Starwood Preferred Guest ran a 1,000 Delta or Northwest miles bonus per stay in conjunction with the free weekend nights promotion from May through July. These promotions were combinable and did not require the SPG member to change account earning from Starpoints to miles. These were simply a gratis bonus for members who registered for the miles.

Loyalty traveler referenced this promotion last May 14 in this post.

http://boardingarea.com/blogs/loyaltytraveler/2009/05/14/spg-adds-1000-nw-or-dl-bonus-miles-per-stay-to-free-nights/

Yesterday I happened to be doing some Northwest Airlines research. To my surprise I saw there were no miles posted to my Northwest account from the SPG promotion. I went back to check if I had actually registered.

Here is the value of the Microsoft Office program OneNote. If you have not used OneNote, the basic function is OneNote allows portions of web pages to be copied into a notebook.

I rely on OneNote for record keeping. I went back to my May OneNote records and saw my SPG registration confirmation for the Delta or Northwest miles bonus.

SnagIt is another program that functions in the same way and SnagIt has the advantage of being able to copy entire web pages with embedded links. Also SnagIt allows you to draw, mark-up, and write on the web page.

While on the phone with Starwood customer service I was navigating through my Northwest account and I actually saw where 15 transfers for 1,000 miles were listed on my Northwest account from September 1, 2009, yet the miles were not showing up in my redeemable miles balance.

After a few minutes with an SPG agent it turns out there was some technical glitch with all the miles transfers from SPG happening as separate transactions and a limitation of one airline miles transfer per day.

Regardless of the technical issue, I am happy to report that my Northwest balance rose 15,000 miles today (15 days after 15 transactions posted – coincidence?).

Thanks Starwood and Northwest Airlines.

Now I just have to figure out if I am missing 1,000 miles due to a nonparticipating Starwood Hotel or if one of my stays was overlooked.

Loyalty Traveler record-keeping is time consuming.

My SPG Northwest Miles Transfers

My first piece of advice is to avoid coming to Napa on a summer weekend if you have a choice. Hotels are $100 a night less on weeknights and the ability to navigate roads free of bumper to bumper traffic will allow you to travel much more quickly on the valley roads.

I jumped at the opportunity to book the Westin Verasa Napa last weekend using one of my free nights from Starwood Hotels “Stay Two Times, Earn One Free Night” promotion between May and July.

Driving over from UC Davis to drink wine all day for free at Napa County wineries was a regular field trip exercise as a fermentation science college student in the mid-1980s.

Those days are history – mine and Napa Valley’s. Free wine tasting is as rare as a $100,000 home in California these days.

While I haven’t located a $100,000 home lately, I did find my way to a free wine tasting at the Wine Train waiting room across the street from the Westin Verasa at 10:30am. To my dismay, I couldn’t even identify a Monterey Riesling from a Napa Chardonnay on a blind taste test, or a Napa Syrah from a Zinfandel. 22 years is long time removed from my A+ grade in the UC Davis course – Introduction to Enology.  I do still know what I like and I did not like the wine samples I tasted.

I’ll stick with the Birra Peroni, if you please. That’s drink value.

Napa Valley Wine Train

Westin Verasa Napa Hotel

The hotel uses valet parking only for the garage under the hotel. There were about 10 street side spaces, unmetered and no hour limit. I parked on the street in front. I appreciated my decision when I went to my car around 5 pm just as a conference group had arrived in the lobby. A half-dozen people wanted their cars simultaneously.

I had to avoid getting run over by the valet parking kid running down the narrow sidewalk at me when I returned to the lobby pulling my luggage.

Westin Verasa Napa - small circular carport in front of lobby

The front desk receptionist offered platinum member amenity choices at check-in. Choices were $10 mini-bar credit, free movie, or points.

Westin Verasa Napa front desk

The hotel has three floors. The lobby has an open seating area, cafe and bar area with stools and tables, and a large open space around the hotel doorway entrance. The room was quite bright on a sunny day and from the lobby I could see the central pool courtyard.

Napa Westin Verasa lobby

The bar off to the right was active, not busy.

Westin Verasa Napa bar in open lobby

The elevators were behind a low level glass art divider and in the corner there was an architectural model of the entire property.

Room 2013 are windows just to left of large lobby windows

Elevator hallway has furnishings and seating. The elevator speaks with a British accent female voice. Being on the second floor I tended to take the stairs when going to the pool side of the hotel, but I missed my elevator Bond girl.

