30,000 points = $2,000

Starwood Westin St. Francis, Category 4 = 10,000 points = $3,333
Starwood Westin Market Street, Category 4 = 10,000 points = $3,333
Starwood Luxury Collection Palace Hotel, Category 5 = 12,000 points = $4,000
Starwood Le Meridien, Category 5 = 12,000 points = $4,000
Starwood W Hotel, Category 5 = 12,000 points = $4,000

InterContinental San Francisco, 40,000 points = $2,667
InterContinental Mark Hopkins, 40,000 points = $2,667

San Francisco Hotel Competitive Set for Comparison of Hotel Spending by High Elite member to Earn a Free Night

The amount of spending to earn a free night using points at a San Francisco hotel will be less for Hyatt and Marriott than Hilton within this comparable competitive set. And there is a good argument to be made that the JW Marriott may be in a higher level hotel set for San Francisco.

In my opinion, based on detailed analysis of hotel loyalty program promotion bonuses over the past few years, Hyatt Gold Passport, Starwood Preferred Guest, and IHG Priority Club allow a loyalty program member the ability to earn promotional bonuses at a much higher percentage to base spending than is typical with Hilton HHonors, thereby reducing the total spending required to earn a free hotel night from those chains.

There is one other point to make regarding the highest categories for the different hotel chains.

Hilton HHonors currently has over 100 hotels in the highest Category 6 level. Assuming most of these current HHonors category 6 hotels are recategorized in the new HHonors category 7, a comparison across chains may look like this in 2010.

Hilton Category 7 = 100 hotels worldwide
Hilton Category 6 = 200 hotels

Marriott Category 8 = 12 hotels worldwide
Marriott Category 7 = 19 hotels worldwide

Starwood Category 7 = 16 hotels worldwide
Starwood Category 6 = 45 hotels worldwide

Hyatt Hotels Category 5 = 25 hotels worldwide

Marriott is the hotel chain most comparable to Hilton. The data shows Hilton will have 6x as many hotels in its two highest categories compared to Marriott.

Black Friday, the day after the Thanksgiving holiday, is all about retail shopping in America. Even IHG Priority Club and Marriott Rewards hotel loyalty programs are offering Black Friday weekend specials for merchandise using points. Several hotel loyalty programs offer redemption of hotel points for merchandise including Marriott Rewards, Hilton HHonors, IHG Priority Club, Starwood Preferred Guest, Wyndham Rewards, and Choice Privileges.

This post looks at the value of using hotel points for shopping. Comparisons are made across hotel loyalty programs by showing the cost in hotel points for $25, $50, and $100 gift cards.  Using hotel points for non-travel merchandise shopping is something I am regularly asked about by hotel companies and reporters, but I have never used my hotel points for non-travel purposes.

I repeatedly find the best value for hotel points is redeeming points for hotel stays.

Is there Value in Redeeming Hotel Points for Merchandise?

In this comparison I focus on gift card value based on the number of points required for a $25, $50, or $100 gift card purchase using hotel points in various hotel loyalty programs.

One of the difficulties in evaluating the value of points exchanged for merchandise are the vague descriptions typically provided on hotel website shopping portals, particularly with electronics item descriptions.

I find it difficult to match electronics items shown such as i-pods, computers, and cameras with identical items for sale on Amazon.com. Many of the products come in several versions and the hotel shopping portal website descriptions frequently lack sufficient detail to determine which version of an item is available using hotel points.

Here is how hotel loyalty programs stack up in points for gift card redemptions.

Choice Privileges

$50 gift card = 16,000 points  (Value = $3.12 per 1,000 points)

$100 gift card = 32,000 points  (Value = $3.12 per 1,000 points)

Choice Privileges has a variety of retail partners including PetSmart, Walmart, Costco membership, and over 300 other gift card retailers.

Hilton HHonors

$50 Gift Card = 25,000 points  (Value = $2 / 1,000 HHonors points)

$100 gift card = 50,000 points  (Value = $2 / 1,000 HHonors points)

Sample retailers include Best Buy, Saks Fifth Avenue, Borders, Macy’s.

50,000 points will redeem a free night at a Waldorf Astoria Collection hotel or a Hilton HHonors category 7 hotel. Using points for HHonors hotel stays should see a return of $5.00 to $10.00 per 1,000 points.

