Accor Hotels seems to me to be more about regional discount rates and local loyalty bonuses rather than global promotions offered by most major hotel loyalty promotions.

Le Club Accorhotels requires work to dive into all those promotions and the limited availability of hotels in the USA for this loyalty program places it on the backburner for me.

Free elite membership was passed around for the launch of Le Club Accorhotels. I was looking at my LeClub Accorhotels Platinum card and wondering if I will even sleep in a member hotel bed before the card expires.

Now if I had global travel planned, then the hotel rate discount offers would motivate me to check Accor Hotels website offers more frequently.

This post is for travelers getting beyond the USA borders. Some of these hotel prices might make you think again about going downscale from the category 6 and 7 hotels in US-based hotel loyalty programs that dot European cities and international beach resorts.

Or you might find upscaling to an Accor budget hotel room is within your financial means when that hostel, B&B or couchsurfing scene gets too social.

Current Accor Hotels regional promotions: Read More…

Priority Club has a Memorial Day weekend special over the next four days, May 25-28, to redeem points for gas gift cards at a 25% discount. Three gas retailers participate. Each gas company has their own gift card so you must choose your pumping preference.

• Chevron
• Exxon Mobil
• Sunoco

GAS Gift Card Denominations and point redemption values: Read More…

In the lure of hotel rewards would you rather be pitched a $50 gift card or a free hotel night? Choice Hotels pitched a free night after two stays for their March 8 to May 8 promotion. The current promotion is being pitched as a free $50 gift card after two stays.

Don’t think twice, it’s alright.

These two promotions are actually nearly identical. Complete two stays at Choice Hotels from May 17 to August 15, 2012 and you will earn a total 8,000 Choice Privileges points. Read More…

Four hotels in the Monterey Peninsula-Big Sur area are members of the Condé Nast Traveler Platinum Circle List signifying five consecutive years, including 2012, on their annual CN Traveler Gold List hotels.

Ventana Inn, Big Sur 89.7

Post Ranch Inn, Big Sur 93.9

Inn at Spanish Bay, Pebble Beach 92.5

Lodge at Pebble Beach 95.0

Four Platinum Circle hotels make the grade out of fewer than 70 hotels in the U.S. This region of Monterey County, with only about 10,000 residents over a 30 mile stretch of Central California Coast, is recognized for hotel excellence on par with four Platinum Circle hotels in places like New York, Chicago and Las Vegas. Read More…

Carmel on my mind.  Yesterday I finished The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Hard travelin’ times in California for those folks. The book is truly a stunning experience. Getting myself down to the sea seemed a good recovery strategy from living with the Joads this past week.

Seeing Frank Lloyd Wright’s first home design in Oak Park and the Robie House in Hyde Park at the University of Chicago campus motivated me to take a closer look at Frank Lloyd Wright house design for the Walker Residence, currently a private home in Carmel, California. The past few May days have been glorious around these parts. Big Sur for some more nature time is on my agenda today. Read More…

There is a sweepstakes for a 2-night stay, breakfast and golf at the Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort and Spa, San Antonio, Texas on The Travel Mom.

This is a site I hadn’t seen before this week. This is The Travel Mom giveaway #43 and I bet the odds are pretty good. Emily looks like she knows how to work Facebook.

The entry period ends Sunday 5/27/2012 9am (no time zone?).

The best value in hotel loyalty rewards is the Priority Club PointBreaks hotels at 5,000 points per night. The list this time around is for stays through July 31, 2012 and offers more properties outside the USA.

Oceania has not participated in some time and PointBreaks are offered at the InterContinental Fiji and Crowne Plaza Surfers Paradise, Australia.

There are a dozen InterContinental Hotels on this list with four in Africa including InterContinental Mauritius. Read More…

VALEO Spa was kind of an intimidating experience for a spa virgin like me. I don’t mind naked time in my home or in a natural location like a river or lake pool when I don’t have a swimsuit, but I am not accustomed to having strangers touch me on my sides or legs or feet in a low lit room. I generally have to know you better.

