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

I rarely submitted hotel website Best Rate Guarantee claims before 2008. I don’t know if I just wasn’t looking hard enough or if the discrepancies are more frequent these days. I feel the latter is the case since I really have not changed my search strategies for hotel room rates. Meta-search engines like Kayak.com make the task much easier, but I have always been good about cross-checking rates on the hotel website with Travelocity, Expedia, and Orbitz.

Starwood Preferred Guest’s promotion for one free night after every two stays is keeping me busy. So far I have 15 Starwood Hotel stays booked for May and Starwood Hotels Best Rate Guarantee claims were submitted for 6 of my hotel stays. I completed my first two stays for the free nights promotion in San Francisco last weekend.

Most of the hotel stays I booked in May 2009 through Best Rate Guarantees are a few dollars more than the same price I could have booked on StarwoodHotels.com a day or two before.

Four of my BRG claims occurred on days when I checked rates and the rate increased on the Starwood site from the day before.  I checked Kayak.com and saw discrepancies. The rate had not yet increased on one of the online travel agencies – mostly Hotels.com and Orbitz.com. This situation resulted in four best rate guarantee claims that did not actually provide a lower rate than I could have booked the day before on StarwoodHotels.com.

The real benefit of Best Rate Guarantee is the 2,000 Starpoints or 10% reduced rate choice. One of my BRG claims is for a $59 room for one night. Choosing a 10% rate cut would only save $6.00. I think 2,000 Starpoints has ten times more value than a $6 savings on the room rate.  My highest BRG room rate was the Westin Market San Francisco at $110 based on a $109 Hotels.com rate. The Starwood hotel website had changed to $129. Taking the BRG 10% rate discount would have resulted in a savings of $11 on the room rate. The 2,000 Starpoints was worth the higher price.

The Westin Market Street had the greatest fluctuation of any San Francisco hotel I tracked over the past two weeks. The first rate check I made on Tuesday, April 21 for San Francisco hotels showed a Westin Market Street room rate of $99 for May 2. Rate went up to $109 on Thursday April 23. Rate went up again to $129 on Sunday April 26. I filed a BRG claim on Sunday April 26 based on a $109 Orbitz.com room rate and the claim was approved for a $110 BRG rate. There is generally a slight increase to the posted online travel agency room rate seen on Orbitz or Expedia due to small service fees imposed per reservation and in this case the BRG rate was $110 rather than the Orbitz.com $109 rate. The room rate later increased to over $269 per night, over $300, and then sold out for the night of my BRG claim.

Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco actually had a rate of $90 on Orbitz.com compared to $118 on StarwoodHotels.com for a date I booked.  Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf is the only hotel in my San Francisco searches where I found a significantly lower room rate with an online travel agency than any rate I had seen for that hotel on the Starwood websites over the past two weeks.  

On another BRG claim I saw a $3 discrepancy between Hotels.com and StarwoodHotels.com for the lowest priced room at the Four Points San Francisco Airport. One advantage of this hotel is free parking. I actually filed the BRG claim based on a junior suite higher category room and saved $10 on the StarwoodHotels.com rate for this room type.

The net effect of six BRG claims in my 15 Starwood reservations is I paid about $20 less than I would have paid through StarwoodHotels.com if I had booked when I saw the lowest rates. The value of the 12,000 Starpoints earned for approved BRG claims is much greater than the $20 saved.

The ultimate consideration in these Starwood Hotels May stays is the free nights earned from the current “two stays earn one night” promotion.

Penthouse Suite Kitchenette with toaster oven, Four Points San Francisco Airport

Marriott Hotels has a fast-track elite status offer for qualifying paid hotel nights from May 11 through June 26, 2009. This is a short window of 47 nights when your nights will count double towards 2009 elite qualification. Registration is required: http://joinmarriottrewards.com/doublerewards/RN09/

Marriott Rewards Elite Levels

The promotion offers the best value for someone who expects significant travel in 2009 and perhaps even more travel in 2010.

Rollover elite credit is potentially an even more valuable component of this Marriott Rewards offer.

Rollover Elite Nights to 2010 Elite Qualification Credit Offer

http://www.marriott.com/marriott.mi?page=eliterollover

Marriott has a unique offer as an additional component of this promotion to assist members with elite status in 2010. Every night you stay in 2009 above the elite threshold you earn will rollover for 2010.

How Rollover Elite Nights works.

