Virgin America has partnered with the boutique concept hotels of Morgans Hotel Group.  Earn 1,000 Elevate points per stay through the end of the year. Reservations must be booked through MorgansHotelGroup.com or by phone at 1-800.606.6090. Provide your Virgin America Elevate account number at check in or by calling in advance to the 800.606.6090 number to add your frequent flier number to your hotel reservation. Virgin America Promotion Link. 

There are not a lot of Morgans Hotels, but hotels like the Clift in San Francisco are popular for their city.  

Participating hotels are:  Ames in Boston, Sanderson in London, St Martins Lane in London, Mondrian in Los Angeles, Morgans in New York City, Royalton in New York City, Hudson in New York City, Clift in San Francisco, Delano in South Beach, Mondrian in South Beach, Shore Club in South Beach. 

The fine print for the promotion reveals a member can earn Elevate points for up to three rooms per stay as long as the Elevate member is a guest and pays for all three rooms. 3,000 points per stay is not a bad haul.

What is the value of 1,000 Elevate points?

I actually have not flown Virgin America yet. I had to look up the value of 1,000 points. My sample itinerary for San Francisco to New York JFK showed a roundtrip award ticket cost as low as 10,606 points + $5.00 in fees for April 13-20, 2010.

The truly surprising revelation was the published Virgin America fare came out to a total of $249.40 for this ticket. That is a relatively cheap cross country air fare for San Francisco – New York.

The value of 1,000 Elevate points in this example = $23.51. 

I don’t know if there are better award value ratios for Virgin America awards, but that ratio does not motivate me to jump on this offer. The points required for an award are tied to the published fare so it looks like there are limited leverage opportunities for Elevate points.

Loyalty Traveler Key Value: 2 Keys out of 5 Keys (Okay for a stay, but don’t go out of your way.)

This is an opportunity to earn some Elevate points if you have a hotel stay planned for one of the Morgans Hotel Group properties this year, however, it does not look like 1,000 Elevate points have all that much potential value as a hotel rate rebate.

Many frequent guests save their hotel points for week-long vacation stays. Carlson goldpoints plus, Hilton HHonors, Marriott Rewards, and Starwood Preferred Guest offer discounted award nights on multi-night stays, but the terms vary between programs. Certain programs offer bigger discounts and the amount of the discount off per night rates depends on your length of stay.

Carlson Gold Points gives a 10% point discount off the per night award rate for every additional night of a hotel stay award. A category 6 hotel at 60,000 points per night for the first night of an award stay will cost 54,000 points for every additional night. The longer your stay the closer you come to an overall 10% point savings on the award.

Goldpoints Plus has the competitive advantage of being the only hotel loyalty program to offer a discount on two and three night award stays, but the trade-off is a lower overall discount compared to Hilton four night or longer stays or to Marriott or Starwood for stays of five nights or longer.

But also remember that IHG Priority Club, Hyatt Gold Passport, Best Western, Choice, and Wyndham do not offer any discounts for multi-night award stays. Goldpoints plus offers a step in the right direction for guests staying multiple nights on an award.

Marriott Rewards had a progressive discount until the 2009 program changes to a simple 5^th night free award program. The former award table priced hotel stays with each additional award night up to seven nights receiving a greater discount on the per night rate. A seven night category-7 hotel award was discounted 39% on the per night rate. This was Marriott rewards most distinctive hotel loyalty program competitive advantage. This feature was changed in 2009, although Marriott Rewards still offers a progressive discount for Ritz-Carlton award stays.

Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) currently offer 5^th night free awards. This is a nice 20% discount if you have a five night hotel planned. Stay one to four nights and you receive no award stay discount. The full per night right means a four night award stay is the same cost as a five night stay.

The 5^th night free award structure offers a maximum savings of 20% if your hotel stay is 5 or 10 nights. The overall savings is less when your hotel stay is six to nine nights, which is typical for a weekend to weekend vacation that can run from Friday night of one week through Saturday night of the following week and require a nine night hotel stay or an extra day off work.

The table below shows how the overall 20% discount for a five night stay (or multiple of 5 nights) drops for stays longer than 5 nights.

The overall discount percentages are the same regardless of hotel award category and these same discount percentages shown for Marriott award stays apply to Starwood Hotel awards using 5^th night free. A category 3 Starwood hotel at 7,000 points per night will be an overall discount of 12.5% on the points required for an eight night hotel stay award.

Hilton HHonors has the competitive advantage on multi-night award stay discount

Hilton HHonors actually made an enhancement to its hotel awards when it started offering four and five night VIP awards at a discount. Prior to the January 15, 2010 change, Hilton only offered a discount on award points for elite members when a stay was six nights or longer. American Express HHonors card members had a four and five night AXON award option, but these awards were not offered through Hilton HHonors.

The 2010 HHonors award structure has a set discount rate for stays of four nights or longer. A four night award will save 15% points on the per night rate. The VIP 5 night award offers a 20% discount on the per night rate. Six nights or longer and the discount is 25%.

HHonors offers the frequent guest a competitive advantage for stays of six nights to nine nights with a 25% discount whereas Carlson awards are discounted just 8 to 9% , and the Starwood or Marriott discount drops from a 20% discount on five nights to 16.7% for six nights and only 11.1% for a nine night hotel stay award.