Barbara DeLollis published a sneak peek of HHonors 2010 category placement for a selection of Hilton Hotels properties going up, staying the same, and going down. My initial reading of her article left me confused. The numbers did not make sense to me. The confusion is apparently common among FlyerTalkers discussing her article and the HHonors hotel category changes in this thread.

The paragraph in question reads like this,

“Hilton will move 547 properties (or 16% of total) into a cheaper points category, while it will move 354 others (or 10%) into a pricier category. (These changes come on top of the 20% increase in the number of points required for a free night’s stay across Hilton’s system.)”

Here is my Loyalty traveler take:

1.       The parenthetical statement, “These changes come on top of the 20% increase” is the source of confusion. That does not make any sense considering the preceding statement. There is only a 20% increase in points for a free night across the system if every hotel is bumped up a category for 2010. In other words, if a 2009 category 2 hotel becomes a category 3, category 4 goes to category 5, and so on, then there is a 20% across the system increase in points needed for a free night.

 

2.       She cites Jeff Diskin saying 547 hotels (16%) will move into a cheaper points category and 354 hotels (10%) will be in a higher category. 74% of the hotels, 2,575 hotels will remain in the same category. 

 

These are radically different numbers than the message I have been pushing regarding the changes in HHonors for 2010 based on earlier statements and lack of statements from HHonors representatives to clearly address the scope of the 2010 changes.  

The new category chart is clearly posted on the HHonors site. The chart is displayed with the 2009 HHonors hotel categories aligned in the same column as higher level 2010 categories. This graphic display of the 2010 changes, along with statements by HHonors Representative on FlyerTalk have led members and analysts to conclude Hilton HHonors planned to increase all hotels to one category level higher with the 2010 changes.

 

Jeff Diskin appears to contradict this across-the-system hotel category shift in the USA Today article with a statement that 74% of hotels will remain in the same category in 2010.

 

3.       Did social media have actionable results on the HHonors changes? Did forums like FlyerTalk, news articles, and blogs convince Hilton HHonors to rethink the 2010 hotel category changes?

 

    

HHonors is mysteriously quiet about the changes. Details on how the hotel category shift in 2010 will be implemented are still confusing after reading the USA Today article.

My advice for Mr. Diskin and HHonors.

Get the word out on FlyerTalk ASAP in a clearly worded manner if the changes are really only 10% of hotels requiring more points in 2010.

Stop the hemorrhaging of the HHonors value proposition in the minds of your frequent guests.  

Can you name 3 hotel brands of Carlson Hotels?

Carlson Hotels Worldwide is headquartered in Minneapolis and the company is reported to have a focus on brand identity development for 2010. The Carlson hotel chain is similar in size to Starwood Hotels with over 1,000 hotels globally, yet the Gold Points Plus hotel loyalty program lacks the stature of a much smaller hotel chain like Hyatt Hotels with only 40% of the hotel properties of Carlson Hotels.

Hotels Magazine published a profile of the Carlson Hotel chain two weeks ago. Radisson Hotels is the upscale brand of the Carlson Hotels chain. Radisson and Radisson Blu (upper-upscale) are more than 400 hotels worldwide and are better known brands in Europe than the USA. The company has plans for another 89 Radisson hotels outside the USA. The 5-year plan for Radisson Hotels is to make the brand appear competitive in North America and comparable to Starwood’s Sheraton and Westin brands. The bulk of the Carlson Hotel chain properties are the midscale Country Inn & Suites (about 500 hotels) and Park Inn (about 100 hotels) brands. Country Inn & Suites is one of the largest mid-market brands in the USA.

Carlson Hotels unveils one of the first winter 2010 promotions and this looks like a respectable bonus offer for Gold Points. Each stay beginning with the second stay earns cumulative points bonuses.

2^nd stay = Earn 5,000 bonus points

3^rd stay = Earn 7,500 more bonus points.

4^th stay = Earn 12,500 more bonus points.

5^th stay = Earn 25,000 more bonus points.

50,000 total bonus points after 5 stays.

50,000 Gold Points Bonus Points Promotion registration is required.

The hotel loyalty program winter offers should be rolling out over the next couple of weeks across a variety of hotel chains.

