Earn up to 60,000 bonus Delta Skymiles this summer at the rate of 5,000 miles for each Marriott brand hotel stay systemwide beginning with your second stay from May 1 through September 6, 2010.

Registration is required with Marriott Rewards. 

Important Note: Your earning preference for Marriott Rewards must be set to earn Delta Skymiles. The promotion page will not load correctly unless your Marriott Rewards account is set to miles. The promotion page will show “Promotion is unavailable”. It is a computer cookie thing I guess.

Bonus Skymiles are in addition to the normal miles earning rate of 2 miles per US$1 for J.W. Marriott, Marriott, Renaissance, and Marriott Vacation Club brands.

Courtyard, Fairfield Inn, SpringHill Suites, Residence Inn, and TownePlace Suites brands earn 1 mile per US$1.

60,000 miles for 13 hotel stays is a good deal for someone seeking airline miles with hotel stays.

60,000 Skymiles will buy one roundtrip anytime economy class ticket for continental US and Canada travel, or one low category level economy ticket to Europe or southern South South America, or one Business Class ticket to Central America, Mexico or the Caribbean.

Delta Skymiles award chart link.

Valuing Delta Skymiles at $10.00 per 1,000 miles ($250 for domestic ticket or $600 for Europe/South America) makes this offer effectively a $50 rebate on each Marriott brand hotel stay. And that is a relatively low valuation for miles that can easily be exceeded. Skymile award tickets at the low cost level may be difficult to find for some dates and routes, but like all frequent flier programs there are good values with a bit of flexibility in your travel plans.

A quick check of Europe awards shows mostly medium award level for all summer from San Francisco to Frankfurt, however, the Delta website shows award travel ticket options by month and it is not too difficult to quickly check multiple locations and dates.

International airfare is expected to rise in 2010 and 60,000 miles could prove to be a great value on your Marriott hotel stays.

Assume you spend $1,300 for 13 hotel stays and earn 60,000 miles. The Skymiles could potentially be a $1,000 value in airfare savings.

$1,300 in Marriott hotel spend normally earns as few as 13,000 miles with most airlines for 13 Fairfield Inn stays or possibly around 50,000 to 60,000 Marriott Rewards points with some good bonus opportunities.

Do the math – you can earn points for one or two free hotel nights at a nice hotel or a free ticket to Europe or South America. Well, not exactly free. The taxes for a sample Skymiles San Francisco – Frankfurt economy roundtrip ticket came up at $67.50 for a 60,000 mile award for November 2010.

This offer is a good deal for the budget traveler with frequent hotel stays this summer. You can travel and stay in Marriott brand hotels all summer and load up on the Skymiles for your next trip.

Marriott Rewards registration is required at  https://www.marriott.com/rewards/promotion.mi?promotion=DE10

Loyalty Traveler key ranking = 4 out of 5 keys.

 

 

Hyatt is offering 3,000 AAdvantage miles per Hyatt hotel stay from May 3 – July 5, for up to five stays at any Hyatt worldwide. Complete five stays by July 5 and you will receive an additional 10,000 miles bonus.

Call 1-800-228-3360 to register for this promotion using promotion code AA25K.

Hyatt stays normally earn 500 miles per stay. You must set your Hyatt Gold Passport earning preference for AAdvantage miles.

This offer may be combined with Hyatt Gold Passport’s Big Welcome Back promotion (through June 30) for a free night at any Hyatt worldwide after two stays at any Hyatt Worldwide. This offer is combinable even if you choose to earn 5,000 points with every two Hyatt stays instead of free nights. [Thanks to MommaAfrica - see comments - for pointing out my initial post error. Earning both miles and points for the same hotel stay had previously been quite rare aside from Hilton, but over the past year Hyatt and Starwood increasingly allow miles and points promotions to be combined.]

You can also enjoy instant Hyatt Gold Passport Platinum elite status with this trial membership offer. Stay 5 nights within 180 days of enrollment and your Platinum status will be extended through February 2012. There is also a fast-track option to Diamond elite status after 15 nights within 180 days of promotion enrollment. Diamond elite status will be valid through February 2012.

Do not fret if Hyatt is not your preferred hotel loyalty program.

Best Western – 2,000 AAdvantage miles with three stays.

Hilton HHonors – Earn 1,250 AAdvantage bonus miles with a four night stay through June 30.

Hilton Hotels in Hawaii – Earn 5,000 bonus miles for stays of four nights or longer in Hawaii by May 31.

Earn 4x AAdvantage miles when you join Priority Club Rewards and stay by May 14.

Radisson Hotels – Earn 5,000 AAdvantage bonus miles and get a sixth night free with a five night stay at a Radisson Hotel in the Caribbean by June 15.

Starwood Preferred Guest – Earn 1,000 AAdvantage bonus miles for every stay with Sheraton Hotels in North America (US, Canada, and Caribbean) through July 31. No limit. This offer may be combined with the stay three earn a free weekend night.

Wyndham Rewards – up to 13,500 miles for stays by September 30. Wyndham and Hawthorn Suites stays earn 500 miles per stay and 3,000 bonus miles after three stays. Wingate earns 2 miles per $1. Bonus may be earned three times. (3 stays = 3,000 bonus miles. 9 stays = 9,000 miles +4,500 miles at normal rate of 500 miles per stay = 13,500 miles after 9 stays.)