Hilton HHonors Shopping Portal

InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club (Black Friday weekend 15% sale)

(Black Friday 15% sale on all gift cards through November 30)

Sample retailers: Best Buy, Macy’s, Target, Gap

$25 Gift Card = 10,000 points  (Value = $2.50 / 1,000 Priority Club Rewards points)

Black Friday sale only 8,500 points through Nov 30 (Value = $2.94 / 1,000 Priority Club Rewards points)

$50 gift card = 20,000 points

Black Friday sale only 17,000 points through Nov 30 (Value = $2.94 / 1,000 Priority Club Rewards points)

40,000 points will pay for a free night at any InterContinental Hotel globally. This will typically be a $400 value for 40,000 points or $10/1,000 points compared to less than $3.00/1,000 points on gift cards. 25,000 points for a $125 per night hotel like a Crowne Plaza is points value of $5.00/1,000.

IHG Priority Club Shopping Portal 15% weekend discount

Marriott Rewards (Black Friday 48 hour weekend sale, 8am Friday to 8am Sunday)

Marriott Rewards is offering a 48 hour discount, but it is not a fixed discount on sale items. Some merchandise is discounted as much as 35% in points.  Nikon D 3000 DSLR 10.2 megapixel camera was 179,000 points just 120,000 during sale. This camera comes up around $550 on Amazon.com. This comes out to about $4.58/1,000 Marriott Rewards points redemption value.

Marriott Rewards Black Friday special

Points used for a hotel stay such as the JW Marriott San Francisco will be 30,000 points and worth about $250 much of the time. This example would be a redemption value of $8.33/1,000 Marriott Rewards points.

10,000 points for a Category 2 hotel stay at a Courtyard in a business area on a weeknight can easily save $150 in many places. Here is a low cost redemption opportunity where your points will have a $15 per 1,000 points value.

Saving points for a 5^th night free Marriott Hotel reward can bring redemption value over $10 per 1,000 points. Using points for a multi-night Ritz-Carlton hotel stay may have even higher redemption value.

Gift cards in exchange for your hotel points show a much lower value than many of the merchandise options like the Nikon camera described above.

Marriott Rewards sample gift card items:

$50 iTunes gift card = 28,000 points  (value $1.79/1,000 points)

$100 Saks Fifth Avenue gift card  = 35,000 points  (value $2.86 / 1,000 points)

$100 Barnes & Noble gift card = 36,000 points  (value $2.78 / 1,000 points)

Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG)

Starpoints are earned at a lower rate of 2 points per $1 compared to 10 points/$1 in all the other chains shown in this comparison. Promotions with SPG allow many members like me to earn more points in bonuses rather than points earned based on hotel spending. At the lower category hotels a free night is only 3,000 points for a SPG Category 2 weekend night. This generally works out to around a $100 hotel night value for 3,000 points.  At the high end Starwood Hotels a free night can be 20,000 points for a Category 6 hotel with $400 per night rates ($450 after tax). In this case a member would receive a redemption value of $450/20,000 points or $22.50/1,000 points.

Keep in mind that the value per 1,000 points is much higher for SPG than for the other hotel programs like Marriott and Hilton. This is all relative to earning rates for hotel points with SPG. Using points for hotel stays with Starwood Hotels can generally see a return of $25 to $50 per 1,000 points compared to $5 to $10 per 1,000 points for other hotel chains shown. A gift card value of $10/1,000 points with SPG equates to a value of $2.00 to $2.50 per 1,000 points for other hotel chains shown in this post.

SPG Retail partners link 

$25 iTunes gift card = 2,800 points  (value $8.93/1,000 points)

$50 iTunes gift card = 5,000 points  (value $10.00/1,000 points)

$150 Amazon gift card = 14,000 points (value $10.71/1,000 points)

Wyndham Rewards

$100 SkyMall gift card = 20,000 points (Value = $5.00/1,000 points)

$200 SkyMall gift card = 45,000 points (Value = $4.44/1,000 points)

All I can say is buy your SkyMall gift cards in the $100 denomination to get better value. Quite odd to see the $200 gift card has a lower redemption rate than the $100 card. Wyndham Rewards gift card value is good compared to other programs, but extremely limited choice for gift cards.

Bose Wave Music Player 125,000 points ($500 on Amazon so points value =$4.00/1,000 points). You can probably buy it through Skymall using gift card for fewer points.)

