Making the travel industry news this week is a warning letter from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to 22 hotel operators

that their online reservation sites may violate the law by providing a deceptively low estimate of what consumers can expect to pay for their hotel rooms.

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2012/11/hotelresort.shtm

Resort fees are an additional service charge covering a variety of property specific amenities and benefits for items like pool access, pool towels, wired in-room internet and property wifi, parking, bottled water, newspaper, fitness room access and more.  Read More…

Best Western Rewards members earn 1,000 bonus points per night for stays in California, Nevada and Hawaii December 1-January 31, 2013. A maximum of 4,000 bonus points will be awarded during the promotion.

Promotion registration at www.travelbestwestern.com/winter13 is required before your stay to earn this bonus.

1,000 bonus points per night in California, Hawaii and Nevada

BestWestern.com 250 points online booking bonus

You can also register to earn 250 bonus points per online booking at Best Western.com through June 30, 2013.

1,250 bonus points on top of 10 points per dollar can more than double your points earning on a $100 Best Western stay in these states.

Ric Garrido, writer and owner of Loyalty Traveler, shares news and views on hotels, hotel loyalty programs and vacation destinations for frequent guests. You can follow Loyalty Traveler on Twitter and Facebook and RSS feed.

Sometimes paying a bonus points rate is a good strategy for earning cheap Priority Club points. Bonus points package rates come in various sizes from 1,000 points to 5,000 points at many IHG properties. Limited time 10,000 bonus points rates are offered at a few hotels. At times these rates allow members to buy 10,000 points for under $50.

The advantage of paying a points package rate is bonus points qualify for elite status and 60,000 Priority Club points earned in a year confers Platinum elite for the next calendar year with 50% elite bonus points on all hotel stays as a Platinum elite.

Montelucia Resort & Spa, InterContinental Alliance Resort 10,000 bonus points rate for 2-night stays through January 31, 2013.

This package rate caught my attention.

Briefly.

Any deal that earns 10,000 points for $70 or less on a paid room rate is a cheap way to earn Priority Club points.

Montelucia Resort Rate Analysis on 2-night stay

Friday Jan 25-Sunday Jan 27, 2013

• $714.22 Montelucia 10K PCR rate at $295 King Bedroom Resort View
• $657.76 Advance Purchase, nonrefundable at $270/night.
• $596.80 AAA rate at $243/night.

$117.42 additional cost over the AAA rate to book the 10,000 bonus points rate is a poor value rate.

The rates for this InterContinental Alliance Resort is not a cost effective strategy for Priority Club Rewards points.

Venetian Las Vegas and 4,000 Bonus Points for 2-night stays through Jan 6, 2013

The Venetian and The Palazzo are two InterContinental Alliance Resorts in Las Vegas. The Venetian has a 4,000 bonus points rate for 2-night stays through January 6, 2013.

December 4-6, 2012

• AAA = $179/night.
• Best Available = $179/night.
• 4,000 bonus points = $179 per night. (Rate drops to $149 some dates in December).

For this hotel the 4,000 bonus points rate is no higher than any other available rate. This is a good rate deal for this specific hotel.

Update 8:30am Nov 30: Within an hour of posting this article I noticed an email from The Venetian/The Palazzo Grazie loyalty program showing rates at $129 for much of December 2012 for dates when the IHG website shows $149 per night. Is this a Best Rate Guarantee opportunity for a free night?

Must book this special offer rate by Dec 6.

Ric Garrido, writer and owner of Loyalty Traveler, shares news and views on hotels, hotel loyalty programs and vacation destinations for frequent guests. You can follow Loyalty Traveler on Twitter and Facebook and RSS feed.

Everyone has heard of Hollywood. But where do you go in Hollywood to see stars and stuff?

Last April I attended a party at H&H, Hollywood and Highland Center while attending the U.S. Travel International PowWow. I loaded on a bus in downtown Los Angeles, the area of historic downtown with City Hall, the convention center and LA Live Entertainment Center for a crosstown traffic trip to see stars and bars in Hollywood.

Arriving at Hollywood & Highland Center I walked off the bus onto a red carpet. H&H was home of the 2012 Academy Awards. There was a small crowd of 30 to 50 gawkers across the street, behind a police barricade, snapping photos of the U.S. Travel PowWow tourism delegates.

The biggest stars I saw that night in front of Hollywood & Highland were already flattened on the ground before the party got started. Read More…

Best Western Rewards has signed a new partnership with Budget Car Rental and to celebrate offers Best Western Rewards members 2,500 points (1,000 base, 1,500 bonus points) for a 2-day or more rental through June 30, 2013 in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Asia.

2,500 points per rental is available to Best Western Rewards members through December 31, 2012 in Europe, Africa and Middle East.