A Marriott Rewards member who stays 20 hotel nights during the 47-night promotion period will accrue 40 nights of elite status.  Assume you only stay another 6 nights during 2009 and complete the 2009 calendar year with 46 elite qualifying nights. You finish 2009 just 4 nights shy of Gold elite and 36 nights above Silver elite.

Normally you would start January 1, 2010 with 0 elite qualifying nights.

Rollover elite nights from Marriott Rewards will rollover the 36 extra nights above Silver elite to start your 2010 elite qualifying credit nights at 36 rather than 0. You basically have Silver elite locked in for 2011 and you only need to stay another 14 elite qualifying nights during 2010 to earn Marriott Gold for 2011. Or stay just 39 nights in 2010 to reach Platinum elite and maintain that status through February 2012.

Loyalty Traveler Analysis:

This is your opportunity to strike out for elite if you desire high level Marriott elite status but have a travel pattern that typically does not accumulate adequate nights during the year to reach the 50 or 75 night elite threshold.

The traveler who typically reaches Marriott Gold at 50 nights can use this promotion to push for Platinum elite. And if you do not make it to 75 nights in 2009 for Platinum elite, then you will be able to rollover the nights you earned above 50 nights in 2009 to have a jumpstart towards elite in 2010.

A road warrior can just go for the desired elite status. Some Marriott Rewards members may actually be better off not reaching high level elite in 2009 and using the rollover offer to focus on elite status for travel in 2010 and 2011. Depending on your hotel stay pattern for 2009 and 2010 you may favor finishing 2009 short of your desired elite status to take advantage of needing fewer qualifying nights in 2010 to earn elite through 2011.

Calculating Elite Rollover Nights

The time frame of the Double Nights promotion at just 47 days means Marriott Rewards is forcing a commitment to Marriott Hotels at the same time both Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) and InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) are offering free nights for every two stays (SPG) or two nights (IHG).

This is a good offer from Marriott Rewards designed to reward guests with double nights for a short period now in 2009. The potential to reward guests with easier qualification for elite status in 2010 and 2011 is the more enticing aspect of this promotion in my opinion.

Marriott Hotels is offering Rewards members a fast-track to the hard-earned elite status normally only reached by hotel road warriors. At the same time, Starwood and IC Hotels Group are offering free nights in 2009 for guests who have shorter-term loyalty goals.

Marriott is seeking a long-term commitment from hotel guests. Time will tell if the lure of elite is a more effective strategy than free nights.

Marriott Rewards Hotel brands: Marriott Hotels and Resorts, J.W. Marriott, Renaissance Hotels, Courtyard, Residence Inn, Fairfield Inn, TownePlace Suites, SpringHill Suites.

Ritz-Carlton Hotels is part of Marriott Hotels and Marriott Rewards points can be used for Ritz-Carlton free nights, however, Ritz-Carlton stays do not earn Marriott Rewards points or elite qualifying credit.

Hotel Chatter’s newsletter alerted me to this special room rate offer yesterday for stays next weekend at the Phoenix Arizona Biltmore, a new member of Hilton Hotels Waldorf Astoria Collection. The Mother’s Day special offer rates are valid for stays up to 4 nights, from Friday May 8 to Tuesday, May 12.

Sunday May 10 is Mother’s Day. 

The deal must be booked today, May 1, 2009 by 10pm local hotel time to get rates as low as $80 per night for this luxury desert resort hotel.

http://www.arizonabiltmore.com/discoveroffers/

(Be sure to type “mom” in the Group/Convention Code box to bring up the special offer rates.)

Loyalty traveler analysis: The real deal I see on this promotion is the opportunity to book a luxury hotel suite at fire sale prices. A diamond ring may say you love her, but the Presidential Suite at the Biltmore Hotel at $261 per night may not set you back as much as a diamond and will be almost as memorable, although the photos of your suite will not impress her friends like a rock on the finger. The regular rate for this suite next weekend is $749 per night.

You can book online or also book by phone at 1-800-950-0086 and ask for the Mom special offer rate.  Low rates are available for Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday nights on May 8-11.

Sample room rates for Mother’s Day Weekend:

·         Classic King $80

·         Resort King $90

·         Premier King $97

·         King Club Room $115

·         Deluxe Club Room $129

·         Biltmore Suite $143

·         Grand Suite $153

·         Villa Suite $244

·         Presidential Suite $261

There is a lot happening at Hilton HHonors. Waldorf Astoria moves in at the Maldives, Czech Airlines added to exchange partners, Triple Virgin Flying Club miles, Freddies Award Wins, dining partners, and all this is just some of the events for April 2009. There is plenty happening at Hilton HHonors.

