Here is a Loyalty Traveler analysis of the SPG free weekend nights promotion running May 1-July 31.

I have interspersed totally unrelated photos from my Friday drive to Big Sur between the Starwood promotion Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). Friday was one of those perfectly gorgeous days on the California Central Coast with 70 degree temperatures and incredibly clear skies.

Unfortunately there are no Starwood Hotels anywhere near the Monterey Peninsula or Big Sur coast.

St. Regis Monarch Beach is a category 6 Starwood Hotel near the beach at Dana Point in southern California.

Promotion Basics

Three eligible paid Starwood hotel stays from May 1 through July 31 earn one free weekend night good for any hotel with the exception of 16 hotels in the 1,000 property Starwood Hotels chain. Promotion weekend award nights must be redeemed by December 19, 2010.

1. Registration is required for this promotion by the date of June 30.

Starwood Preferred Guest Registration link. (registration is not active at time of writing.)

Garrapata Creek, Cabrillo Highway 1, Big Sur coast, California

2. Reservations booked before promotion registration are eligible for earning free night credits as long as part of the stay falls in the promotion period from May 1-July 31. Only one eligible night is required to make the stay eligible for earning free night credit. For example, a Starwood Hotel stay from April 28-May 2 or July 31 to Aug 2 will count.

Rocky Point, path from Rocky Point Restaurant on Highway 1 South to Big Sur

3. Earned free nights should be credited to your account within three to five days of your third eligible stay. You can check free weekend night availability online. If a room is available using points, then a free weekend night room should be available. Redemption period begins May 7 and ends December 19, 2010. 

Garrapata Creek Bridge, Cabrillo Highway 1, California

 4. US and Canada members may redeem free weekend nights by calling 888-625-4988. Elite members should call their dedicated SPG elite line listed on your SPG elite card. Members in other locations should call their regional Starwood reservations center.

5. Definition of weekend: Most locations use Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, however, many countries define the weekend as Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.

Members may redeem their Free Weekend Night Award for any Friday, Saturday or Sunday except in select Middle East and African countries where redemption will be for any Thursday, Friday or Saturday: Algeria, Bahrain, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

Rocky Creek Bridge 1932, Cabrillo Highway 1, Monterey County, California

6. Multiple free weekend night awards may be combined for a multi-night hotel stay.

For example: Here is a Loyalty traveler type strategy that may work for some frequent guests. Stay 18 or 21 times during the promotion period and you can redeem six or seven free nights for a week-long luxury vacation. Even if you do not travel for work, you can probably plan some two or three night getaways, and if there are a couple of cheap Starwood Hotels around, then pick up some cheap weekend stays even if you really do not need a hotel room.There are 92 nights and 14 weekends for earning free night credits during the May 1-July 31 promotion period. A member could potentially earn 30 free nights. But assume you made 15 stays over 15 nights for an average of $100 per night. You can earn 5 free nights for about $1,500. Assume that you actually get hotel value and enjoyment out of at least half these stays. Use your five free nights for a luxury hotel stay and you can easily get back the $1,500 value in free nights while having several other short hotel staycations or mini-trips. The basic rationale is one free weekend night may actually be worth more than the cost of three cheap hotel stays. Some travelers will find 20 nights in hotels, including a free five night luxury hotel vacation for the same price as a paid 5-night luxury hotel stay to be a great travel strategy. Others won’t.

Secluded beach on Big Sur coast, Monterey County

7. Free night awards can be combined with paid nights for a multi-night stay. The paid nights will count for earning points and elite credit and qualify towards a free night credit if during the promotional period of May 1-July 31.

For example, a member might stay nine times in May and June and then redeem three free weekend nights Friday through Sunday night in Hawaii during mid-July. Add a paid night for Monday night at the same hotel. The paid night will count as one stay credit towards another free night.

Beach at Rocky Creek, Big Sur coast, Monterey County

8. Free weekend nights cannot be combined with other award nights for a fifth night free award. For example: SPG allows a member to redeem points for five nights with a 5^th night free award. A category 5 hotel at 12,000 points per free night takes only 48,000 points for a fifth night free award. You may combine free weekend nights with additional points for an extended stay, but you will not qualify for a 5^th night free award.

In the Hawaii example above, the member could redeem three free weekend nights and then spend another 12,000 points for the Monday night on a four night hotel stay. But you need another 12,000 points for a 5^th night.

Hurricane Point looking north to Monterey Peninsula, Cabrillo Highway 1, Big Sur Coast

9. Free Weekend Award nights are not transferrable, but you can book multiple rooms for a single stay. Regular award nights using points are transferrable. For example: I frequently redeem award nights using my points for my parents’ hotel stays. I can’t transfer my free weekend award nights from this promotion to my parents for their stays. But, I can book multiple rooms at a hotel using free weekend night awards for my parents as long as I am also a guest using one of the free weekend night award rooms. (Booking multiple rooms is not actually mentioned in the official SPG promotion FAQ, but I’ll keep it here unless I learn differently.)

10. Free Weekend Award night reservations may be cancelled and re-credited to your account as long as cancellation occurs within the hotel’s cancellation policy window.

Priority Club offered free nights last summer, but the Priority Club primary restriction was no cancellations on free night award bookings. If you cancelled, you lost your free night credit. 

Last summer I earned 8 free nights with the SPG free weekend nights promotion and I cancelled several of my free night reservations as I shifted my travel plans around to match the best redemption opportunities.