Budget Car Rental Best Western promotion terms

• Offer valid on a qualifying rental of two or more consecutive days at participating Budget locations in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
• Must use BCD U187001 to receive bonus points.
• Bonus points are in addition to the base points you receive each time you rent with Budget. 2,500 total points offer reflects 1,500 bonus points plus 1,000 base points earned.
• Provide your Best Western Rewards number at the time of reservation or rental.
• An advance reservation is required.
• Offer may not be used with any other coupon, promotion or offer except BCD discount.
• The savings of up to 30% applies to the time-and-mileage charges only.

https://www.budget.com/budgetWeb/html/en/partners/partners/bw2500.html

Ric Garrido, writer and owner of Loyalty Traveler, shares news and views on hotels, hotel loyalty programs and vacation destinations for frequent guests. You can follow Loyalty Traveler on Twitter and Facebook and RSS feed.

Courtyard by Marriott has a five month  “Greatness on the Road” Facebook Sweepstakes in conjunction with the NFL running Sep 5, 2012 through February 13, 2013 open to residents of US (50 states and DC) and Canada, excluding Quebec.

There are weekly prizes and registering on Facebook enters you for the weekly prize, subsequent weekly prizes and the grand prizes.

Prizes include $100 Courtyard gift cards (88 gift cards during promotion period), Madden NFL video games, big screen 55” TV, and tickets to Superbowl, Pro Bowl, NFL 2013 draft and a grand prize of tickets to all your favorite team’s 2013 away games with airfare and Courtyard hotel accommodations.

Sofitel Hotels has a 3rd night free rate offer for stays from November 15 to January 15, 2013 they call the Winter Collection Rate. This special offer rate includes a complimentary chocolate buffet one day of your stay and a 3pm late checkout.

The 3rd night free rate is based on the Best Flexible Rate or typically called the Premium Rate on Accor’s website. The 33% discount is generally the best deal for hotels I checked, where the 3-for-2 rate could be located, compared to the 15-Day Advance Purchase discount of 20% to 30% for the Sofitel Hotel.

The Sofitel Winter Collection rate is prepaid and nonrefundable. The main advantage of this rate is a slightly greater discount and a 3-day advance purchase rate compared to the 15-day advance purchase rate normally offering the deepest discount.

Sofitel Winter Collection 3rd Night Free.

Sofitel Hotels are a global luxury brand of Accor Hotels. There are a handful of Sofitel properties in the USA in locations like Beverly Hills, Miami, Chicago, New York, Washington D.C., Philadelphia and Minneapolis. The San Francisco Bay Area Sofitel property is convenient for Oracle headquarters, but 20 miles south outside the city of San Francisco if you are a tourist. 

Sofitel Washington, DC Lafayette Square for $197.76 per night Dec 7-10.

Passports with Purpose (PwP) is a non-profit organization created by travel bloggers for travel bloggers as a way to improve the world we see and write about as an expression of our lives. Since 2008 Passports with Purpose has run an annual fundraiser to finance a specific, tangible project for international infrastructure improvements.

This year the Passports with Purpose fundraiser goal is $100,000 to build two water wells in Haiti through the organization water.org.

A $10 donation to Passports with Purpose is a raffle ticket opportunity to win some incredible travel prizes procured by over 200 travel bloggers. It takes a lot of $10 raffle tickets to raise $100,000 over the next two weeks.

Hyatt Gold Passport 110,000 Points prize

Hyatt Gold Passport is sponsoring Loyalty Traveler through Passports with Purpose for the third year in 2012 with a prize for 110,000 Gold Passport points available for a $10 donation raffle ticket entry.

Your $10 donation to Passports with Purpose earns a ticket you can enter into the 110,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points prize or your choice of 200 other prizes.

110,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points are enough for 5 free hotel nights at one of the 25 top-ranked Hyatt Hotels around the world. Category 6 Hyatt Hotels are 22,000 points per night for hotels like Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome, Park Hyatt Maldives, Hyatt Key West Resort and Hyatt Regency Maui Resort; places where the room rates are often over $500 per night.

Hyatt Carmel Highlands Inn, California

Or 110,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points is sufficient for 22 nights at category 1 Hyatt Hotels. These properties provide upscale lodging for 5,000 points per night in places like Bali Hyatt, Hyatt Regency Kinabalu, Malaysia and Hyatt Regency Kathmandu, Nepal.

Hyatt Gold Passport points may be used for free hotel nights at nearly 500 Hyatt brand hotels worldwide.

Hyatt Gold Passport Prize Terms: You must be a member or join Hyatt Gold Passport to claim the 110,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points prize. Hyatt Gold Passport membership enrollment is free.

Haiti Needs Clean Water

Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. That is a statistic that has been consistent during my lifetime and that line is frequently used in NGO reports about Haiti.

In a country of just over 10 million, more than 5% of the population suffered from cholera in 2010-2011.