Marriott Rewards – No AAdvantage miles after June 30 according to a widely distributed American Airlines AAdvantage email sent out last week.

“We would like to provide you with an important update to the American Airlines AAdvantage® program. Effective July 1, 2010, the Marriott Rewards program will no longer offer AAdvantage miles for stays at Marriott hotels.
All qualifying stays at participating properties completed by June 30, 2010 will be eligible to earn AAdvantage miles. It is also important to note the final date to convert your Marriott Rewards points to AAdvantage miles will be June 30, 2010.
As an AAdvantage member you have access to an extensive network of hotels where you can earn AAdvantage miles, including 60 brands in over 100 countries. For a limited time, visit the AAdvantage® ConnectionsSM Web site for a list of our special hotel offers.
We appreciate your loyalty to American Airlines and the AAdvantage program.”

Looks like American Airlines is sending a message to Marriott with all the hotel bonus offers available for hotel stays at other chains over the next two months.

Starwood Lurker posted a Starpoints purchase offer yesterday on FlyerTalk with DiscoverAmerica Daily Getaways in support of the U.S. Travel Association. Starwood Hotels is first up in a month of daily travel offers from May 3 to June 4, 2010 involving 50 companies. Lucky’s One Mile at a Time blog brought this offer to my attention today.

On Monday, May 3 at 10:00 AM ET, you have a chance to buy from any of three Starwood Preferred Guest fixed price items on sale at the DailyGetaways.DiscoverAmerica.com website.

Forget the Starwood Hotels branding distracters of aloft, Four Points, and Sheraton free nights. Starpoints are the items for sale and there is no restriction on their use. If you buy 4,000 points through the Stay 1 Night for $60 aloft hotel branded page, there is no obligation for you to use the 4,000 points at an aloft hotel. The points are deposited into your account for whatever hotel or airline miles exchange you choose.

Starwood Points Getaway Offers at DailyGetaways/DiscoverAmerica.com

• 4,000 Starpoints for $60 (281 items available; maximum purchase is 5 items = 20,000 points/$300)
• 7,000 Starpoints for $100 (400 items available; maximum purchase is 5 items = 35,000 points/$500)
• 10,000 Starpoints for $145 (470 items available; maximum purchase is 5 items = 50,000 points/$725)

The terms of the sale state any credit card may be used for Getaway Offer purchases.  Starpoints items are a fixed price offer. Registration is not required to purchase this offer. DailyGetaway Frequently Asked Questions.

Loyalty Traveler analysis: 8,624,000 Starpoints for sale Monday, May 3

Purchasing Starpoints through the DiscoverAmerica deal at $14.28 to $15.00 per 1,000 points is nearly 60% off the normal rate for buying Starpoints from Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) at $35 per 1,000 points.

You can try to buy as few as 4,000 points for $60. You could likely save $50 on a category 2 Starwood hotel night. This offer may go fast and require immediate action at precisely 10:00 AM on Monday, May 3 to get your order through the channels. A maximum purchase of 5 items in each category means this could be as few as 230 total transactions to clear out the nearly 9 million in points inventory.

You can go for a big purchase and buy as many as 50,000 points for $725. For 50,000 points you can buy 5 nights in a category 5 hotel (48,000 points actually). There are dozens of category 5 hotels that will run over $300 per night, so basically you get an upper-upscale hotel for half-price. Points, Miles & Martinis just posted a St. Regis Atlanta (SPG category 5) hotel review today.

40,000 points ($580) exchanges into 50,000 airline miles with about 20 SPG airline partners.

This is one of the best opportunities in years to buy Starpoints at a price this low per 1,000 points. No guarantee that we will see an offer like this again from SPG. Starpoints normally sell for $35 per 1,000 points. A current sale on the Starwood website offers points for $28 per 1,000 points until May 31, 2010.  Just a few years ago points were sold by SPG for $50 per 1,000.

Remember: Monday, May 3, 2010 – 10:00 AM ET.

Emirates Skywards is offering triple miles for Hilton brand stays from May 1 to July 31. The email from Emirates shows miles can be earned from any hotel brand, yet the normal rules for Emirates miles exclude Hampton Inn according to the HHonors chart.

The Emirates Terms and Conditions page states HHonors members choosing Points and Fixed Miles earn 1,500 miles per stay or 3 miles per $1 with Points and Variable Miles.

This offer is applicable to all Skywards members worldwide.

Offer is valid for eligible stays completed after registration, at participating hotels between 1st May and 31st July 2010.

Members who book stays after registration will be eligible to earn Skywards bonus Miles.

Customers must be a HHonors member to earn Skywards bonus miles

HHonors members choosing Fixed Miles award will earn 500 Skywards Miles, plus 1000 bonus Skywards miles.

HHonors members choosing Variable Miles award will earn 1 Skywards mile plus 2 Skywards Bonus Miles per $1 USD spent.

Skywards Miles accrued and awards issued are subject to Skywards terms and conditions.