Westin Verasa Napa elevator foyer

Room 2013 is near the main elevator and sits over the lobby/fitness center area on the main floor.

Westin Verasa Napa door decor

I opened the door to a luxury one bedroom apartment with a full size kitchen.

Westin Napa Verasa kitchen

This room even has a full oven and all mod cons with a full size refrigerator, dishwasher, two sinks, pots, pans, cutlery, two built-in drawer cutting boards, and microwave. Four sets of utensils and dishes were provided in the cabinets.

Westin Verasa Napa Room 2013 dining table

The sitting room had two chairs and a bed couch, large ottoman, and a tray.

Westin Verasa Napa 2013 sitting room

The entertainment center had an X-Box system, small clock radio pod, and 32 inch HDTV with some real HD channel choices. One complaint is the TV is wall mounted and there is no swivel feature to view the TV if you are at the dining table or kitchen.

Westin Verasa Napa room entertainment system

Room 2013 has a full balcony looking over the pool courtyard.

Room 2013 balcony

The view of the trees and hills is great.

Westin Verasa Napa room 2013 view

The bedroom has a Westin Heavenly bed, chair, bed bench, and another 32-inch TV.

Westin Verasa Napa bed and bench

Westin Verasa Napa bedroom TV and chair

The bathroom featured a glass shower stall and separate bathtub with stone walls.

Westin Napa Verasa 2013 shower

Westin Verasa Napa bath tub

I wandered the hallways and there is a laundry room just down the hall from 2013 with one washer and one dryer for guest use. The hall corridors are long with a hotel design of three wings extending towards the river. Art work is located in some locations.

Westin Verasa Napa guest rooms hallway art

A wonderful feature of the hotel design absent in too many upper upscale hotels is the ability to travel through the hotel hallways to reach the pool, pool changing rooms, fitness room, and bocce court without walking through the lobby.

Westin Verasa Napa fitness center is located on main floor to side of lobby

The pool area features cabanas with lounge chairs (no charge) and a large rectangular spa pool adjacent to the main pool.

Westin Napa Verasa spa, pool, and cabana

Just beyond the pool is the River Walkway. Third floor rooms at the end of the wings have best river views.

Westin Verasa Napa river view

View from Bocce courtyard

Westin Verasa Napa south courtyard at bocce courts

Westin Verasa Napa bocce courtyard palms

The central pool courtyard had table seating and a central fountain with firelight at night.

Westin Verasa Napa pool courtyard

Westin Verasa Napa central courtyard fountain

Westin Verasa Napa courtyard fountain firelight

La Toque restaurant at the hotel has a prix-fixe menu of two, three, or four courses. Wine accompaniment is also prix-fixe menu. I searched my hotel room and I did not locate any information about the restaurant in the room.

A good estimate is $100 to $150 per person for fine dining.

Westin Verasa Napa Artwork in hallway to La Toque

Westin Verasa Napa spoon doors to La Toque Restaurant

I wandered down one stairway looking for the north end of the hotel courtyard and found myself in the staff employee area of the hotel. Eventually I wandered out into the meeting area courtyard on the north end.

Meeting Rooms courtyard at north end of Westin Verasa Napa

The River Terrace Inn is adjacent to the Westin Verasa Napa. The smaller pool there was quiet and empty at a time when 25 or so guests were around the Westin pools. That is a plus and a minus for the River Terrace Inn I guess.

The pool area guests at the Westin cleared out when the sun went behind the building. Pool hours until 11pm allowed me to take a night swim. The pool area was empty of people all morning Monday until I left around 11am.

Westin Verasa Napa pools

Westin Verasa Napa

Summary of Starwood Hotels May 2009 Stays and Promotional Value:

$1,500 in Starwood Hotels spending in May 2009 for 14 hotel stays earned:

– $1,000 in points and miles for future travel

– 7 free hotel nights with a potential value of $500 per night ($3,500)

– $2,200 in room value during my actual stays based on room upgrades and complimentary hotel amenities due to my SPG platinum elite status.

$1,500 Paid and an estimated $6,700 in hotel value earned from these stays.

Average cost per hotel night: $57.70

$1,500 paid for 14 hotel nights + 7 free nights + 5 free nights using points (Cat 3 for 5 nights) =

$1,500 / 26 hotel nights =

$57.70/night for 26 mostly upper-upscale hotel nights.

I received $2,200 in hotel rooms based on the cost it would have been to book the type of room I received at the different hotels. I was always upgraded based on SPG platinum elite status, always the preferred room view and several times to room suites.

