Last week I was driving around downtown San Francisco. My wife had one request for me to fulfill on my day away. The task was simply to stop by Saks Fifth Avenue on Union Square and buy some Chanel makeup. I dutifully set off on the task, taking the bus from outside the Marriott Hotel at Fisherman’s Wharf and getting off at Union Square. I arrived at Saks at 6:15pm.

The store closed at 6pm last Wednesday night; three weeks before Christmas. I was dismayed.

The next morning I drove around Union Square looking for a place where I could park 30 minutes for under $2.00. After burning $2 in gas I came to the conclusion that I could remove myself from a dangerous driving situation and return home, log on to the web, and buy the Chanel while shopping for points.

All was fine until four days had passed and my wife learned I never made the online order for the Chanel product. She demanded to know why I had a problem ordering her makeup. I confessed. It was the points that stood between me and her makeup. I hadn’t yet researched which hotel program offered the best points earning deal for a hotel web portal shopping bonus.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, I have to say that excuse didn’t fly with my wife.

Fortunately, I already had a list of links to major hotel program shopping portals and it only took a few minutes to figure out IHG Priority Club Rewards and Marriott Rewards offered the best value for me with 8 points per $1 in purchases with a Nordstrom’s bonus points offer. Choice Privileges offers 16 points per $1 with Nordstrom’s, but I went with Priority Club.

I must comment on one aspect of the shopping experience. After selecting the item and seeing an $8 shipping charge, I decided to just buy 2 of the item and the purchase would qualify for free shipping. There was no way I could find to change the quantity from 1 to 2 on the order review page. Now, is that poorly designed craziness for an online shopping store or what?

I ended up closing out the order and starting all over again. When I went through the process the second time the website remembered my previous shopping cart and the quantity was now 2 items. Lucky for me that I wanted two items or I may have had a really difficult time getting back to a shopping cart with just one item.

Final order earned $108 x 8 points for 864 Priority Club points in my account. The value of the hotel points is about equivalent to the tax I paid for the make-up. Shipping was free.

If I had been on the ball I could have made the purchase on November 30 CyberMonday and received a 1,000 points online shopping bonus from Priority Club Rewards.

5 Tips to loyalty program shopping portals and shopping for points

1.       Sign in to hotel or airline program website

2.       Go to shopping portal and look for items from stores offering a combination of best price and best bonus.

3.       Carefully follow links clear through from hotel shopping entry web portal to store checkout. Using the back button or opening multiple browser windows can result in you losing credit as a hotel loyalty shopping portal buyer.

4.       Typically, I go through the hotel shopping portal and select my items for purchase, then start over again, re-enter the hotel loyalty program shopping portal and directly navigate my way to the product purchase check-out. This might be unnecessary, but I have missed out on a lot of points over the years when shopping.

5.       Keep tabs of estimated points earned and be prepared to follow-up on missing points.

Hotel Loyalty Program Shopping links

Choice Privileges Mall

Hilton HHonors Mall

Marriott Rewards Mall

Priority Club Rewards Shopping

Costco is selling Hyatt Check Certificates. The price is $79.99 (no tax) for two US$50 Hyatt Check Certificates. I purchased some yesterday.

Hyatt Check Certificate fine print

The primary restriction with Hyatt Check Certificates is you can only redeem check certificates for payment in excess of the face value of the certificate.

Hyatt Check Certificates are combinable.

Example: You book the Hyatt Regency San Francisco for $120. After tax, the bill at check-out is $139.

You can only redeem two $50 certificates for a $100 payment credit using Hyatt Check Certificates. You need to pay cash or credit for the remaining $39.

So, you do not actually get 20% off this room since you paid $79.99 ($100 Check certificates) + $39 at checkout for the amount above the certificate value. You actually pay $119 for a $139 bill and save 14% on the total bill.

Maximizing the value of the Hyatt Check Certificates is a matter of getting your final room bill to a “Price is Right” level with a twist.

