As of Monday, March 22 you have the opportunity to redeem your Marriott Rewards points at all participating Marriott rewards hotels in the U.S. and Canada (except Hawaii) for horrible value to pay for things like your hotel room, spa treatments, bar tabs, activity fees, and whatever else you can find at the hotel to spend your points rather than your cash.

To be fair to instant redemption awards, the value is more acceptable once you get into the 100,000 points for $500 credit, but this program might not be much use to you unless you have more points than you can possibly use or you are reimbursed entirely for your hotel stays and have no need of hotel free nights on points.

The exchange table tells the real story.

Marriott’s Instant Redemption Awards at the worst exchange value gives you just $2.00 cash credit per 1,000 points. Two drinks at the bar will run 9,000 points right out of your account.

You will be hard pressed to find a hotel award value that poor. An equivalent hotel award value would mean a hotel room rate of $22 after tax if you used points for a category 2 hotel award at 10,000 points per night.

A category 6 hotel award covers some very nice locations around the U.S. and Canada for 30,000 points. Most of them will cost well over $100 per night which is all the credit you get from 35,000 points used for a Marriott instant redemption award.

But since you feel like throwing points away, how much do you think is the going room rate for a luxury end Marriott category 8 hotel for the New York Marriott Marquis? An award night is 40,000 points.

For April 6 I see an award night for 40,000 points available. The room rate is $381 after tax. The award exchange value for this room is USD$9.52 per 1,000 Marriott Rewards points.

Dante’s Inferno Vacation

So you wake up and realize you’d rather spend points because $381 is way over your credit card limit that suddenly evaporated when the waiter at the riverside Italian restaurant last night sold your card information to the local gang and all your card credit is gone at check-out time!

“Nessun problema”— The $400 in Marriott Instant Redemption award credit will actually cost 118,000 points so you might as well party on your points. Just pay 100,000 points at check out to walk away from the $381 hotel tab and go blow another $119 at the hotel before leaving. Get a 20 minute massage or a few drinks and a meal before you deal with the credit card phone rep.

100,000 points with an instant redemption award or 40,000 points for a category 8 free night award at the New York Marriott Marquis?

You choose.

After all, they are your Marriott Rewards points.

AmericInn has launched Easy Rewards, a new and improved loyalty program for its 200+ hotels in 22 U.S. states. The Easy Rewards catchphrase is “Earn cash for your stays.”

Simply earn 1 Easy Rewards point for every hotel night and after ten room nights your 10 Easy Rewards points can be redeemed for your choice of a $40 check back from AmericInn or a $50 AmericInn hotel credit voucher.

The program is a basic rebate so no leverage opportunities here that I see with the loyalty program. Basically you earn a $4 cash rebate or $5 future hotel credit for every hotel night.

AmericInn properties are primarily in the center of the U.S.  Here is a map of AmericInn locations.

Why $40 cash may be a better value than $50 AmericInn voucher

Taking a look at the Easy Rewards program fine print reveals some interesting details.

The $50 AmericInn hotel voucher is not permitted for AAA, AARP, corporate or government room rates. The $40 check could be a better deal since you may have to pay more than $10 over the lowest available rate to use your $50 hotel credit.

I searched 6 hotel rates and the AAA rate was $7 to $11 less for each hotel. Three of the hotels were $10 and more over the AAA rate. On top of the rate difference is the additional hotel tax paid which is generally at least 10%.

The $40 cash redemption looks like the better value to me. The AmericInn $50 room voucher has an expiration date of one year. You can use multiple vouchers for hotel payment, but you get no credit back if you have an $80 hotel stay and use $100 in vouchers.  

Points expire after two years of no hotel program activity.

On the plus side, you can earn up to 3 points per hotel night when booking 3 rooms in your name.

Links: AmericInn home page and Easy Rewards loyalty program

Over the past year I have seen dozens of articles on the greening of hotels. Is there really merit behind green initiatives at a hotel or is the primary motivation a hotel’s cost savings?

• A hotel, particularly an upscale hotel, is a place where a bar of soap is used for a couple of hand washings and another, bigger bar of soap is used for a shower or two and then both are tossed into the garbage by the housekeeper.
• Towels are used once and washed.
• Empty refrigerators sit unused for days while consuming electricity so as to be cold for the next guest who may walk in at any minute.
• A bathrobe is worn for an hour and washed.
• Breakfast buffets are set up for 200 people and only 100 people show up to eat and the leftovers tossed out.

Personally, I have my little green efforts. I take a bar of hotel soap from room to room in my cosmetics bag until it is used up. I collect most of the soaps from my room and take back home to use. Some hotels use refillable large bottle dispensers of soap and shampoo for the shower. That is fine with me.

Like me, you may have noticed more of the plastic cards in your hotel bathroom describing how much water is used to wash towels and your role in reducing the global laundry impact for the hotel industry by reusing your own towel for another day.

I typically don’t get towel changes unless I am around for five days or more.

But on the other hand, I use too much air conditioning due to most hotel rooms being too hot for me. Hey, I am from the California coastal marine layer fog zone. 75 degrees here in Monterey is occasion for a heat wave party. (We had two days of partying this past week.) I love a room with a window that opens to get some fresh cool night air.

Back in 2000 when I started the LatinPass million mile mileage run tour in Colombia, I picked up a security tip from Robert Young Pelton, author of “The World’s Most Dangerous Places”, to leave the radio or TV on in the room when not occupied so as to deter robbers with the sound heard through the door. While perhaps this is a cheap security measure for some hotel locations, the practice certainly doesn’t pass “green” standards for hotel living.

Showers are my environmental weakness. Give me a rain shower head fixture and a large marble tile stall and I can daydream long enough in the soaking water to quench the thirst of an African village.

So what has brought green vision to this color-blind guy in the past month?

Encounters this past month have me seeing hotel “green” — in good light.