Gold Points Plus hotel loyalty program Links:

Gold Points Plus Earn Points

Gold Points Plus Redeem points Hotel Award tables

Gold Points Plus Member Benefits

Discount award nights through January 31, up to 50% off

Sample hotels at 50% off discount for 30,000 points a free night:

• Radisson Boston, 30,000 points

• Radisson Plaza Minneapolis

• Radisson SAS Hotel Altstadt Salzburg, Austria

• Radisson SAS Royal Hotel Copenhagen, Denmark

• Radisson Blu Hotel at Disneyland Paris, France

• Radisson Blu Hotel, Capetown, South Africa

• Radisson Hotel, Sydney, Australia

Loyalty Traveler post on Gold Points Plus

http://boardingarea.com/blogs/loyaltytraveler/2009/09/18/carlson-hotels-goldpoints-plus-double-points-to-dec-15/ (This September 18, 2009 post offered some analysis on the Gold Points Plus hotel loyalty program. My September criticism of the website seems to have been addressed. Information looked easy to locate on the website today.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rated Best Kid-Friendly Hotel in San Francisco by Oyster.com. I prefer the Sheraton across the street myself.

 

Loyalty Traveler Hotel Loyalty Promotion Key rating = 3 keys

A reader’s comment the other day asked if I would give a simple points value for the different hotel chains. I quickly made an educated assessment off the top of my head.  

Hilton $6-9/1,000 points
Hyatt $15-$20/1,000 points
IHG Priority Club $7-$10/1,000 points
Marriott Rewards $7-10/1,000 points
Starwood Preferred Guest $35-$50/1,000 points

The comment had me thinking this past week about a method for making an accurate and precise calculation. I do not have the advanced mathematical tools to create a sophisticated analysis. Here is a great business idea for a fellow entrepreneur. Create computer programs that can evaluate high value redemptions for points and provide a list of hotels with great value for points.

My Loyalty Traveler corollary applies for this analysis:

“Points only have potential value until they are redeemed.”

Location is the key component of any program assessment when comparing one hotel chain to another. You have a good idea of the value of Starpoints or HHonors points if those are the points currency you frequently work with for your hotel stays. When it comes to comparing hotel programs and the value of points, then location comes into play along with other factors.

1.       Location – the objective variable. Look at the hotels in a particular city and compare points cost to rates for specific dates. That is what I have done for this assessment and in tribute to the Colbert Show I have titled this piece “Better Know a City”.

2.       Potential to earn points in the hotel loyalty program. This is the subjective variable and is related to the promotions offered, hotel stay pattern, elite status, and credit card earning.

My subjective evaluation of points earning ranking:

a.       IHG Priority Club

b.      Starwood/Hyatt

c.       Hilton/Marriott

Better Know a City – New York City

NYC is the most expensive hotel city in the US and therefore the hotel categories are also high for the different chains.

I picked a 3-night stay for Monday through Wednesday nights, April 5-8, 2010.

This is a date far enough in the future that awards were available 49 of 50 hotels in the city of New York and rates have probably not been discounted yet. Hotels typically begin heavy discounting within a few weeks of a stay date when occupancy is too low.

As will be seen from this analysis, the typically high hotel category placement for New York City hotels gives IHG Priority Club a competitive advantage in a hotel loyalty program comparison.

Priority Club bases the cost of a free night on hotel brand rather than hotel category. For this reason the cost in points for a free night at the Candlewood Suites in New York City is the same 15,000 points as a free night at the Candlewood Suites in Flowood, Mississippi.

Here are some observations on free night award searches across hotel loyalty programs:

 

1.       Starwood Hotels is the easiest program to check award availability compared to cash price. The initial search results for a location show the cash room rate, free night availability, and Cash & Points, if available. The search results also show the hotel category level for points. A member must be logged in as a member to check award availability with the other hotel chains.

 

2.       Hilton and Marriott require a check of the hotel’s homepage to see Hotel Category level. Hyatt requires a check of hotel category through Gold Passport award chart links.

 

 

3.       Marriott Rewards design is a mess. Has it always been this way?

I searched New York, New York and up to 92 hotels were displayed. I saw no function on the webpage to narrow this list down to just NYC downtown hotels.

 

Hilton and Starwood both offer a function to limit the geographic search to within a few miles of the location desired. Marriott Rewards did not even show a New York City hotel on page 1 of the search results.

 

I ended up searching by Category. The problem here is only one category could be searched at a time. I had to check Category 8, then Category 7, then Category 6, each time starting the search from scratch with New York City and filtering the 90+ hotel list down to the desired hotels so I would see only NYC listings.

 

New York City Results:

 

 

Hyatt Gold Passport  

Redemption value $20.02 for 2 hotels;

range $19.21 to $20.83

The best deal is Grand Hyatt New York, a Category 4 hotel at 15,000 points per night.

 

 

Starwood Preferred Guest  

Redemption value $22.14 per 1,000 points for 9 hotels;

range $14.40 – $34.92

Starwood Preferred Guest in New York City

 

SPG typically is a poor value for points when redeeming high category hotel properties. An unexpected result in this study was the relatively good redemption value for the Category 7, St. Regis New York. At $845 per night or 30,000 points, the points value of $28.16/1,000 points actually came out as one of the best deals for the SPG member in New York City. But seriously, $845 per night? That is some Wall Street level cash to spend for a hotel night.