The Freddie Awards are hosted by Randy Petersen of InsideFlyer, WebFlyer, BoardingArea.com blogger, and FlyerTalk founder. Frequent flyer and hotel frequent guest Industry executives around the globe flew to Fort Lauderdale for a night at the Hilton and a chance at an award. Hilton HHonors walked away the Freddie Award for Best Award for Europe/ Middle East/Africa hotels. Hilton won Best Promotion for Asia Pacific Hotel programs which I think was a free nights offer. HHonors also won Best Award Redemption for both the Americas region and Europe/Middle East/Africa hotels. Hilton took Best Customer Service awards for Asia/Pacific region and Europe/ Middle East/Africa.

Other Freddie Award winners are located here: http://www.freddieawards.com/events/21/results.html

·          

Instant Complimentary HHonors Gold Membership when you join the US Airways Club by April 30.

Call 1-800-828-8522 to join US Airways Club at the Dividend Miles Preferred Member price of $315 per year. Offer is only available over the phone to eligible Preferred members of US Airways.

Offer expires 4-30-09 so you only have a day to think about this one.  Unfortunately I did not post this offer when I came across it March 16.

Hilton HHonors normally requires 16 stays, 36 nights, or 60,000 base points ($6,000 hotel spending) in a calendar year. I received a targeted offer for Gold VIP after four stays this summer.

The US Airways Club is a cheap way to get Gold VIP status and its loyalty benefits at Hilton Hotel brands. Access to discounted HHonors VIP awards for hotel stays of 6 to 14 nights are a primary benefit of VIP elite membership. A six night stay for a Category 6 hotel drops from 240,000 points to 175,000 points with a VIP elite award.

HHonors Gold VIP members earn 25% bonus on base points earned for Hilton stays.

http://www.usairways.com/awa/content/dividendmiles/promotions/hiltongold.aspx

·          

CSA Czech Airlines is a Skyteam airline member and HHonors miles-to-points exchange partner.

The good news is CSA Czech airline miles can be exchanged into HHonors hotel points.

The bad news is CSA Czech along with Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles exchange at a 1:1 rate compared to most airlines offering 2 Hilton points per 1 airline mile.

Airline Miles to Hilton HHonors points is one way to accrue major hotel points for someone who flies but does not have large amounts of hotel spending or business credit card spending.  A frequent flyer can easily earn 25,000 airline miles with promotions and elite bonuses for a flight to Europe or Asia. Transfer airline miles into Hilton HHonors and you can benefit from free hotel nights after your flights.

http://hhonors1.hilton.com/en_US/hh/points/milesforpoints.do

Participating airline partners for frequent flyer miles to HHonors points exchanges include:

·         American Airlines (1 mile = 2 points) ($25 processing fee)

·         Amtrak (1 mile = 2 points)

·         CSA Czech Airlines (1 mile = 1 point)

·         Hawaiian Airlines (1 mile = 2 points)

·         Icelandair (1 mile = 2 points)

·         Mexicana Airlines (1 mile = 2 points)

·         Virign Atlantic Airways (1 mile = 1 point)

Another restriction on miles-to-points exchanges is some airlines like Hawaiian and Mexicana may not allow miles earned through credit cards or partner activity to be transferred to Hilton HHonors points. 

·          

Want Virgin Flying Club Miles? Triple Miles Offer

https://www.hiltonhhonors.com/processLanding2.aspx?lp=Q2TplMlsVirginAtl&cid=OM,HN,Q2TplMlsVirginAtl,Q209

Register and Earn Triple Flying Club miles between April 1 and June 30, 2009. Registration is required prior to check-in for promotion eligibility.

·          

1,000 Bonus Points per Night through June 30, 2009

HHonors stuck with their first quarter 2009 promotion for the second quarter while the other hotel loyalty programs decided to really shake things up. 1,000 bonus points for every night.  Unfortunately there is limited hotel participation. Participating hotels list.

https://www.hiltonhhonors.com/processLanding2.aspx?lp=Q2DblPts&cid=OM,HN,Q2DblPts,Q209

·          

The Beach House Maldives Resort to be branded Waldorf Astoria Collection

Waldorf Astoria Collection to add the Beach House, Maldives to the hotel portfolio November 2009. The global financial shake-up and tourism downturn will likely allow the major hotel companies to branch out around the world snapping up luxury properties. Waldorf Astoria has already added Trianon Palace, Versailles formerly a Westin and the Arizona Biltmore to the Waldorf Astoria Collection this year.

