Starwood Preferred Guest classifies 16 hotels in their highest Category 7 level requiring 30,000 points per night. A closer look at these hotels reveals that many of these properties are not available for 30,000 points per night despite the elimination of peak season rates for 2010.

SPG peak season rates for 2010 were eliminated for all SPG Free Night awards except for three hotels on the Costa Smeralda, Sardinia, Italy from July 1 to August 31, 2010 at a peak season rate of 35,000 points per night.

Cala di Volpe, 35,000 points

Hotel Pitrizza, 35,000 points

Hotel Romazzino, 35,000 points

There are other hotels which require additional points based on time of year, room types, and/or mandatory full board requirements. Here are ten uber-category hotels in Categories 5, 6, and 7.

1.       The Resort at Singer Island, Singer Island, Florida (Category 5: 24,000 to 64,000 points)

2.       Pine Cliff Residences, Albuferia, Portugal (Category 6: 40,000 to 100,000 points)

3.       St. Regis Resort Bora Bora, French Polynesia (Category 7: 60,000 to 140,000 points)

4.       Le Méridien Bora Bora, French Polynesia (Category 7: 60,000 to 140,000 points)

5.       W Maldives (Category 7: 60,000 to 140,000 points)

6.       Sunset Key Guest Cottages, A Westin Resort, Key West, Florida

(Category 7: 60,000 to 140,000 points)

7.       Mystique, Santorini, Greece (Category 7: 60,000 to 140,000 points)

8.       Cala Di Volpe, Porto Cervo, Italy (Category 7: 60,000 to 140,000 points)

9.       Hotel Pitrizza, Porto Cervo, Italy (Category 7: 60,000 to 140,000 points)

10.   Hotel Romazzino, Porto Cervo, Italy (Category 7: 60,000 to 140,000 points)

Half of SPG Category-7 hotels, 8 of 16 hotels in SPG Category 7 globally, have special points requirements and are not available for 30,000 points per night. In essence, 50% of SPG category 7 hotels are actually a higher category in terms of points. These additional points requirements are not fully transparent to the member to indicate what room types and seasons are charged at what rate for these “Category-7-plus” hotels.

I calculated the lowest paid rate cost of a 5-night St. Regis Bora Bora overwater suite to the value of 480,000 points for a 5^th night free award stay a few months back. At $4,850 for 5 nights based on November 2009 rates, I concluded that paying cash would be a better value than spending 120,000 points per night for a Bora Bora overwater bungalow. But I also see how $5,000 in spending spread out over many Starwood hotel stays could earn a large number of points if you decide to blast away at your accumulated points balance for a luxury vacation in the South Pacific.

(Loyalty traveler St. Regis Bora Bora analysis Oct. 25, 2009)

Starwood Hotels hotels = 961 hotels in global chain

Geographic and category distribution at higher category

SPG Category 7  =  16 hotels

• North America = 3 hotels

• Europe = 9 hotels

• Asia/Pacific = 4

SPG Category 6  =  46 hotels

• North America = 15 hotels

• Europe = 21 hotels

• Africa = 2

• Middle East =5

• Asia/Pacific = 3

SPG Category 5  =  119 hotels

• North America = 59 hotels

• Central & South America = 4 hotels

• Europe = 30 hotels

• Africa = 6 hotels

• Middle East = 9 hotels

• Asia-Pacific = 11 hotels

SPG Category 4  =  307 hotels

• North America = 153 hotels

• Central & South America =  11 hotels

• Europe =  52 hotels

• Africa =  10 hotels

• Middle East =  20 hotels

• Asia-Pacific =  61 hotels

Smith Travel Research in Hendersonville, TN is one of the leading hotel industry data reporters.  Last week the company published its 2010 hotel industry forecast. In the first month of 2010 the company is predicting hotel occupancy will remain flat in 2010 and finish the year at 55.1%. This is after an 8.7% drop in 2009. On average, across the U.S. hotels will go through 2010 just more than half-full.

A consequence of low occupancy is continued lower room rates. STR predicts the average rate of a hotel room will decrease another 3.3% this year to finish 2010 at US$94.39 per night. The average daily rate for U.S. hotel rooms fell over the 2009 year to $97.51, an 8.8% drop . (STR source)

Sure, you will still see $400 per night for many New York City hotels, but you will also see $35 per night rates at some Comfort Inns and Knights Inns around the country. And even those typically $400 a night luxury hotels will likely have rooms in the $200 range in many locations when travelers are not filling $400 per night rooms.