Green Lodging News – Lodging’s Leading Environmental News Source

My first green insight was dinner earlier this month with Glenn Hasek, publisher of Green Lodging News.

So I asked Glenn, “What does it really mean for a hotel to be certified “green”?

Glenn gave me a comprehensive response, but honestly it was late and I had a few beers in me and I’ll refer you to his website for details of being a green hotel. Green Lodging News offers expansive insight into the hotel industry “green” niche that I don’t write about much.

I encourage you to check out Glenn’s Green Lodging News and his Green Lodging News blog for a truly authoritative view on the environmental green perspective of the hotel industry. He covers everything from water usage, waste management, carpets, lights, and air quality in hotels and more aspects of hotel design and sustainability.

Hotel Responsible Business Initiatives

The second encounter was a presentation by Beathe-Jeanette Lunde at the Carlson Ambition 2015 Global Conference where Carlson Hotels’ green awards were mentioned and responsible business initiatives by other hotel companies for environmentally social policies were highlighted.

Measures such as seeking environmental certification from independent and government agencies, maintaining an active recycling program, using environmentally responsible cleaners, offset emissions, and purchasing food from local growers are some of the green efforts hotels make. Motion sensitive lights, low energy bulbs, key card room control for lights, AC, and TV (when key card is not in the wall control, most energy sources are turned off).

Here are some webpage links to green initiatives by the major hotel companies:

Carlson Hotels Environment Policy, Rezidor 2009 Responsible Business Report

Hilton Sustainability Efforts

Hyatt Earth

InterContinental Hotels Group –  Green Engage

Marriott Hotels – Spirit to Preserve

Starwood Hotels – Environmental Sustainability Policy and Make a Green Choice

(Starwood’s program at Sheraton and Westin hotels offers guests the option to earn 500 points per night when refusing housekeeping service for towel changes and such. I took advantage of this at the Sheraton Walt Disney World Dolphin in Orlando this month. Starwood’s Element brand are new build hotels which are LEED certified properties.)

Wyndham Green

There truly is a growing movement to environmental sustainability in the hotel industry. The move is good for the hotel and good for us and the environment.

Now, if we could just get rid of those plastic water bottles at the conference meetings.

And is there a way we can recycle my bath water so I can continue to daydream in hotel rainshowers without guilt?

There is always the swimming pool for extended water immersion, but that just makes another shower necessary.

Are you kidding?

Yes, I am.

Although I am making fun of a portion of the article, “Loyalty schemes — What Really Matters,” I agree with many of Rob Rush’s statements and I recommend you read the piece arguing why it is good business sense for a hotel loyalty program to extend elite status for members who may not have re-qualified for elite membership in 2010.

But I don’t agree with this statement as it applies to hotel loyalty programs:

“Strong emotional connections (what true loyalty is really all about) will always trump any kind of points program, period.”

I’m not married to a hotel brand. My strong emotional connection lasts as long as I feel I am getting good hotel value with the hotel chain. I think of the relationship as a business partnership. I’ll work for the team effort and help us both be rewarded, but the bottom line is my economics and I’ll work/stay some other place if that is in my best interest in the long run.

Hotel loyalty is a business partnership that can be win-win for us both. Hotel loyalty is not a marriage that needs to be developed mutually for each other’s benefit through better or worse.

In a hotel-guest relationship, I am the customer. Hotels and hotel loyalty programs compete for the pool of guests and the basic economic principle of business is to keep the customer satisfied and returning.

When hotel loyalty programs announce there will be changes in our relationship as Hilton and Marriott recently did, but keep the details from me until the changes take effect, then I don’t feel there is mutual respect for me as a partner in the loyalty program.

“Hey honey, remember last month I told you there would be some changes to our relationship. Here is the new contract stating you will need to work a little more to pay the mortgages from now on because I just remodeled the vacation home (without your input) and employed a full time staff (without consulting you) and since we are so in debt now, I think you have to contribute more than you have in the past to make this relationship continue to work for both of us.”

I feel Hilton’s argument to its loyalty members for why it needed to raise the cost of award nights in the middle of a hotel economic recession is analogous to a marriage where one spouse has little input in the decisions affecting the relationship.

Finding true love is hard. Infatuation is a strong emotion, but doesn’t necessarily last. Building a life together with someone you love takes perseverance, mutual respect, and dedication.

Finding a good hotel is not nearly so hard. Hotel beauty is easy to admire. There are plenty of pretties all around to catch your eye and enchant you this year. But next year something younger and prettier will be around enticing you to visit. Are you going to forsake all other hotels for your true love?

Developing strong emotional connections to a hotel?

Yes, I have had some.

Falling in love with a hotel loyalty program?

Frequent travelers may find it hard to be monogamous.

A hotel loyalty program is a relationship that requires mutual reinforcement and commitment, but I don’t foresee the need to make reconciliation efforts before granting a divorce from your hotel program when the mutual benefit wears thin.  In a relationship where one party has control over all the assets and benefits, sometimes the best solution is to just walk away.

If the hotel program truly desires you, then it should make the effort to get you to come back.

And diamond and platinum accoutrements tend to show intent from your partner of a serious engagement.

Related posts: Hilton HHonors Dumped Me This Week

Christopher Elliot http://www.elliott.org/blog/i-was-rudely-told-9000-points-is-really-not-much/

Hyatt Place U.C. Davis announced its grand opening Friday, March 19. The hotel has 75 rooms and is located adjacent to the UC Davis Conference Center and within walking distance of the arts complex including the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.

This is the first hotel to be built on my undergraduate alma mater campus.

I see from the campus map that the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science is located near the hotel. I have not been back to U.C. Davis for a function in 20 years. I should make a visit this year and see the new facilities for viticulture, enology and food science. These were my fields of academic study. I worked my way through my undergraduate years as a fermentation science major at UC Davis analyzing grapes, tomatoes, and dairy products.