$49 rate is truly a bargain priced room for Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf.  This Sunday-night-only, November 29 rate beats the $90 Starwood Best Bate Guarantee I received last May. This online only special offer rate is almost too good to pass up.

The otherwise low AAA rate is $104 for Sunday night. The buffet breakfast for SPG elites is an added bonus to a Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf stay. (Read this Loyalty traveler post if you are not currently a Starwood Hotels loyalty member and want to become an instant SPG Gold elite).

The weather is supposed to be in the 60s and sunny on Sunday . The outdoor pool at the Sheraton will be feasible with the sun out. The fourth floor rooms with the slanted roof are the rooms I have been given this year. The rooms are bright and comfortable.

I had planned to book this cheap stay for Sunday night until I learned today I won tickets for an advance showing of the George Clooney movie, Up in the Air for Wednesday night in San Francisco.  And Wednesday, being the first Wednesday in December, is free museums day in San Francisco.

The Sheraton offer is 49 rooms at $49. There were still rooms available when I checked at 10:30am Pacific time.

Warning: Parking is $43 at the hotel. I have managed to get street meter parking on my last two stays and Sunday night should be free meters. Be prepared to move your car on Monday morning.

Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco Special Offer Link

Sheraton Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco

Lucky over at One Mile at a Time is promoting Marriott SpringHill Suites with a $300 Marriott gift certificate prize to be given to one “lucky” reader who posts a comment on his blog by Sunday evening, November 29. The promotion is based around a video memory challenge game on the SpringHill Suites site.

BargainHuntingMoms also has been given a $300 SpringHill Suites gift certificate being offered to readers.

SpringHill Suites Napa Valley lobby area

SpringHill Suites is Marriott’s upscale all suites brand. I was at the new SpringHill Suites Napa Valley property this past summer. This hotel is conveniently located at the southern end of Napa Valley, at the intersection of Highway 12 (the Napa Valley wine road) and Highway 29 (road to Vallejo).

SpringHill Suites Napa Valley courtyard and firepit

The new SpringHill Suites property is on the opposite side of Napa from the much larger and old-style hotel design of the Marriott Napa and Spa.

SpringHill Suites Napa Valley pool area

The outdoor pool and barbeque area of the SpringHill Suites is a comfortable space to hang out, although the road is a little nearby and the newly developed area is sparse on trees.

SpringHill Suites Napa Valley fountain

I have a plea for assistance if anyone from SpringHill Suites management reads this post.  

Can you spare another gift certificate to donate as a prize to the Passports with Purpose raffle and help travel bloggers raise $13,000 over the next month to build a new school in rural Cambodia?

SpringHill Suites Marriott Napa Valley, California

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Shout Out to Hoteliers  –  Passports with Purpose Needs Your Assistance with raffle prizes.

Passports with Purpose is in its second year of bringing together the online travel community in an effort to mobilize social media to a charitable action through this year’s travel bloggers global fundraiser.

The Passports with Purpose action for 2009 is raising $13,000 for American Assistance for Cambodia to build a rural school in Cambodia.

Passports with Purpose is organizing a $10 per ticket raffle for the chance of winning travel gear, products, and destination prizes.  Hotel rooms were a popular raffle prize last year.

My Loyalty Traveler Request

Hoteliers – Please contribute a hotel oriented prize for the Passports with Purpose raffle or consider becoming a sponsor for the Passports with Purpose fundraising effort.  A $500 sponsorship will buy a good amount of advertising across the blogosphere.

A hotel room night (or two), a robe, a spa treatment, a hotel restaurant dinner certificate are just some of the items you might consider for donation to Passports with Purpose.

You will get high quality advertising through the Passports with Purpose travel bloggers fundraiser.  I’ll be repeatedly promoting the Passports with Purpose fundraiser over the next six weeks through Twitter, Facebook, and Loyalty Traveler blog.

While I recognize this is a hectic time during the Thanksgiving holiday week with many hotel industry personnel on vacation, I am asking for a quick response from charitable hoteliers who can donate a raffle prize within the next week for this high value humanitarian and educational cause.

I have already committed from my personal resources to provide a hotel night prize for the raffle.

Any airlines or other travel companies who want to contribute a raffle prize, by all means contact me soon.

Contact me at RicGarridolt@gmail.com or the women at Passports with Purpose to donate prizes or become a sponsor.