 

4 of 9 Starwood hotels had a redemption value of less than $20 per 1,000 points.  That is a poor value and far below the $40 to $50 per 1,000 points a member can easily receive in many locations. I’d spend cash and save my points for another day.

 

Hilton HHonors  

Redemption value $6.68 per 1,000 points (17 hotels);

range $4.91-10.98 based on 2009 category levels.

 

If all these properties move up one category in 2010, then the

2010 redemption value = $5.62 per 1,000 points

range will be $3.98-$8.78.

 

The Waldorf=Astoria was the only New York City hotel not available as an award among the 50 hotels searched across the different hotel chains. The hotel was available for Sunday night April 4 at 40,000 points (50,000 points as of January 15, 2010.)

Doubletree Guest Suites Times Square was the only hotel to have a redemption value over $10/1,000 points, however, this hotel was by far the most expensive Hilton brand property in the city for the April dates at $439 per night for this Category 6 hotel. The Waldorf Towers was only $399 for the same dates.

 

Marriott Rewards

Redemption value = $7.54/1,000 points;

range $5.97 to $8.63  (11 hotels)

 

Marriott Rewards in New York City

 

 

 

InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club

Redemption value = $9.96/1,000 points;

range $7.00 to $17.00  (10 hotels)

IHG Priority Club in New York City

 

Conclusion: My initial off-the-top-of-my-head estimates of points redemption value were within the range I found for New York City with the exception of Starwood Preferred Guest where the value was significantly lower than I estimated.

In my defense, SPG has poor redemption value at most high category hotels. I have repeatedly made this criticism of the program on Loyalty traveler blog. The St. Regis New York at $845 per night is an exception to the rule. This is actually a good use of 30,000 points for a SPG category 7 hotel.

I have never actually redeemed points for any hotel higher than a category 5 in the Starwood hotel chain. My analyses generally conclude a member is better off paying the big bucks for a high category hotel and saving your points for higher value hotel stays at Category 2 to 4 hotels and Cash & Points stays.

As someone who has burned several hundred thousand Starpoints, I typically get around $50 per 1,000 points with my free night redemptions. Cash & Points is usually the high value deal. Unfortunately, there were few offers of Cash & Points rates for the New York City Starwood Hotels so far in advance of the April date.

Priority Club and Hyatt Gold Passport show high value points redemption opportunities. Points & Cash rates with Priority Club provides even higher value for your points at these hotels.

Hilton and Marriott both showed redemption values in the lower range I initially estimated. Hilton, Marriott, and SPG offer better value when you have a 4 or 5 night stay and receive a discount on points.

IHG Priority Club and Hyatt Gold Passport are easily the winners for best value in the Better Know a City for your hotel points stays in New York.

This holiday season has revealed some incredible rock bottom bargain rates for hotels. The city of Denver has special Mile High Holidays promotional rates for over 40 Denver area hotels starting at $52.80 per night. Link to Mile High Holidays hotel list.

Participating hotels offer the low rates for the month of December and some hotels extend the rate discount into January.

The hotels shown here are just a sample of the hotels listed offering discount rates. These are hotels where I easily found the rate the first dates I searched and the rate was offered through the hotel chain’s own website for loyalty credit eligibility.

$52.80 rates

Marriott brands

Denver Marriott City Center $52.80

Marriott Courtyard Denver Stapleton (thru January 6)

Marriott Courtyard Denver Tech Center

Marriott Courtyard Denver Downtown

Ritz-Carlton Denver $152.80 Fridays and Saturdays

Starwood Hotels

Aloft Denver Airport (Starwood) $52.80 Thursday – Sunday stays December and January

Westin Tabor $105.60 (includes breakfast for two).

There are many other hotels listed for this special. Finding the discount rate was more challenging for other Hilton, Hyatt, and IHG properties I searched. All the major chains had some properties with rates under $99/night.

While Denver has a city-wide organized campaign for hotel rate discounts, there are also special super-discount hotel deals in other locations:

Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco $49 room rates for San Francisco 49ers home game dates: December 14 and 27.

Have you seen super disount rates in other locations?

December is the month for securing elite status. People in the know, those frequent guests and fliers making mattress runs and mileage runs this month, know that a few unnecessary hotel room nights or a few thousand miles of unnecessary airline flights are truly necessary. Some loyalty travelers are frantically booking travel solely for the purpose of attaining the magic threshold of higher elite status in 2010.