Starwood Hotels “Pay Rates Equal to Your Birth Year”

The Offer: Pay for one night and your second and third night room rates are reduced to the year you were born. My mother-in-law is 79 and her birth year is 1929. If she books a participating Starwood hotel on the birth year rate she will only pay $29 for the second and third nights.

Link: http://www.starwoodpromos.com/payyourbirthyear/

Participating Hotels: Limited participation of Starwood Hotels in USA and Canada. Check promotion page for participating hotels.

Promotion code: NBR

Promotion Dates: Birth Year rates are offered through the end of 2009.

Two night minimum stay and three night maximum stay eligible for this Birth year rate offer.

Limited availability of rooms for this offer and blackout dates may apply.

Age restriction: Must be 18 years or older to participate in offer. So forget about your second grader booking a room and paying $1 a night because she was born in 2001. This promo truly favors elderly travelers.

There was a California woman born in 1903 at the San Francisco earthquake commemoration April 18. She could have a 3-night stay at the Westin Pasadena for $205.

Try and beat that rate with a Priceline room!

Caveat: Some high-end hotels have a $100 surcharge accompanying the Birth Year rate.

The San Francisco W has a $199 first night rate. My Birth Year rate is $60 based on my birth year of 1960 for nights two and three. The $100 per night surcharge for the W San Francisco makes the extra nights $160 each and greatly reduces the savings of this offer. I can get a comparable room rate with a 3^rd night free offer for W San Francisco.

Many high end hotels are not charging the extra $100 for the 2^nd and 3^rd nights. Book the rate at one of those hotels and this Birth Year room rate is a great deal.

·          

Come on Grandma – We’re driving to Scottsdale!

Westin Kierland Resort in Scottsdale is a great place to hang out. Large pools, tennis courts, golf course, and Scottsdale high-end stores just down the street.

Westin Kierland Resort, Scottsdale, Arizona

Westin Kierland Tuesday, May 26 to Friday, May 29 3-night stay on Birth Year Rate Offer

Traditional King Room $169/night. (Scottsdale room rates were double the price last year). I can book a three night stay for $169+$60+$60 = $289 for 3 nights. Westin Kierland for just a little over $100 per night after tax. The lowest room rate at this hotel was $359 per night last year when I stayed there. There is no $100 per night surcharge for the participating Scottsdale hotels.

Here is the true underlying opportunity with the Birth Year rate promotion. Buy the most expensive room type you can afford. You only pay the regular rate for the first night.

Casita Suite King, $269/night. The second and third nights are still priced at my Birth Year rate of $60 per night. Now my room rate is $389 for three nights in a suite. My room rate was only $100 extra for the first night and I get the second and third night in a suite for the same room rate I would have paid for a traditional room.

For an extra $33 per night I get a suite guarantee for my stay. The Westin Kierland last year had a policy of $50 per night on SPG elites for suite upgrades. The Birth Year room rate is an even cheaper upgrade alternative.

Westin Kierland Resort pool, Scottsdale, Arizona

·          

W Scottsdale, $199 first night or $399 for a Studio Suite.

I can pay for a traditional King at $199 + $120 (nights 2 and 3) = $319 ( I save $278 on a 3-night stay).

The Studio Suite will be $399 + $120 = $519 for a 3 night stay. I save $678 with the Birth Year rate and I get a guaranteed suite for just $67 more per night.

The W Scottsdale also has a 3^rd night free rate offer. The qualifying rate for the Studio Suite is $439/night. A 3-night stay for May 26-29 will cost $878 + tax with the 3^rd night free rate compared to $399 + Birth Year rate. I could take my mother-in-law and get a 3-night suite at the W Scottsdale for $457+ tax. Now that is some serious money saving.

For someone without SPG platinum elite status, the Birth Year room rate is a great bargain for a guaranteed hotel suite.

Grab the old folks and put them in a hotel wth the young folks. Starwood has a real family values offer with this deal.

·          

Totally off-subject:

Starwood’s Birth Year rate promotion made me think of “Harold and Maude”.

Remember the 1971 classic film “Harold and Maude” starring Ruth Gordon and Bud Cort?

