About Loyalty Traveler

From: Monterey, California.

This is Ric Garrido, owner/founder of Loyalty Traveler.

I am not trying to sell the reader anything besides stories on the joy of travel and sometimes the inconveniences of travel while discussing hotel promotions for points and discount rates, loyalty programs and places. Working Loyalty Traveler as a writer since 2006 has kept me going with an enjoyable living working at home in Monterey and on the road in hotels and airports.

Most of my travel is self-funded. Occasionally I am invited to press trips at hotels where the hotel stay is free. This has happened maybe 25 nights in the past 500 hotel nights I have stayed. Complimentary press trip access is always disclosed in my posts.

Follow the Money

Sponsor advertisements on the Loyalty Traveler website are BoardingArea.com revenue sharing advertisements. There is no benefit to me if you click on the ads or ignore them. My revenue is based on page views.

Most of the places I discuss are places I have been. Some of the places mentioned are locations where I think about going. My focus is hotel loyalty programs.

There is no particular reason I do not currently write much about airlines. In past years I did.  I worked a couple years doing frequent flier reward analysis. Like most points and miles focused readers, I got into this game after seeing how easy it was to exchange time finding points and miles deals to get $1,000s in free and discounted travel.

Past 25 years:

1.4 million air miles flown 1989-2013.

350,000 road miles.

Hotel nights – about 1,000 nights in past 25 years.

Railroad miles – not in the USA. Traveled Montreal to Vancouver in 1981 by train and camped in Jasper National Park.

 

Loyalty Traveler Contact and Social Media Links

InsideFlyer Magazine

InsideFlyer is the leading print and online magazine for airline and hotel loyalty program information. InsideFlyer magazine has published a monthly Loyalty Traveler column since April 2009.

2012 Blogger and Press Events:

  • Carlson Rezidor Hotels Group Global Summit – Atlantis Resort, Nassau, Bahamas – Feb 2012.
  • U.S. Travel Association International PowWow 2012, Los Angeles – April 2012.
  • JW Marriott Chicago press trip – May 2012.
  • Expedia “Find Yours” Passports with Purpose film project – May 2012
  • National Steinbeck Center 32nd Steinbeck Festival in collaboration with Woody Guthrie Centennial – “What Can a Voice Change? – Everything” – May 2012
  • Starwood Preferred Guest American Express “Amex Stars” – May to Dec 2012. New York trips for US Open Tennis and New York Fashion Week – Sep 2012.  Taste of Luxury with two night stays at St. Regis Princeville, Kauai, St. Regis San Francisco and St. Regis Bal Harbour, Florida. I received about $6,000 in free travel and six of my Loyalty Traveler readers won prizes totaling 230,000 points + $250 American Express gift card.
  • Travel Blog Exchange TBEX12 Keystone, Colorado (June 2012) and TBEX12 Girona, Spain (Sep 2012).
  • Costa Brava Tourism Board “Surf and Turf” sponsored tour – September 2012.

Jan. 2013 – Americas Lodging and Investment Summit – JW Marriott Los Angeles @LALive (free admittance to conference events as press attendee).

Feb 2013 – Carlson Rezidor Full Service Brands Conference Chicago (Received three free nights at Radisson Blu Aqua Chicago as a press attendee to the conference.)

March 2013 – ITB Berlin Travel Trade Show (received complimentary admission as press attendee.)

May 2013 – BAcon 2013 Colorado Springs

Loyalty Traveler Blog

Loyalty Traveler blog shares good value hotel promotions, travel websites and hotel loyalty program news with frequent guest consumers of hotels. BoardingArea blogs are focused on the business traveler, however, my background as a public school teacher is more in line with leisure traveler issues. I spent years planning travel vacations around peak travel times of summer and holidays when most people travel.

My experience developed around finding hotel deals and air travel during peak rate periods. Many of the strategies I developed to be Loyalty Traveler are ideas to build my loyalty programs with hotel points, frequent flyer miles and elite status during the low rate periods to enable low stress and budget-friendly vacations during peak travel seasons. I plan for many one night hotel stays during high value promotions to maximize promotion bonuses and I tend to redeem points and free nights for extended stay vacations.

I am not a luxury seeking global traveler staying 200+ nights in a hotel. That is not the lifestyle I want. My hotel lifestyle concern is usually something more mundane like how to get a good 4-star hotel in Los Angeles or San Francisco when rates are over $250 per night and I don’t want to spend more than $125.

This blog is about

  • using hotel loyalty promotions for high value rebates with hotel travel,
  • how hotel loyalty programs work from the viewpoint of a frequent guest (and my viewpoint as primarily a leisure traveler),
  • redeeming loyalty points for high value,
  • how to find lower hotel rates,
  • comparative analysis of major hotel brands and loyalty program benefits,
  • places I travel around Monterey, California and elsewhere on our globe.

Loyalty Traveler blog contains more than 2,000 posts written since January 2008 with a focus on hotel loyalty promotions, program benefits of major hotel loyalty programs and hotel industry news of use to frequent guests.

 

Email requests for travel planning are usually ignored. I do not work as a travel agent.

 

The Scope and Breadth of Hotel Loyalty

The 10 hotel loyalty programs listed below include more than 60 hotel brands with more than 35,000 hotels globally in these select hotel chains. These are the primary programs I cover in the hotel loyalty world. Periodically other hotel chains, travel companies and places catch my attention.

  • Le Club Accorhotels,
  • Best Western Rewards,
  • Club Carlson,
  • Choice Privileges,
  • Hilton HHonors
  • Hyatt Gold Passport
  • IHG Priority Club
  • Marriott Rewards
  • Starwood Preferred Guest
  • Wyndham Rewards

 

Blogger Disclosure

The hotels and brand products discussed and views expressed on Loyalty Traveler blog are the sole editorial decisions of Ric Garrido and his company Loyalty Traveler.

Disclosure Policy: Any link that provides referral income, any sponsored blog post or complimentary media trip will be disclosed in the post. There are no affiliate marketing links on Loyalty Traveler at this time.

Loyalty Traveler Goals

  • Reduce the cost of hotel nights for consumers and/or upgrade the hotel experience.
  • Share cool hotels, places, events, music and ideas all over the globe.
  • Educate readers about Monterey and California and USA travel, lifestyles and history.

 

 

 

 

 

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