And it is magic when after 10 minutes waiting in the elite security line at the crowded airport, you barely get on your plane just before it taxies out of the gate. You reflect on the frazzled family who walked up to the elite check-in airport counter just in front of you, each parent cradling a crying toddler, with a hands-free wandering preschooler lagging behind dragging a backpack, a babystroller under Dad’s arm, two suitcases, two backpacks, and a purse.  You watched as you moved closer to the elite member check-in counter while the parents were steered away from the Star Alliance Gold members check-in line to the hopelessly long economy class general members’ line extending halfway down the terminal. They were supposed to depart on the same flight as you, but they hadn’t even arrived at the security zone as you passed through the detectors and rushed off to the gate. They are still waiting in some non-elite fliers’ line while you are comfortably seated in First Class as the plane heads toward the runway.

Elite level status has practical implications in the frequent flier world beyond upgrades and airport lounges.

I haven’t been on a plane in the past few months. I watched scenarios like I described here over a number of years when I traveled as a United Airlines Mileage Plus elite member. I flew over 100,000 miles a year for several years primarily as a means of flying comfortably and having the privilege to hang out at airport lounges during international flights.

Joe Sharkey has a piece posted this week on his blog, Joe Sharkey At Large, “Continental Airlines is the Latest Airline to Diss Lower-Level Elite-Status Customers”. His piece is about how Continental Airlines offers enhancements to the most frequent fliers in the 100,000 flight miles per year category and new super-tier called Presidential Platinum elite for the cream of the Platinum fliers.

Flying 100,000 miles is expensive for a leisure traveler. I held United 1K for a couple of years with less than $2,500 in spending on flights annually, but then there was another $1,500 or so for my wife’s flights. And then add another $4,000 to $5,000 for lodging, and then add daily expenses when traveling. 

$4,000 to $5,000 in airfare was one expense I had to cut back, about 30% of my annual travel budget, to have some money available to put into Loyalty Traveler business expenses. Loyalty Traveler was founded as a business for explaining the value of elite status with travel loyalty programs and ironically I had to give up elite status air travel to conserve resources for the business. I hope to get back to a much higher level of air travel in the next year or two.

Right now my focus is maintaining high elite status in a couple of hotel programs – Hyatt Gold Passport and Starwood Preferred Guest – for my hotel travel. I just suffer like the masses when I have to get on a plane.

Ed Perkins wrote a piece on SmarterTravel.com, “Dollars Trump Miles as a Measure of Airline Loyalty”. Ed had an issue with upgrading a United flight using miles. He could not get an advance confirmation of the upgrade.

My experience of traveling around the world as a United 1K was a blast when I could buy a $600 ticket from California to Singapore, upgrade my ticket to a business class seat with a systemwide certificate (SWU), hang out at the international lounge in SFO before the flight, and then pop into the United Red Carpet Club at Narita Airport Tokyo for a free shower and a couple of glasses from the automatic beer dispenser. My cheap economy ticket also allowed me to earn 40,000 to 50,000 redeemable miles and 18,000 to 36,000 elite qualifying miles depending on promotions.

The problem with all that lovely treatment as a United 1K is that travel with my wife Kelley wasn’t always as fun. I’m not talking about a need for Tiger Woods entertainment without the wifey. I am talking about the fact that my United Airlines Mileage Plus elite status regularly provided upgrades for me, domestic and international. However, Kelley’s low level elite status, and sometimes even as a Premier Executive, frequently did not allow her to clear the upgrade list. We often traveled separately on the same plane to Europe with me in her assigned economy class seat and her in my upgraded Business Class seat.

Mom & Dad’s Florida Vacation

My parents have learned the value of Starwood Preferred Guest elite status – especially since they do not have it. This morning I received a call from my mom vacationing in Florida. Their hotel travel tally so far is three Starwoods and a Hilton in Florida. I asked them to take pictures of the view from each bedroom window at their hotels.

Hotel websites are generally good about photos of the hotel entrance, the lobby, restaurants, and pool.

Hotel websites rarely show a prospective guest the view from the less desirable side of the hotel. I am struck by the number of times I stay at a hotel and receive the preferred view and think this was a good deal. And I consider all those people I see coming out of their room located on the other side of the hallway and I wonder, “Do you feel like you’ve been cheated with this hotel stay?”

So my mom tells me they had a nice size room at a Sheraton in Fort Lauderdale, but faced the parking lot for the multi-night stay. Then, it was the Sheraton in Key West at a resort property on the beach, but their room was not facing the beach side of the hotel. Then, her description of the room in Coral Gables was “nicely furnished, but the room was miniscule.” She said the rooms are nothing like I get when I stay at Starwood Hotels.