Pay close attention to the hotel award cancellation window. Some hotels will be day of arrival, most are likely the day before arrival, but some resorts may require as many as seven days before arrival to cancel without penalty.

Last year there was an issue of rack rate cancellation penalties which I think Starwood Hotels addressed after many member complaints. For example, I had a stay at the St. Regis San Francisco that was upgraded to a Metropolitan Suite and my cancellation forfeiture policy was listed as $1,500 per night for the hotel. I wasn’t about to miss that hotel stay as a no-show!

11.   Members will earn points on incidental spending during hotel stays using free weekend night awards.

Loyalty Traveler Note: Keep an eye on your account after free weekend nights with incidental spend to be sure the points post. Award stays frequently are not posted by hotels even when there is incidental spending. If your free weekend nights stay does not post and you had incidental spending for restaurant, room service, etc., then call the hotel to get your points posted.

12.   Free nights must be used by December 19, 2010.

13.   Free weekend nights are not valid at these SPG category 7 hotel properties: 

• The St. Regis Punta Mita Resort, Punta de Mita, Mexico
• Sunset Key Guest Cottages, a Westin Resort, Key West, FL, USA
• The St. Regis New York, USA
• Santa Marina Resort & Villas, Mykonos, Greece
• Mystique, Santorini, Greece
• Hotel Cala di Volpe, Costa Smeralda, Porto Cervo, Italy
• Cervo Hotel, Costa Smeralda Resort, Porto Cervo, Italy
• Hotel Pitrizza, Costa Smeralda, Porto Cervo, Italy
• Hotel Romazzino, Costa Smeralda, Porto Cervo, Italy
• The St. Regis Mardavall Mallorca Resort, Spain
• Hotel President Wilson, Geneva, Switzerland
• The St. Regis Bora Bora Resort, French Polynesia
• Le Méridien Bora Bora, French Polynesia
• The St. Regis Bali Resort, Indonesia
• W Retreat & Spa-Maldives, Maldives
• Pine Cliff Residence, Albufeira, Portugal (category 6 all suites hotel) 

Pine Cliff residence is an all suites category 6 hotel, but free weekend nights are only valid for standard hotel rooms. 

Loyalty Traveler Example of a Hotel Hop

One of the most basic questions asked about these kinds of promotions based on hotel stays is: 

“Can I check-out and then check back in the same hotel with a different reservation to get two stays?”

No you can’t. 

Consecutive days at the same hotel will count as the same hotel stay regardless of check-in and check-out. The hotel hop is a common strategy. Last year I earned several free nights from San Francisco Bay Area hotel stays. Here are some examples of what I did.

• Westin St. Francis, Friday night
• The Palace, Luxury Collection, Saturday night.

These hotels are about three blocks apart in downtown San Francisco. Checking out and checking in to a new hotel wasted about an hour of time, but the benefit of a free night at the St. Regis San Francisco after two stays made the mid-day hotel change worthwhile. This year it takes three stays for a free weekend night.

In January this year I stayed at the Grand Hyatt San Francisco on a Thursday night, Hyatt Regency San Francisco Friday night, and back to the Grand Hyatt on Saturday night. I earned three hotel stay credits. 

These are examples of hotel hopping and perfectly acceptable for maximizing hotel stay credits for the free night promotions. 

Another strategy is checking into a hotel and leaving. I have also done this strategy of checking in, going up to the room and snapping a couple of photos and picking up some soap and shampoo, and then leaving the hotel. Hotels require you to check-in, but not necessarily check-out. I have always received stay credit and I have never been charged extra for not properly checking out. 

Feel free to leave a comment to ask any additional questions not covered in this post.

View from Rocky Point, 13 miles south of Monterey

Cliff's edge at Rocky Point looking across iceplant down to blue sea

I should be in my car right now driving to Big Sur 40 miles south because the weather is gorgeous in Monterey and its Friday and I want to watch whales migrating north rather than staring at my computer screen. Big Sur has great vista points all along the coastline where a person can park and look out over the Pacific Ocean from several hundred feet in elevation.

Then I saw the SPG Free Weekend Nights FAQ page and decided to take the time to address more details of the Starwood Hotels Free Nights Weekend Nights Promotion.

On second thought, no, wait, I am driving to Big Sur.

Here is a link to SPG FAQ for the Free Weekend Nights promotion. I’ll write my SPG FAQ analysis over the weekend.

Starwood Hotels SPG Free Weekend Nights May 1- July 31 promotion webpage.

Loyalty Traveler post: April 16, 2010 – SPG Free Weekend Night per 3 Stays, May 1-July 31

Infinity Pool at Post Ranch Inn, Big Sur, Monterey County, California

Starwood Preferred Guest has announced its free weekend night promotion. SPG has taken the middle ground between Hyatt and Hilton’s free night offers. This offer is similar to last year’s except the stay requirement is up from two stays to three stays to earn a free night. The better aspect is an extended redemption window to December 19. Last year’s promotion had the same earning period, but the free nights needed to be redeemed by the end of September.

Free nights are still valid at category 6 hotels. There are only about eight category 7 hotels that even offer standard rooms, so the exclusion of category 7 hotels for this weekend free nights promotion is not much of a restriction.

Hyatt free nights after two stays are valid at all hotels and Hilton’s free night only excludes all-inclusive properties and Hilton Vacation Club. Hyatt and Hilton free nights may be used any day of the week. Starwood free nights are only for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights, unless otherwise stated for some locations.