Travelers – My request to readers of this blog is bookmark the Passports with Purpose link and return next week to view the prizes being offered and contribute through the purchase of raffle tickets to the goal of raising $13,000 to build a new school in Cambodia. $13,000 to educate Cambodian children is very little money that goes so far in building education infrastructure in this developing country.

The raffle begins November 30, next Monday, and lasts through December 19, 2009.

Who are Passports with Purpose?

The founders of Passports with Purpose are preeminent Seattle travel bloggers Debbie Dubrow (DeliciousBaby.com), Michelle Duffy (WanderMom.com), Pam Mandel (NerdsEyeView.com), and Beth Whitman (WanderlustAndLipstick.com).  These are travel blogs with loyal followers and each blog reaches a large audience in the travel blogging community. Debbie maintains a Top 5 travel blog and Pam is currently listed in the top 25 travel blogs on Technorati. Debbie Dubrow’s DeliciousBaby.com ranked #1 travel blog on Technorati’s Top 100 Travel blogs list last month when its newly revised rankings were released.

The participating travel bloggers form a global list of the online travel community.

Act now, donate, and contribute. Minds need education. I know as a public school teacher with ten classroom years instructing children.

The force of social media is fully realized when a concerted effort brings about an authentic change in a short period of time through sheer numbers of participants.

Loyalty Traveler believes in Passports with Purpose.

Join us for change.

For more information on Passports with Purpose 2009 fundraiser please read these blog posts from the Passports with Purpose founders.

Beth Whitman – Passports with Purpose  - Build a School in Cambodia! (Nov 22, 2009)

Debbie Dubrow – Please Join Us for Passports with Purpose (Nov 18, 2009)

Pam Mandel – Passports with Purpose 2009 (Nov 20, 2009)

Joie de Vivre Hotels calls itself California’s largest collection of boutique hotels. If the cookie-cutter design of another Hampton In, Holiday Inn, Residence Inn, aloft, or Hyatt Place is just too much for your individualistic sensibilities, then Joie de Vivre Hotels may be the change you are looking for in a California hotel.

The company’s “About Us” page fact-sheet pdf lists five word descriptors:

FIVE WORDS

Fresh, Inventive, Grassroots, Casual, Experience-driven.

From Orange County to Marin County, Sonoma, and Sacramento, nearly 40 hotels are under the Joie de Vivre umbrella of boutique hotels. Joie de Vivre started out in San Francisco and is best represented in this city with 16 San Francisco hotels including Hotel Vitale on the San Francisco Embarcadero waterfront. Local to my Monterey home-base is the Ventana Inn at Big Sur, directly across the road (non-ocean side) from Post Ranch Inn. Ventana Inn has some nice ocean views too from the hillside location and the restaurant just recently re-opened.

The Joie de Vivre hotel loyalty program, Joy of Life Club, provides opportunities to earn credit for your paid stays and spa visits. Joy of Life Club is a points based program tied to hotel and spa spend. There are three tiers of membership and your points earning rate increases as you accumulate more spending status.

Joy Seeker is the base membership level for members with fewer than 2,500 points earned. Points are awarded on room rate and spa services only. Members can receive credit for up to three rooms per stay. Members receive a “Welcome Indulgence”.

A friend of mine told me she and her husband signed up for Joy of Life Club last month at the hotel upon arrival and received a complimentary bottle of wine and fruit tray. She was the one who asked me if I ever write about Joie de Vivre hotels and although I have been in a couple of the properties, I have not written about the Joy of Life hotel loyalty program until now.

Here is a “Girlfriend’s Spa Trip” opportunity for the loyalty traveler. The Joy of Life member can receive points for up to three individuals per spa visit if eligible charges for the individuals appear on the member’s folio and the member received one of the services.

Based on the spa folio charges I have seen for my wife’s spa trips with the girlfriends, I’d say reaching elite membership in Joy of Life Club should not be too difficult for some individuals.

Earning Joy of Life Club Points

Joy Seekers        (0 – 2,499 points based on your lifetime program earnings)

$1 = 1 point at participating Joie de Vivre hotels

                $1 = 2 points at participating Joie de Vivre spa

Joy Enthusiasts (2,500 – 9,999 points)

$1 = 1 point at participating Joie de Vivre hotels

                $1 = 2 points at participating Joie de Vivre spa

Joy Aficionados (10,000+ points)

$1 = 2 points at participating Joie de Vivre hotels

                $1 = 4 points at participating Joie de Vivre spa

Redeeming Joy of Life Club Points

An account goes “to sleep” after two years of account inactivity. Your lifetime status points and membership level remains once your account is reactivated.