A luxury hotel takes five years or more to go from planning to opening. 2010 will see a large number of luxury hotels opening in the U.S. that looked like solid investments when they were initially planned way back in the boom of 2005. Demand is expected to pick up in 2010, led by the luxury and upper-upscale hotel market and business and leisure travelers. Unfortunately for the hotel industry, demand is expected to increase at the same percentage as new hotel rooms being added in 2010, 1.8% in the U.S.

This looks to be another year of unprecedented luxury hotel bargains. Grab them if you can as these deals may not be so readily available after 2010. 2009 was the most time I have spent in luxury hotels and the cost was less than I have ever landed luxury class hotels in my years of loyalty travel.

2009 was a tough year financially for the hotel industry, particularly in the U.S. The “great recession” of 2009 produced data harking back to the “great depression” of 1929. Mark Lomanno, president of STR, stated, “Good riddance to 2009, a year that we believe will go down as the worst in the modern hotel industry.”

Hyatt has added new G Bonus offers for hotel stays from March 1 to May 31. Hyatt Gold Passport members can frequently earn 1,000 to 2,000 bonus points by paying attention to G bonus offers prior to booking a Hyatt brand hotel reservation. Individual hotels have special bonus points offers (some hotels offer bonus miles) which are found on the Hyatt Gold Passport Special Offers page, but not under the Hyatt Special Offers tab. This can be confusing if you don’t know where to look for the link.

The link for Hyatt Gold Passport G bonus special offer points and miles is located in the dark shaded column area at the right of the Gold Passport Special Offers page.

Hyatt Gold Passport Special Offers page shows G Bonus link in right column

Over 200 hotels of 400+ Hyatt brand hotels globally offer some kind of G Bonus Points or A bonus miles offers with the current list of hotels.  Booking through the G Bonus link or calling customer service to add the G Bonus special offer to your reservation is an easy way to greatly increase the 5 points per US$1 earned from a hotel stay.

I typically book AAA group rates when staying at Hyatt Hotels. The G Bonus offer link will often show a much higher rate than the AAA rate and the G bonus offer does not show when booking a AAA rate.

No problem getting both the discount AAA rate and G bonus points. I simply book the AAA rate and then call Hyatt Gold Passport customer service to have the G bonus code added to my reservation.

This month I had reservations at five different Hyatt hotels where I received 2,000 G bonus points per hotel stay. Those bonuses were over 50% of the points earned for the five hotel stays. Along with 1,000 bonus points as a Diamond elite amenity, I earned 15,000 bonus points after five hotel stays, sufficient for a free night at a Category 4 hotel such as the Hyatt Regency San Francisco. Without bonuses, these five stays earned fewer than 4,000 points with my base points and 30% elite bonus.

G Bonus offers come in several versions labeled G1 (1,000 points), G2 (2,000 points), G3 (1,500 points) and may be restricted to certain days of the week as shown by the color code. There are sometimes “A Bonuses” for airline miles.

The current offers expiring February 28, 2010 even include R3 = Suite Upgrade for the Hyatt Regency Belgrade, Serbia and Hyatt Regency Kiev, Ukraine.

R3 Suite Upgrade offer for Hyatt Regency Kiev

And there is N5 = 5th Night Free from March 1 – May 31 for the Hyatt Regency Thessaloniki, Greece.

N5 5th Night Free Offer for Hyatt Regency Thessaloniki

Starwood Hotels launched the W Hotel brand way back in 1998 as a luxury boutique brand. Since then, other hotel chains have been trying to follow up with an equally successful major hotel chain boutique brand.

Starwood’s Luxury Collection brand added five hotels in 2009 and has signed deals for seven more hotels in Asia Pacific. Half of these are conversions. The Astor Hotel is scheduled to open in Tianjin, China in May 2010 after a $22 million dollar renovation of the 1863 built hotel. Other recent additions to the Luxury Collection brand include the Andaman Resort in Langkawi, Malaysia; ITC Royal Gardenia in Bangalore, India; and Vana Belle Samui Resort & Spa in Thailand currently scheduled for March 1, 2011 opening.

South America has seen Luxury Collection additions with Hotel Paracas on coastal Peru, Tambo del Inka in Urubamba, Peru scheduled to open in March 2010, and Palacio del Inka scheduled to open in 2011 in Cusco, Peru.