I received an additional $1,000 in points (26,000 Starpoints) and miles (14,000 Northwest miles) earned from these 14 hotel stays.

7 free weekend nights were earned in May 2009 from the 14 Starwood Hotel stays.

I redeemed one free night in June at the St. Regis San Francisco for a $500 value.

St. Regis San Francisco

Offer: Book 2 or more rooms at the same time at the same hotel using the same credit card by June 15, 2009 for a stay completed by September 1, 2009. Upon completion of your stay Priceline will deposit a $100 credit to your account within 4 to 6 weeks. Link to Priceline offer.

Terms: Priceline.com booking using a published hotel rate, Name Your Own Price hotel rate, or a vacation package will qualify as long as you book 2 rooms at the same time.

The credit is valid for $20 per night, up to five nights, on a Name Your Own Price bid for a 3 or 4 star hotel stay completed by December 31, 2009.

This offer is only valid for US customers and bonus cash may only be earned once and used once.

Loyalty Traveler analysis: This is a good offer for someone needing two or more rooms this summer. This offer fits in nicely for a stay pattern that may not meet the terms of the major loyalty program free night promotions at Marriott (3 stays), Starwood (2 stays), or IHG (2 nights).

If you need two rooms for only one night you will not earn a free night with Starwood, Marriott, or IHG, but you can earn a good value with Priceline and a bidding credit for travel later in the year.

The offer should be viewed as a $20 per night savings on a future stay rather than $100 credit. The actual credit received depends on the length of your hotel stay. Book a one night stay with Priceline using your $100 coupon and your actual savings is only $20. 2 nights=$40; 3 nights= $60, 4 nights = $80, and a 5-night Priceline stay is required to get the full $100 value.

Bidding with Priceline.com

I still use Priceline when I can’t get a good value from my loyalty program choices. My analyses of hotel loyalty program benefits over the years has led me to believe the value of maintaining high elite status with its associated benefits and frequent room upgrades is worth the extra cost in hotel stays.  I conduct simple price comparisons with estimates of the value added benefits of a hotel stay as an elite loyalty program member with the value of a hotel stay as a Priceline bid. The uncertainty of the actual hotel received until a winning bid is accepted is also a factor to consider.

Biddingfortravel.com and Betterbidding.com offer data to assist in determining the likely hotel for your bid and the likely low bid that will be accepted. Data is good for making decisions, but I have been disappointed at times when the hotel I thought I would get based on the data turned out not to be the hotel accepting my winning bid. I have never received an unacceptable hotel through Priceline.

The best Priceline value tends to be for mid-week stays at urban center hotels. A quick survey of the San Francisco bids on the sites mentioned above shows many people trying for July 4^th weekend in San Francisco.

The St. Francis may be a bargain at $75 per night on Priceline.com, however, a regular AAA rate of $107 as a platinum elite will get me a much better room category than the Priceline guest. I do not like to attempt a buy-up at check-in.

I saw another bid for 4 nights in June during midweek at the Grand Hyatt San Francisco at $65 per night. The winning Priceline bid came out to $77.50 per night after tax and fees. That is an incredible deal for this hotel even if you are in the low floors with no views. This stay is a $400+ savings for four nights in San Francisco at an ideal location downtown.

A $20 per night credit would bring this room down to under $60 per night. A loyalty program just isn’t going to be able to compete with that kind of savings.

This Priceline bonus offer is a good deal to consider if you have a need for two rooms and you are ready to book by June 15, 2009.

Marriott Rewards has a free night offer after three stays. The free night is limited to the lowest Category 1 to Category 4 hotels for redemption. This restriction greatly limits the usefulness of the certificate in the 8 hotel redemption categories in Marriott Rewards system, although you can take your free night at the Category 4 JW Marriott Bucharest, Romania.

You can see hotels by redemption category level at this link. Just select the Category you desire and click Find: http://www.marriott.com/rewards/pointsGridPopUpPropertyList.mi

There are different variations of the Marriott Rewards Summer promotion. Some members may have points based promotions. My wife and I both received the free night after 3 stays offer.

Offer: Stay 3 times at a Marriott brand hotel between June 1 – August 31 and receive one free night after your 3^rd qualifying stay.

·         The free night may be redeemed at a Marriott Category 1, 2, 3, or 4 hotel from June 1 through December 31, 2009.

·         There is a maximum of one free night you can earn for this promotion.

·         Free night will post 3 to 5 days after 3^rd qualifying stay.

·         Registration is required by June 30.