Basic plot is suicidally depressed 20-year-old Harold hooks up with 79-year-old Maude. An older woman with a lust for life turns Harold on to living.  The movie is a laugh and the soundtrack is Cat Stevens in top form.  Cameron Crowe, one of my favorite movie directors (Almost Famous, Elizabethtown) was instrumental in getting the soundtrack album for Harold and Maude released in a special 2,500 limited edition for the first time about 16 months ago. In a true record fan retro move to old vinyl days there were variations and bonus items like signed posters, booklets, and silkscreens in limited copies of the limited edition set.

“Well, if you want to sing out, sing out
And if you want to be free, be free
‘Cause there’s a million things to be
You know that there are”

Yusuf (Cat Stevens) lyrics from “If you want to sing out, sing out”

If you are wondering why hotel loyalty programs like IHG Priority Club and Starwood Preferred Guest are giving away free room nights I think the basic answer can be seen in the hotel industry data.  STR measured average hotel occupancy across the USA for March 2009 at just over 55% compared to 62.5% in March 2008.

Hotels are sitting half empty on average, and some hotels are far less than half full on certain nights. Hotels need bodies, hence free night promotions. Pay and stay nights now to earn future free nights and spend your free nights over this summer.

Advantages of Priority Club Free Nights promotion over SPG

1.    No need to hotel hop.  A single two night stay at one hotel will earn a free night with Priority Club. A single 8-night stay at one hotel will earn 4 free nights.  SPG’s promotion is based on hotel stays and not hotel nights. A free night with the Starwood promotion requires at least one night at two different hotels or two nonconsecutive nights at a single hotel to earn a free night.

2.    Free night can be used any day of the week with Priority Club. SPG limits free night redemption to Friday, Saturday, or Sunday weekend nights.

3.    Priority Club Redemption period is from July 3 through December 26, 2009. SPG free nights must be redeemed by Sep 27, 2009.

Advantages of SPG Free Nights promotion

1.    Member earns normal SPG points for hotel stays during promotion. Priority Club suspends normal points earning for duration of promotion through July 3 if member registers for Free Nights promotion. A Priority Club member has the choice to register for an alternate promotion for Double Points or Miles.

2.    SPG promotion for earning free nights lasts longer. SPG stays from May 1 through July 31^st count towards free nights. Priority Club paid nights from May 4 through July 3 earn up to 4 free nights.

3.    SPG free nights appear in account within three days of qualifying stay and may be redeemed throughout the promotional period through September 27. Priority Club members may start making reservations around May 22, but free nights can’t be used until July 3.

4.    Starwood Free nights earned are unlimited (there is actually a technical limit of 46 free nights that can be earned within the free night qualifying period and the member would need to be redeeming free nights while earning free nights to actually use them all since redemption is limited to three weekend nights per week).  A Priority Club member may earn only 4 free nights.

InterContinental Hotels Group Free Nights Promotion link: http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/pc/1/en/c/10/content/dec/teaser/pc/0/en/lp/promolp/screaming/promo.html?_promoCode=9663

Starwood Hotels Free Night Promotion link: https://www.spgpromos.com/weekends/index.cfm

·          

I have spent some time this past week making spreadsheets to track hotel rates for the Starwood Preferred Guest free nights promotion starting Friday May 1.

I am following hotel rates throughout California. The good news is that generally the lowest hotel rates are in my part of the state around the San Francisco Bay Area.

The shock to me was the prices of Holiday Inn Express hotels for the IHG free nights promotion running concurrently with Starwood’s free night promotion.  I would love a 4-night stay at a good InterContinental Hotel in Europe later this year. 

So the shock was seeing most Holiday Inn Express hotels with rates from $100 to $140 per night. I can stay at the InterContinental San Francisco for the same price as most HI Express hotels I checked in California in little gas station villages along the freeway exits of Interstate-5.

I plan to earn my first Starwood free night by the end of this week. I lined up two Best Rate Guarantee hotel claims for next weekend. The hotel room rates actually come out to be the same price I would have paid if I booked the rooms last week on StarwoodHotels.com, but Starwood raised their rates. Some online travel agencies did not.

So in addition to the low rate I will earn an extra 4,000 Starpoints for my first two stays in this free night promotion.  Wouldn’t it be something special to book 20 Best Rate Guarantee stays and earn 40,000 bonus Starpoints on top of the 10 free nights?

My trend analysis shows the hotel rates in San Francisco went up on average $10 to $30 per night for the lowest priced popular hotels over the past week.  Here are some changes I saw in room rates over just the past six days. I am not putting dates, but these are room rate changes I’ve documented for a specific Starwood hotel on a specific date in May.

·         The Palace Hotel, San Francisco rate of $118 went up to $169.