Europe has seen the opening of the Luxury Collection Hotel National in Moscow and soon the Ramanos, Costa Navarino opening in Messinia, Peloponnese, Greece in May 2010. 

InterContinental Hotels Group opened its first Hotel Indigo brand property in 2004 and now has over 30 hotels.

Hilton Worldwide extended the Waldorf Astoria brand to the quickly expanding Waldorf Astoria Collection with over 20 hotels currently in the brand. Hilton states  its luxury hotels doubled in the USA and its luxury segment grew by 50% internationally in the past two years.

Hyatt Hotels introduced Andaz with its London Liverpool Street opening in November 2007 and featured its third hotel opening this month with the new Andaz Wall Street in New York. A second New York property, Andaz 5^th Avenue, is opening spring 2010.  San Diego Andaz is rebranding from the current Ivy Hotel February 1, 2010. The Ivy Hotel is currently affiliated with I Prefer hotel loyalty program. Costa Rica’s resort region of Guanacaste  will feature the Andaz Papgayo scheduled to open in 2013.

Now Marriott Hotels has just signed 7 hotels to the new Marriott Autograph Collection brand. Marriott’s Autograph Collection is similar to Starwood’s Luxury Collection brand with a strategy of acquiring established independent hotels under its Marriott corporate umbrella branding. These existing boutique hotels can retain boutique characteristics while benefitting from a global corporate marketing team through the Marriott hotel chain. Marriott forecasts as many as 30 new Autograph Collection hotels being signed in 2010. The Marriott website is still sparse on details. Marriott’s Autograph Collection link.

Here is a news story from January 26 in The Independent with good coverage of the new Autograph Collection member hotels.

The first seven Autograph Collection properties signed are currently Kessler Collection Hotels.

The El Monte Sagrado, Taos, New Mexico

The Grand Bohemian Hotel, Asheville, North Carolina

The Mansion on Forsyth Park, Savannah, Georgia

The Bohemian Hotel Riverfront, Savannah, Georgia

The Casa Monica Hotel, St. Augustine, Florida

The Grand Bohemian Hotel, Orlando, Florida

The Celebration Hotel, Orlando, Florida

Marriott states hotels will be categorized by four types: resort, historic hotel, boutique arts, and urban edge. That “urban edge” classification makes me think of skid row millionaires rebuilding hotels in blighted urban areas, but I am sure Marriott has a prettier picture in mind. 

Marriott announced Edition, its new luxury boutique hotel brand in 2008. The first Edition Hotel in Waikiki is scheduled to open this summer. Istanbul, Barcelona, Mexico City, and Bangkok are other scheduled Edition hotels over the next two years. Interestingly I found it tough to locate information online about the progress of the Edition developments. Here is one Pacific Business News article from Sep 2009 mentioning the Edition Waikiki. Another article I saw suggested the Istanbul Edition hotel may open first and here were some photos posted on Hotel Edition Istanbul (U/C) – SkyScraperLife stating they depict the Edition Hotel building.

Even budget-traveler oriented Choice Hotels is moving in the luxury boutique realm with the introduction of their Ascend Collection of historic, boutique, and unique hotels. The brand is appropriately titled I think for a hotel brand trying to ascend above the mediocrity common in the motel like choices of the Choice chain. The 495-room Ohana Waikiki Beachcomber is a 2009 member of Choice Hotels’Ascend Collection along with 18 other hotels added in 2009.

The economic conditions in the hotel industry are pushing more existing hotels into major chain branding. The numbers for 2009 looked bad in the USA and it looks to me from the news sources I have read that the majority of new hotels anticipated to be added to major hotel chain portfolios are international properties.

Hilton’s press release yesterday states they added 302 hotels in 2009 following the company’s  2008 banner year with 327 new hotels. Hilton now has over 3,500 hotels globally with nearly 600,000 hotel rooms. Hilton has opened more newly constructed rooms in the US than any other company for the fourth consecutive year. Hilton has more rooms open and operating in the US than any other hotel chain.

Hilton seems to be shifting attention to its international portfolio. In 2009 50% of all hotel starts are outside the US compared to only 17% two years ago. This is only reasonable since the US hotel metrics for occupancy and room rate are the worst performing regional market globally.

Hilton Worldwide’s pipeline of new hotels is currently more than 900 hotels. Hilton looks poised to bypass InterContinental Hotels Group for the most hotels by chain in the next few years unless IHG has similar growth plans.