Starwood’s extended time frame of 7.5 months for using free nights should help award night availability. Finding award nights became tough at the category 6 hotels in August and September 2009 when everyone was seeking to use up their free nights before expiration.

This is a good deal even at three stays per free night. Anytime you can get promotion value equal to the cost of earning the award, then the promotion is high value. Finding hotels in the $100 per night range with Starwood is not too difficult in many locations and many category 5 and most category 6 hotels run $300+ per night at least some of the time, and some category 6 hotels run $300+ per night most of the time.

This will be a good time to go for SPG elite while earning free nights from hotel stays. The only thing better than a free $300 per night room is having Platinum status and getting a complimentary upgrade on your $300 per night room to the $600 per night suite. Suite upgrades are not guaranteed, but they sure seem to be a common occurrence in my SPG experiences of the past decade.

The challenge for the frequent guest now is to figure out where to lay your head. You have until June 30 to earn free nights with Hyatt and Hilton, and July 31 to earn free nights with Starwood.

Here is the summary from FlyerTalk per Starwood Lurker II as posted this morning.

• 1(One) Free Weekend Night award for every 3(Three) eligible stays.
• Registration begins 1 May 2010 and ends 30 June 2010. Only 61 days, so do not miss the window.
• Earning period begins 1 May 2010 and ends 31 July 2010.
• Redemption period begins 7 May 2010 and ends 19 December 2010.
• Awards are redeemable only at Participating properties from Categories 1 to 6.
• Free Weekend nights refer to any Friday, Saturday or Sunday except for properties otherwise stated.

Here is the SPG promotion Free Weekends link. The SPG registration link goes live on May 1, 2010.

See the Loyalty Traveler April 14, 2010 H.E.L.P. post for a summary of 25 or so current hotel loyalty program promotions and links.

There does not seem to be much promotion innovation going on at Priority Club. I guess the ability to combine promotions keeps the program from needing a great offer like last year’s free night after two stays nights which ran during the summer of 2009.

Double points or double miles starts with your second qualifying stay, except for the IHG extended stay hotel brands of Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites where the offer begins with your first stay. This is an IHG worldwide offer available at all 4,400+ hotels in the InterContinental Hotels Group chain

Registration is now open for this offer.

InterContinental Hotels Group brands are Crowne Plaza, InterContinental Hotels, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Hotel Indigo, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites.

IHG Points Earning Structure:

Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, and Hotel Indigo earn 10 points per $1 hotel spend. Promotion bonus is additional 10 points per $1 for 20 points per $1. Elite bonuses are additional.

Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites earn 5 points/$1 regularly, so double points promotion earning rate is 10 points/$1.

InterContinental Hotels regularly earn 2,000 points per stay. The promotion rate is 4,000 points per stay.

Double Miles is applicable to many airline programs

Double miles earning rate is dependent on the airline partner and hotel brand. Check the airline miles earning page for details of regular miles rate and double that for the promotion rate. Priority Club has a large number of airline partners with around 45, second only to Hilton HHonors I believe.

USA Residents Only have a Special Gift Card Alternative Offer shown in the promotion terms fine print at PriorityClub.com/hititbig, however, the link is currently broken and does not reveal the details of this offer.

Loyalty Traveler promotion rank = 3-keys (and waiting to see the gift card offer details)

After updating the Loyalty Traveler Current Hotel Promotions page yesterday, I realized I hadn’t even discussed some of the major promotions ending this month since writing a summary of Q1 2010 hotel promotions back in December. I have put together a summary list by hotel chain of about 25 hotel loyalty promotions currently available to members. I plan to make the hotel loyalty promotions and special rates summary a weekly feature post for Loyalty Traveler blog.

April 14, Loyalty Traveler Current Hotel Loyalty Promotions Guide

The frequent guest has the choice of many hotel loyalty promotions with little guidance to their relative value. Loyalty Traveler’s summary of current hotel loyalty promotions and limited time offers for the frequent guest are shown below.

Rate discounts and loyalty program bonuses are two types of hotel chain incentives to consider when booking travel. 

Rankings are subjective and subject to change. Your specific travel pattern may result in some promotions ranking more favorably for you. When assigning a key rank I take into consideration the following factors and probably more: 

• The opportunity for a significantly high-value return on hotel spend in terms of a hotel rebate in free nights and discounted  hotel nights. 
• Current loyalty program promotions and offers from other hotel chains.
• Past loyalty program offers and rates for the specific hotel chain and loyalty program.
• Current economic conditions in the travel industry and hotel location.

Loyalty Traveler ranks the consumer value of hotel loyalty promotions on a Five Key Scale.

Five Keys = one of the best hotel loyalty promotions of the year.

Four Keys = high value rebate on the cost of hotel stays.

Three Keys = good value hotel loyalty promotion or rate offer

Two Keys = a bonus value if you play, but not necessarily worth going out of your way.

One Key = There is limited or no value. You are likely paying more than the bonus value.

April 14 HELP Summary for Current Hotel Loyalty Promotions by Program 

Best Western Rewards 

3-key Promotion $50 gift card after two stays by May 30 (March 30, 2010)

Elite Status Match Offer (February 19, 2010) FlyerTalk members are stating there is an accompanying offer for 5,000 bonus points after first stay.