·         Westin Market Street, San Francisco, $99 rate 4-21 went up to $139 on 4-25

·         Le Meridien San Francisco, $139 went up to $159

·         Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf, $125 went up to $179.

·         Sheraton Petaluma, $109 went up to $129.

·         Sheraton Palo Alto, $199 up to $239.

Loyalty Traveler post on IC Hotels Group free night promotion

Loyalty Traveler post on Starwood Preferred Guest free night promotion

Offer: Stay two nights at any IC Hotels Group brand hotel from Tuesday, May 4 to July 3, 2009 and earn one free night. Nights do not need to be consecutive nights or even at the same hotel.

Promotion Registration is required at www.priorityclub.com/register4FreeNights

and registration is necessary before making your paid hotel night reservations in order for them to be qualifying nights for the free night promotion. Qualifying nights are any InterContinental Hotels Group hotel in the brands: InterContinental Hotels, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Hotel Indigo, Staybridge Suites, and Candlewood Suites. Hotels in Japan are excluded from this offer.

Free night may be redeemed from July 3 through December 26, 2009 and free night is valid for any IC Hotels Group hotel, except for hotels in Japan. There are no other hotels specifically excluded from free night redemption, however, capacity controls may effectively limit some hotels from redemption once allotted rooms have been redeemed.

Maximum free nights a Priority Club member may earn is capped at 4 nights after 8 paid nights within the promotion period of May 4 and July 3. If you have a travel partner/spouse, then you can readily earn an additional 4 free nights and have 8 free nights for 2009 between the two of you.

The terms of the promotion state room upgrade benefits for elite members do not apply to free nights redeemed with this promotion so theoretically elite status should not result in a room upgrade. In practice I think this will depend on the specific hotel and guest. An elite guest who has stayed at a particular hotel numerous times in the past and been upgraded as an elite member will likely still receive hotel recognition. But the rules do state an upgrade does not have to be given to elites.

Free night notifications will begin around May 22.  You should receive notification of free night award around 14 days after qualifying activity.

My advice is to book free room nights as soon as possible if you are planning to stay at a high demand hotel such as New York City, Hawaii, a beach resort or expensive InterContinental hotel. Wait too long, like into July or August before booking your reservation and the allotment of free rooms at your desired hotel may already be gone for the year.  

Just remember that your free night reservation can’t be modified – only cancelled and forfeited. Be sure you book an ironclad reservation date.

Free Night may be redeemed only at www.priorityclub.com/bookfreenights.

Holiday Inn Santa Clara

Turn your hotel stay at the lower priced Holiday Inn into another hotel stay here at the higher priced InterContinental San Francisco.

InterContinental San Francisco

InterContinental Hotels Group 2 Nights Earn a Free Night Promotion Terms:

·         Promotion registration is required prior to stay for eligibility towards free nights. Reservations made within 48 hours prior to Free Nights promotion registration will count towards free nights.

·         Paid nights during promotional period earn elite qualification credit. Free nights do not.

·         Registration for the free nights promotion restricts the member’s earning of base and elite loyalty program points for the duration of the promotion even if the maximum number of free nights has already been earned. (For this reason some members planning numerous nights in May and June may choose to register for double points instead).

·         Members may still earn bonus points for hotel stays as part of room rate offers and paid nights will count towards Ambassador Accelerator for InterContinental Ambassador members. Ambassador Accelerator awards 20,000 points for 15 InterContinental Hotel nights during the calendar year.

·         Hotels in Japan are excluded from this offer.

·         Only one room per member per night is eligible for free night offer.

·         Member may redeem earned promotional free nights individually or for up to a 4-night consecutive nights stay

·         Warning: Hotel Reservations for free nights may not be modified. A reservation cancellation forfeits the free night. Free night credit will not be redeposited to account.

·         Free Nights are not transferable. Account Member must be guest on file.

 The trend this past month has been to soft launch hotel loyalty program promotions on FlyerTalk. SPG announced their promotion on FlyerTalk to rave responses. InterContinental Hotels Group and Marriott Rewards released their promotions and hotel loyalty program members cried out for better terms. Marriott released a double elite nights promotion and then pulled it last week while it is still being fine tuned.

This IC Hotels Group promotion also disappeared for a few days and came back slightly altered. The promotion term of no base or elite points during the two month period of the free nights promotion received a negative response on FlyerTalk. IC Hotels Group added an alternate promotion of Double Points or Double Miles for the two month promotional period in lieu of the free nights offer.