There are three points redemption levels at 2,500 points, 7,500 points, and 10,000 points.

On the redemption side of Joy of Life Club are experience opportunities like surfing and rock climbing lessons at 2,500 points.  Dining and tours or hotel/spa gift certificates are also offered.

2,500 points = $100 gift certificate for a hotel/spa

Assuming you earned 2,000 points on spa treatments ($1,000) and 500 points on hotels ($500), the certificate would be equivalent to just a 6.7% rebate. Based on hotel spend only and no spa services,  the value is a lowly 4% rebate. That is not comparable to the value you typically see with a major hotel loyalty program like Marriott Rewards or Starwood Preferred Guest where 20%+ value is typical for your hotel spending.

7,500 points rewards include hot air balloon ride or a year of monthly chocolate deliveries. The hotel or spa gift certificate is $300. There is basically no advantage to saving up to 7,500 points for a gift certificate which seems odd to me. Forget cashing in for gift certificates at this level since the much better value is found for 10,000 points.

10,000 points may be redeemed for the “Design Your Own California Adventure” hotel gift certificate package of $750 with five $100 certificates and one $250 certificate.

The Joy Aficionado member is looking at $5,000 in hotel spending to earn $750 in hotel/spa gift certificates. A 15% rebate on $5,000 hotel spending is a respectable loyalty program exchange.  Spa aficionados are looking at $750 in hotel/spa credit for $2,500 (4 points/$1) in spending.

Now, that is some California loyalty massaging for the Joy of Life member. 

Links: Joie de Vivre Hotels; Joy of Life Club hotel loyalty program

Ventana Inn, Big Sur, California

Sometimes the best strategy for your wallet is to forget the points and save money. Hyatt Stay and Weekend Certificates are a prepaid option to remember when the rate at the Hyatt Hotel is quite high for your dates. This strategy will not always work for the hotel you want, but when it does the savings can be significant.

Hyatt Hotels are sometimes available with a Hyatt Stay or Weekend Certificate for a lower price than the prevailing room rates offered for the dates of your stay.

The biggest savings are likely to be found with hotels at the Inspire-level Hyatt Stay certificates for $319 per night rates. Some of these hotels will likely have rates well in excess of $319 per night over the next year.

There are also a number of hotels in the US where a Hyatt Weekend certificate including breakfast at $209 per night will be a significant savings and even less than the cost for the corresponding Hyatt Stay certificate.

Hyatt Stay Certificates come in 5 price levels 

Classic ($99/night)

Some Classic level Hyatt Hotels include the

• Hyatt Regency Minneapolis

• Hyatt Regency Cleveland

• Hyatt Place Portland Airport PDX

• Hyatt Regency Cancun

• Hyatt Place Phoenix Airport

• Hyatt Place Atlanta Buckhead

• Hyatt Manila, Philippines

Choice ($135/night)

Some Choice level Hyatt Hotels include the 

• Grand Hyatt Denver

• Hyatt Regency Coral Gables, Florida

• Hyatt Dulles Airport

• Hyatt Regency Vancouver, Canada

• Hyatt Regency Dubai

• Hyatt Regency Casablanca, Morocco

• Hyatt Regency Cologne, Germany

• Hyatt Regency Auckland

Premier ($165/night)

Some Premier level Hyatt Hotels include the

• Grand Hyatt New York

• Hyatt Regency Newport Rhode Island

• Grand Hyatt Dallas DFW

• Hyatt Regency Pier Sixty-Six, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

• Hyatt Regency Johannesburg, South Africa

• Hyatt Regency Warsaw, Poland

Elite ($249/night)

Some Elite level Hyatt Hotels include the

• Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe, Nevada

• Grand Hyatt San Antonio

• Grand Hyatt Seattle

• Park Hyatt Philadelphia

• Park Hyatt Washington D.C.