There is no direct registration link. You must sign in to your account and the summer offer should appear on the Marriott Rewards homepage to allow registration for your offer. Your account may be targeted for a different promotion.

Terms: Stays completed during promotional period prior to promotion registration will qualify for the free night award as long as member registers for free night promotion by June 30.

Loyalty Traveler Analysis: Nice promotion to keep in mind as you shop for hotels this summer. Throwing 3 stays Marriott’s way will have added value of one free night.

The category limitation is big in my opinion. There is much more leverage opportunity when redeeming your free night for an IHG or Starwood free night at a high-end hotel.  Many major cities and resort areas start at Marriott Rewards category 5 hotels.

Marriott’s promotion excludes Category 5-8 from free night redemption. Last October I predicted category increases with Marriott Rewards hotels. That has only partially come true with the Marriott Vacation Club increases recently announced. The table I created in my October post shows only about 10% of Marriott’s properties globally are in the high-end categories of 5, 6, 7, or 8.

Knock off the top 300 Marriott resorts and city hotels and there are still over 2,500 hotels to redeem your free Marriott Rewards category 1-4 hotel night.

Summer 2009 is the year of free night qualifying hotel stays. Marriott Rewards will cover August after the Starwood and IHG promotions end.  I’ve seen Marriott-brand hotel rates in the San Francisco Bay Area recently under $60 per night.

Starwood Hotels offer is two stays earns one free Fri, Sat, or Sun night through Sep 26 and no promotion earning limit for hotel stays through July 31. InterContinental Hotels Group promotion is every two nights earns one free night valid from July 3-Dec 26 and maximum 4 nights earned for hotel stays through July 3.

The presence of Marriott brand hotels in many more locations than Starwood Hotels may make this “stay three, one free night” offer from Marriott a good alternative to Starwood’s Stay Two, one free weekend night.

Starwood Hotels is much more liberal in the free night redemption with any hotel in Category 1-6. The Starwood promotion excludes only 18 hotels of around 900 hotels globally.

IHG is the easiest free night to earn with only two nights needed to earn a free night. Two nights can be in either one stay or two one-night stays.  The Marriott Rewards terms seem more liberal than IHG with changes to free night reservations allowed and the possibility of redeeming your free night for December 31 New Year’s Eve night stays.

Hotel choices for your destination and your ability to get good value from your free nights will determine your best hotel loyalty program option.

Regardless of where you travel there will be a high value free night promotion available for your summer stay.

Marriott Residence Inn at Oyster Point, San Francisco Airport

I toured several San Francisco Airport hotels last week including several Marriott Rewards Category 4 hotels like:

San Francisco Marriott San Mateo – a nice looking hotel adjacent to Highway 101 that I have noticed for years and first visited last week.

San Francisco Airport Courtyard and Residence Inn at Oyster Point – Residence Inn has great outdoor pool adjacent to San Francisco Bay park path. The pool was unused last Saturday when the temperature was a rare 80s on the coast.

SPG Promotion Progress: Paid $685 and received estimated $2,760-$3,960 in hotel and airline travel value.

Westin St. Francis San Francisco wide room floor hallways

Kelley observed the hallways at the century old Westin St. Francis and The Palace Hotel in San Francisco have wide hallways on the room floors. Modern hotels tend to squeeze more room space on floors with narrow halls.

Ten years ago when I first started reading FlyerTalk I wondered about all these traveler stories on great loyalty promotion offers and elite status benefits. The deals sounded too good to be true.

I came into travel loyalty programs as a relatively low wage person seeking a way to travel comfortably at an affordable price for someone with limited vacation money. I learned that spending time planning travel could reduce the cost of travel by 50% or more while going upscale. In other words, I learned to travel in upper upscale style for the price of Priceline rooms.

Even after learning many strategies over the years with FlyerTalk, I needed to ante up thousands of dollars to test the loyalty program waters when it came to the high value promotions.

In 2003 I planned a trip to Australia and Starwood Preferred Guest ran an Asia/Pacific hotels promotion for 50,000 Starpoints for any SPG member who stayed in 5 of the 6 Starwood brands: Westin, Sheraton, W Hotels, Luxury Collection, Four Points, and St. Regis.

Australia had all these brands except for St. Regis (China). At the time I was a Hilton HHonors Diamond elite. I applied for a Starwood Preferred Guest elite status match and I was given complimentary SPG Platinum elite membership normally requiring 25 stays or 50 nights in a calendar year. I have been SPG Platinum since 2003.