You will have to make a choice between two promotions when you register for the free nights promotion. Your selection cancels out the other offer in your account during the May-June promotional period.

Free nights works out to a much better deal for most Priority Club members. A free night at an InterContinental Hotel  will cost either 30,000 or 40,000 points per night. Paris, London, or Amsterdam free nights are worth 40,000 points each. Bora Bora, if you can get a free room reservation, is a $500 to $800 per night hotel you might get for free after two nights at the Holiday Inn Express in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Double Points would mean up to 25 points per $1 for a Platinum member. Two nights earns the equivalent of 40,000 points if used for an InterContinental Hotel free night.  The free nights promotion caps you at 4 free nights equivalent to 160,000 points.  A Priority Club platinum member who will spend over $6,400 during the two month promotional period will earn more in points using the double points promotion.

InterContinental Hotel stays earn 2,000 points per stay and a stay pattern with InterContinental stays needs to be evaluated separately.

Unless you have a track record of earning 60,000+ points per month, then you are better off going with free nights for the two months of this promotion as long as you have the ability to get good value from a hotel stay using the free nights in 2009.

Hilton HHonors has a 10,000 points bonus offer for a 3 night or longer stay at a Conrad Hotel between April 1 and September 30, 2009. Offer is valid at all Conrad Hotels and may be earned multiple times throughout the promotional period.

Conrad Hotels reservation link.

Registration is required prior to your stay.

Link at www.HiltonHHonors.com/conradoffer

Conrad Hotels is one of the two luxury brands of Hilton. There are only three locations in the US for Conrad Hotels: Chicago, Indianapolis, and Miami. The Waldorf=Astoria Collection has become the more prevalent luxury brand for Hilton in the Americas over the past year as several luxury hotel properties have rebranded to W=A Collection in the past year.

Sample room rates for Conrad Hotels:

Conrad Chicago Fri July 17-Mon Jul 20,

nonrefundable rate/Best Available Rate

King Bed Deluxe                     $204 / $255

King Bed Junior Suite              $264 / $330

King Bed Deluxe Suite            $324 / $405

Conrad Indianapolis Fri July 10 – Mon Jul 13,

nonrefundable rate/Best Available Rate

King Bed Deluxe                     $169 / $199

King Bed Corner Suite             $339 / $399

Conrad Miami Fri Aug 7 – Mon Aug 10,

nonrefundable rate/Best Available Rate

King Bed Deluxe                                         $160 / $179

King one Bedroom Suite                             na / $249

Two Bedroom Bay View Residence Suite     na / $329

Conrad Centennial Singapore Fri May 1 – Mon May 4,

nonrefundable rate/Best Available Rate

2 Twins Classic           $225 SGD/$250 SGD            

(Exchange rate 1 USD = 1.50 SGD)

King Business             $288 SGD /$320 SGD

King Executive            $351 SGD /$390 SGD

The Conrad Centennial is one of my favorite hotels in Singapore due to its proximity to the waterfront and a great location next to a shopping mall requiring only a couple of minutes outside in the heat to reach an air conditioned sanctuary.

In 2002 I was at the Conrad Singapore the night of an incredible show on the Esplanade and Marina Bay at the mouth of the Singapore River.  I walked over and found a spot on the Esplanade Bridge and spent the evening partying with a hundred thousand Singaporeans. The company that staged the Sydney Olympics fireworks show put on an amazing display of fireworks as dragonboats paraded around the bay and aerobatic performers descended lighted skyscrapers. WOW.

Hotel rates I checked in Europe and Australia ran from $250 to $400USD for the lowest priced rooms.

HHonors seems committed to a policy of not offering lucrative promotions. In all fairness to the HHonors program, the standard earning rate for Hilton stays with Points & Points or Points & Miles, along with a policy of award stays being eligible for elite status credit makes the Hilton HHonors program a good value without many additional bonuses.

Hilton HHonors had their 1,000 points per night promotion for most of this year and it was extended for many Hilton properties through June 30, 2009. Link to 1,000 points per night promotion.

When it comes to earning free nights there are advantages to IC Hotels Group, Hyatt, and Starwood with all the opportunities for bonus points and free night offers based on hotel stays.

Some of us remember the old days of Hilton HHonors fondly for multiple points earning opportunities like 2,000 points every quarter for changing account preferences like the email address on file. That was a simple 16,000 points per year from home for my wife and me.