Hilton HHonors membership, earning Points & Miles and redemption of points are subject to HHonors terms and conditions.

Taxes and Service charges apply

                  10.  This offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other promotion

Homewood Suites stays regularly earn just 100 miles when choosing Fixed Miles and Hampton Inn stays do not earn miles with Emirates.

This is either a good deal for earning Emirates miles or perhaps poorly written terms and conditions.

Check with Emirates and Hilton if you plan hotel stays with Homewood Suites or Hampton Inn while trying to collect Emirates miles.

HHonors Emirates Triple Miles registration link.

The frequent guest has the choice of many hotel loyalty promotions with little guidance to their relative value. Loyalty Traveler’s summary of current hotel loyalty promotions and limited time offers for the frequent guest are shown below.

April 22, Loyalty Traveler Current Hotel Loyalty Promotions

New Promotions added:

American Express Membership Rewards has a limited time offer for a $100 savings certificate towards a two-night stay at Hyatt for just 1,500 points through May 31. These certificates are normally 5,000 points. Click on the link and look for the certificates tab.

Hyatt is adding a new Park Hyatt property when Four Seasons Avaria, Carlsbad, California rebrands June 21. Park Hyatt Avaria will be another Hyatt resort for free nights this summer.

IHG Priority Club – May 14 to Aug 31, 2010 –  Double Points or Double Miles starting with your second qualifying stay at any hotel or your first stay at Candlewood Suites or Staybridge Suites. Registration required.

Priority Club Enroll a Friend – March 1 – May 31, 2010 – New member can earn 7,500 points after first stay at Candlewood Suites or Staybridge Suites within 90 days of Priority Club enrollment. Earn 5,000 points for first stay at InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn Express worldwide. Offer is restricted to US and Canada members. Referral member receives 5,000 bonus points. Contact me at ricgarrido@live.com for a referral link.

Starwood Preferred Guest Free Weekend Nights - Earning period: May 1 – July 31, 2010; Redemption Period through December 19. Earn one free weekend night (Fri, Sat, or Sun) for every three stays at any Starwood Hotel worldwide. Free weekend nights are valid for up to category 6 hotels. This is all but about 15 hotels worldwide.

SPG Registration required and registration link will be activated May 1.

Canada – See It Now Sweepstakes, March 27 – May 31. One entry per day allowed for a choice of five $5,000 Canadian vacations. Only U.S. residents in lower 48 states and D.C. are eligible. One prize will be awards around June 1. I have included this promotion since the Urban Fare prize includes three nights at the Westin Harbour Castle, Toronto.

Best Western $100 Travel Card, March 30-May 31. Buy a $100 Best Western travel card by May 31 and stay in a Best Western between June 1 and August 31 to earn 3,000 bonus points. Promotion link.

Best Western is also running their elite status match promotion. Members on FlyerTalk report the elite status match may come with 5,000 bonus points after first stay.

Loyalty Traveler Key Rankings

Rankings are subjective and subject to change. Your specific travel pattern may result in some promotions ranking more favorably for you. When assigning a key rank I take into consideration the following factors and probably more: 

• The opportunity for a significantly high-value return on hotel spend in terms of a hotel rebate in free nights and discounted  hotel nights. 
• Current loyalty program promotions and offers from other hotel chains.
• Past loyalty program offers and rates for the specific hotel chain and loyalty program.
• Current economic conditions in the travel industry and hotel location.

Loyalty Traveler ranks the consumer value of hotel loyalty promotions on a Five Key Scale.

Five Keys = one of the best hotel loyalty promotions of the year.

Four Keys = high value rebate on the cost of hotel stays.

Three Keys = good value hotel loyalty promotion or rate offer

Two Keys = a bonus value if you play, but not necessarily worth going out of your way.

One Key = There is limited or no value. You are likely paying more than the bonus value.

 

April 22 Summary of Current Hotel Loyalty Promotions by Program 

Best Western Rewards 

3-key Promotion $50 gift card after two stays by May 30 (March 30, 2010)

Elite Status Match Offer (February 19, 2010) FlyerTalk members are stating there is an accompanying offer for 5,000 bonus points after first stay.

3-key promotion -  Best Western $100 Travel Card, March 30-May 31. Buy a $100 Best Western travel card by May 31 and stay in a Best Western between June 1 and August 31 to earn 3,000 bonus points. Promotion link. 

 

Carlson Hotels – Goldpoints Plus

5-Key promotion: Award Nights On Sale through May 31: Radisson 50% off, Country Inn and Park Inn 25% off

4-Key promotion Country Inn & Suites Third Night Free is Truly a Free Night -March 1 – May 15 (March 18, 2010)

3-key promotion Up to Quadruple Points for stays through May 28, 2010 (March 31, 2010) This can be a 4-key or 5-key promotion if you have 4-night stays at a Radisson which combined with 50% free nights can be one or two free nights earned. 4x points is 80 points/$1. Top category hotel awards for a Radisson Blu or Regent Hotel in places like London and Paris at 50% discount are just 30,000 points. $800 on a 4-night stay will earn 65,000 points with online booking bonus.