Seeing the press releases today reminded me of the 1980s and my five years in California away from the coastal fog zone.

I remember a house full of books. The city library was in the park near my home and on the bicycle route to the university. People would drop off books and magazines for resale. Kelley and I kept a bedroom of bookracks to store all the 25 cents books and 10 cents magazines I purchased. We had all the magazine issues of Smithsonian, National Geographic, Architectural Digest, and a dozen science and history journals within a month or two of release. I raised my college school book funds by picking up current academic textbooks selling for a quarter at the library and sold them back to the U.C. bookstore for a couple hundred dollars every academic quarter.

We had an incredibly bright and loving golden retriever who moved with us from Monterey and traded her daily swims in the ocean off Monterey Fisherman’s Wharf (the tourist one) and Carmel Beach to the insufferably hot car rides up to Lake Berryessa in a little Honda Civic with no AC. And then we got the golden retriever puppies who decided to follow their big step-sister into the agricultural field holding pond in the middle of winter, only to realize they couldn’t swim. I saved a life or two that day. There was our white long-haired cat who became the first in a series of rescue kitties over the past 25 years when we adopted her from the parents of a veterinarian who died of cancer the year after graduating U.C. Davis veterinary school.

I recall the demonstrations led by the law school students to get the UC to divest funds from South Africa. I received a D+ in calculus due to missing one of the four exams to see the 1984 Nobel Prize for Peace recipient Archbishop Desmond Tutu speak on campus. I don’t remember calculus, even though I had to repeat the course, but I remember Desmond Tutu’s speech and I recently saw him on Democracy Now still alive and kicking as an activist in Copenhagen for the Global Climate Summit in December.

The Whole Earth Festival was a huge party for U.C. Davis every spring. This year the festival happens May 7-9, 2010.

Hyatt Place U.C. Davis has rooms available for the festival weekend and currently is running rates of $170 per night (ouch!). The property is listed as a Gold Passport category 2 award for 8,000 points.

I am glad to see there is a Hyatt Place at U.C. Davis. The location is much more suitable for a campus visitor than the chain hotels located on the I-5 exits of Woodland and Sacramento.

Links: http://sacramento.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2009/04/13/story5.html

http://www.hotelinteractive.com/article.aspx?articleid=16510

American Express and BoardingArea.com have come up with a sweepstakes contest for a nearly all expense paid trip for two to Gold Coast, Australia.

BoardingArea.com Gold Coast Sweepstakes Information Page link.

Entry Period: The entry period for the contest is from 12:00:01am Mountain time zone Monday, March 22, 2010 through 11:59:59pm Mountain time zone Sunday, March 28, 2010.

Eligibility: Contest is only open to U.S. residents of the 50 states and District of Columbia who are 18 years old at time of entry. And if you are related to me I think the rules indicate you can’t win the prize. Sorry Mom & Dad.

To Enter Sweepstakes you need to answer this question:

“What’s your top tip for travelers who want to earn and use their loyalty points?”

You can only have one entry comment on Loyalty Traveler blog, however, you can enter once on each of the 20 BoardingArea blogs participating in this sweepstakes.

The Prize: Seven nights/eight days hotel accommodations, transportation, meals, activities, and roundtrip airfare for two people to Gold Coast, Australia. Retail Value $10,250. The trip must be taken by March 31, 2011 or prize is forfeited. And very important information – the winner will be notified within two days of the end of the contest and you must respond within five business days to confirm prize acceptance. So check your email carefully next week.

Click here –  http://boardingarea.com/goldcoast/rules.php to see all the Terms & Conditions.

Loyalty Traveler sweepstakes analysis

As a blogger who analyzes promotions regularly, I find it amusing that this sweepstakes has a retail value listed at $10,250, yet there is no mention of the specific hotel or airline, and what kind of transportation, meals, or activities are provided. The sweepstakes rules state ground transportation is the responsibility of the winner?

I guess American Express does not want to divert your attention from the primary purpose of the sweepstakes which is to promote their credit card.

The good news from Randy Petersen, founder of BoardingArea.com, is the prize winner will receive additional gift cards from American Express and BoardingArea.com that should cover most or all of the taxes that you will owe from a prize valued this highly.

And another good point is that while the airline and hotel for the trip are not revealed, Randy says the flight and hotel will allow the winner to earn miles and points.

Would you expect anything less from a frequent travel guru?

Loyalty Traveler take on American Express Membership Rewards

Here is my Loyalty Traveler take on American Express Membership Rewards points. They are a versatile currency for exchanging into a variety of hotel points or airline miles. Many of the airline partners overlap with the Starwood Preferred Guest program airline partners, but some airlines are unique to American Express Membership Rewards. Even better is the ability to exchange points into hotel currencies other than SPG which is something you can’t do with the SPG American Express card.

Membership Rewards points can be exchanged into Hilton HHonors points, Best Western Rewards points, Priority Club Rewards points, and Starwood Preferred Guest points. In addition to exchanges, Membership Rewards points can be used for certificates and vouchers with Fairmont Hotels, Hyatt, Jumeirah Hotels, Loews, LXR Resorts, Marriott, Morgans Hotel Group, Omni Hotels, Preferred Hotels Group, Radisson, and several hotels in Las Vegas.

Loyalty Traveler take on Gold Coast, Australia

If you are not familiar with Gold Coast, Australia, think Miami Beach. This is the part of Australia that is warm (not hot) in the winter months of June, July, and August. I traveled from Melbourne to Sydney to Brisbane during the month of July and I needed a full array of clothing to combat the icy winds of Melbourne to just the bare necessities for the beaches of Queensland.

Beer is expensive, seafood is cheap, and surfing is prevalent. And my impression of Australia is that the country is the most easy-going international destination for Americans who may have a fear of international destinations.