My first qualifying hotel night for the 50,000 points bonus was at the Luxury Collection Sheraton Southgate in Melbourne, Australia. Reviews on FlyerTalk were not kind to this hotel.

I received a three room corner suite. I wouldn’t normally call a bathroom a room in a suite, but when it has a walk-through shower for two leading to a Jacuzzi tub large enough for a small party, the bathroom qualifies its status as a room. Kelley was blown away by the size of the room.

The second night at the hotel was under Kelley’s name and we had to move to a standard room. Kelley was only SPG Gold elite.

Four out of five of our stays in Australia followed the pattern of a lovely preferred view room or suite for my reservation night as a Platinum elite, followed by a move to a smaller room, or the less desirable view for Kelley’s reservation as SPG Gold elite. Four Points Sydney was the exception to the rule by keeping us in the same hotel suite for two nights.

Starwood Preferred Guest Elite Status and BRG claims

The current free nights promotion is a great deal for any SPG member. The deal is awesome for this SPG Platinum elite.

And if you are not SPG elite, then there is no better year to go for 25 stays. The ability to earn a free night at nearly any Starwood Hotel worldwide is an incredible offer.  

Request a status match to SPG elite if you have status with another hotel loyalty program.

Potential Best Rate Guarantee (BRG) claims are all over the place with lower online travel agency competitor rates on sites like Orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity, and Hotels.com.  I have submitted over a dozen claims in the past month and many more I passed over since I have scheduling issues due to Kelley’s cancer treatments keeping me from taking advantage of many Starwood Hotel deals I have found. The online travel agencies are blasting the web with hotel rate discounts and undercutting Starwood Hotel’s own sites.

There are 7 Starwood Hotels in the city of San Francisco and 3 Starwood Hotels at San Francisco airport. In the past three weeks I have submitted BRG claims for 8 of these 10 hotels.

I don’t even bother with the St. Regis San Francisco since its rates are over $300 per night. I plan to use some of my free nights there.

And I haven’t noticed a BRG rate for the W San Francisco yet, but with rates as low as $150 per night, the W is already showing rates as low as I have seen in the past six years.

I keep finding multiple properties for the same night. I have thought about applying BRG claims under Kelley’s account, but that takes me back to the issue of elite status.

I booked a BRG claim for the Westin Market a couple of weeks ago. My lowest category room reservation for a traditional room on Floors 4-7 was upgraded to a full suite on the 33^rd floor. I received a $400 value complimentary suite upgrade on a $110 BRG rate. ( I underestimated the upgrade value in the table below.)

Kelley currently has no elite status with SPG. Submitting a BRG claim under Kelley’s name will get the same rate as I would receive, but we are unlikely to get the same type of room. Kelley would likely be booked in a room on Floors 4-7 at the Westin Market Street. Kelley would likely receive the booked room for a double bed in a room with no view at the Westin St. Francis rather than the Junior Suite room I received with Union Square view room.

Elite status makes a big difference in the hotel experience. So if you currently do not have status this is the time to go for it.

My ‘go for elite’ advice: Hammer out 25 stays at the lowest rates you can find during this Starwood promotional period through July 31. In many locations this can be achieved for about $2,500 for 25 stays. Earn platinum elite status by July and then use your free weekends for resort stays in August and September after you have attained Platinum elite. Your $400 per night free room may well be upgraded to an $800 per night free room.

SPG Promotion Progress: Paid $685 and received estimated $2,760-$3,960 in hotel and airline travel value.

Paid $595 for 6 hotel stays + $90 taxes = $685

Received $1,055 in room value through complimentary upgrades based on SPG Platinum elite status.

Earned $430 value in Starpoints based on purchase price of $35/1,000 points.

Earned 3 free weekend nights from Stay Two, Earn One Free Night promotion. ($1,200-$2,400 value?)

Earned 6,000 Northwest Airline miles from combinable airline miles + free nights promotion. ($75 value)

The catch is you must stay a minimum two nights to earn 6x miles. And you must register for this promotion.

Hyatt Hotel brands: Park Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Place, Summerfield Suites, Andaz

Participating Airlines: Most airlines normally earn 500 miles per Hyatt stay, except Virgin Atlantic earns 750 miles per stay and Southwest earns 0.5 credits per stay. This promotion is 6x miles, so 3,000 miles for all these participating airlines, except 4,500 miles with Virgin Atlantic and 3 credits with Southwest Airlines for a minimum two-night stay.