Hilton also reported its luxury hotel portfolio in the USA doubled and the number of international luxury hotels grew by 50% in 2009.

The growth in luxury hotel properties in Hilton Worldwide may provide some rationale for why there was a need for a Category 7 with its 25% points increase for free nights.

Hilton HHonors Category 7 Hotel List

There are 64 Hilton Hotel properties in the USA in the new Category 7. In the January 15, 2010 adjustment there was a  double category jump from Category 5 to Category 7 for 16 hotels in the USA, 25% of the new category 7 hotels. 

This change has a substantial impact on HHonors members. Category 5 hotels are 35,000 points per night and were only 150,000 points for a VIP 6-night GLON2 reward in 2009. Since the disappearance of PointStretcher discount awards in the second half of 2009, the VIP rewards are the only discount available to HHonors members (unless you have the American Express HHonors card for AXON rewards). The hotels making the double jump to Category 7 in 2010 cost 50,000 points per night or 225,000 points for 6 nights.  The cost for a VIP 6-night stay in these 16 newly Category 7 hotels, mostly vacation resort properties, increased 50% this month from 150,000 to 225,000 points for 6 nights.

Jan 31 update: The list below mistakenly includes Embassy Suites Chicago Downtown which only moved from Category 5 to a Category 6 hotel, not Category 7 as shown in the table. This actually reduces the number of hotels moving from Category 5 to Category 7 for a 50% VIP Reward increase from 23 hotels to 22 hotels. The USA hotels is reduced to 64 hotels in Category 7. The numbers in the preceding text have been corrected, but the table below is a picture image and the original file will have to be adjusted to correct the table. – Ric Garrido

Hilton HHonors Category 7 Hotels in USA

Puerto Rico has 4 category 7 hotels listed here with the international hotels.

Internationally there are 53 additional Category 7 hotels.  Six of these hotels made a double jump from category 5. Two newly branded Doubletree Hotels in late 2009 in Tanzania are Category 7.

Hilton HHonors Category 7 Hotels international

Fairmont President’s Club Premier and Platinum members who book an “Everyone’s an Original” or “Winter Sale” rate by 12 noon EST, Thursday, January 28 for a stay between January 25 and April 15, 2010 will receive a complimentary suite upgrade certificate valid for a subsequent stay before February 28, 2011. Promotion link with terms and conditions for complimentary suite certificate offer.

Fairmont San Francisco Sutro Suite

Fairmont President’s Club Premier membership requires 5 stays or 10 nights in a calendar year. Platinum membership takes 10 stays or 30 nights in a calendar year.

Fairmont San Francisco Sutro Suite in Tower

Fairmont San Jose has rates as low as $99.

Fairmont San Francisco has rates as low as $149.

Last month I toured several Fairmont San Francisco suites. Wow! What a city view from the Tower suites. And a telescope in the room makes the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and Coit Tower seem so much closer.

View of Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco Fairmont Sutro Suite

Participating Fairmont Hotels in North American Cities

Participating Fairmont Hotels in North American Resorts

Participating Fairmont Hotels in International locations

Update: January 27, 2010 – I interpreted this Kimpton InTouch charity offer incorrectly in my original Loyalty Traveler post. Generally I don’t even bother calling the hotel company to discuss promotion details due to the high probability of getting bad information. This was actually an instance where I talked to a Kimpton Hotels representative before writing the original post and I basically got it all wrong anyway.

The Kimpton Hotels offer for InTouch members who make a $50+ donation to Doctors Without Borders is one stay and night credit towards the free night InTouch members earn after 7 stays or 20 nights at Kimpton Hotels.

Kimpton Hotels  InTouch loyalty program will give the member a hotel stay and night credit  if  your donation to Doctors Without Borders  is $50 or more.

“For those members who donate $50 or more, a bonus credit will be applied to your InTouch account. This bonus credit will be applied to your next free night in 2010. Please forward your email confirmation to haitirelief@kimptonhotels.com.“

So what does this mean?

Kimpton InTouch is not a points-based hotel loyalty program. The InTouch program offers members a free night after 7 stays or 20 nights. Free night qualifying stay and night credit are cumulative year to year. If you joined Kimpton InTouch in 2009 and had 3 hotel stays with 5 nights, then you would only need 4 more hotel stays or 15 nights to earn a free night.