 

Choice Hotels – Choice Privileges

3-key promotion Spring Promotion Stay Twice and Earn 8,000 points Feb 22-April 30

(8,000 points are sufficient for a free night at 1,500 hotels in the two lowest award night categories.)

 

Hilton HHonors

5-key promotion Fast Ways to Free Stays (Earn a free night after every 4 stays or 10 nights through June 30) (April 7, 2010) I have raised this offer from 4-key to a 5-key promotion since the free night certificate is valid at any hotel and good for one year from issue date. A property like Hilton Bora Bora Nui is a $700+ per night hotel.

Hilton HHonors earn unlimited free nights through June 30 – Fast Ways to Free Stays promotion (April 4, 2010)

4-key promotion Nine bonus airline miles promotions that may be combined with free night promotion (April 13, 2010)

 

Hyatt Gold Passport

5-key promotion – Big Welcome Back promotion for one free night after every two stays March 26-June 30 (March 26, 2010)

5-key promotion – Hyatt Gold Passport Instant Platinum Elite and Diamond Elite Fast-track (Feb 21, 2010)

3-Key Limited Time Offer American Express Membership Rewards Hyatt $100 certificate for 2-night stay for 1,500 Membership Rewards points through May 31, 2010. Certificate valid in US, Canada, and Caribbean through December 30, 2010.

Costco, the wholesale discounter, offers $100 in Hyatt gift certificates (two $50 certificates in a package) for $79.99.

Limited Time Offer – American Express Membership Rewards has a limited time offer for a $100 savings certificate towards a two-night stay at Hyatt for just 1,500 points through May 31. These certificates are normally 5,000 points. Click on the link and look for the certificates tab.

 

InterContinental Hotels Group – Priority Club

2-key IHG Priority Club – May 14 to Aug 31, 2010 –  Double Points or Double Miles starting with your second qualifying stay at any hotel or your first stay at Candlewood Suites or Staybridge Suites. Registration required.

Priority Club Enroll a Friend – March 1 – May 31, 2010 – New member can earn 7,500 points after first stay at Candlewood Suites or Staybridge Suites within 90 days of Priority Club enrollment. Earn 5,000 points for first stay at InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn Express worldwide. Offer is restricted to US and Canada members. Referral member receives 5,000 bonus points. Contact me at ricgarrido@live.com for a referral link.

3-Key promotion Earn 200 miles or 1,000 points per night up to 20,000 points or 4,000 miles through April 30, 2010 (Dec 22, 2010)

Priority Club PointBreaks 5,000 points per night awards to June 30 (March 29, 2010)

IHG Friend & Family Hotel Rates (Dec 26, 2010)

 

Leading Hotels of the World (LHW) – Leaders Club Rewards 

3-key promotion – Earn 1 free night after every 5 hotel stays in 2010. Must stay in at least two different hotels. Bellagio in Las Vegas is LHW member. (April 13, 2010)

 

Marriott Rewards

5-Key promotion – May 1-July 31 New members of Marriott Rewards earn a free night after two stays  (April 5, 2010)

1-Key offer – Marriott Rewards Instant Redemption Awards (March 24, 2010)

Marriott Rewards Triple Airline Miles through April 30 (Feb 18, 2010)

Marriott Rewards 2010 MegaBonus Feb 1- April 30, 2010 (Dec 22, 2010)

 

Starwood Preferred Guest

5-key promotion - Starwood Preferred Guest Free Weekend Nights - Earning period: May 1 – July 31, 2010; Redemption Period through December 19. Earn one free weekend night (Fri, Sat, or Sun) for every three stays at any Starwood Hotel worldwide. Free weekend nights are valid for up to category 6 hotels. Free weekend nights are valid for all but about 15 hotels worldwide of the 1,000 hotels in the Starwood chain.

SPG Registration required and registration link will be activated May 1.

4-key promotion $100 Amazon Gift Card for 2 Westin Stays in US/Canada by May 13 (Feb 20, 2010)

3-key promotion SPG link: Pay Your Birthyear Rate (This promotion can be an incredible savings or no savings depending on the hotel and your birthyear.) LT post 4/28/2009

3-key limited time offer Buy up to 20,000 Starpoints at 20% discount = $28/1,000 points. Offer valid April 9 – May 31, 2010. SPG link.

1-key promotion Four Points Breakfast for a Buck (April 12, 2010)

Starpoints Airline Direct Deposit is Better for United, Continental, and Singapore miles (March 25, 2010)

 

Wyndham Rewards

2-key promotion Lufthansa Miles & More 1,000 miles per stay, up to 4,000 miles March 15-May 15.

Hotel Points-to-Miles Conversion Tables for 9 hotel programs and 7 U.S. airlines (March 30, 2010)

 

Other Offers:

5-key offer – Condé Nast/Competitours - Condé Nast/Competitours 250,000 miles giveaway for 200 words by April 30   (LT post April 9, 2010)

Frequentflyerbonuses.com – Five Years, Five Ways to Win (2005-2010)

Frequentflyerbonuses.com 5^th Anniversary Contest through May 31 – Prize is $250 Marriott Gift card or 10,000 Spirit Airlines miles.