So think up a good tip to post on this blog and the other BoardingArea.com blogs. My understanding of the rules is each blogger picks one tip and the random drawing will occur from the 20 chosen tips by each participating blogger. (Disclosure: the BoardingArea.com blogger who has the winning tip receives an i-Pad in April. Fingers crossed.)

Sign up for RSS feeds of all the blogs so you can receive updates straight to your computer. If you have never used RSS feeds, they are wonderful because you get the news updates straight to your computer rather than having to remember to visit different websites and blogs every day. Some of the news items reported on BoardingArea.com are time limited and high value information that you don’t want to miss.

The Gold Coast Sweepstakes web page provides RSS feed registration links next to each of the participating bloggers. http://boardingarea.com/goldcoast/

Check us out on Twitter.com. BoardingArea.com on Twitter posts all the individual title posts from the Boarding Area bloggers within minutes of publishing.

Go ahead and leave your tip here in the comments section of this post.

“What’s your top tip for travelers who want to earn and use their loyalty points?”

G’day mate and good luck.

Update: Monday, March 22, 2010 – No longer a rumor. I received an email from Hyatt PR confirming the “Big Welcome Back” details and they are the same as posted here. So I deleted the word rumor from the original title post.

Original Post content below

I don’t like to report promotions before they are posted, but since TMTravelWorld, Lucky at One Mile at a Time, and Flyertalkers are spreading the word, I’ll mention the rumor.

The rumor at this point in time based on FlyerTalk posts is the Hyatt Gold Passport “Big Welcome Back” promotion will be one free night earned after every two stays or 5,000 bonus points for every two stays between March 26 and June 30. The redemption date for free nights is April 1- August 31.

To repeat: this is not official from Hyatt until the offer is posted sometime this next week, but FlyerTalk is generally where the news breaks first.

Some people actually prefer points over free nights, but since a free night can be used at a category 5 hotel normally costing 18,000 points per night, the free night is much higher value for most of us.

I am particularly looking forward to accumulating some nights since my wife has nine weeks of summer vacation to really take advantage of some nice extended hotel stays.

Some additional items to point out:

1. Costco is selling two $50 gift certificates for Hyatt stays for $80. This can cut your cost down by 20%. I saw a huge rack of Hyatt certificates when I was in my local Costco this week.
2. In several comparative studies I have made over the past month for five different cities, Hyatt has been the highest average price of all the major hotel chains for their properties. Compare prices, shop around, and use Costco certificates to bring the price down.
3. Check special offers. Hyatt Hotels sometimes have incredible discounts on senior rates if you are eligible.

A full analysis will come on this promotion once the official terms are posted on Hyatt’s website. As far as hotel loyalty promotions go, a free night after every two stays is as good as they get.

“Hotels Compete for Loyal Guests,” is another example in a series of articles that highlight the loyalty wars of 2010. The article by Kelli B. Grant was published at SmartMoney.com this week and is a good basic read with a summary of some deals in six different hotel loyalty programs. They have all been covered on Loyalty Traveler blog. The aspect of the article I want to develop more fully is a method for comparing hotel loyalty program awards.

The hotel media is acting like this is the first year there has been competition for hotel loyalty program members. I see loyalty wars as a continual endeavor and there is really nothing remarkable about 2010 except for the fact that elite status is easier to get with several programs this year.

Best Western Rewards is currently offering instant elite to members of other programs. So what?

Hyatt has been giving away elite status for a year now and most programs will match your elite status with another hotel program.

My favorite line from the SmartMoney article is from Bjorn Hanson of New York University Tisch Center for Hospitality, “Before you switch loyalties, though, crunch the numbers on rewards to make sure you are getting the best deal.”

Great advice for a loyalty member, and I agree with this, but does anyone care to lay out a method for how to “crunch the numbers” on hotel awards in different hotel loyalty programs?

In the April 2010 issue of InsideFlyer I proposed a method for comparing hotel loyalty program awards. The InsideFlyer article is not easy reading, and I fault myself for not being a better writer, however, I wanted to show a way I think allows a frequent guest to “crunch the numbers” on hotel awards to compare hotel award value between programs. I think the method works for a basic comparison.

The rest of this post is a step by step explanation of the problems encountered when trying to compare hotel programs and award value between programs, followed by an example of how I compare award value for seven hotels in San Francisco. This article is also not an easy read, but useful if you are into calculating the value of hotel points.

 

Difficulties with calculating hotel award value across programs

There are several difficulties encountered when trying to crunch the numbers on hotel awards.

Here are a few of the variables:

Hotel loyalty programs have different rates for earning points.

• Carlson Hotels goldpoints plus gives 20 points per $1 for Radisson Hotel stays, 15 points per $ for Country Inn & Suites.
• Hilton HHonors members earn 15 points per $1 if earning preference is set for Points & Points, but only 10 points per $1 if earning Points & Miles.
• Gold Passport members earn 5 points per $1.
• Starwood Preferred Guest members earn 2 points per $1.
• Marriott Rewards and IHG Priority Club Rewards members earn 10 points per $1, except when staying at Marriott’s Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites, or IHG’s Candlewood Suites and Staybridge Suites.

Award Categories Are Difficult to Align Across Programs    

Hotel loyalty programs use different award levels for classifying hotel awards and the hotels are unevenly distributed across award levels for different programs.

Is a Hilton category 7 the same as a Starwood category 7 award?

A person on FlyerTalk made an analysis the other day equating these two award levels in a comparison of which program offered the best value. The Hilton San Francisco Fisherman’s Wharf (category 7) or Embassy Suites, Seaside, a few miles from my home in Monterey, California (category 7) are nowhere near the same hotel market segment as the Hotel Gritti Palace (SPG category 7) in Venice, Italy or the Mystique in Santorini, Greece (SPG Category 7).