Your goal with Hyatt Check Certificates is to come as close to an increment of $50 without going under. Get your checkout bill to $100.20 or $151.05 and your total savings will approach 20% using Hyatt Check Certificates for your stays.

Expiration Date: None shown on my certificates.

Loyalty Traveler’s Winter in California Travel Plan with Hyatt Hotels

I am planning a hotel hop through Hyatts in California and perhaps some other states next month to maximize the current promotion offer for a free night at any Hyatt after two stays at any Hyatt brand hotel. The promotion runs through January 31, 2009.

Combined with the free night offer, Hyatt is giving “stays count double” fast-track to elite status.

There are so many combinable promotions that I should bullet them in a recap.

• Earn a free night after every two stays.

• Stays count double for elite status. Platinum elite requires 5 stays in a calendar year and Diamond elite requires 25 stays in a calendar year. This promotion reduces that to 3 stays and 13 stays.

• Save up to 20% on your Hyatt stays by purchasing Hyatt Check Certificates at Costco.

My plan is a simple one and similar to my Hyatt Diamond qualifying hotel hops in March 2008 when Gold Passport also ran a “Stays Count Double” promotion. I will use the month of January in a blitz of Hyatt Hotel stays to maximize my earning of free nights, requalify for Hyatt Diamond elite status through February 2012 with 13 hotel stays in January 2010, and save money through the purchase of Hyatt Check certificates I plan to redeem during my January Hyatt hotel stays.

January is typically the month with the lowest hotel rates and hotel occupancy of the year in many locations.

Assume my average rate is $100 per night. 14 hotel stays is $1,400. I plan to have a stay in December to qualify for 7 free nights with my 13 January stays. I will requalify for Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond through February 2012. I will probably earn around 25,000 Gold passport points with G bonus offers and elite bonuses.

Estimated Spend: $1,100 (after up to 20% savings from Costco Hyatt check certificates)

Estimated Added Value to paid hotel stays: $2,500 to $3,500

1.       7 free nights ($2,000 to $3,000 at a resort property or international urban hotel)

2.       25,000 Gold Passport points ($500)

3.       Regency Club lounge and suite upgrades during paid stays (?)

4.       Travel experience (priceless)

What is the value of hotel loyalty program elite status?

Hyatt Gold Passport made major loyalty program enhancements in 2009.

1.       No blackout dates for free nights using hotel points.

2.       Free internet for elite members.

3.       Diamond members receive complimentary Regency Club access, or in lieu of Regency Club, the member receives restaurant certificates + 2,500 Gold passport points.

4.       Diamond members receive four confirmed suite upgrades per membership year.

I currently have two free nights to use before the end of the month with two different hotel chains. These free nights were given to me solely as an elite member benefit.

Starwood Preferred Guest gave me a free night at any hotel, up to Category 5, as a gift for being SPG Platinum this year (25 stays or 50 nights in a calendar year). I earned my 2009 status in 2008 with a Stays Count Double promotion and a hotel hopping trip to Canada. You can get instant SPG Gold elite if you are new to Starwood Preferred Guest?

Hyatt Gold Passport gave me a free night at any Hyatt Place or Hyatt Summerfield Suites as a Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond member (25 stays or 50 nights in a calendar year). I earned my status for 2009 with two weeks of hotel stays in a March Madness 2008 stimulus tour during a ‘stays count double” promotion.

Loyalty traveler plans to jumpstart 2010 travel with multiple Hyatt experiences. I think it is going to be a good year of travel for this traveler. There is no better time to jump into the loyalty travel game if you can afford the admission fee.

Passports with Purpose – Win 50,000 Hyatt Gold passport points

Passports with Purpose raffle prizes include a chance to win 50,000 Hyatt Gold passport points. $10 will purchase a raffle ticket and help build a new school in Preah Vihear, Cambodia. We raised $13,000 already to build the school and now the goal is another $13,000 to provide health care, food, and clean water for the school. Small actions working together allow us to make a difference.