Canada – See It Now Sweepstakes, March 27 – May 31. One entry per day allowed for a choice of five $5,000 Canadian vacations. Only U.S. residents in lower 48 states and D.C. are eligible. One prize will be awarded around June 1, 2010. I have included this promotion since the Urban Fare prize includes three nights at the Westin Harbour Castle, Toronto.

I am finally getting around to writing about The Big Welcome Back from Hyatt Gold Passport when I see Gary Leff is giving away free Hyatt nights at View from the Wing blog. The only thing better than a free night after two hotel stays is two free nights with no hotel stays requirement. Simply leave a comment, by noon eastern time, Sunday, April 25 on Gary’s Hyatt Free Nights post and cross your fingers for good luck.

One thing to point out about Hyatt’s free internet for Platinum and Diamond elites is the hotel may only offer one access mode for free, wired or wireless access, and you have to pay to use the other one. I found this to be the case at a couple of hotels where I wanted wireless, but only wired was free. Fortunately at the Grand Hyatt San Francisco my room location was sufficiently close to access the Regency Club wireless internet from my room.

Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) launched free internet access for top elite Platinummembers as an in-hotel benefit. Simply accept internet charges when logging on at the hotel and they will be removed from the bill for Platinum elites. This benefit is available worldwide at all SPG hotels offering internet. Public space and meeting room internet is not covered in this benefit and terms vary by hotel for these spaces.

Reaching SPG platinum elite membership requires 50 nights or 25 stays in a calendar year. SPG typically offers an 8 to 12 week window each year with a stays count double promotion making Platinum status available in as few as 13 stays which can be as few as 13 hotel nights.

The Big Welcome Back from Hyatt Gold Passport

“We want to welcome you back before you readjust to your time zone.”

I picked up the 6”x11” card from Hyatt Gold Passport at my mailbox yesterday.

Choose to earn a free night or 5,000 Hyatt Gold passport bonus points after every two stays through June 30, 2010.

Now just decide where you want to go. Start earning. Then, enjoy your reward. Because the only thing better than welcoming you, is welcoming you back.

• Register today at goldpassport.com for the reward you want – free nights or bonus points
• Stay at any Hyatt worldwide through June 30, 2010
• Provide your Hyatt Gold Passport account number

Earn as many rewards as you can and then redeem them at any Hyatt worldwide. Enjoy your free night awards with no blackout dates between April 1 and August 31, 2010. Or, enjoy your bonus points anytime toward free nights, upgrades, or miles, with no expiration.

                                   

Why is Hyatt working so hard to attract members with giveaways?

I am not actually referring to Gary Leff’s free nights promotion; rather, why is Hyatt giving instant elite membership for the asking and top-elite diamond for just 15 nights? Why is Hyatt Gold Passport offering a free night at a Hyatt brand hotel anywhere to a member with two stays at any Hyatt hotel anywhere? These are high value giveaways.

Recently, several articles have passed by me and together they kind of paint a picture of the high stakes game for hotel revenue management combined with brand name recognition and high value customers.

Max Starkov is chief e-business strategist at Hospitality e-Business Strategies, a business which focuses on hotel direct online channel strategies. Direct online channels are the hotel brand websites. For Hyatt hotels this means the company booking site at Hyatt.com, the loyalty program booking site at goldpassport.com, and individual hotel booking sites like highlandsinn.hyatt.com.

Max Starkov’s recent article, “Not All Internet Bookings are Created Equal,” analyzed the proportion of hotel chain bookings made via direct online channels vs. indirect channels like online travel agencies – Expedia, Travelocity, Priceline. Overall for the hotel industry the proportion of room bookings made via the internet is estimated to be around 45% of all hotel bookings in 2010.

That means fewer than 50% of hotel rooms booked are via the internet. The top 30 hotel brands actually have a higher proportion of bookings made via the internet with 54.2%. In 2009 about 71% of internet bookings are direct channels and 29% indirect channels. In 2007 about 76% of internet bookings were direct channel bookings. Basically, the hotels are losing ground to the online travel agencies for room bookings.

Why do direct bookings matter, and, what does this have to do with Hyatt’s promotion giveaways?

GDS systems used by travel agents book about 23.6% of hotel rooms in 2009 compared to 31.3% in  for the top 30 hotel brands. The number of hotel rooms booked by GDS dropped by 25% in four years. Over the same time period the number of phone bookings also dropped from 31.3% in 2006 to 22.2% for 2009.

Basically there is a smaller share of room bookings happening via GDS systems and the phone. Internet bookings are growing and the hotel brands are losing share in the booking channels used by customers for buying hotel rooms.

The truly remarkable part to me is the large number of guests staying at the top 30 hotel brands who are not receiving any hotel chain loyalty benefits due to booking via Expedia, Priceline, Orbitz, etc. Even more amazing perhaps is the fact these guests probably did not pay any less than the rates available on the hotel’s own websites when not booking on an opaque site like Priceline or Hotewire where the hotel is not known in advance.

There certainly are some lower rates to be found through online travel agencies like Orbitz and Expedia. I book about 20% of my hotel stays through successful Best Rate Guarantee claims on the hotel’s website when I find a lower room rate at an online travel agency. I receive the low rate plus additional rate discounts or bonuses and I still receive all my hotel loyalty program benefits.