“Elite Status” is my Two Word Response

Earning elite status with a hotel chain is really a much easier affair than airline frequent flier programs. Playing the 100,000 mile game with airlines is a matter of either several long-haul international trips or a whole lot of domestic flying. Hotel loyalty high-level elite-status is something many travelers can earn without even leaving town. You will appreciate your effort when you take that $3,000 beach resort vacation and spend the week looking at the beach from your hotel room window and balcony.

Here is the view from my room when I stayed at the Westin Mission Hills near Palm Springs, California.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I received an upgrade on my Cash & Points stay to a golf course view preferred room. A general member of SPG on the same rate would be more likely to have received a room with this type of view across the parking lot.

Westin Mission Hills Resort – the other side of the hotel

 

Stays Count Double through January 31, 2010 with Hyatt Gold Passport

 

 

 

(The Next Big Thing registration required)

Hyatt Gold Passport is offering double stay credit for elite status through January 31, 2010. Elite status is based on paid stays completed in a calendar year. This means you can earn Hyatt Gold Passport Platinum level elite membership with just 3 stays in January or Diamond elite with 13 stays. The elite status you earn with Hyatt Gold Passport in January 2010 during stays count double will remain valid for over two years through February 2012.

Between fast-track elite status and Costco Hyatt Check Certificates at a 20% discount, the cost to earn high elite Diamond status with Hyatt can readily be accomplished for under $1,000 in many places while earning free nights for a fantastic February or March 2010 resort vacation. Check out your local Hyatt Place hotel rates. You can even go upscale Hyatt at a bargain with low January rates in many locations. The Hyatt Regency San Francisco was over $250 per night for most of summer 2009 and is less than half that rate for most weekends in January 2010. San Diego hotels are an incredible bargain right now.

Starwood Preferred Guest instant SPG Gold elite for New Members

Starwood Preferred Guest has offered a “stays count double” promotion every year for the past several years. Take advantage of the offer if it comes around next year and you can set yourself up with high-level elite-status.

Seriously, when you are spending a couple of thousand dollars for a vacation, a little bit of annual hotel planning can put you in that beach resort hotel on the beach side of the hotel rather than the resort view of the parking lot.

If you are new to Starwood Preferred Guest and you would like to receive instant SPG Gold elite membership, valid through February 2011, then just send me an email ricgarridolt@gmail.com. With my SPG Platinum member referral, you can be registered for 1,000 bonus points per night ($35 value) at Starwood Hotels through March 31, 2010 and you will receive an instant upgrade to SPG Gold Elite membership. And I get 1,000 points if you actually stay in a Starwood Hotel by March 31. A win-win-win deal for you, me, and Starwood.

Hotel Loyalty Program Links:

Hyatt Gold Passport “The Next Big Thing” Promotion

Hyatt Gold Passport Platinum elite benefits (lower-tier elite)

Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond elite benefits (higher-tier)

Starwood Preferred Guest Gold elite benefits

Starwood Preferred Guest Platinum elite benefits

Loyalty Traveler posts:

Passports with Purpose Win 50,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points

Earn 2,500 airline miles with every two nights at Hyatt brand hotels (Oct. 5, 2009)

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

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

 

Earn 10,000 points using Promo Code 10KSTAR2. Westin at Home store link.

This promotion is being advertised on the SPG homepage. The value of 10,000 points, currently $280, is a little more than the $225 shipping charges. Good deal if you are in the market for a Westin bed.

I think the periodic 20% discount is a better deal, especially if you are making a $2,000+ purchase for the King size mattress and box spring. The mattress is really only half the Heavenly Bed experience. The bedding pieces – mattress pad, linens, pillows, blanket, and duvet - are essential for the real feel of a Westin Heavenly bed and that runs another $1,200 to $2,000.

10,000 bonus points is still a good offer from SPG if you want a new bed now.

 

Choice Hotels has launched their winter promotion for triple points or miles beginning with your second stay for stays with arrival date from December 10, 2009 to February 28, 2010. The promotion gives members 30 points per US$1 on hotel room rate spending. My analysis shows there is good value in using this promotion to earn Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards credits.

 

You must maintain a U.S. (including U.S. territories) address to earn Choice Privileges® points with this promotion.

 

Triple Points or Miles promotion registration also enters you into a Hawaii sweepstakes for a 6 night Choice Hotels vacation and $2,000 cash to buy your airfare ($3,800 prize value).

 

Choice Privileges Triple Points or Miles Registration page link.

 

Choice Hotels is the second largest hotel chain in the world with over 5,000 properties globally. (Wyndham Hotel Group is #1). Choice Hotels is a franchise hotel organization.

 

Earning points is possible in these locations:

• U.S.,

• Canada

• Mexico

• Caribbean

• Europe (excluding Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden)

• Australasia (including Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Papua New Guinea and Fiji).