The $50 donation to Doctors Without Borders will count towards your free night credit by adding one stay and one night credit to your account. If your account shows 3 stays and 5 nights, then a $50 donation will put your account at 4 stays and 6 nights.

I apologize to Kimpton Hotels and my readers for incorrectly interpreting the Kimpton Haiti Relief offer. 

As I understand this offer, say you donate $100 to Doctors Without Borders, then when you redeem a free night credit in 2010 you will receive a $100 credit to use at the hotel for services like restaurant, spa, room service, and such.

If you already have a free night in your Kimpton account, then this offer is a great deal. You will need to complete 7 stays or 20 nights to earn a free night if you are new to Kimpton InTouch.

Kimpton Haiti Relief offer link.

Kimpton InTouch Guest Loyalty Program

Hotel Monaco, San Francisco

California has been battered by El Niño surf this past week. Storms turn me on. I am a stormy weather addict. When nature unleashes its full fury of wind, rain, thunder, ice, waves, and snow, there I am, often walking outside in the brunt of unordinary forces, saying “Bring it on! Is that all you’ve got?”

Saturday morning January 23, 2010 was Day 7 and the last of a series of El Niño storms that rolled each day off the mighty Pacific Ocean into California. Sunday, January 17, Kelley and I went to Carmel Beach. The beach was closed due to high surf. The wind was blowing cold rain horizontally and the sand erosion was already apparent along the 22 acres of Carmel beach. Large “Beach Closed” signs were screwed into the wooden stairway entrances. Barriers were erected in other locations to warn people off the beach; what little beach there was.

Big storms with huge waves blow into Carmel Bay and Monterey Bay every year. Some years bring monster storms. January 2010 was one of the biggies.

But it was two years of winter storms in 1981-82 and 1982-83 which are remembered as having historical impact on the Monterey Peninsula.

I worked on Cannery Row in 1981 at an aquaculture lab raising Atlantic lobsters. The building is still there immediately to the right side of the Monterey Bay Aquarium which opened in 1984. There were major storm waves in the winter of 1981-82 that ripped off most of the outside balcony for the aquaculture lab building. The balcony was where I performed one of my lobster feeding tasks of grinding up fish heads for lobster food. We purchased discarded fish heads from the real fisherman’s wharf of Monterey as opposed to the restaurant and tourist shop Monterey Fisherman’s Wharf where tourists are more likely to visit while staying in town. Then, I individually fed hundreds of lobsters with a weighed portion of fish food, from darting days-old babies to years-old crusty shelled, and no doubt, incredibly meaty lobsters.

Swell waves hitting Monterey Bay Aquarium January 20, 2010

But, despite the big storm waves of 81-82, the winter of 1982-83 is considered the modern day benchmark for major storm activity on the Monterey Peninsula.  The 82-83 storms severely eroded 20 to 40 feet of the bluffs above Carmel beach (photo link). The current walking path beside Scenic Drive and many of the erosion barrier walls and rock revetments to protect the dunes and bluffs above the beach were built after the 1982-1983 storms.

Carmel Beach walls and rock revetment (February 2009)

The storms of this past week created amazing surf. I spent hours driving around the Monterey Peninsula over several days taking photographs and just standing on the bluffs and at times dangerously close to the water in awe of the Pacific waves crashing into shore. At night I lay in bed and waves rolled through my mind as I drifted to sleep.

Waves crashing at road level Carmel Point, Tuesday, Jan 19, 2010

Here is a pictorial story of what transpired over this week in my Picasa photo albums for Carmel (122 photos)and Pacific Grove (145 photos) illustrating  the awesome power of the January 2010 El Niño storms.

Carmel Beach under the Pacific Ocean Tuesday, Jan 19, 2010

It seems bloggers all over are calculating the value of hotel points and airline miles with regard to Haiti donations – P.Ling in Uptake Blog, Gary Leff in View from the Wing, and Nicholas Kralev in the Washington Times.  

I am not going to debate the issue of cash or points for Haiti except to offer one hotel loyalty member consideration for the points v. cash debate. Saving points for a hotel stay and donating cash, with the exception of HHonors or Choice who give award stay elite qualification credit, disregards the traveler who struggles to reach sufficient hotel stays for elite status during the calendar year.  

For example, 4,000 Starpoints gives $100 to Red Cross ($50 from member donation and $50 from Starwood matching donation). $100 donated to Red Cross and using the 4,000 points for a hotel stay earns fewer or no points, no Starwood promotion credit, and no elite credit. The tax deduction for a cash donation might be a relevant consideration for some members.