• Park Hyatt Istanbul

• Andaz London

• Hyatt Regency London The Churchill

Inspire ($319/night)

Inspire level Hyatt Hotels include the

• Ararat Park Hyatt Moscow

• Park Hyatt Dubai

• Grand Hyatt Hong Kong

• Grand Hyatt Mumbai

• Grand Hyatt Tokyo

• Park Hyatt Melbourne

• Park Hyatt Sydney

• Hyatt Regency Aruba

• Park Hyatt Buenos Aires

• Hyatt Regency Maui

• Grand Hyatt Kauai

• Park Hyatt Chicago

• Hyatt Regency Paris Madeleine

Hyatt Stay Certificates can be purchased for one, two, or three night stays. There is no discount for purchasing a multi-night Stay Certificate, so it is advisable to purchase single night certificates and combine them if needed.  You do not retain any residual credit if you burn a three night certificate for a two night stay.

Participating Hyatt Hotels for Hyatt Stay Certificates accept different levels of certificates. Stay certificates are capacity controlled. Even if a hotel shows it accepts a Premier Stay Certificate, you may need an Elite Certificate for the date of your stay. For this reason it is best to check availability before purchasing the certificate to be sure you have the correct level for your desired hotel.

The main caveat in using Hyatt Stay Certificates is no points are earned on the paid certificate portion of the hotel stay.  Certificates count like free nights for Hyatt Gold Passport. Unless you are looking at saving hundreds of dollars, you probably want to wait until after January 2010 when the current Hyatt Gold Passport promotion for a free night after every two Hyatt stays ends before taking advantage of Hyatt Stay certificates.

Hyatt Weekend Certificates

Hyatt also offers Hyatt Weekend Certificates for hotels in USA and Canada. These 2-night or 3-night certificates are valid for Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday nights and include breakfast. Far fewer properties participate in the Weekend Certificate offer, however, this option is sometimes cheaper than the Stay Certificate. Compare prices.

Hyatt Select Weekend Certificate US $298 for two nights ($447 3-nights)

Hyatt Prestige Weekend Certificate US $418 for two nights ($627 3-nights)

Interestingly, there are some properties listed as accepting a Prestige Weekend Certificate that otherwise would require an Elite level Stay certificate.

There is an obvious advantage to the Hyatt Weekend Certificate at $209 per night including breakfast compared to $249 per night without breakfast for an Elite Stay Certificate at some Hyatt hotels.

The following hotels are classified as Elite level Hyatt Stay ($249/night) and offer Hyatt Prestige Weekend Certificates which include breakfast for two and three night stays ($209/night).

• Park Hyatt Toronto

• Hyatt Grand Champions Resort (Palm Springs, CA area)

• Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego

• Hyatt Regency Coconut Point, Florida (Naples area)

• Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress, Orlando, Florida

• Hyatt Regency, Lake Tahoe, Nevada

• Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort, New Mexico

• Park Hyatt Philadelphia

• Grand Hyatt San Antonio

• Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort, San Antonio, Texas

• Grand Hyatt Seattle

• Hyatt at Olive 8, Seattle

• Grand Hyatt Washington, D.C.

Link to Hyatt Stay Certificates

Link to Hyatt Weekend Certificates

Link to List of Hyatt Certificate Participating Hotels and Hotel Level

“Under the new program, customers who find their prepaid hotel room available for a lower price on any site, including Orbitz, can receive a refund for the difference and a $50 discount on a future hotel or vacation package booking. Plus, Orbitz now allows customers to submit a claim right up to the time of the property’s cancellation deadline.” http://pressroom.orbitz.com/index.php?s=43&item=770

This looks like a great Best Rate Guarantee policy. Loyalty traveler took it out for a test spin. How hard can it be to find a Best Rate Guarantee claim? Both Travelocity and Orbitz offer $50 if their site doesn’t have the lowest rate. This means their rates have to match perfectly right?

Price Discrepancy 1:

Hilton Garden Inn Monterey

2 nights for Friday, December 11 – Sunday, December 13

·         Travelocity          $110.71 (nonrefundable)

·         Orbitz                    $110.72 (nonrefundable)

·         Hilton                    $111.00 (nonrefundable)

There should be at least two valid Best Rate Guarantee claims since there are three different prices and obviously Travelocity is the lowest rate. Orbitz Lowest Price Guarantee Claim form.

The issue with Orbitz.com is each of these rates is a nonrefundable rate and the cancellation period is passed the moment you make a reservation. The Orbitz policy claims a customer can “submit a claim right up to the time of the property’s cancellation deadline.” Once the customer has booked the Orbitz.com reservation the cancellation deadline has passed.