Uneven Distribution of Hotels Among Award Categories

The distribution of hotels within a program’s award category levels is variable. Hilton has just 42 hotels of 3,500 hotels in category 1 for 7,500 points a night; a little over 1% of its properties. Marriott Rewards has 288 hotels in category 1 after the March 8, 2010 changes. Marriott has almost as many hotels as Hilton in its loyalty program, yet seven times the number of hotels in its category 1 award level.

You could argue that Hilton has higher quality properties justifying fewer hotels in category 1. I don’t buy that argument.

Elite Status impacts the rate you earn loyalty points

Elite status offers the potential for up to 50% more points, but earning elite status is dependent on your hotel travel pattern. Marriott only counts nights as the one route to elite status, while all the other programs offer an additional route to elite status. The rest (except for Priority Club) allow elite status qualification for fewer stays than nights. This is the more favorable route to elite for a frequent guest who typically only has one night stays. Hilton HHonors allows elite membership to be earned through spending. Priority Club counts total earned points for elite qualification and bonus points earned through promotions and partner activity count.

 

Crunching the Numbers the goldpoints plus way

Carlson’s goldpoints plus award calculator shows the commonly used method for comparing hotel loyalty programs. The number of hotel nights is multiplied by the average room rate and the total base points are calculated.

Example of loyalty program comparison at goldpoints plus www.dothemathsite.com.

The calculations shown are based on $3,750 in annual hotel spend.

The calculator accounts for elite status, but does not tell you what level elite status is being used. It appears each night is being counted as a separate stay.

Elite Status

goldpoints plus = Gold after 20 stays or 35 nights = 50% elite bonus

$3,750 x 20 points/$1 = 75,000 base points + 37,500 elite points = 112,500 points

Marriott Rewards = Silver after 10 nights= 20% elite bonus

$3,750 x 10 points/$1 = 37,500 base points + 7,500 elite points = 45,000 points

Hilton HHonors = Gold after 16 stays or 36 nights = 25% elite bonus

$3,750 x 10 points/$1 = 37,500 base points + 18,750 bonus points (Points & Points 50% bonus) + 9,375 elite points = 65,625 points

Priority Club Rewards = Gold after reaching 20,000 points or 15 nights = 10% elite bonus.

$3,750 x 10 points/$1 = 37,500 base points + 3,750 elite points = 41,250 points

Starwood Preferred Guest = Gold after 25 nights or Platinum with 25 stays.

$3,750 x 2 points/$1 = 7,500 base points + 3,750 elite points = 11,250 points.

Note the dothemathsite.com calculator inconsistency for HHonors v. goldpoints plus.

Goldpoints plus is calculated using Gold status which requires 20 stays or 35 nights. Obviously the stays requirement is used for goldpoints plus in this example based on 25 hotel nights. But Hilton HHonors Gold is reached with 16 stays or 36 nights. The calculation shown for the dothemathsite.com result is based on nights for HHonors and results in just a Silver elite 15% bonus. Silver elite requires 4 stays or 10 nights.

Actually HHonors Gold elite should be used to be consistent in the comparison or the goldpoints plus points should also be based on Silver elite and only a 25% bonus for a total 93,750 goldpoints plus points rather than 112,500 points.

The inconsistency in the dothemathsite.com is a calculation error and not the main issue with this hotel loyalty program comparison method.

The real problem I see?  Using free nights earned as a basis for comparing hotel programs on the surface seems like a reasonable measure for comparing the value of different hotel loyalty programs, but I find this method has a couple of problems that are not so apparent.

First, the category 1 level comparison implies all category 1 levels are equivalent among the different programs. I have already explained how this is not the case between Hilton and Marriott.

Starwood Preferred Guest is another program with a pretty vacant list of category 1 hotel properties. There were around 75 Starwood hotels in category 1 in 2005 and today in 2010 there are just 29 hotels in category 1. As the number of hotels in Starwood has increased, the number of hotels available as category 1 hotel awards has decreased.

The second problem is with the mid category comparison.  The calculation explanation on DotheMathSite.com states the middle category is used for comparison.

The calculator bases Hilton awards on category 3 at 25,000 points. This does not account for the recent changes which makes category 4 the middle award level. Regardless of the Hilton category level used, there is no basis for comparing programs on each program’s defined middle category level. That just doesn’t align with real hotel award placement.

When the lights go down in the City

San Francisco is a good example for showing how this arbitrary alignment of hotel award categories is not grounded in the actual placement of hotels.

San Francisco Fisherman’s Wharf has hotels in all the major hotel chains. They are all fairly identical within a couple of blocks of each other, three or four stories, and none with anything particularly outstanding in their architectural features or amenities. They are all upscale hotels in the same hotel market segment with similar room rates most of the time.

Here are the actual hotel category placements for seven hotels in this area.

Radisson Fisherman’s Wharf = goldpoint plus category 4 = 40,000 points

Hilton Fisherman’s Wharf = HHonors category 7 = 50,000 points

Holiday Inn Fisherman’s Wharf = Priority Club tier 3 = 25,000 points

Holiday Inn Express Fisherman’s Wharf = Priority Club tier 3 = 25,000 points

Hyatt Fisherman’s Wharf = Gold Passport category 3 = 12,000 points

Marriott Courtyard Fisherman’s Wharf = Marriott Rewards category 5 = 25,000 points

Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf = Starwood Preferred Guest category 4 = 10,000 points

My Award Value Analysis Method for Comparing Across Programs

The main issue to address is the need to adjust these awards requiring different number of points to a common scale to allow a value comparison.

Step 1. Determine the room rate which requires an actual hotel stay date. I pick Tuesday, March 23, 2010.

Step 2. Calculate award value for each hotel based on room rate divided by points needed for award night.

Step 3. Apply an adjustment factor to correlate the rate hotel points are earned to the award value to create a common scale for comparison. The award value adjustment factor is explained below.