 

A quick check of new hotel openings reveals new properties in Japan, India, and Brazil. According to the earning terms these hotels appear to be nonparticipants for earning points.

 

Earning Points in Choice Privileges

 

Choice Hotels Privileges members earn 10 points per $US1 for room rate charge only at these Choice Hotels brands.

 

• Comfort Inn

• Comfort Suites

• Quality

• Sleep Inn

• Clarion

• Ascend Collection

• Cambria Suites

In Australasia (including Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Fiji), you earn 10 points for each whole U.S. dollar. Eligible charges include: accommodation, tax, restaurant, bar charges, laundry and phone calls.

 

Choice Hotels Privileges members in U.S. and Canada earn 5 points per $US1 for room rate charges, excluding tax, restaurant, and other incidental charges at these Choice Hotels brands:

• MainStay Suites

• Suburban Extended Stay Hotel,

• Econo Lodge 

• Rodeway Inn

You must choose either Choice Privileges points or Airline Rewards for this triple points or triple miles promotion offer and notify the hotel of your preference upon check-in.

 

Earning Miles with Triple Airline Miles Promotion is Valid with these Airline Partners

250 miles per stay (750 miles with triple miles promotion)

• Air Canada Aeroplan,

• Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan,

• American Airlines AAdvantage,

• Continental Airlines OnePass,

• Czech Airlines OK Plus,

• Delta SkyMiles,

• MexicanaGO,

• Spirit Airlines FREE SPIRIT,

• United Mileage Plus or

• US Airways Dividend Miles

Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards is the best earning value during this promotion

Choice Privileges members normally earn 0.5 credits with Southwest Airlines per stay, but will receive 1.5 credits with triple miles promotion.

A free flight on Southwest requires 16 credits (11 Choice brand hotel stays by February 28, 2010 with 3x miles promotion).

Consider that a $55 per night average room rate or $605 in hotel stays can result in a free $250 Southwest airline ticket. Southwest Airlines frequent flier credit is clearly a good value for return on your investment in Choice Hotels.

Comparison of Choice Privileges Points Earning to Southwest Airlines credits

$600 in hotel spending will earn 18,000 points with the 3x points earning preference. Free hotel nights range from 6,000 points to 35,000 points with Choice Privileges. 18,000 points will likely earn a free night at a mid-level hotel for perhaps a $100 value. A free cross-country Southwest airline ticket can have a $200 to $300 value.

Choice offers points-to-miles exchange with Southwest at the ratio of 6,000 points = 1.5 credits. This is only 4.5 Southwest credits with a points-to-miles exchange of 18,000 points.

The 3x miles promotion earns 16.5 Southwest flight credits on 11 stays costing around $600 for economy brand hotels. A member with numerous low cost stays will probably get higher value from earning Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards credit compared to points.

Choice Privileges is the best program during this promotion for earning Southwest credits in comparison to other hotel loyalty programs after Hyatt Gold Passport’s promotion ends December 31, 2009.

16 Southwest credits from 11 Choice Hotel stays is equivalent to:

Hyatt Gold Passport = Earn: 0.5 credit per stay normally, but currently can earn 2.5 additional bonus credits after every two nights, up to 25 bonus credits through December 31, 2009. 12 nights at Hyatt Hotel brands by December 31 will earn 18 Southwest credits. Burn: 40,000 points = 16 credits.

Marriott Rewards = Earn: 0.5 credit per stay; Burn: 70,000 points for 16 credits

IHG Priority Club = Earn: 0.5 credit per stay; Burn: 80,000 points for 16 credits

Hilton HHonors = Earn: 0.5 credit per stay; Burn: 160,000 points for 16 credits

Choice Hotels Triple Miles Promotion is a good value for Southwest Airlines flyers.

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.

 

Many people prefer airline miles over hotel points. I understand the value equation when your air miles are used for Business and First Class travel, but I have a hard time seeing the value in exchanging 20,000 Starpoints for 25,000 miles to redeem a domestic economy class airline ticket.

When grandma wants to see her grandkids for the summer vacation, a handful of airline tickets may have more benefit than a week in a luxury hotel room. Travelers have different needs.

Hotel points to miles exchanges allow a hotel loyalty program member to convert hotel points into frequent flier miles.  Major hotel loyalty programs including Hilton HHonors, Hyatt Gold Passport, InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club Rewards, Marriott Rewards, and Starwood Preferred Guest offer this option for points-to-miles conversion. In general, you can only transfer hotel points to a frequent flyer account where both accounts are in your same name. You cannot move your points into another person’s frequent flyer account.

Marriott Rewards offers the best exchange ratio for points-to-miles conversion across a broad spectrum of airlines when compared to other hotel loyalty programs, particularly with its Hotel + Air packages where the hotel points-to-miles ratio is an even 1:1 conversion.  Hyatt Gold Passport shows the next best overall points-to-miles exchange program.