·         Air Canada

·         Alaska

·         American

·         Amtrak

·         Continental

·         Delta

·         Midwest

·         Northwest

·         Southwest

·         Turkish

·         United

·         US Airways

·         Virgin Atlantic (750 miles x 6)

Registration Links:

Air Canada

http://www.goldpassport.com/gp/en/aa/offer4.jsp?me02_mbr_src=AC6X

Alaska

http://goldpassport.com/gp/en/aa/offer4.jsp?me02_mbr_src=AL6X

American

http://goldpassport.com/gp/en/aa/offer4.jsp?me02_mbr_src=AA6X

Amtrak 

http://www.goldpassport.com/gp/en/aa/offer4.jsp?me02_mbr_src=2V6X

Continental

http://goldpassport.com/gp/en/aa/offer4.jsp?me02_mbr_src=CO6X

Delta

http://goldpassport.com/gp/en/aa/offer4.jsp?me02_mbr_src=DL6X

Midwest

http://goldpassport.com/gp/en/aa/offer4.jsp?me02_mbr_src=MW6X

Northwest

http://goldpassport.com/gp/en/aa/offer4.jsp?me02_mbr_src=NW6X

Southwest

http://www.goldpassport.com/gp/en/aa/offer4.jsp?me02_mbr_src=WN6X

Turkish  

http://www.goldpassport.com/gp/en/aa/offer4.jsp?me02_mbr_src=TK307

United

http://goldpassport.com/gp/en/aa/offer4.jsp?me02_mbr_src=UA6X

US Airways

http://goldpassport.com/gp/en/aa/offer4.jsp?me02_mbr_src=US6X

Virgin Atlantic (750 miles x 6)

http://www.goldpassport.com/gp/en/aa/offer1.jsp?me02_mbr_src=VS334

Terms for the American Airlines offer page: (All other airlines show similar terms specific to airline)

EARN SIX TIMES THE MILES WITH HYATT

You must be a Hyatt Gold Passport™ member and register for promotion to participate. To register or enroll in Hyatt Gold Passport visit url goldpassport.com/american. Receive 2,500 American Airlines® AAdvantage® bonus miles on eligible stays between May 1, 2009 and August 31, 2009 at any Hyatt Hotel & Resort™, Hyatt Place™, Hyatt Summerfield Suites™ or Andaz™ worldwide. Stays at AmeriSuites™ are not eligible toward this promotion. You must stay a minimum of two nights, provide your Hyatt Gold Passport and American Airlines AAdvantage account number at time of check-in, choose miles for your stay and pay an Eligible rate. Hyatt Gold Passport will track all stays in which Hyatt Gold Passport and American AAdvantage account numbers are provided.

“Eligible Rate” is any hotel published room rate, including, but not limited to rates found on hyatt.com, hyattplace.com, hyattsummerfiedsuites.com, prevailing rack rate, BAR, volume, AAA and senior citizen rates, etc. “Ineligible Rates” are discounted rates, including, but not limited to, any free night stays, Internet wholesale rates (such as priceline.com, hotels.com, etc.), traditional wholesale rates (such as GOGO Worldwide Vacations, Pleasant Holidays, etc.), airline crew rates, airline employee rates, travel agency employee rates, Club at the Hyatt discount certificate stays, Hyatt Vacation Club stays, Hyatt employee or employee family discount rates, airline interrupted-trip vouchers or contracted rooms (a contract room is a room that has been reserved pursuant to a written and executed agreement between a hotel and a corporation, government agency or individual for a negotiated room rate in exchange for an agreed upon number of rooms to be rented for an extended period of time).

A qualifying stay means one or more consecutive nights at any participating hotel or resort when paying an eligible rate, whether or not the guest checks out and back in during such period; award stays do not qualify. Only one bonus will be given per member, per stay, regardless of the number of rooms.

All hotel reservations are subject to availability and must be made in advance. Allow 6 to 8 weeks for bonus miles to be posted to your account. Miles are subject to the terms and conditions of the American Airlines® AAdvantage™ frequent flyer program. This promotion is subject to the complete terms and conditions of the Hyatt Gold Passport program. For complete terms and conditions of the Hyatt Gold Passport program, please visit www.goldpassport.com. Hyatt reserves the right to alter or withdraw this program at any time without notice. Hyatt Hotels & Resorts® encompasses hotels managed, franchised or leased by subsidiaries and affiliates of Global Hyatt Corporation. The trademarks Hyatt™, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts™, Park Hyatt™, Andaz™, Grand Hyatt™, Hyatt Regency™, Hyatt Place™, Hyatt Summerfield Suites™, Hyatt Gold Passport™, and related marks are trademarks of Hyatt Corporation. © 2009 Hyatt Corporation. All rights reserved.

