Hyatt Gold Passport is sponsoring a 50,000 bonus points prize through Loyalty Traveler to help build a school in Cambodia via the Passports with Purpose fundraiser. The fundraising goal of $13,000 will provide money to an independent non-profit organization, American Assistance for Cambodia (AAfC), founded by American journalist Bernie Krisher. The Rural Schools Project is AAfC’s major effort and $13,000 in donations will receive matching funds from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank to build a school for needy rural children. The Rural Schools Project has built over 400 schools in Cambodia over the past decade.

Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof described his family’s journey to Cambodia last year to participate in the school opening ceremony for a junior high school they raised donations to help build.

The route to raising $13,000 through Passports with Purpose, an organization founded by Seattle travelbloggers, is a travel-oriented prize raffle made possible by donations from sponsors through the community of travelbloggers across the globe.

Loyalty Traveler was late to the effort as I just learned of this 2^nd annual travelbloggers fundraiser last week when I wrote about Passports with Purpose in this piece.  I did not have much to give except hotel points and advice, so I made a direct appeal through social media, Facebook, Twitter, and my Loyalty Traveler blog to solicit donations from hoteliers for the Passports with Purpose fundraiser. I certainly would have preferred to have taken a more personalized approach, but time was of the essence with the raffle starting November 30 and the holiday weekend approaching. The outreach of social media was successful in making contact with one of my favorite hotel chains.

Hyatt Gold Passport donates 50,000 Bonus Points for Passports with Purpose prize

Hyatt Gold Passport has provided a generous donation of 50,000 bonus points for the Passports with Purpose raffle. These points can be redeemed for free nights anywhere in the world so the winner can create any type of Hyatt travel experience he or she wishes. Hyatt Hotels & Resorts has 415 properties worldwide including the Park Hyatt, Andaz, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt Place, Hyatt Summerfield Suites and Hyatt Vacation Club brands.

Total Prize Value: Approximately $1,500

To get more details about Hyatt Gold Passport, please visit the Hyatt Gold Passport site.

To Participate: To win this prize, simply donate $10 for each online raffle entry on the Passports with Purpose Donation page and select this Hyatt Gold Passport prize or any of the other prizes you want to win with your ticket(s). Winner must provide their First and Last Name and Hyatt Gold Passport account number to receive bonus points. To join Hyatt Gold Passport visit www.goldpassport.com.

Key Dates:
PwP drawing begins: Nov 30
PwP closes: Dec 21
Prize winners announced: Jan 5 

Passports with Purpose Raffle Donation Terms:

One (1) winner will receive 50,000 Hyatt Gold Passport bonus points.  (Approximate retail value $1,500 USD) Winner must provide their First and Last Name and Hyatt Gold Passport account number to receive bonus points. To join Hyatt Gold Passport visit www.goldpassport.com.  This prize is subject to the terms and conditions of the Hyatt Gold Passport program. Please allow 6-8 weeks after member information is received for Hyatt Gold Passport bonus points to be credited to your account. Hyatt reserves the right to alter or withdraw this program at any time without notice. Hyatt Hotels & Resorts® encompasses hotels managed, franchised or leased by subsidiaries and affiliates of Hyatt Hotels Corporation. The trademarks Hyatt™, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts™, Park Hyatt™, Andaz™, Grand Hyatt™, Hyatt Regency™, Hyatt Place™, Hyatt Summerfield Suites™, Hyatt Gold Passport™, and related marks are trademarks of Hyatt Corporation. © 2009 Hyatt Corporation. All rights reserved.

Link to Hyatt Gold Passport Promotion Terms and Conditions for Passports with Purpose prize. 

Related Loyalty Traveler posts:

Hyatt Gold Passport is currently offering one of the best hotel loyalty programs in years. I study these promotions and this offer is truly exceptional. Earn a free night after every two stays at any Hyatt brand hotel and earn airline miles while receiving double credit for elite status through January 31, 2010. Also, Costco is selling $100 in Hyatt Gift certificates this holiday season for $79.99 to reduce the cost of your Hyatt stays by 20%. Rarely is loyalty travel this giving.

Earn 2,500 airline miles with every two nights at a Hyatt brand hotel through January 31 (Oct. 5, 2009)

Hyatt Faster Free Nights + Stays Count Double promotion analysis Oct.1 – Jan 31, 2010 (Sep 19, 2009)

Hoteliers Needed! Help Passports with Purpose Build a School in Cambodia (Nov 24, 2009)

Hyatt Hotels Redemption Category Distribution (Nov. 6, 2009)

Hyatt Gold Passport Enhancements – And they really are enhancements (April 2, 2009)

Passports with Purpose and Hyatt Hotels in Bali (Dec 5, 2009)

Passports with Purpose Links:

Passports with Purpose (homepage)

Passports with Purpose Raffle Prizes and Donation page

Hyatt Hotels and Hyatt Gold Passport links:

Hyatt Hotels homepage 

Hyatt Gold Passport

Hyatt Gold Passport Free Night Awards with Points

Hotels, the magazine of the worldwide hotel industry, posted an article yesterday on www.hotelsmag.com – Value to Remain in Vogue in U.S.

Not so surprising survey result for this loyalty traveler is the “household budget” remains the primary deterrent to future leisure travel.

The most significant decline in leisure travel is expected among Gen X and Gen Y, in other words, pretty much anyone under 45 years of age. Older people are expected to travel more in 2010.

“I’ve got no job, I’ve got no career, and the house is always a mess!” was the phrase my two-year-old niece repeatedly espoused last Christmas with extended little arm gestures. 2009 brought that toddler’s video mimicking gestures to reality for so many people in the U.S.

Leisure travelers are expected to be the majority of travelers filling hotels and planes with business travel flat for 2010. 53% of U.S. households say they are planning a trip by April 2010. One year ago that number was 56%. Let’s say there are 100 million housholds. 3 million fewer trips is a significant decline over the past year and a tough forecast on hotels over the next six months. Business travelers report only 18% of adults planning at least one business trip by April 2010 and 24% state fewer business trips are projected over the next six months.

The rather bleak outlook from the Travel Sentiment index  leads me to Joe Sharkey’s New York Times piece of November 23, “For the Hotel Industry, Recovery is a Long Way Off.”

Joe interviewed Lalia Rach, Dean of the Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports management at New York University. I particularly like this comment from her, “The American consumer now really understands the quality-value price equation, and I’m not sure that has sunk into the hotel industry. That is the new normal.”

Hotel occupancy projected at 55% in 2010 is at lows only matched by the 9/11 aftermath and the Great Depression of the 1930s. Room rates are predicted to continue falling as hotel discounting is likely to be the norm for 2010.

Another piece in the New York Times by Elizabeth Olson, “Hotel Chains Try New Ways to Earn Loyalty” came out yesterday. Her article cites Forrester Research travel analyst Henry Harteveldt as saying only 36% of business travelers are brand loyal in 2009 compared to 42% two years ago.

In my head I guestimate 20 million business travelers (20M is just my estimate and not based on any source). The 6% overall drop in business traveler loyalty means hotel loyalty programs have lost around 15% of their business traveler customer base in the past two years. This amounts to around 1.2 million business travelers having dropped brand loyalty in the past two years in a market segment of 8.4 million business travelers who had hotel brand loyalty.

The Travel Sentiment index cited earlier stated leisure travelers will be filling the rooms and planes in 2010.

My Loyalty Traveler conclusion is leisure travelers can expect to be targeted by high-value hotel loyalty program promotions in 2010.

And if 2009 was a leading indicator of the travel industry forecast, then 2010 is the Year of Value.