Exchange rates differ between hotel loyalty programs for points-to-miles exchanges, although, as seen in the tables there is a cluster of similar exchange rates for Hyatt, IHG, and Starwood. The conversion rates for Hyatt and Starwood remain remarkably close, even up to both programs offering 25% bonus miles when converting large blocks of points-to-miles.

Hotel-points-to-airline-miles is one-way exchange route.

Hotel-points-to-airline-miles is a one-way exchange route. Conversions are not allowed in the reverse direction from airline-miles-to-hotel-points.

Hilton HHonors has the competitive edge of the five hotel loyalty programs compared in these tables in being the only hotel loyalty program to offer a conversion of airline-miles-to-hotel-points with a relatively good rate of exchange for several airline partners; American Airlines being the most prominent transfer partner among the major US airlines.

The international airline tables I have put together for hotel-points-to-airline-miles conversion shows a higher degree of variability than the domestic airlines. Some prominent international airlines do not partner with one or more of the hotel programs. Several international airlines available for points-to-miles conversion with one of more of the major hotel loyalty programs have not been included in the tables for this post.

I have included an explanation regarding Hilton HHonors at the end of this post to address the Points & Miles feature of the HHonors program. The tables below show HHonors at or near the bottom for the poorest exchange ratio in points-to-miles transfers with nearly every airline. Hilton HHonors members have the ability to earn miles through hotel stays in addition to points in real hotel travel, but the strict conversion of points-to-miles is not a favorable rate when compared to the other major hotel loyalty programs.

My Loyalty Traveler advice for Hilton HHonors members is earn your miles from hotel stays and save your HHonors points for better value opportunities.

Hotel Loyalty Program Points-to-Miles Links

Hyatt Gold Passport – Airline Partners. Lufthansa is a Hyatt airline partner for earning miles, however, the Terms & Conditions for Hyatt Gold Passport Points-to-Miles Terms and Conditions specifically excludes Lufthansa and airline partners in Miles & More from points-to-miles participation.

Hilton HHonors – Points for Miles

InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club – Points to Miles

Marriott Rewards – Air Mileage Rewards

Starwood Preferred Guest – Transfer Starpoints to Miles

The Loyalty Traveler tables shown are informational only and before conducting a transfer between programs you should contact the programs directly for the most up-to-date guidelines and restrictions, as information is subject to change at any time. 

A great resource for checking conversion rates between more than 70 hotel, airline, credit card and other loyalty programs is through Randy Petersen’s WebFlyer Mileage Converter. I haven’t checked all my tables through the Mileage Converter, but the dozen or so I checked matched up. That is good news for both of us since the results were independently derived. The tables I have made are good for comparative data across hotel chains. The Mileage Converter is better for accurate conversions between any two loyalty programs and also provides the user with several options for points and miles exchange conversion routes.

Domestic Airline Conversion tables are in Part 1 for Alaska, American, Continental, Delta/Northwest Skymiles, Southwest, United Airlines, and US Airways.

International Airlines Hotel-Points-to-Frequent-Flier-Miles Conversion Tables

• Aeromexico

• Air Canada Aeroplan

• Air France/KLM Flying Blue

• Air New Zealand Airpoints

• ANA – All Nippon Airways Mileage Club

• British Airways Executive Club

• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles

• Emirates Skywards

• LAN Airlines LanPass

• Miles & More (Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, LOT Polish)

• Qantas Airways

• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

• South Africa Airways Voyager

• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Marriott Rewards
2. Hyatt Gold Passport; Starwood Preferred Guest
3. IHG Priority Club
4. Hilton HHonors

Air Canada Aeroplan

1. Marriott Rewards
2. Hyatt Gold Passport; Starwood Preferred Guest
3. IHG Priority Club
4. Hilton HHonors

 

Air France/KLM Flying Blue

1. Marriott Rewards
2. Hyatt Gold Passport; Starwood Preferred Guest
3. IHG Priority Club
4. Hilton HHonors

 

Air New Zealand Airpoints

1. Starwood Preferred Guest

2. IHG Priority Club

3. Hilton HHonors

4. Hyatt Gold Passport and Marriott Rewards are not Air New Zealand points-to-miles airline partners

 

ANA – Al Nippon Airways Mileage Club

1. Marriott Rewards
2. Hyatt Gold Passport; Starwood Preferred Guest
3. IHG Priority Club
4. Hilton HHonors

 

British Airways Executive Club

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

1. Marriott Rewards
2. Hyatt Gold Passport; Starwood Preferred Guest
3. IHG Priority Club
4. Hilton HHonors

 