$100 spent for a hotel stay gives the member elite credit for a paid stay and the opportunity to earn a substantial portion of those hotel points back through the paid stay.

Determining the Value of Hotel Points

I want to discuss the value of hotel points. There are so many variables to consider and many assumptions to make when trying to place a dollar value on hotel points. My interest is analyzing the value of hotel rooms a member can get for hotel points.

P. Ling in the Uptake.com travel industry blog cited several hotel points valuation analyses in this statement “If you think it’s too simplistic to peg each Hilton HHonors point at $0.0025 just because a donation of 10,000 Hilton HHonors points results in a $25 cash donation, I agree. So read this and this. The study for Starwood is here and the one for Marriott is here.”

The analyses cited by P.Ling for Hilton, Starwood, and Marriott reference articles by a website PlasticIQ that published hotel loyalty point value articles in September 2009. PlasticIQ employed more mathematical variables than I do in my analyses, but I do not think the PlasticIQ analysis adequately reflects real travel patterns for the vast majority of travelers and makes the calculations unncessarily complex.

Plastic IQ assigned the following hotel points value when redeemed for hotel stays:

Starwood Preferred Guest = $21.50/1,000 points

Marriott Rewards = $8.30/1,000 points

Hilton HHonors = $4.30/1,000 points

Hearts of the Gods blog gave a value for HHonors = $3.77/1,000 points

PlasticIQ created the hotel loyalty program analyses to assist credit card holders with choosing a card. Here are areas I find faulty in the PlasticIQ assumptions for hotel stay redemption used as a basis for determining the value of hotel points.

Plastic IQ assumptions for SPG

a.       20% of hotel stays will be 5 nights

b.      Most hotel stays will be 3 nights

c.       Hotel stays will be spread out among different category levels (Category 1 = 0% [due to few hotels in this category]; 15% hotel stays at Category 2; 25% at category 3; 25% at category 4, 25% at category 5; 5% at category 6, and 5% at category 7 hotels.)

These are major assumptions that will probably not correlate to the hotel points redemption pattern for 99%+ of travelers in my opinion.

The PlasticIQ analysis when applied to an individual SPG member requires a minimum 20 stays on points to complete this traveler profile. Since 20% of stays are five nights and others are average of 3 nights, the PlasticIQ scenario is based on a Starwood Preferred Guest member with over 700,000 points for free hotel night redemptions. That is a highly exclusive group of hotel loyalty program members.

The average Starwood Preferred Guest credit card member probably earns well shy of 50,000 Starpoints per year. Perhaps the SPG member earns another 50,000 points from hotel stays if the member is Platinum level elite with 30+ hotel stays per year and fulfills multiple promotion offers. 

Loyalty Traveler typically looks at one hotel stay redemption at a time. I write my blog for the traveler who is trying to place value on their points for that next vacation.

In the PlasticIQ HHonors analysis the value of hotel loyalty points is reduced 25% by the Priceline factor. The fact that a Priceline room might be available for less in the city I am staying is no relevance to me as a loyalty traveler. I am focused on hotel loyalty elite credit, promotion bonuses, and complimentary upgrades at hotels. Priceline tosses out all those considerations.

When in Amsterdam, I know the points value if I redeem 48,000 Starpoints for 5 nights at the Starwood’s Luxury Collection Hotel Pulitzer. I simply take the paid cost for five nights and divide that cost by 48,000 points to come up with a value for Starpoints.

I have bid my way to a cheaper stay at the Golden Tulip Amsterdam Art hotel in the past. Priceline can get me a room for $100 per night. But the Golden Tulip is not a hotel in the same league or location as the Pulitzer Hotel. So is there any reason to even factor in Priceline in a hotel points valuation? A traveler who devalues their points by comparing Priceline rates to hotel loyalty program redemption rates should probably not even bother with hotel loyalty programs.

In all fairness, I certainly turn to Priceline when the cost for my hotel loyalty is too high to pay for a hotel room and the points value is too low to justify spending my points. Given the choice between spending $100 per night through Priceline or 12,000 Starpoints per night depends on my travel purpose (business, transit, or leisure) and the necessity of being in a specific location. Priceline is an entirely separate transaction from the value I place on my hotel points. I don’t reduce the value of my points based on the option that I can get a different hotel in the same city for less money.