Carlson Hotels – Goldpoints Plus

5-Key promotion: Award Nights On Sale through May 31: Radisson 50% off, Country Inn and Park Inn 25% off

4-Key promotion Country Inn & Suites Third Night Free is Truly a Free Night (March 18, 2010)

3-key promotion Up to Quadruple Points for stays through May 28, 2010 (March 31, 2010) This can be a 4-key or 5-key promotion if you have 4-night stays at a Radisson which combined with 50% free nights can be one or two free nights earned. 4x points is 80 points/$1. Top category hotel award at 50% discount is just 30,000 points. $800 on a 4-night stay will earn 65,000 points with online booking bonus.

Choice Hotels – Choice Privileges

3-key promotion Spring Promotion Stay Twice and Earn 8,000 points Feb 22-April 30

(good for free night at 1,500 hotels)

Hilton HHonors

4-key promotion Nine bonus airline miles promotions that may be combined with free night promotion (April 13, 2010)

4-key promotion Fast Ways to Free Stays (Earn a free night after every 4 stays or 10 nights through June 30) (April 7, 2010)

Hilton HHonors earn unlimited free nights through June 30 – Fast Ways to Free Stays promotion (April 4, 2010)

Hyatt Gold Passport

Limited Time Special Rate Sale US, Canada, and Caribbean (ends Wed. April 14, 11:59pm CST) Prepaid, nonrefundable rates for stays through July 5, 2010.

5-key promotion – Big Welcome Back promotion for one free night after every two stays March 26-June 30 (March 26, 2010)

5-key promotion – Hyatt Gold Passport Instant Platinum Elite and Diamond Elite Fast-track (Feb 21, 2010)

3-Key Limited Time Offer American Express Membership Rewards Hyatt $100 certificate for 2-night stay for 1,500 Membership Rewards points through May 31, 2010. Certificate valid in US, Canada, and Caribbean through December 30, 2010.

InterContinental Hotels Group – Priority Club

2-Key promotion Earn 200 miles or 1,000 points per night up to 20,000 points or 4,000 miles through April 30, 2010 (Dec 22, 2010)

Priority Club PointBreaks 5,000 points per night awards to June 30 (March 29, 2010)

IHG Friend & Family Hotel Rates (Dec 26, 2010)

Leading Hotels of the World (LHW) – Leaders Club Rewards 

3-key promotion – Earn 1 free night after every 5 hotel stays in 2010. Must stay in at least two different hotels. Bellagio in Las Vegas is LHW member. (April 13, 2010)

Marriott Rewards

5-Key promotion – May 1-July 31 New members of Marriott Rewards earn a free night after two stays  (April 5, 2010)

3-key promotion – $50 Gift card for weekend stays at Marriott to April 18 (Feb 24, 2010)

1-Key offer – Marriott Rewards Instant Redemption Awards (March 24, 2010)

Marriott Rewards Triple Airline Miles through April 30 (Feb 18, 2010)

Marriott Rewards 2010 MegaBonus Feb 1- April 30, 2010 (Dec 22, 2010)

Starwood Preferred Guest

4-key promotion $100 Amazon Gift Card for 2 Westin Stays in US/Canada by May 13 (Feb 20, 2010)

3-key promotion SPG link: Pay Your Birthyear Rate (This promotion can be an incredible savings or no savings depending on the hotel and your birthyear.) LT post 4/28/2009

3-key limited time offer Buy up to 20,000 Starpoints at 20% discount = $28/1,000 points. SPG link

2-key promotion SPG up to 4x points through April 15, 2010 (Dec 18, 2009)

1-key promotion Four Points Breakfast for a Buck (April 12, 2010)

Starpoints Airline Direct Deposit is Better for United, Continental, and Singapore miles (March 25, 2010)

Wyndham Rewards

2-key promotion Lufthansa Miles & More 1,000 miles per stay, up to 4,000 miles March 15-May 15.

Hotel Points-to-Miles Conversion Tables for 9 hotel programs and 7 U.S. airlines (March 30, 2010)

Other Offers:

5-key offer – Condé Nast/Competitours - Condé Nast/Competitours 250,000 miles giveaway for 200 words by April 30   (LT post April 9, 2010)

Frequentflyerbonuses.com – Five Years, Five Ways to Win (2005-2010)

Frequentflyerbonuses.com 5^th Anniversary Contest – Prize is $250 Marriott Gift card or 10,000 Spirit Airlines miles

Congratulations to Patrick Sojka of FFB for five years. Loyalty Traveler had its four year anniversary this month.

Leading Hotels of the World (LHW) has an offer for one free night after every five stays in 2010. This has been available since January 1 and is a 2010 year-long promotion from Leaders Club Rewards, the hotel loyalty program for LHW. There are 450 luxury hotel members in 80 countries in the LHW chain.

The free night after 5 stays may very well be a continuing loyalty program benefit similar to Kimpton’s free night after 7 stays. But Kimpton continually counts stays across calendar years and the LHW benefit specifically states 5 stays in 2010 earn a free night.

I missed seeing this LHW 2010 loyalty program offer until now. When I searched for details I saw TMTravelWorld mentioned this offer on BoardingArea.com back in December.

The LHW Leaders Club Rewards Loyalty Deal (Leaders Club Rewards webpage link) 

Earn one free night at any Leading Hotel member after every five stays in 2010.

• Leaders Club member must stay in at least two different hotels.
• Reservations must be made through Leading Hotels of the World booking channels. http://www.lhw.com/
• Reservations made directly with hotel do not qualify. Must use LHW booking channel.