The total price for the Orbitz hotel room comes out to $245.78 with tax and fees.

Hilton lists the total price as $246.36. The $0.58 difference should make for a valid claim using the  Hilton Hotels Best Rate Guarantee. Hilton gives you a $50 American Express gift cheque if a Best Rate Guarantee claim is validated.

Price Discrepancy 2:

For the same weekend the rates are highest at Orbitz.com for the Hyatt Regency Monterey. Again, the room type is the same, but the rates vary by pennies. This time the Hyatt website has the lowest rate.

Hyatt Regency Monterey

2 nights for Friday, December 11 – Sunday, December 13

·         Hyatt.com                           $119.40

·         Travelocity.com                $119.43

·         Orbitz.com                          $119.47

Hyatt.com hotel rate for Hyatt Monterey, Dec 11-13, 2009

Is Orbitz.com Low Price Guarantee any good in this case?

Orbitz.com Hyatt Monterey rate, December 11-13, 2009

Again, the rates being compared are nonrefundable rates. The cancellation deadline has passed for the Hyatt Regency Monterey hotel the moment you submit your reservation payment to Orbitz. And this time you do not have a lower Hyatt rate to fall back on for a claim with the hotel company. (Hyatt discounts a lower rate by 20% if a Best Rate Guarantee claim is validated.)

Travelocity.com Hyatt Monterey rate, December 11-13, 2009

In this example Travelocity should be a valid Best Rate Guarantee. The rules only consider the base rate and not any additional fees or taxes associated with the hotel stay.

“The Price and Service Guarantee applies only to the base cost, and not tax recovery charges and service fees, of standalone Flight, Hotel, Car, and Cruise bookings.”

Travelocity Best Rate Guarantee terms:

For a prepaid “Good Buy” Hotel (excluding Top Secret Hotels) if you find a Qualifying Lower Rate up until the day before check in, we will provide you with the following per booking:

§  For claims made between October 22, 2009 and December 31, 2009: One $50 Promo Code for a future “Good Buy” Hotel or Flight + Hotel vacation package booking on Travelocity and

§  A refund of the difference between the price you paid through Travelocity and the Qualifying Lower Rate.

For the next five weeks a claim with Travelocity provides a $50 future Travelocity “Good Buy” hotel credit. Come January 1, 2010 this Hyatt Regency scenario where three different prices exist will only provide you with 6 cents credit back to your card using Travelocity’s Best Rate Guarantee. Orbitz will have you shut out with their cancellation deadline clause.

Conclusion:

Best Rate Guarantee claims are easy to find if you are interested in cutting 10% (Starwood, IHG), 20% (Hyatt), or even 25% (Marriott) off the lowest rate bookable on the internet.  Or you can get a $50 future stay certificate with Orbitz or Travelocity or a $50 gift cheque from Hilton for a successful Best Rate Guarantee claim.

In these two examples the rate at Orbitz.com was not the lowest, yet the hotel rate does not appear to meet the Orbitz.com terms for a valid Lowest Price Assurance claim for a $50 credit on a future stay.

The main drawback to having a claim approved is the lag time between when a claim is submitted and when the claim is processed. Hotel rates change frequently. I watched rates go from $109 to $249 today for next weekend at the Westin Market Street San Francisco while at the same time the rate for the San Jose Sheraton dropped from $189 to $84 over the same two hour period between 11am and 1pm. And screen shots are not considered evidence for a valid claim.

Travelocity “Good Buy” Best Rate Guarantee

Orbitz Lowest Price Guarantee

Starwood Preferred Guest is currently running a targeted promotion whereby as a SPG Platinum elite member I can refer a new member to SPG for instant Gold elite and bonus points.

The new SPG member will receive instant SPG Gold elite membership valid through February 2011 and earn 1,000 bonus points for every night you stay in a Starwood Hotel between November 15, 2009 and March 31, 2010.

This offer is only valid for new members to Starwood Preferred Guest. Current SPG members and expired SPG members will be purged from this offer according to SPG representatives.