Starkov’s article goes on to show indirect bookings of hotel stays cost the hotel about 8 times more money. As the travel recession is now in the middle of its second year, hoteliers have pushed more inventory over to online travel agencies and the OTAs have gained share in the reservations market.

In my opinion I think Hyatt is pulling in a higher proportion of customers by giving elite status and free nights. You only earn these benefits through direct bookings. I do not have any data, but I assume Hyatt has seen a proportional shift to direct bookings after a solid year of high value promotions and complimentary elite status. Hyatt has loads of capital to invest. Hyatt has a credit card partner in the works to launch the hotel chain’s first cobranded credit card. Hyatt is maintaining high prices at its full service hotels.

I just hope after the Hyatt credit card comes around, the elite ranks have grown, direct bookings have grown, and the chain expands, perhaps with a new brand acquisition or two, that the program still offers free nights. I have a hunch though.

Faster Free Nights is what many of us who have been around Hyatt Gold Passport for much of the past decade refer to the free night after every two stays periodic promotion. In past years this promotion was commonly tied to using a MasterCard when paying for the hotel stays. I wonder is Hyatt really promoting the two stays for a free night concept heavily over the past year to tie in their new credit card with future free night promotion offers?

I would not be at all surprised to see 2011 require the Hyatt card be used for the free night after two stays promotion. Wait and see.

Back to the Big Welcome Back.

Seriously, this is a great promotion from Hyatt Gold Passport. Two stays anywhere and earn one free night anywhere and all summer to use it. Huge leverage potential makes booking unnecessary hotel stays totally worthwhile.

In the San Francisco Bay Area there are several Hyatt Place and Summerfield Suites hotels with weekend rates $80 or less. Eight miles down the road from me is the Hyatt Highlands Inn with summer room rates typically $400+ per night. You do the math. I have.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my hotel stays at the Hyatt Highlands Inn.

Here is a Loyalty Traveler analysis of the SPG free weekend nights promotion running May 1-July 31.

I have interspersed totally unrelated photos from my Friday drive to Big Sur between the Starwood promotion Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). Friday was one of those perfectly gorgeous days on the California Central Coast with 70 degree temperatures and incredibly clear skies.

Unfortunately there are no Starwood Hotels anywhere near the Monterey Peninsula or Big Sur coast.

St. Regis Monarch Beach is a category 6 Starwood Hotel near the beach at Dana Point in southern California.

 

Promotion Basics

Three eligible paid Starwood hotel stays from May 1 through July 31 earn one free weekend night good for any hotel with the exception of 16 hotels in the 1,000 property Starwood Hotels chain. Promotion weekend award nights must be redeemed by December 19, 2010.

1. Registration is required for this promotion by the date of June 30.

Starwood Preferred Guest Registration link. (registration is not active at time of writing.)

2. Reservations booked before promotion registration are eligible for earning free night credits as long as part of the stay falls in the promotion period from May 1-July 31. Only one eligible night is required to make the stay eligible for earning free night credit. For example, a Starwood Hotel stay from April 28-May 2 or July 31 to Aug 2 will count.

 

3. Earned free nights should be credited to your account within three to five days of your third eligible stay. You can check free weekend night availability online. If a room is available using points, then a free weekend night room should be available. Redemption period begins May 7 and ends December 19, 2010. 

 4. US and Canada members may redeem free weekend nights by calling 888-625-4988. Elite members should call their dedicated SPG elite line listed on your SPG elite card. Members in other locations should call their regional Starwood reservations center.

  

5. Definition of weekend: Most locations use Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, however, many countries define the weekend as Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.

Members may redeem their Free Weekend Night Award for any Friday, Saturday or Sunday except in select Middle East and African countries where redemption will be for any Thursday, Friday or Saturday: Algeria, Bahrain, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

 

6. Multiple free weekend night awards may be combined for a multi-night hotel stay.

 

For example: Here is a Loyalty traveler type strategy that may work for some frequent guests. Stay 18 or 21 times during the promotion period and you can redeem six or seven free nights for a week-long luxury vacation. Even if you do not travel for work, you can probably plan some two or three night getaways, and if there are a couple of cheap Starwood Hotels around, then pick up some cheap weekend stays even if you really do not need a hotel room.There are 92 nights and 14 weekends for earning free night credits during the May 1-July 31 promotion period. A member could potentially earn 30 free nights. But assume you made 15 stays over 15 nights for an average of $100 per night. You can earn 5 free nights for about $1,500. Assume that you actually get hotel value and enjoyment out of at least half these stays. Use your five free nights for a luxury hotel stay and you can easily get back the $1,500 value in free nights while having several other short hotel staycations or mini-trips. The basic rationale is one free weekend night may actually be worth more than the cost of three cheap hotel stays. Some travelers will find 20 nights in hotels, including a free five night luxury hotel vacation for the same price as a paid 5-night luxury hotel stay to be a great travel strategy. Others won’t.

7. Free night awards can be combined with paid nights for a multi-night stay. The paid nights will count for earning points and elite credit and qualify towards a free night credit if during the promotional period of May 1-July 31.