PlasticIQ uses an allocation of HHonors stays between VIP awards, Pointstretcher stays, Priceline deductions, cash value deductions, and estimated hotel rates. This is far too many variables with unnecessary complexity in reaching a points value. I am not saying the final result is inaccurate, but the hotel loyalty program member can’t replicate the PlasticIQ hotel points value analysis at home.

Loyalty Traveler has shown a simple way to calculate hotel points value for your next vacation and a qualitative chart to give you an idea of what you can realistically be looking for when trying to get the most value for hotel stays from your hotel points balance. Depending on where you travel, the chart numbers may need adjustment, but the overall process is a simple way to determine the value of your points.

My Loyalty Traveler analyses of hotel points valuation is subjective and the math is simple. Here are the valuations I have placed on hotel loyalty points in articles from the past few months.

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

Related Loyalty Traveler posts with qualitative tables for points redemption value:

Excellent value with SPG Cash & Points awards

Value of a Point for Starwood Free Nights

Hilton HHonors Redemption Guide 2010

Last October I created HHonors qualitative charts for hotel points value based on HHonors 7 category system now in place. In my analysis I gave a redemption value of $7.00 per 1,000 points as excellent. Based on recent analyses for San Francisco and New York I may have to lower this range. I will wait until I complete a couple of international city comparisons to see if Hilton HHonors members can realistically find redemption values of $9/1,000 points these days.

Loyalty program members have the choice when and where to use points. Anyone settling for redemption values under $5.00 per 1,000 HHonors points is not being selective about when and where to use points for free nights.

In my hotel points valuations for Loyalty Traveler I try to focus on what is potentially the high end of points redemption value. There is no requirement to spend your points for poor value hotel stays. My goal with Loyalty Traveler is to show what kind of value can be achieved with hotel points. The objective for the traveler collecting hotel points should be to earn points by spending low and redeem points for high value. When it comes to donating points to Haiti I tossed out consideration of this objective.

New York City and San Francisco are two cities where I did comparative redemption value across hotel chains. I picked a stay date and compared the actual hotel rates for different chains to the cost for a free night using points and came up with the following values available. The range shows the low value for one particular hotel stay redemption up to the high value for another specific hotel redemption choice.

Value of 1,000 points redeemed for a hotel

NYC:

Hyatt Gold Passport $19.21 to 20.83

Starwood Preferred Guest $14.40 to $34.92

Marriott Rewards $5.97 to $8.63

Hilton HHonors $4.30-$8.78

IHG Priority Club $7.00 to $17.00

San Francisco:

Marriott $3.17 to $13.90

Hilton HHonors $1.86 to $6.30

Just because a hotel has a high redemption value does not necessarily make it an excellent overall value. The hotel could be way overpriced for a paid stay. But when it comes down to any specific hotel where you want to stay, the simple choice becomes pay cash or pay with points.

The range of hotel points redemption values shown here indicates a need to be selective when redeeming points. Points have no value until they are redeemed for something tangible. Choosing an acceptable value to receive when spending your hotel points is a personal choice.

Octopus Travel and InterContinental Hotels Group are auctioning 2-night stays in Presidential Suites (or comparable rooms) at 35 InterContinental Hotels around the world as a charity fundraiser for the Prince’s Trust, a UK charity to assist young adults 14 to 30 years old. Prince’s Trust website link on InterContinental Hotel suites e-Bay auctions.

Link to Octopus Travel e-Bay listings. These auctions end in 3 to 5 days from date of this post. I have listed the highest bids in £, British pounds  at 10:00am Friday, Jan 22 (California time).

Bidders must pre-register with Octopus Travel to bid on these charity auctions.

Hotel stays must be taken prior to December 31, 2010. Stays are for two nights and two guests.

Each hotel has a description of its specific room offer. InterContinental Boston, for example, has a 3,300 sq. ft two bedroom suite overlooking the historic waterfront. InterContinental Carlton Cannes offers the 350 sq. meters Sean Connery suite.

North America: (These auctions end Wednesday, Jan 27. Auction price is for two nights.)