Redeem free night at any member hotel.

• All LHW hotels participate in Leaders Club Rewards.
• Free night certificate is valid for one year from date of issue.
• Award certificates are not transferrable.
• There is no limit on free nights earned.
• Some hotels have some blackout dates for award nights.
• Only one room will receive stay credit per hotel stay even if booking multiple rooms.

I will do some hotel searches and a cost/benefit analysis in a later post. There must be some great leverage opportunities with this offer. The trick is to find the $100 hotel rooms for earning (are there any?) and the $500 hotel rooms for burning (there must be some)! 

Leaders Club basic membership is free. One of the published benefits is a one category room upgrade for members. Early and late departure and an arrival gift are other published benefits.

There are also two paid membership levels at $300 annually for Leaders Club Access membership and a staggering $2,000 annual fee for Leaders Club Unlimited membership. It is a mystery to me what the benefits exactly entail for the paid memberships. I searched the web and did not find any enlightening anecdotes from members.

Remembering 1928

You may recall Leading Hotels of the World as the hotel company behind the disastrous $19.28 room night promotion back in October 2008. The LHW Computer Says No post on October 1, 2008 is still the biggest single day readership Loyalty Traveler blog has had.

• October 1, 2008 LHW 1928 Sale – Computer Says No
• October 2, 2008 LHW Promotion Saga – LHW Response
• October 19, 2008 LHW 1928 Luxury Hotel $19.28 Room Sale October 23
• October 30, 2008 LHW 1928 RIP

Bernardus Lodge, Carmel Valley, Monterey County, California - LHW member hotel

Bonus mile promotions may be combined with Hilton’s second quarter promotion for a free night after 4 stays or 10 nights.

Alitalia, Air France/KLM Flying Blue, American, British Airways, Delta/NW Skymiles, Jet Blue, Miles & More are the offers I have found so far. The initial post on FlyerTalk by HamptonInsider on March 1 also listed Air Canada Aeroplan (double miles June 1-Aug 31), Emirates (triple miles Mar 1-May 31), and Virgin Atlantic (triple miles April 1-June 30) participating in bonus miles promotions for Hilton stays, but I have not located these offer registration pages yet. All the other offers listed by HamptonInsider were correct with the exception of British Airways originally reported as 5,000 miles per stay, but actually the British Airways promotion is for triple miles and limited to 5,000 total bonus miles for the promotion.

There was also a false rumor on FlyerTalk that award stays would qualify for the 4 stays for a free night promotion. This rumor was squelched today by HHonors Representative Teresa. Award stays do not count for the HHonors free night offer.

The miles bonus terms vary between airlines. Some have property limitations and some require multiple nights.

Here is the list of airline bonus mile offers I have found to date with links to registration pages:

Air France/KLM Flying Blue, April 1-June 30, triple miles, only stays booked after promotion registration are eligible for miles.

Loyalty Traveler note – this offer from Flying Blue and Alitalia appear to be the least restrictive of all the miles offers. Eligible at all HHonors hotels and no minimum length of stay or bonus miles limit for the promotion.

Alitalia – Triple Miles, April 1-June 30, all Hilton Worldwide hotel stays eligible. New members to HHonors will earn an additional 1,000 miles after first stay.

American Airlines AAdvantage, April 1-June 30, earn 1,000 bonus miles for a 4-night or longer stay at any of 950 participating Hilton Worldwide properties. (Loyalty traveler note: You have to search the promotion page for the participating properties. This offer is only valid at fewer than 30% of the 3,500 Hilton HHonors. properties.)

British Airways Executive Club, April 1-June 30, only stays booked after promotion registration will be eligible for bonus miles. Points and Fixed Miles earners will receive 500 miles per stay + 1,000 bonus miles per stay. Points and Variable Miles Earners will receive 1 mile per $1 + 1,000 bonus miles per stay. Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites will earn 250 bonus miles per stay. There is a total promotion limit of 5,000 bonus miles.

Delta/Northwest Skymiles, April 1-June 30, 300% bonus miles for 2-night or longer stay required. This is actually quadruple miles. Maximum of 1,500 bonus miles per stay in addition to regular miles earned is 2,000 miles per stay. Stays at Hampton Inn or Homewood Suites earn maximum 300 bonus miles. Limited participating properties can be searched on registration page.

(LT note: I interpret the rules to mean a Points + Variable Miles earner is limited to these same bonus mile maximums per stay. I think this means a $500 Homewood Suites stay will still only earn 300 bonus miles for a Points + Variable Miles earner.)

Emirates Skywards – May 1 – July 31, Triple miles. Earn 1,500 miles per stay or 3 miles per US$1. The triple miles offer details from Emirates state Hampton Inn earns miles. Normally Hampton Inn stays do not earn miles with Emirates Skywards program. Keep an eye on this if you plan Hampton Inn stays and I advise speaking with Emirates customer service to verify Hampton Inn stays count.

JetBlue TrueBlue, April 6-July 15, double miles. Earn 2 miles per $1 spent at 860 participating hotels. This offer is valid at fewer than 25% of Hilton Worldwide properties.

Loyalty Traveler JetBlue note: the JetBlue promotion registration page is broken, at least for my Windows browser. Only 860 Hilton properties are participating, however, when I tried to check properties, I couldn’t even see state or country listings in the drop-down menus. I typed San Francisco in the “city” field and the search function rejected my inquiry with a red note “Please select a country”. I can’t see any country or states in the drop down menus to select.