This promotion for 1,000 Northwest or Delta miles is combinable with the Stay Two, Earn Free Weekend Night promotion through July 31.

You must choose between earning Delta or Northwest miles. I had 7,000 miles in NW and 4,000 in my DL account from another SPG promotion in 2007. I went with NW since I anticipate 18 to 20 stays during the free night promotional period. I might even earn a frequent flier award through Starwood activity.

You need to check hotel properties to make sure your hotel stay qualifies. The hotels are limited to the Americas and mostly the USA. Most of the hotels in the San Francisco Bay Area are participating. I did not see two Palo Alto hotels on the list so there are some exclusions.

Registration is required for miles and this link will simultaneously register you for the free weekend night promotion: https://www.spgpromos.com/weekends/airline.cfm?brand=NWD&language=en_us&airline=DL&EM=VTY_SPG_DELTAWEEKEND_PROMOTION

This incredible Starwood promotion just keeps getting better.

I have completed four hotel stays so far and I have earned over 7,000 points (2 BRG claims for 4,000), two free nights, and now I will also receive 4,000 airline miles. I have received a platinum upgrade on all four stays with Starwood. I was upgraded to junior suites at the Westin St. Francis and Palace Hotel in San Francisco. We received suites at Four Points SFO and Westin Market Street San Francisco.

We are stuck in staycation mode for the next few months while Kelley has chemo and radiation treatment. Starwood is making the weekend getaways to San Francisco a better experience to remember.

Cupid's Arrow by Bay Bridge, Embarcadero, San Francisco

Hilton HHonors is offering double miles for stays at Hilton brand hotels between April 1 and June 30, 2009.

Register at this link: www.HiltonHHonors.com/Q2united

This can be a quick way to double the 500 miles from Points & Miles to earn 1,000 miles per hotel stay.

Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites only earn 100 miles per stay regularly so this promotion takes that to 200 miles.

Big spenders can set earning preference to Points and Fixed Miles to earn 1 mile per $1 and double that to 2 miles per $1 during this promotion. This is probably a better deal if staying at Hampton Inn or Homewood Suites with more than $100 in charges or spending more than $500 per stay at another Hilton brand.

I sat down and cranked out a 250 word essay. Actually it was 350 words and I had to edit. My readers know I hate to be short on words.

I really had not looked at the contest in a month. I had to refresh my memory on the 250 word limit.

I could use 365 Hyatt nights. One million miles can go a long way with good planning. I would develop quite a plan for a million miles and free Hyatt hotel nights.

Looks like the essay is a vote contest. If I manage to make it past the first round will I need to organize a vote campaign?

Organizing vote campaigns is what got me out of labor politics. Sell, sell, sell out.

I am a leisure traveler by years of training. When I spent over 100 nights a year in hotels as a business traveler in the early 90s, I accumulated plenty of miles and points, but dates ruled my travel instead of price. The fundamental difference between leisure and business travel is the focus on price. When no reimbursement is coming for your hotel expenses there is incentive to find lower room rates.

The next few months offer an unprecedented opportunity to earn free nights with Starwood and InterContinental Hotels Group. Many of my travel strategies are better suited for a flexible leisure traveler rather than a time-schedule-dependent business traveler. A leisure traveler planning to book multiple stays can save some significant cash by studying hotel rates over a period of time, a day or two or even a week or two before booking hotels. You only know you have scored a good hotel rate after you have seen enough room rate variation to determine what is a low rate for the particular hotel.

How I search hotel rates when planning a major leisure trip (and for Starwood Promotion):

1.    Set up a spreadsheet of hotels and dates for your destination. Here is a portion of my San Francisco Bay Area spreadsheet.

2.    Maintain notes of rate changes. Some hotels change rates up or down several times a week. (Red triangles in some cells are comment boxes with rate change notes.)

3.    Check the hotel website and a meta-search engine like Kayak.com periodically, once a day or every couple days. Look for discrepancies.

Spreadsheet for Starwood Hotel Rates in San Francisco Bay Area-May 1-7, 2009

San Francisco search area on StarwoodHotels.com displays 21 Starwood properties. The aloft Santa Clara hotel is listed but that hotel is not scheduled to open until 2011.

My basic planning strategy when organizing a trip is to make a spreadsheet of rates for my travel dates and follow hotel rates for several days or even weeks when planning an international trip or promotion fulfillment.