Canada

InterContinental Toronto Yorkville (£205.00)

InterContinental Toronto Centre (£300.00)

InterContinental Montreal (£513.00)

Mexico

InterContinental Presidente Guadalajara, Mexico (£205.00)

InterContinental Cozumel Resort & Spa, Mexico (£620.00)

USA

InterContinental Montelucia Resort, Scottsdale, Arizona (£360.00)

InterContinental The Clement, Monterey, California (£410.13)

InterContinental Mark Hopkins, San Francisco, California (£510.00)

InterContinental San Francisco, California (£520.00)

InterContinental Miami, Florida (£410.00)

InterContinental Tampa, Florida (£216.00)

InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta, Georgia (£230.00)

InterContinental Chicago (Michigan Avenue), Illinois (£350.00)

InterContinental Chicago O’Hare, Illinois (£155.00)

InterContinental Harbor Court, Baltimore, Maryland  (£200.00)

InterContinental Boston, Massachusetts (£511.00)

InterContinental The Barclay, New York (£620.00)

InterContinental Times Square New York (£820.00)

InterContinental Cleveland, Ohio (£155.00)

InterContinental The Willard, Washington, D.C. (£510.00)

Asia

InterContinental Shanghai Puxi (£920.00)

Europe: (These auctions end Monday, Jan 25)

InterContinental London Park Lane, UK (£1,110.50)

InterContinental Paris Le Grand, France (£1,220.00)

InterContinental Carlton Cannes, France (£1,220.00)

InterContinental Madrid, Spain (£720.00)

InterContinental De La Ville Rome, Italy (£960.00)

InterContinental Vienna, Austria (£520.00)

Middle East/Africa: (These auctions end Tuesday, Jan 26)

InterContinental Port Ghalib, Egypt (£410.00)

InterContinental Semiramis Cairo, Egypt (£400.00)

InterContinental David Tel Aviv, Israel (£415.00)

InterContinental Mzaar, Lebanon (£225.00)

InterContinental Mauritius (£511.00)

InterContinental Al Bustan Muscat, Oman (£400.00)

InterContinental Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (£720.00)

InterContinental Dubai Festival City, United Arab Emirates (£701.00)

Thanks to PriorityClubInsider.com where I learned of this offer.

InterContinental San Francisco

There are some updates for hotel loyalty point donations from the post I made a week ago. WebFlyer has a page with links to the hotel programs and several airlines and credit card donation avenues.

WebFlyer –  Donate Cash or Miles/Points to Haiti Earthquake Relief Efforts

Several additional items to note since last week’s post.

Priority Club does not show the monetary contribution for a 10,000 points member donation on its website. The official IHG social forum Priority Club Connect states 10,000 points will result in a $40 contribution according to emails received by IHG Priority Club members.

Hilton HHonors has posted they will match member donations to the amount of $250,000. I received an email from a representative at Hilton Worldwide Global Headquarters stating over 5,000 members have donated $128,000 in points in just four days. https://www.hiltonhhonors.com/processLanding.aspx?lp=intlfedredcross

Best Western was the one hotel program that did not offer Red Cross as a charity option. Honestly, I was not familiar with World Vision before seeing the points contribution offer on the Best Western site last week. After a week of extensive news coverage I have seen several interviews with World Vision workers in Haiti. The World Vision organization has a strong presence there.

Best Western Rewards has also added some points options since last week that show 5,000 points will be converted into a $20 donation to World Vision Haiti Relief Effort.

Hyatt Gold Passport, 5,000 points = $40 American Red Cross

Hyatt Hotels was a major chain left off my list last week. Since then Hyatt has very discreetly announced donations of 5,000 points will be converted to $40 donations to the Red Cross. There is nothing posted on their website. I was told by a Diamond Desk customer service representative they are relying on Twitter and FlyerTalk for spreading the word.

Well, I can’t find anything on Twitter regarding Hyatt Gold Passport’s offer. I missed the FlyerTalk thread from January 17 announcing the Haiti Relief Red Cross donation option since it basically died after a few comments, but then I found it today. So here is my attempt to help Hyatt spread the word for its Haiti Relief donation opportunity.

To donate Hyatt Gold Passport points email goldpassport@hyatt.com or call 1-800-228-3360.

Please check WebFlyer’s page with hotel, airline, and credit card links for other Haiti Relief donation opportunities.

Please don’t leave comments analyzing the cost-benefit value of donating points or miles versus cash.  I am disappointed that most of the threads on FlyerTalk are filled with comments about the poor value for points and miles donations. In my opinion, Haiti earthquake relief is an issue beyond point valuation.

Feeding, housing, and caring for millions of people in dire circumstances is a humanitarian effort. Points and miles are an option for giving that does equate to real money being made available for real people needing assistance now.