For example, a member might stay nine times in May and June and then redeem three free weekend nights Friday through Sunday night in Hawaii during mid-July. Add a paid night for Monday night at the same hotel. The paid night will count as one stay credit towards another free night.

8. Free weekend nights cannot be combined with other award nights for a fifth night free award. For example: SPG allows a member to redeem points for five nights with a 5^th night free award. A category 5 hotel at 12,000 points per free night takes only 48,000 points for a fifth night free award. You may combine free weekend nights with additional points for an extended stay, but you will not qualify for a 5^th night free award.

In the Hawaii example above, the member could redeem three free weekend nights and then spend another 12,000 points for the Monday night on a four night hotel stay. But you need another 12,000 points for a 5^th night.

9. Free Weekend Award nights are not transferrable, but you can book multiple rooms for a single stay. Regular award nights using points are transferrable. For example: I frequently redeem award nights using my points for my parents’ hotel stays. I can’t transfer my free weekend award nights from this promotion to my parents for their stays. But, I can book multiple rooms at a hotel using free weekend night awards for my parents as long as I am also a guest using one of the free weekend night award rooms. (Booking multiple rooms is not actually mentioned in the official SPG promotion FAQ, but I’ll keep it here unless I learn differently.)

10. Free Weekend Award night reservations may be cancelled and re-credited to your account as long as cancellation occurs within the hotel’s cancellation policy window.

Priority Club offered free nights last summer, but the Priority Club primary restriction was no cancellations on free night award bookings. If you cancelled, you lost your free night credit. 

Last summer I earned 8 free nights with the SPG free weekend nights promotion and I cancelled several of my free night reservations as I shifted my travel plans around to match the best redemption opportunities.

Pay close attention to the hotel award cancellation window. Some hotels will be day of arrival, most are likely the day before arrival, but some resorts may require as many as seven days before arrival to cancel without penalty.

Last year there was an issue of rack rate cancellation penalties which I think Starwood Hotels addressed after many member complaints. For example, I had a stay at the St. Regis San Francisco that was upgraded to a Metropolitan Suite and my cancellation forfeiture policy was listed as $1,500 per night for the hotel. I wasn’t about to miss that hotel stay as a no-show!

11.   Members will earn points on incidental spending during hotel stays using free weekend night awards.

Loyalty Traveler Note: Keep an eye on your account after free weekend nights with incidental spend to be sure the points post. Award stays frequently are not posted by hotels even when there is incidental spending. If your free weekend nights stay does not post and you had incidental spending for restaurant, room service, etc., then call the hotel to get your points posted.

12.   Free nights must be used by December 19, 2010.

13.   Free weekend nights are not valid at these SPG category 7 hotel properties: 

• The St. Regis Punta Mita Resort, Punta de Mita, Mexico
• Sunset Key Guest Cottages, a Westin Resort, Key West, FL, USA
• The St. Regis New York, USA
• Santa Marina Resort & Villas, Mykonos, Greece
• Mystique, Santorini, Greece
• Hotel Cala di Volpe, Costa Smeralda, Porto Cervo, Italy
• Cervo Hotel, Costa Smeralda Resort, Porto Cervo, Italy
• Hotel Pitrizza, Costa Smeralda, Porto Cervo, Italy
• Hotel Romazzino, Costa Smeralda, Porto Cervo, Italy
• The St. Regis Mardavall Mallorca Resort, Spain
• Hotel President Wilson, Geneva, Switzerland
• The St. Regis Bora Bora Resort, French Polynesia
• Le Méridien Bora Bora, French Polynesia
• The St. Regis Bali Resort, Indonesia
• W Retreat & Spa-Maldives, Maldives
• Pine Cliff Residence, Albufeira, Portugal (category 6 all suites hotel) 

Pine Cliff residence is an all suites category 6 hotel, but free weekend nights are only valid for standard hotel rooms. 

 

Loyalty Traveler Example of a Hotel Hop

One of the most basic questions asked about these kinds of promotions based on hotel stays is: 

“Can I check-out and then check back in the same hotel with a different reservation to get two stays?”

No you can’t. 

Consecutive days at the same hotel will count as the same hotel stay regardless of check-in and check-out. The hotel hop is a common strategy. Last year I earned several free nights from San Francisco Bay Area hotel stays. Here are some examples of what I did.

• Westin St. Francis, Friday night
• The Palace, Luxury Collection, Saturday night.

These hotels are about three blocks apart in downtown San Francisco. Checking out and checking in to a new hotel wasted about an hour of time, but the benefit of a free night at the St. Regis San Francisco after two stays made the mid-day hotel change worthwhile. This year it takes three stays for a free weekend night.

In January this year I stayed at the Grand Hyatt San Francisco on a Thursday night, Hyatt Regency San Francisco Friday night, and back to the Grand Hyatt on Saturday night. I earned three hotel stay credits. 

These are examples of hotel hopping and perfectly acceptable for maximizing hotel stay credits for the free night promotions. 