This table shows the results of steps one and two.

Hotels at Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco	Tuesday 3-23-10 rate	Award Value Calculation	Award Value$ value/1,000 points
Radisson	$116	$116/40,000	$2.90/1,000 points
Hilton	$135	$135/50,000	2.70
Holiday Inn	$99	$99/25,000	3.96
Holiday Inn Express	$138	$138/25,000	5.52
Hyatt	$189	$189/12,000	15.75
Courtyard by Marriott	$179	$179/25,000	7.16
Sheraton	$149	$149/10,000	14.90
Note: The last column shows award value for each program, but these values must be adjusted to a common scale to compare award value between programs. $14.90 per 1,000 points in Starwood must be adjusted to correlate the rate of earning points to the value.

 

Step three is using an adjustment factor to place each hotel program on a similar scale. For example the Hilton HHonors member earning Points & Points is accumulating base points and bonus points at the rate of 15 points per US dollar. The Starwood Preferred Guest member earns points at the rate of 2 points per $1. Reaching 10,000 points for the Sheraton award night could require as much as $5,000 in hotel spend while the HHonors non-elite member would only need to spend $3,334 to earn 50,000 points.

Elite status bonus points, promotion bonus points, credit card transaction points, and partner activity points are additional variables for earning points that are significant factors in real travel.

But for now, this is the baby steps introduction to crunching the award numbers. This adjustment to award value to enable comparison between programs will only consider base points and elite bonus points similar to the calculations in the DotheMathSite.com analysis.

Hotel Award Adjustment Factors to place awards on similar scale of 10 base points/$1)

Hotel Award Value	Award Value  adjustment factor non-elite
Carlson gold points plus*(20 points/$1)	Multiply by 2.00
Hilton HHonors (Points & Points = 15 points/$1)	Multiply by 1.5
Hilton HHonors (Points & Miles = 10 points/$1)	No adjustment
Hyatt Gold Passport =5 points/$1	Divide by 2
IHG Priority Club* = 10 points/$1	No adjustment
Marriott Rewards* = 10 points/$1	No adjustment
Starwood Preferred Guest = 2 points per $1	Divide by 5

 

Adjusted Award Values for Hotels at Fisherman’s Wharf San Francisco

Hotels at Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco	Award Value$ value/1,000 points	Award Value Adjustment Factor	Adjusted Award Valuevalue/1,000 points
Radisson	$2.90/1,000 points	Multiply by 2	5.80
Hilton (Points & Miles)	2.70	No Adjustment         (Points & Miles)	2.70
Hilton (Points & Points)	2.70	Multiply by 1.5                 (Points & Points)	4.05
Holiday Inn	3.96	No adjustment	3.96
Holiday Inn Express	5.52	No adjustment	5.52
Hyatt	15.75	Divide by 2	7.88
Courtyard by Marriott	7.16	No adjustment	7.16
Sheraton	14.90	Divide by 5	2.98
Note: Award Values in the last column are adjusted values on a similar scale for each program.

 The gap between the programs closes up. You can see the Hilton Points & Points earner falls in the middle of the pack. Hyatt and Marriott are at the top, however, they are also the most expensive hotels for that night. Using points for these two hotels is great for an award night, but not so desirable if paying cash. If one program is consistently higher priced than another for same market segment hotels, then you may need to spend more money to stay all the hotel nights you need during the year.

Award values ranked by hotel and program:

1. Hyatt  7.88
2. Marriott  7.16
3. Radisson  5.80
4. Holiday Inn Express  5.52
5. Hilton (Points & Points)  4.05
6. Holiday Inn   3.96
7. Sheraton   2.98
8. Hilton (Points & Miles)  2.70

Holiday Inn Express ($138) and Hilton ($135) have similar prices and Holiday Inn Express comes out a significantly higher award value at 5.52 compared to Hilton’s 4.05.

And if you take Hilton HHonors Points & Miles, meaning your rate of earning Hilton points is reduced by one-third the base points, then award value for Hilton is the lowest of the lot.

While Starwood comes out low at 2.98 for a member without elite status, the impact of elite status on award value is quite apparent.

Adjusting Award Value to Account for Elite Status

Members may earn as many as 50% more points per hotel dollar spend dependent on elite status.

	Hotel Award Value (adjusted to uniform scale of 10 base points/$1)	Low elite tier in program	Award Value program adjustment factor low elite	Award Value Calculation	Adjusted Award Value for Fisherman’s Wharf Hotels
Radisson$116	Carlson gold points plus*(20 points/$1)	Silver(25%)25 points	Multiply by2.50	$2.90 x 2.5	7.25
Hilton$135	Hilton HHonors (Points & Points = 15 points/$1)	Silver (15%)16.5 points	Multiply by 1.65	$2.70 x 1.65	4.46
Hilton$135	Hilton HHonors (Points & Miles = 10 points/$1)	Silver (15%)11.5	Multiply by 1.15	$2.70 x 1.15	3.11
Hyatt$189	Hyatt Gold Passport =5 points/$1	Platinum (15%)5.75	Divide by 1.74	$15.75 ÷1.74	9.05
Holiday Inn$99	IHG Priority Club* = 10 points/$1	Gold (10%)11	Multiply by 1.1	$3.96 x 1.1	4.36
Holiday Inn Express$138	IHG Priority Club* = 10 points/$1	Gold (10%)11	Multiply by 1.1	$5.52 x 1.1	6.07
Courtyard by Marriott$179	Marriott Rewards* = 10 points/$1	Silver (20%)12	Multiply by 1.2	$7.16 x 1.2	8.59
Sheraton$149	Starwood Preferred Guest = 2 points per $1	Gold (50%)3	Divide by 3.33	$14.90 ÷ 3.33	4.47

 

Throw in a low elite status and now the Starwood Preferred Guest has a higher award value at the Sheraton than the Holiday Inn and matches the award value for the Hilton Points & Points earner.