Miles & More (Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, LOT Polish), April 1 – June 30, Triple Miles. Only stays booked after promotion registration are eligible for bonus miles. Points and Fixed Miles earners will receive 500 regular miles and 1,000 bonus miles per stay. Triple miles offer is not applicable for Hampton Inn or Homewood Suites stays.

There are very few participating hotels and only Europe locations.

Participating hotels include:

• Hilton Heathrow Airport,
• The Trafalgar,
• The Waldorf Hilton,
• Hilton Green Park,
• Hilton Park Lane,
• Hilton London Euston,
• Hilton London Tower Bridge,
• Hilton London Metropole,
• Hilton London Paddington,
• Hilton London Islington,
• Hilton London Hyde Park,
• Hilton London Olympia,
• Hilton London Kensington,
• Hilton London Docklands,
• Hilton London Canary Wharf,
• Wembley Plaza,
• Courthouse Doubletree by Hilton,
• The Bentley,
• Hilton Arc de Triomphe,
• Hilton Paris La Defense,
• Hilton Paris Orly Airport,
• Hilton Paris Charles De Gaulle,
• Trianon Palace Versailles,
• Hilton Madrid Airport,
• Hilton Diagonal Mar,
• Hilton Barcelona,
• Hilton Milan,
• Doubletree by Hilton Milan,
• Garden Inn Malpensa,
• Hilton Excelsior,
• Hilton Villa Igiea,
• Hilton Sorrento Palace,
• Garden Inn Bari,
• Garden Inn Matera,
• Doubletree by Hilton Olbia,
• Hilton Stockholm Slussen,
• Hilton Warsaw,
• Hilton Budapest,
• Hilton Budapest WestEnd,
• Hilton Athenee Palace.

Earn 5,000 bonus miles with Air Canada Aeroplan or United Mileage Plus for a minimum 4-night stay in Hawaii before May 31, 2010.

Choose from seven wonderful hotels and resorts on the three magical islands:

• Island of Oahu: Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach & Spa Resort, Hilton Waikiki Prince Kuhio, Doubletree Hotel Alana, Embassy Suites Waikiki Beach, and Grand Waikikian Suites by Hilton Grand Vacation
• Island of Maui: Grand Wailea
• Hawaii’s Big Island: Hilton Waikoloa Village

When does a $1 breakfast cost $31?

When you are booking the Four Points by Sheraton “Breakfast for a Buck” room rate or perhaps in Las Vegas when you accompany your $1 breakfast with a table full of Keno cards.

Four Points by Sheraton, Starwood hotels mid-range hotel brand, has a promotional campaign hitting the hotel industry media outlets today.

MarketWatch.com – What’s a Dollar Buy These Days?

Hotel Check-In (USA Today) – Four Points by Sheraton Hotels offer $1 breakfasts this summer

“Four Points by Sheraton is launching an eye-opening “Breakfast for a Buck” package today, which gets you a delicious, hearty breakfast for just a dollar.”

Sounds great!

Unfortunately, the “Breakfast for a Buck” just isn’t true in the sense that most travelers would use when searching hotel rates. Breakfast for a Buck is $1 over the Best Available Rate, often written as the acronym BAR. The problem with promotions based on BAR is the Best Available Rate rarely means the lowest rate available when searching for hotel rooms.

There is actually a better promotional rate currently offered with AAA called the “Breakfast for Two Daily” rate with Starwood hotels rate code: AAABFS

This Starwood Hotels link shows participating properties for the AAA special rate offer.

Here is a comparison of the two special offers for the Four Points San Rafael in Marin County, California. Saturday, April 24 – Four Points San Rafael

“Breakfast for a Buck” rate = $110 night and includes one breakfast.

AAABFS rate = $102.65 night and includes breakfast for two.

AAA rate without breakfast is $81.75.

Who wouldn’t rather have two breakfasts for $7.35 less than one breakfast?

Here is my comment today at Barbara DeLollis’ Hotel Check-In column for USA Today regarding this breakfast offer.

The real deal!

Unfortunately this is one of those special offers that will likely cost you more than the value of the breakfast. 

First, the fine print for this offer states the “breakfast for a buck” only applies to one guest. The other guest pays regular breakfast rates. 

Second, the rates I checked showed a substantial premium for the “Breakfast for a Buck” room rate. I find AAA rates are generally the lowest rate about 50% of the time. 

Here are sample rates for Four Points hotels in San Francisco Bay Area for Saturday, April 24:

Breakfast for a Buck rate is coded “FPBPKG”. 

Four Points San Francisco Bay Bridge, Emeryville

FPBPKG rate = $100 or $112.07 after tax

AAA rate = $84.15 or $94.31 after tax.

Breakfast for a Buck actual cost = $17.76

Four Points San Francisco Airport

FPBPKG rate not available 

Four Points San Rafael

FPBPKG rate = $110 or $122.10 after tax

AAA rate = $81.75 or $90.74 after tax.

Breakfast for a Buck actual cost = $31.36 

Four Points San Jose Downtown

FPBPKG rate = $120 or $138.80 after tax

AAA rate = $101.15 or $117.31 after tax.

Breakfast for a Buck actual cost = $21.49

The real deal on the Breakfast for a Buck deal is that it is NO DEAL!

If the rates are going to be driven up for the Breakfast for a Buck deal, the least Four Points could do is offer breakfast for two adults on this rate.