And then there were the charitable years with the lucrative points earning opportunities through City of Hope’s “Walk for Hope” breast cancer research walks and runs. Earning 50,000+ points per year was possible for registration as a virtual walker in cities around the country with donations of $25 for 5,000 points. HHonors facilitated contributions to cancer research and helped the hotel loyalty account balance.  

Thanks to Hilton HHonors we have memories of Oakland from the 2004 Walk for Hope that go beyond rock shows at night and our car being vandalized on trips there in the 80s.

10,000 points for a 3-night stay at a Conrad Hotel is an offer to consider when comparing rates for hotels in the nearly 20 cities around the world with Conrad Hotels.

Conrad Bangkok, tub and elephant (the bed had a stuffed elephant amenity)

Marriott and Visa have teamed up to provide up to a $50 gift certificate for Amazon.com with Friday or Saturday night stays. 

Earn $25 per night for up to two nights at Marriott, JW Marriott, or Renaissance hotel brands for a $50 Amazon.com maximum gift card value. 

Courtyard Hotel stays earn a $15 credit per night for up to two nights and a $30 Amazon.com maximum gift card value.

Offer Details: Marriott Promotion link for Amazon gift card

·         Book between April 13 and May 3 for weekend stays between April 16 and June 14, 2009.

·         Use promotion code OTP

·         Use Visa card and request Amazon gift card voucher code at check-in

·         Log on to website provided in voucher to register your Amazon gift card code

·         Link to Amazon gift card claim code will be emailed within 5 business days.

·         Offer valid only in US and Canada (and if your stays are in Canada your gift card value is in Canadian dollars and worth 21% less).

·         Some properties may offer this deal seven days a week.

·         Guest has 30 days from checkout to receive voucher.

Loyalty Traveler analysis:

The rules do not appear to restrict a member from earning a gift certificate from both Marriott and Courtyard stays for a total of $80 since they are separate hotel brand offers, but I may be wrong on that term. It is unclear if you could have a $15 certificate for one Courtyard night and a $25 for one Marriott night. The total may be limited to $50 for the entire promotion.

The 30 days after checkout limit for registering a voucher could be a problem if Courtyard and Marriott are exclusionary since a guest staying in a Courtyard hotel for one night April 20 must redeem the voucher by May 20 and that guest could have a qualifying two night stay at Marriott in June.  

Questions, questions. I do not like unclear promotion terms.

Room Rate Analysis

Fremont, California is one of the most culturally diverse cities in the US. I love going to the malls and seeing all the Asian restaurants with Cambodian, Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese, and Indian foods.

Fremont is also notoriously inexpensive for hotel stays on the weekend when the Silicon Valley tech industrial area shuts down.

Fremont Marriott Silicon Valley, Friday, April 24

Concierge Level room = $89 and is eligible for $25 gift certificate. Or you could drop the rate to $79 without Concierge Level. And the rate may be cancelled up to 6pm on April 24. Wow. That is a lenient cancellation policy.

A quick check of AAA rates shows the $79 rate drops to $63 for the same night.  Basically the $25 gift certificate requires paying a total room rate after tax of almost $18 more. That certainly diminishes the value of this offer for this night at this hotel.

San Francisco Marriott, Friday, April 24 Amazon Gift Card OTP rate = $169/night

AAA rate for this night is $152. San Francisco has a 15.5% tax on rooms.  The room rate to earn a $25 per night gift card value requires a room rate that will cost $19.50 more per night after tax. 

Not so great a deal after all.        

And if you are a senior 62 or older the room rate drops to $144 per night.  Guess what?

You are paying more than $25 more per night to book the OTP promotional rate to earn the Amazon $25 gift certificate.

The real blow to your hotel booking savvy is evident when you do not enter any promotional or group code whatsoever for a rate search of the Marriott San Francisco.

A nonrefundable reservation for Friday, April 24, 2009 at the San Francisco Marriott is only $109 per night if booked today.

The sucker who went directly for the Amazon.com promotional rate would have paid about $70 more per night after tax to receive a $25 Amazon gift card.

Marriott San Francisco

·          

Much of the work I do as Loyalty Traveler is to go beyond presenting hotel promotional offers to readers. The hotel companies promote the offers themselves and sites like Frequentflyerbonuses.com and PointMaven.com list hotel promotions.

The real work of Loyalty Traveler is applying the promotional offer to actual hotel rates and seeing if the deal is really a deal. In this case, I think the Marriott + Visa offer for an Amazon gift card is far less valuable than it looks at face value.