Here are the award values ranked for the Fisherman’s Wharf hotels and low level elite status:

1. Hyatt    9.05
2. Marriott Courtyard   8.59
3. Radisson   7.25
4. Holiday Inn Express   6.07
5. Sheraton   4.47
6. Hilton (P&P)   4.46
7. Holiday Inn    4.36
8. Hilton (P&M)  3.11

The award value ranking changes again when considering top elite status. This is primarily due to Starwood not increasing at all from low level elite as an effect of SPG Platinum status while Hyatt increases from 15% to 30% and the other programs all increase to a 50% elite bonus.  

	Hotel Award Value (adjusted to uniform scale of 10 base points/$1)	High elite tier in program	Award Value program adjustment factor top elite	Award Value Calculation	Adjusted Award Value for Fisherman’s Wharf Hotels
Radisson$116	Carlson gold points plus*(20 points/$1)	Gold(50%)30 points/$1	Multiply by3.0	$2.90 x 3	8.70
Hilton$135	Hilton HHonors (Points & Points = 15 points/$1)	Diamond (50%)20 points/$1	Multiply by 2.00	$2.70 x 2	5.40
Hilton$135	Hilton HHonors (Points & Miles = 10 points/$1)	Diamond (50%)15 points/$1	Multiply by 1.50	$2.70 x 1.50	4.05
Hyatt$189	Hyatt Gold Passport =5 points/$1	Diamond (30%)6.50 points/$1	Divide by 1.54	$15.75 ÷1.54	10.23
Holiday Inn$99	IHG Priority Club* = 10 points/$1	Platinum (50%)15 points/$1	Multiply by 1.5	$3.96 x 1.5	5.94
Holiday Inn Express$138	IHG Priority Club* = 10 points/$1	Platinum (50%)15 points/$1	Multiply by 1.5	$5.52 x 1.5	8.28
Courtyard by Marriott$179	Marriott Rewards* = 10 points/$1	Platinum (50%)15 points/$1	Multiply by 1.5	$7.16 x 1.5	10.74
Sheraton$149	Starwood Preferred Guest = 2 points per $1	Platinum (50%)3	Divide by 3.33	$14.90 ÷ 3.33	4.47

 

The rankings shift again when the elite bonus points of top-tier loyalty members are factored into the earning side of the award value equation. Courtyard now moves to the top and Priority Club leaps above Hilton. This is due to the fact that a Priority Club Platinum member is earning 50% more points at 15 points per $1 in hotel spend. The Hilton Points & Points member is only earning 33% more points at 20 points per $1 as a Diamond member, compared to 15 points per dollar for the HHonors member with no elite status.

Hotel award value rank for Fisherman’s Wharf for high elite loyalty members

 

1. Courtyard  by Marriott   10.74
2. Hyatt  10.23
3. Radisson   8.70
4. Holiday Inn Express   8.28
5. Holiday Inn  5.94
6. Hilton(Points & Points)  5.40
7. Sheraton   4.47
8. Hilton (Points & Miles)  4.05

 

The Missing Factor – Promotions, Promotions, Promotions!

Promotions are variable. My opinion from watching promotions across the different loyalty programs for several years is the promotion points earned with Starwood, Hyatt, and Priority Club make up a far higher percentage of total points earned during the course of a year of hotel travel than seen with Hilton or Marriott. Actually quantifying the promotion variable is difficult and the ability to earn promotion points is dependent on your travel pattern.

Ignoring promotions favors Hilton and goldpoints plus due to the higher level of base points earned per $1. In real travel promotion points and other bonus points from credit cards and partner activities are additional factors to be considered. Over the past couple of years Hilton HHonors has taken the lead with credit card earning while falling behind on promotion points earning compared to other programs.

So what’s my point?

The bottom line and the point of this post is to illustrate how “crunching the numbers” is actually quite a bit more involved than one might think when reading a simple statement from the SmartMoney.com, “Before you switch loyalties…crunch the numbers on rewards to make sure you are getting the best deal.”

I have thought about how to crunch the numbers to compare awards between programs. I present a method here that is far from perfect, but at least provides a simple starting point for comparing award values between hotel loyalty programs.  I think this method is more accurate and fair in its comparison of hotel award value between programs than I have seen in other analyses.

[Article correction April 12, 2010 - The original version of this article incorrectly listed Gold elite status as requiring 40 nights when it is 35 nights or 20 stays. This error did not affect any of the calculations or analysis.]

Country Inn & Suites is running a Spring Vacation Get-away promotion for a third night free when you pay for two nights at participating hotels in the US and Canada between March 1 and May 15. In addition to the free night, each hotel stay is eligible for a Carlson Hotels goldpoints plus bonus of 3,000 points. This is one of the best third night free offers I have seen and definitely worth looking into if you need a 3-night hotel stay and a Country Inn & Suites is an option for your location and hotel market segment. Country Inn & Suites Third Night Free promotion link.

A Typical Third Night Free Offer and Why Country Inn & Suites Offer is Atypical

Starwood Hotels and several other hotel chains regularly offer third night free promotions. Third night free promotions generally imply a rate reduction of 33% on a three night stay. The problem is the rate used for the third night free offer often results in a discount much less than 33%.

Here is an example of the typical offer:

Hotel Gotcha offers a third night free rate.

The rate is $150 per night for the 3^rd night free promotion. You pay for two nights and the cost for three nights is $300. You get the third night free. The 3^rd night free rate is usually a prepaid, nonrefundable rate.

But, when you go and check other rates for Hotel Gotcha you find the AAA rate is only $109 per night. Three nights is regularly $327 and you can cancel up to the day of arrival in case your plans change. So while you are saving 33% on a $450 hotel stay with the third night free promotional rate, the actual room rate you could have otherwise booked was really only $327. Your actual savings is only $27 and not the $150. The 33% discount turns out to be an overall 8% discount rate.