Then I found I really enjoyed the experience of being sweated, washed and massaged at VALEO Spa in the JW Marriott Chicago. Read More…

Hilton HHonors introduced Points & Money rewards in 2011 requiring only 50% points of a standard reward night with a cash copay.  The initial announcement was discussed in my May 9, 2011 post on Hilton HHonors Points & Money Rewards when there were only a few hotels offering the reward.

Hilton HHonors officially launched Points & Money Rewards in late 2011 and the FAQ briefly included a table showing the cash co-pay for each hotel category level. The Hilton Points & Money copay table was removed from the Hilton website within a few hours of my October 3, 2011 post on Hilton HHonors Points & Money Rewards.

The table was replaced by this wording: “The number of points required to redeem Points & Money Rewards varies by room, hotel, and booking date.” Read More…

Accor Hotels, the French-based hotel group that has the largest proportion of branded hotel rooms in Europe, has sold the US based Motel 6 chain for US$1.9B to Blackstone, a U.S. private equity group that also owns Hilton and La Quinta hotel chains.

After all the high finance maneuvers Accor will be left with about 330M EUR to invest in emerging Asia-Pacific and Latin America markets where most new hotel development globally is happening.

Motel 6 and Studio 6, an extended stay brand, is the largest budget hotel chain in the U.S. and Canada with 1,102 hotels and 107,000 rooms.

These ownership changes might have a limited impact on the operations of the Motel 6 chain when the deal is completed around October 2012.

Blackstone is like the WalMart of the hotel industry.

Will Blackstone attempt a loyalty program marketing strategy to re-image Motel 6 for the American traveler?

In the back of my Loyalty Traveler mind I am wondering if the new owners will try and implement a hotel loyalty program for the Motel 6 brand now that this ubiquitous Cinderella of the American budget traveler is out of the step-sister role it played with Accor.

The budget chains of Accor Hotels are not participants in Le Club Accor loyalty program. Motel 6 comprises almost 25% of Accor’s global properties and there is no points earning system in place for Motel 6 stays. Only a couple of promotional opportunities allowing summer month redemption of Accor cash certificates (2,000 Accor points = US$60) for Motel 6 stays were offered in the past few years.

Blackstone may just bring Motel 6 to the hotel ball. And even if Motel 6 does not dress up too pretty, obviously Blackstone sees something of value behind those doors.

A Motel 6 loyalty program is just my speculation, but that would be interesting news for the budget traveler. I’ll be watching Motel 6 in 2013 for changes.

News Sources: Bloomberg Financial – Accor to Sell Motel 6 to Blackstone for $1.9 Billion (May 22, 2012)

Financial Times – Accor sells US budget chain to Blackstone(May 22, 2012)

Hotel News Now – Blackstone buys Motel 6, Studio 6 for $1.9b (May 22, 2012)

Park Inn is the upper midscale hotel brand of the Carlson Rezidor Hotels Group. The Park Inn 1 + 1 promotion earns 44,000 points with a single stay at a Park Inn from May 22 to July 22, 2012 for the first 20,000 Club Carlson members to register.

Park Inn 1 + 1 Registration.

Most Park Inn properties are located in Europe which is why this promotion launched at 3:00pm Pacific time, 6:00pm Eastern on May 21. The time was midnight May 22 in France and Germany and other European cities where Park Inn is a more abundant hotel chain.

There are currently only ten Park Inn hotels in the U.S.

• Park Inn by Radisson Fresno, California
• Park Inn by Radisson Harrisburg West, Pennsylvania
• Park Inn by Radisson Dallas – Love Field
• Park Inn by Radisson Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan
• Park Inn by Radisson Tulsa Airport, Oklahoma
• Park Inn by Radisson Toledo, OH
• Park Inn by Radisson Hotel & Water Park, Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Park Inn by Radisson Sharon, Pennsylvania
• Park Inn by Radisson DFW Airport South, Irving, Texas
• Park Inn by Radisson Houston North Hotel & Conference Center, Houston, Texas.

Register now if you really think you will get to a Park Inn during this promotion. This is a great offer for the Europeans, so maybe don’t take up one of the 20,000 slots for 44,000 points if you have little hope of getting to a Park Inn by July 22.

Looks like I’ll be taking the wife to the Sierra Nevada mountains via Fresno in a few weeks. Time to see some big trees.