Starwood Hotels has about 1,000 properties globally. The hotel brands in the Starwood family include Sheraton, Westin, W Hotels, St. Regis, the Luxury Collection, Le Meridien, Four Points, element, and aloft. The hotel chain is regularly one of the top performers on Condé Nast’s annual Gold List of the World’s Best Hotels with far more hotels selected than the much larger hotel chains of Hilton and InterContinental Hotels Group.

Starwood Preferred Guest Gold Benefits link.

My new SPG friends earning 1,000 points per night will be earning more points per Starwood Hotel stay than me on my stays for the duration of this promotion. I only receive 500 points per stay for an SPG Platinum amenity and I don’t even receive that at some hotels.  1,000 bonus points per night is a great Starwood promotion for any member and a fantastic deal for a new SPG member.

SPG Gold elite membership normally requires 10 stays or 25 nights in a calendar year. Gold membership has the benefit of increasing your earnings to 3 Starpoints per $1 compared to 2 Starpoints per $1 as a base level SPG Blue member. The 1,000 bonus points per night is on top of points normally earned and other promotional bonuses you may be eligible to receive during this promotion period. 

Spend $300 for a three night Starwood Hotel stay and you will earn 3,900 Starpoints rather than just 600 Starpoints normally earned by a new SPG Blue level member. Free nights with SPG start at 2,000 points for a Category 1 weekend. Category 4 Cash & Points Awards are just $60 + 4,000 points per night.

So what is in it for me?

I will earn a one-time 1,000 Starpoints bonus if a referral member stays at least one time in a Starwood Hotel during the promotion period ending March 31, 2010.

Let me help you. And you help me. My wife and I would thoroughly love a nice hotel vacation in 2010 far away from California in a European Starwood Hotel courtesy of our SPG friends.

Let’s make social media work for both of us.

What would really be cool for Loyalty Traveler blog is to have my new SPG Gold friends submit a photo of a Starwood hotel stay. Let’s see if Loyalty Traveler can spread the Gold touch of travel around the world.

What you need to do for me to refer you for this promotional offer:

1.       Send me an email to ricgarridolt@gmail.com using the email address you want for the referral to Starwood Preferred Guest. I’ll try to check it at least daily for referral requests. The SPG referral only requires your email so you don’t even have to provide your name if you so choose. And if you choose to write me a note, that is cool too.

2.       I will submit your email address using the SPG promotion referral form. (see picture)

3.       You look for the referral email from SPG. You should receive the email from SPG within a day of my referral. (see picture)

4.       Join SPG using the email referral link provided in the email from SPG.

5.       Your membership status should be Gold (assuming you are truly a new SPG member)

6.       Stay in a Starwood hotel and earn 1,000 bonus points for every night by March 31, 2010.

7.       Enjoy your Starwood Hotel stays. I have enjoyed most of mine over the years.

This promotion is a targeted promotion received by SPG for selected Platinum members.

Here is a picture of the email offer I received.

My SPG Platinum member referral form for new SPG members

Here is what the email you receive from Starwood Preferred Guest will look like.

SPG Email for new SPG member registration with instant Gold elite

Terms and Conditions for the SPG Platinum Member Referral Promotion:

Existing SPG® Platinum members (“Referrers”) will earn 1,000 bonus Starpoints® for each referred friend or colleague (“Referee”) who joins the Starwood Preferred Guest® program and stays at least one eligible night between November 15, 2009, and March 31, 2010. Referrers must be Platinum status as of November 13, 2009. Referrers can earn a maximum of 1,000 bonus Starpoints per Referee, but there is no limit to the amount of Referees one can enter. Bonus Starpoints for Referrers will show up in the account within 4–6 weeks after the eligible night posts to the Referee’s account. Referrers must recommend Referees by registering and entering Referee’s email addresses on the promotion referral page. Deadline for referrals is February 28, 2010. Referees who enroll based on an existing member’s referral will earn 1,000 bonus Starpoints per eligible night between November 15, 2009, and March 31, 2010, plus receive elite Gold status through February 2011. Referees excluded from the promotion include existing SPG members, past members whose accounts have expired, or anyone who has opted out of Starwood Preferred Guest communications. There are no limits to the number of Starpoints a Referrer or Referee may earn during the promotion period. This offer is only open to Referrers who are existing Platinum members and were targeted through email directly. An eligible night is a night spent at any of the over 940 SPG participating properties while paying a qualifying rate that is eligible to earn Starpoints in the Starwood Preferred Guest program between November 15, 2009, and March 31, 2010.