Country Inn & Suites Third Night Free Offer

My searches of Country Inn & Suites hotel rates revealed some interesting features of this promotion.

First, the 3^rd night free is truly the 3^rd night free. Typically for promotions of this type the rates for the three nights are averaged and 33% is taken off the three night average rate. And typically the room rate is quite a bit higher than the otherwise lowest available rate so the 33% discount is much less as shown for Hotel Gotcha above.

A few participating Country Inn & Suites hotels are specifically listed as offering 33% off each night of a three night stay. This type of 3^rd night free discount only applies to ten hotels of 500 Country Inn & Suites properties.

Here is how the Country Inn & Suites third night free works at most hotels.

There are two Country Inn & Suites in the San Francisco/Silicon Valley area of California. Hotels in Silicon Valley typically run high rates from Sunday through Thursday nights, often more than double the room rates available for a Friday or Saturday night weekend.

Country Inn & Suites, Sunnyvale, CA

One bedroom Junior Suite, 3-night stay, Friday, March 26 – Monday, March 29

• Friday, March 26 = $119
• Saturday, March 27 = $106
• Sunday, Sunday March 28 = $170  (free)

Despite the third night rate being $170 and $64 higher than the previous night, the three night rate is not a discount on the three night average rate. 

Instead, it is truly the third night free.

The three night rate is reduced from the regular total rate of $395 to just $225 for the two paid nights. An average room rate of $75 for three nights is a 43% discount on the regular nightly rate and exceeds the 33% discount implied in a third night free offer.

Checking other rates shows this $75 per night average rate with the 3^rd night free offer is a huge discount for a junior suite compared to the otherwise lowest rate using AAA at $120.90 per night. 

The flip side of the third night free offer is a Thursday, Friday, Saturday night stay (March 25-28) at this hotel results in paying the high priced Thursday room rate and receiving the lowest priced Saturday night free.

• Thursday, March 25 = $173
• Friday, March 26 = $119
• Saturday, March 27 = $106  (free)

Average nightly rate is $97.33.  The discount on the regular rate of $398 for three nights is now only a 27% savings.

The Country Inn & Suites third night free promotional rate can be leveraged to your advantage to maximize the discount by choosing your three night stay to coincide with the third night being the highest rate night. 

Two other two interesting points about this offer:

Suites and specialty rooms are available at some Country Inns & Suites hotels using this offer.

Hotels I checked showed a cancellation policy up to date of arrival. This is a no-brainer consumer friendly cancellation policy since the typical third night free offer is a prepaid nonrefundable rate.

Check this Country Inn & Suites offer out. You may find your extended hotel stays over the next two months are quite a bit cheaper than you had anticipated.

As you rack up those 15 points per dollar spent at Country Inns, along with an online booking bonus, and the 3,000 points per 3-night stay bonus, you may find yourself in the market for a 25% or 50% discount on award nights through goldpoints plus from April 1 through May 31, 2010. Save 25% on award nights at Country Inn & Suites or Park Inn hotels worldwide. Save 50% on award nights at Radisson, Radisson Blu, Regent, and Park Plaza hotels worldwide.

Barbara De Lollis published a scoop last week for her Hotel Check-In blog on Starwood Hotels secret elite program, “Scoop: Starwood Hotels runs top-secret loyalty pilot program that targets rivals’ customers”. Since the USA Today article appeared last Thursday the story has spread across the hotel industry journals.

Honestly, I wasn’t going to write about this story due to the exclusive nature of the program. I don’t have much interest in a club I can’t join and most Loyalty Traveler readers won’t be invited to join.

The power of the media is demonstrated when an article in USA Today spreads across the hotel magazine information world in a matter of a few days.

The irony of the recent media publicity is the Starwood secret elite program is a not-so-secret program to readers of the FlyerTalk “Starwood Preferred Guest” forum. Within the Starwood forum is an 18-page thread started over 13 months ago on February 4, 2009 titled, “Hello, I am your Starwood Ambassador”.

Starwood Lurker, a nearly ten year veteran of FlyerTalk and social media representative for Starwood on FlyerTalk, explained the program on February 9, 2009 in this FlyerTalk post:

“My apologies for any confusion; hopefully I can help clear up some questions on the Ambassador program by providing what I know.

The Ambassador program is a new, trial program Starwood is launching outside and complementary of any programs or benefits offered by SPG. As some have already outlined in this thread, each participant in the program is assigned a personal Starwood representative (Ambassador) who will assist them with any travel needs. The Ambassador program is one of a number of pilots and programs that Starwood consistently runs to ensure that we are always serving the evolving needs of our guests. To be clear, this program in no way diminishes the value of the SPG program, nor the value we place in our program members.

As of right now this is an invitation-only program, with no specific entry thresholds or benefits.

Hope that helps!

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide”

Several of the participants in the Starwood Ambassador program have positive experiences to share in their posts on the FlyerTalk thread over the past year.

From my point of view – I have not seen any diminishment of my complimentary upgrades during my Starwood Hotel stays over the past year. I love an upgrade to a preferred view and/or a bigger room.

And Starwood Preferred Guest Platinum elite membership is an open club for anyone who cares to plan out an annual loyalty strategy, invest some cash in Starwood hotel stays, and meet the published criteria.

I don’t have a Starwood Ambassador to help with my stays, but I have simple needs. And I have to say the Platinum Concierge phone number on my SPG Platinum card has handled my hotel needs to my satisfaction since 2003.

To all you recipients of a Starwood Ambassador, I’m sure you deserve the attention. Your potential for substantial hotel revenue is a strong driver for personalized service. For the rest us who may not be so profitable to Starwood Hotels, well, loyalty is still rewarded with Starwood Preferred Guest.