Another strategy is checking into a hotel and leaving. I have also done this strategy of checking in, going up to the room and snapping a couple of photos and picking up some soap and shampoo, and then leaving the hotel. Hotels require you to check-in, but not necessarily check-out. I have always received stay credit and I have never been charged extra for not properly checking out. 

Feel free to leave a comment to ask any additional questions not covered in this post.

I should be in my car right now driving to Big Sur 40 miles south because the weather is gorgeous in Monterey and its Friday and I want to watch whales migrating north rather than staring at my computer screen. Big Sur has great vista points all along the coastline where a person can park and look out over the Pacific Ocean from several hundred feet in elevation.

Then I saw the SPG Free Weekend Nights FAQ page and decided to take the time to address more details of the Starwood Hotels Free Nights Weekend Nights Promotion.

On second thought, no, wait, I am driving to Big Sur.

Here is a link to SPG FAQ for the Free Weekend Nights promotion. I’ll write my SPG FAQ analysis over the weekend.

Starwood Hotels SPG Free Weekend Nights May 1- July 31 promotion webpage.

Loyalty Traveler post: April 16, 2010 – SPG Free Weekend Night per 3 Stays, May 1-July 31

Starwood Preferred Guest has announced its free weekend night promotion. SPG has taken the middle ground between Hyatt and Hilton’s free night offers. This offer is similar to last year’s except the stay requirement is up from two stays to three stays to earn a free night. The better aspect is an extended redemption window to December 19. Last year’s promotion had the same earning period, but the free nights needed to be redeemed by the end of September.

Free nights are still valid at category 6 hotels. There are only about eight category 7 hotels that even offer standard rooms, so the exclusion of category 7 hotels for this weekend free nights promotion is not much of a restriction.

Hyatt free nights after two stays are valid at all hotels and Hilton’s free night only excludes all-inclusive properties and Hilton Vacation Club. Hyatt and Hilton free nights may be used any day of the week. Starwood free nights are only for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights, unless otherwise stated for some locations.

Starwood’s extended time frame of 7.5 months for using free nights should help award night availability. Finding award nights became tough at the category 6 hotels in August and September 2009 when everyone was seeking to use up their free nights before expiration.

This is a good deal even at three stays per free night. Anytime you can get promotion value equal to the cost of earning the award, then the promotion is high value. Finding hotels in the $100 per night range with Starwood is not too difficult in many locations and many category 5 and most category 6 hotels run $300+ per night at least some of the time, and some category 6 hotels run $300+ per night most of the time.

This will be a good time to go for SPG elite while earning free nights from hotel stays. The only thing better than a free $300 per night room is having Platinum status and getting a complimentary upgrade on your $300 per night room to the $600 per night suite. Suite upgrades are not guaranteed, but they sure seem to be a common occurrence in my SPG experiences of the past decade.

The challenge for the frequent guest now is to figure out where to lay your head. You have until June 30 to earn free nights with Hyatt and Hilton, and July 31 to earn free nights with Starwood.

Here is the summary from FlyerTalk per Starwood Lurker II as posted this morning.

• 1(One) Free Weekend Night award for every 3(Three) eligible stays.
• Registration begins 1 May 2010 and ends 30 June 2010. Only 61 days, so do not miss the window.
• Earning period begins 1 May 2010 and ends 31 July 2010.
• Redemption period begins 7 May 2010 and ends 19 December 2010.
• Awards are redeemable only at Participating properties from Categories 1 to 6.
• Free Weekend nights refer to any Friday, Saturday or Sunday except for properties otherwise stated.

Here is the SPG promotion Free Weekends link. The SPG registration link goes live on May 1, 2010.

See the Loyalty Traveler April 14, 2010 H.E.L.P. post for a summary of 25 or so current hotel loyalty program promotions and links.

There does not seem to be much promotion innovation going on at Priority Club. I guess the ability to combine promotions keeps the program from needing a great offer like last year’s free night after two stays nights which ran during the summer of 2009.

Double points or double miles starts with your second qualifying stay, except for the IHG extended stay hotel brands of Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites where the offer begins with your first stay. This is an IHG worldwide offer available at all 4,400+ hotels in the InterContinental Hotels Group chain

Registration is now open for this offer.

InterContinental Hotels Group brands are Crowne Plaza, InterContinental Hotels, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Hotel Indigo, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites.

IHG Points Earning Structure:

Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, and Hotel Indigo earn 10 points per $1 hotel spend. Promotion bonus is additional 10 points per $1 for 20 points per $1. Elite bonuses are additional.

Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites earn 5 points/$1 regularly, so double points promotion earning rate is 10 points/$1.

InterContinental Hotels regularly earn 2,000 points per stay. The promotion rate is 4,000 points per stay.

Double Miles is applicable to many airline programs

Double miles earning rate is dependent on the airline partner and hotel brand. Check the airline miles earning page for details of regular miles rate and double that for the promotion rate. Priority Club has a large number of airline partners with around 45, second only to Hilton HHonors I believe.

USA Residents Only have a Special Gift Card Alternative Offer shown in the promotion terms fine print at PriorityClub.com/hititbig, however, the link is currently broken and does not reveal the details of this offer.

Loyalty Traveler promotion rank = 3-keys (and waiting to see the gift card offer details)