Hotel Rate Quick Tutorial

Best Available Rate usually means a refundable reservation with a cancellation window from one or two days before arrival. Some hotels even allow day of arrival no-charge cancellations on the Best Available Rate.

There are commonly lower rates than BAR.

1. Prepaid, non-refundable rates
2. AAA auto club  
3. Senior rates.

Prepaid nonrefundable rates are generally a discount based on BAR. Prepaid rates can be significant savings but are a risky strategy since any changes to your plans means forfeiting the full price of the room nights.  Free night rates and percentage discount rates are generally based on BAR and often have restrictive cancellation policies.

AAA auto club rates are most frequently the lowest rate available or within a few dollars of nonrefundable prepaid rates. One of the great benefits of AAA is the cancellation policy is usually the same as for BAR rates. The annual cost of AAA membership is worth the money for frequent guests in hotel savings. I have seen high-end hotels drop over $100 per night just by booking AAA room rates. Most hotels offer 10 to 30% off using AAA rates.

Senior rates are variable. Sometimes they are lower than AAA, but generally not, and generally not as widely available. Different hotel chains have different age qualification requirements.

Four Points Promotions – Choose from four great deals (link)

Breakfast for a Buck is just one of four package deals being offered by Four Points.

Great Beer package rate includes two full breakfasts and one half-price beer sampler per hotel stay. Another not so great deal considering the high mark-up on BAR.

Family Friendly Fun package rate is probably the worst value of these four package offers. This rate includes a free buffet or child’s entrée for one child 12 or younger with an accompanying adult purchase of a buffet or entrée.

Drive In, Fly Out package rate. I can’t even give an opinion on this package rate since I could not locate the rate for either the San Francisco or Los Angeles Airport Four Points hotels at various times over the summer. In the past I have found the Four Points SFO parking rate gave me a night’s stay and 10 days of parking for just $50 more than the cost of parking alone at the airport lots.

Unfortunately, I have to say my opinion of these four great deals from Four Points is at least three of the four deals are total BS wrapped up for the undiscerning guest in a pretty webpage and PR.

"Breakfast for a Buck" Four Points Rate Analysis - San Francisco area

What makes these locations – Australia, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Florida, and New York – a special category for Priority Club members?

These are states and countries where the majority of Holiday Inn hotels are 25,000 point awards.

Priority Club has three tiers of hotel awards for Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express with free night awards at the 10,000 points, 15,000 points, or 25,000 points level.

Maine, New Jersey, New York, Wyoming, and the United Kingdom are the only states or countries where 50% or more of the Holiday Inn Express hotels are at the 25,000 point award level.

The vast majority of hotel awards for Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels are at the 15,000 point level.

Priority Club is the largest of the major global chain hotels in several statistical categories such as number of rooms (620,000+) and the number of countries with hotels (100). Holiday Inn is the #2 hotel brand in the world by number of rooms with over 250,000 rooms. Best Western is #1 with over 300,000. Marriott #3 and Hilton #4 both have about 200,000 rooms. Holiday Inn Express is #5 at 175,000 rooms.

Looking at a Loyalty Traveler post from July 9 on “InterContinental Hotels Group By the Numbers” shows IHG has added a new Holiday Inn Express hotel at the rate of one new hotel member every one or two days! While many of these hotels are rebranded properties, many are also newly built.

Looking up the award level of hotels in the Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express brands are a pain. A Priority Club Rewards member must log as a member, pick a location, and select redeem points to see how many points are required for a free night at any particular Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn Express hotel.

The website is not designed to allow a member like me to see all the hotels in California.  I can pick a location and at most see all the hotels in a 100 mile radius. A road traveler may find the 25,000 points Holiday Inn Express Elk Grove as a Sacramento area I-5 hotel, but miss the I-5 Corning Holiday Inn Express at 10,000 points farther north since it is not in the 100 mile radius of Sacramento. Many travelers might prefer to drive an extra 120 miles to save 15,000 Priority Club points for a free hotel night in transit on I-5.

Wouldn’t it be great to have a list of all the 10,000 point Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express properties?

Cao Chong of the U.K. has a website where he recently posted a listing of the current hotels worldwide in Priority Club at the 10,000 point level. Hotels at the 25,000 points level and international properties at the 15,000 points level are also listed. USA hotels at the 15,000 points level are not listed, however, by default these hotels are all the 1,700+ remining HI/HIX hotels not listed.

At the rate of one new Priority Club member HI/HIX hotel being added every day or two, this list will soon be outdated, but for now this is the only listing I know showing the tiers for Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels. I am currently about 20% of the way through building a IHG property spreadsheet, but it is slow work with over 4,000 hotel entries to compile.

Cao Chong’s site has a table showing the geographic breakdown of Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express Hotels by country and tier level on this web page. He also provides some analysis on trends he sees in the data.

Here is some additional analysis based on his data tables.

Holiday Inn brand has 1,333 properties worldwide with 762 hotels (57%) located in the USA  and 571 hotels (43%) located internationally outside the USA in 70 other countries.

Award tier Breakdown for 1,333 Holiday Inn hotels with 762 USA hotels and 571 international hotels.

10,000 point award nights are available at 118 Holiday Inn hotels of 1,333 worldwide or 8.9% of all Holiday Inns.

15,000 point award nights are available at 796 Holiday Inn hotels worldwide or 59.7% of all Holiday Inns.