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles

 

 

 

 

 

1. Marriott Rewards
2. Hyatt Gold Passport; Starwood Preferred Guest
3. IHG Priority Club
4. Hilton HHonors

 

Emirates Skywards

1. Marriott Rewards
2. Hyatt Gold Passport; Starwood Preferred Guest
3. IHG Priority Club
4. Hilton HHonors (Emirates is not an HHonors airline partner)

1. Starwood Preferred Guest
2. Hyatt Gold passport
3. Marriott Rewards
4. Hilton HHonors
5. IHG Priority Club

1. Marriott Rewards
2. Starwood Preferred Guest
3. IHG Priority Club
4. Hilton HHonors
5. Hyatt Gold Passport (Miles & More is  hotel stay earning partner, but does not participate in points-to-miles)

1. Hyatt Gold Passport
2. Marriott Rewards
3. Hilton HHonors
4. IHG Priority Club and Starwood Preferred Guest are not partners with Qantas.

1. Marriott Rewards
2. Hyatt Gold Passport
3. IHG Priority Club
4. Starwood Preferred Guest
5. Hilton HHonors

1. Hyatt Gold Passport
2. IHG Priority Club
3. Hilton HHonors
4. Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest do not partner with South African Airways

1. Marriott Rewards
2. Hyatt Gold Passport
3. Starwood Preferred Guest
4. Hilton HHonors
5. IHG Priority Club does not partner with Virgin Atlantic

The Hilton Conversion Issue in the Loyalty Traveler tables for HHonors members.

Hilton HHonors is problematic in these tables due to the different earning mechanism with HHonors hotel stays. Hilton HHonors has “Double Dip”, their registered term for the member option to earn both hotel points and miles during a single hotel stay.

Hyatt Gold Passport, IHG Priority Club, Marriott Rewards, and Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) all allow a member to earn miles with hotel stays, however, the member earns airline miles or hotel points. As a general rule a member in programs besides Hilton HHonors cannot earn both miles and points from a hotel stay. Both Hyatt Gold Passport (promotion still ongoing through Jan 31) and Starwood Preferred Guest (ended July 31) had promotional exceptions in 2009 where members earned both airline miles and points, but Hilton HHonors is the only chain offering both miles and points as a standard earning option.

Hilton HHonors ranks at the bottom in nearly all the hotel-points-to-airline-miles conversion tables.  The tables are designed to be an objective look at conversion rates. Hilton HHonors may be a good hotel loyalty program members wanting to earn miles with hotel stays, but has a poor hotel-points-to-airline-miles conversion program for its members.

In real travel a Hilton HHonors member has the ability to earn thousands of airline miles while also earning HHonors points.

1.       The tables do not reflect the added earning potential for a Hilton HHonors member earning 500 miles per hotel stay or 1 mile per $1 in hotel spending.

 

2.       The hotel point levels used in the tables show Hilton, IHG, and Marriott at 10,000 points while Hyatt is 5,000 points and Starwood 2,000 points as the basis for equivalent quantities of points used for miles conversion comparisons. I could have increased Hilton HHonors by 50% to 15,000 which accounts for Points and Points earning preference with HHonors. Rather than playing with the variables I opted to present Hilton HHonors in a strictly objective conversion table without factoring in the potential for added miles from hotel stays.

 

3.       For example: Hilton HHonors points-to-miles conversion for 130,000 points with Air France = 13,000 miles. This is less than 50% of the miles for any of the other four hotel loyalty programs.

 

But consider if the Hilton member spent $13,000 to earn 130,000 points during 40 hotel stays in 2009. This HHonors member with 40 stays and an earning preference of Points & Fixed Miles could have earned 500 Flying Blue miles per stay. The member could have earned 20,000 Flying Blue miles from hotel stays, In addition to 13,000 miles from points.

 

33,000 miles places Hilton HHonors right back in the pack when it comes to miles earned.

 

4.       For example: The Hilton HHonors member could have sprung for a four week honeymoon divided between two Hilton resorts and spent $13,000. Earning Points & Fixed miles would only earn 1,000 miles from two Hilton stays. The member with an earning preference of Points & Variable Miles (1 mile per $1) would earn 13,000 miles.

 

5.       For example: HHonors member could have chosen Points & Points and earned 195,000 points and no miles. (I’m ignoring elite points as these are just more variables to complicate the issue.)

 

Unfortunately, all this is conjecture and highly variable, dependent on the member’s hotel stay pattern and earning preference.  Therefore, the tables do not necessarily reflect the earning potential of miles with the Hilton HHonors program for a frequent guest of Hilton.

 

The tables do accurately show the conversion rates for HHonors points-to-miles conversions on a scale aligned with the four other hotel loyalty programs.