This chart is much larger than most rate charts I create due to the Starwood promotion and my ability to travel anywhere in the Bay Area for hotels. Normally I would have far fewer hotels in a more limited geographic area and fewer dates to check. The process is not so daunting when dealing with a three night stay in Seattle.

Setting up the chart takes time and then it is just a matter of performing periodic rate searches on StarwoodHotels.com to note changes in room rates. All the red triangle cells have a comment note showing rate changes and date. I can track the rate changes over a couple of weeks and note patterns for days when rates change, and the range of rates.

Some hotels in San Francisco like The Palace, Le Meridien, Westin Market Street, and Westin St. Francis have a room rate range of around $200 between the lowest rate nights and the highest rate nights. This means you may be able to book the room for $110 one night and another night the lowest rate will be $310. Choosing nights carefully for the best rates is a luxury leisure travelers have as a consumer strategy.

Finding Best Rate Guarantee Claims

·         Build a rate spreadsheet for your desired hotels and dates using StarwoodHotels.com rates (or whatever hotels you are tracking).

·         Check Kayak.com or some other meta-search engine for hotel rates.

·         Filter the rates for just Starwood Hotels (or whatever hotels you are tracking).

·         Look for discrepancies in price and room category. Sometimes a higher category room will have a better rate at an Online Travel Agency (OTA) like Hotels.com or Orbitz.com than you find at the hotel branded websites.

·         Submit a Best Rate Guarantee claim when you find a discrepancy. Starwood has an online claim form. Simply fill out the form listing the hotel, dates, and room type. List Starwood hotels lowest rate from a regular search which is usually some type of nonrefundable rate.

·          I have been finding discrepancies for more than 50% of the hotel nights I have booked this year. I think there is a lot of juggling with hotel rates in this economic climate.

My basic hotel booking rules:

·         Always try and book a refundable room, at least up to the day before arrival, in case I need to cancel. 

·         Once I have decided on a hotel or a small group of hotels, I check out the specific hotel website for special offer rates. There are sometimes incredible promotional deals for free meals or parking at the same low price or even lower.  Typically I will only find these on the hotel’s own website. (Sheraton Denver West had a special offer rate of $89 available on a Thursday night when the lowest rate I had found was $141 using AAA rate.)

·         I narrow my hotel selection to a small list of two or three hotels to examine rates closely for better room rate offers. It can take hours to check 20 hotel websites, find special offers, check sample rates for my projected hotel stay dates and compare to other rate options. Key is to balance search time with actual savings. Several hours to save $10 night on a room is not worthwhile. Saving $500 on a Hawaiian resort is worthwhile.

·         A $300 per night room is unlikely to be $109 on some other site. It happens, but rarely. Expect rate fluctuations of 10-25% over the course of a week or two in hotel rates on the hotel’s own sites. Knowing when to buy is a skill. Studying hotel rates typically allows me to book upper-upscale hotel rooms at rates around 50% of the average room rate for the hotel.

Rate Booked: These are the rates booked for my Starwood Hotel stays.

Lowest Rates: My $1,327 is actually $16 less than the lowest rates I found on StarwoodHotels.com. Several Best Rate Guarantee claims allowed me to pay a lower total rate than the lowest found on the Starwood hotel websites.  Two BRG claims were rates lower than found on Starwood Hotels.

Highest Rate for My Hotel Stay Dates: The rate I paid for my dates of booked hotel stays could have been as much as $450 more, 33% higher if I had booked the same type hotel room for the same date on a different day of my searches. I watched rates over a couple of weeks and booked during rate changes. Studying hotel rates over a couple of weeks allowed me to save $450 and earn 12,000 additional points from Best Rate Guarantee claims.

Highest Rate of Week: The problem for business travelers is the exorbitant hotel rates during conferences and events. My hotel spending for 14 stays could have actually been twice the amount I paid if I had needed to stay on different dates at the same hotel during the same week.

The same hotels could have been as high as $2,831 if I had booked different dates during the same week. I paid less than 50% on average over 14 nights at $1,327 compared to the highest room rates of $2,831.

Rate Difference: I saved $1,404 compared to the highest rates at the hotel during the same week of my stays.

I stayed at the Westin Market Street on a Saturday night for $110 on a Best rate Guarantee claim. The week before I could have booked the hotel on StarwoodHotels.com for $99. If I had needed Friday night the hotel would have cost $239.

Westin Market Street, San Francisco, Corner Suite 3306 – $110 rate