25,000 point award nights are available at 419 Holiday Inn hotels worldwide or 31.4% of all Holiday Inns

USA (762 Holiday Inn hotels)

10,000 point award nights are available at 62 of the 762 Holiday Inn hotels in the USA or just 8.1% of all US Holiday Inn hotels are the lowest tier award.

15,000 point award nights are available at 500 of the 762 Holiday Inn hotels in the USA or 65.6% of all US Holiday Inn hotels are the middle tier award.

25,000 point award nights are available at 200 of the 762 Holiday Inn hotels in the USA or 26.2%.

International (571 Holiday Inn hotels)

10,000 point award nights are available at 56 of the 571 Holiday Inn hotels outside the USA or 9.8% of all international Holiday Inns.

15,000 point award nights are available at 296 of the 571 Holiday Inn hotels outside the USA or 51.8% of all international Holiday Inns.

25,000 point award nights are available at 219 of the 571 Holiday Inn hotels outside the USA or 38.4% of all international Holiday Inns.

Holiday Inn Express brand has 2,212 properties worldwide with 1,851 hotels (83.7%) located in the USA  and 361 hotels (16.3%) located internationally outside the USA in 27 other countries.

Award tier Breakdown for 2,212 Holiday Inn Express hotels with 1,851 USA hotels and 361 international hotels.

10,000 point award nights are available at 188 Holiday Inn Express hotels of 2,212 worldwide or 8.5% of all Holiday Inn Express hotels.

15,000 point award nights are available at 1,437 Holiday Inn Express hotels worldwide or 65.0% of all 2,212 Holiday Inn Express hotels.

25,000 point award nights are available at 587 Holiday Inn Express hotels worldwide or 26.5% of all 2,212 Holiday Inn Express hotels.

USA (1,851 Holiday Inn Express hotels)

10,000 point award nights are available at 164 of the 1,851 Holiday Inn Express hotels in the USA or just 8.9% of all US Holiday Inn Express hotels are the lowest tier award.

15,000 point award nights are available at 1,203 of the 1,851 Holiday Inn Express hotels in the USA or 65.0% of all US Holiday Inn Express hotels are the middle tier award.

25,000 point award nights are available at 484 of the 1,851 Holiday Inn Express hotels in the USA or 26.1%.

International (361 Holiday Inn Express hotels)

10,000 point award nights are available at 24 of the 361 Holiday Inn Express hotels outside the USA or 6.6% of all international Holiday Inns.

15,000 point award nights are available at 234 of the 361 Holiday Inn Express hotels outside the USA or 64.8% of all international Holiday Inn Express hotels.

25,000 point award nights are available at 103 of the 361 Holiday Inn Express hotels outside the USA or 28.5% of all international Holiday Inn Express hotels.

InterContinental Hotels Group by the numbers

InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club Rewards covers the hotel brands of Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, InterContinental Hotels, Crowne Plaza, Staybridge Suites, Candlewood Suites, and Hotel Indigo.

IHG is the largest hotel company in the world ranked by number of hotel rooms. Hotelsmag.com 2009 rankings listed IHG with 620,000 rooms. Wyndham Hotels, the largest global company by number of hotels, had about 20,000 fewer rooms in 2009.

IHG is ranked #1 of all hotel chains in terms of the number of different countries with a hotel property.

Loyalty Traveler posts: July 9, 2009 IHG by the Numbers gives hotel brand data for the other IHG brands of InterContinental Hotels, Crowne Plaza, Staybridge Suites, and Candlewood Suites.

Marriott by the numbers, Hyatt by the numbers, and Starwood by the numbers can also be found in these Loyalty traveler posts.

A wonderful occurrence happened this weekend. I woke up today to see Loyalty Traveler ranks #9 on the Technorati.com Top 100 Travel blogs.

Technorati.com blog rankings fluctuate daily. I can’t discern any correlation to blog rank going up or down and my Loyalty Traveler website traffic or blog topic. I am just happy to see some independent measure showing Loyalty Traveler on a scale. Website ranking sites like Alexa.com, compete.com, and others rank BoardingArea.com as a site, but they do not show Loyalty Traveler as an individual blog. Technorati.com is one place where I can see Loyalty Traveler ranked as an individual blog.

Loyalty Traveler blog has been in the Technorati Top 100 travel blogs for most of the past six months since the blog ranking website changed its algorithms in October 2009. Loyalty Traveler blog has consistently ranked in the #60 to #99 range for all but a few weeks out of the Top 100 travel blogs and a few weeks in the #43 to #59 range. Then yesterday I looked at Technorati and saw Loyalty Traveler blog jumped from #61 last Monday to #12 on the Technorati Top 100 Travel blogs.

Loyalty Traveler shoots up to #12 on Technorati Top Travel Blogs (4-10-10)

Today I broke the Technorati.com top 10 travel blogs for the first time, entering at #9 on April 11, 2010.

Loyalty Traveler breaks Technorati Top 10 on April 11, 2010

The time looks right for growing.

Hey hotels and luggage companies, I am seeking advertisers so I can finance an accompanying Loyalty Traveler website separate from the blog with more hotel travel related resources and hotel loyalty program guides.

Contact me ricgarrido@loyaltytraveler.com if you are interested in discussing highly focused target group advertising for your hotel, hotel brand, hotel chain, luggage brand.

Of course, I plan to keep writing here at BoardingArea.com for the foreseeable future to offer Loyalty Traveler hotel travel tips for free.   

After all, I want to stay in the Technorati.com Top 100 travel blogs!