One of the largest recent cholera epidemics to affect a single country began in Haiti in October, 2010, just 10 months after a devastating earthquake had struck the nation’s capital. Within a month, cholera had spread throughout Haiti and cases were being reported by its shared island neighbour, the Dominican Republic. In Dec, 2011, 522,335 cholera cases and 7,001 deaths had been reported in Haiti with an additional 21,432 cases and 363 deaths reported in the Dominican Republic. http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/domrepublic_61274.html

I have never been to Haiti. I visited the Dominican Republic in 2000. I stayed at a beach resort outside Santo Domingo. The poverty I saw there on the eastern side of Hispaniola was more extensive than I had anticipated. Within 24 hours I had an intestinal illness as a traveler on that trip. I assume it was the water.

Port-au-Prince, Haiti is 200 miles west of Santo Domingo, across the great divide between international banks providing funds for tourist beach resort developments on the eastern side of Hispaniola in the Dominican Republic and international organizations providing humanitarian aid for basic survival on the western side of Hispaniola in Haiti.

Haiti is the most underserved country in the western hemisphere in terms of water and sanitation infrastructure.

In 2008, 63% of Haitians had access to improved drinking water and 17% had access to improved sanitation, such as flush toilets, septic tanks, ventilated improved pit latrines, and composting toilets.

This low figure for access to sanitation had decreased from 26% in 1990, making Haiti one of the few countries where overall sanitation coverage has declined for reasons other than population growth.

By contrast, in 2008, 86% of Dominicans and 93% of people living in the Latin American and Caribbean region had access to improved drinking water, and 83% and 80% had access to improved sanitation, respectively.

Millennium Development Goal (MDG) encompasses a commitment to halving the proportion of the world’s population without access to improved water and sanitation by 2015. Failure to attain MDG targets in Haiti for access to improved water (74%) and sanitation (63%)7 will facilitate continued cholera transmission on the island, placing the entire region at risk.

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/domrepublic_61274.html

Donate to Passports with Purpose from Wednesday, November 28 through Tuesday, December 11, 2012. You receive one raffle ticket entry for the prize of your choice with each $10 donation.

Water is fundamental to life and survival. Help us finance the building of a well to provide Haitians with clean water. 

Marriott Seasonal Awards are a new redemption opportunity for a 25% discount on the standard reward cost available at select high end Marriott properties during off season dates.

The real value of these rewards is the ability to combine the 25% discount to the 20% discount of Marriott’s 5th Night Free Award. This creates a total 40% discount on the points needed based on the standard reward cost of a 5-night stay.

I wrote about these new Marriott Seasonal Awards last Friday, but given the holiday weekend many readers probably missed the post.

Marriott Rewards introduces 25% discount Seasonal Awards (Nov 23, 2012).

I consider Marriott Seasonal Awards to be one of the most exciting redemption opportunities since Hilton introduced Points & Money Awards in 2011. This is a big development for Marriott Rewards and brings back some of the deep discounts lost when Marriott Rewards eliminated their old progressively discounted awards in 2009 when a category 7 hotel for 7 nights was discounted 40%. They replaced that table with a maximum 20% discount on 5th night free awards. The new Seasonal Awards look to have far more participating properties than PointSavers awards over the past couple years.

Seasonal Award rate analysis Read More…

Wyndham Rewards offers 1,000 points per stay, up to three stays, at about 730 hotels in the USA and 103 hotels in Canada and 5 other international hotels for hotel stays through January 31, 2013.

Promotion Terms

To qualify for the Wyndham Rewards® 1,000 Bonus Points Promotion (“Promotion”) and earn 1,000 bonus Wyndham Rewards points per qualifying stay, the member must (i) book a qualifying reservation and stay at a U.S. or Canadian hotel participating in the Promotion between November 1, 2012 and January 31, 2013, and (ii) complete their hotel stay by February 7, 2013. Members who check-out after February 7, 2013 will not receive any bonus points.

If a member has not elected to receive Wyndham Rewards points in their member profile, they will receive their regular airline miles or rail points for the qualified stays and 1,000 bonus Wyndham Rewards points in the promotion. Rates offered by most on-line travel agencies and certain other rates, including travel agent, employee, group, transportation and free night stays do not qualify. One stay includes all consecutive nights at the same hotel regardless of check-ins or check-outs. Members should allow six to eight weeks after completion the stay for the bonus points or airline miles or rail points to be credited to their account.

Certain hotels in the following brands are participating in the Promotion: Baymont Inn & Suites®, Days Inn®, Dream Hotels®, Hawthorn Suites By Wyndham®, Howard Johnson®, Knights Inn®, Microtel Inn & Suites by Wyndham®, Night, Ramada®, Super 8®, Travelodge® (U.S. Only), TRYP® by Wyndham, Wingate By Wyndham®, Wyndham® Hotel & Resorts branded hotels located in the United States and Canada. Each individual hotel must elect to participate in the Promotion.

Maximum of 3 bonus point awards for any Wyndham Rewards membership account during the promotion period.

The Promotion and its terms and conditions are subject to cancellation or change at any time. This can be combined with other promotions offered by Wyndham Rewards.