Wyndham and Hawthorn Suites normally earn 500 American Airlines miles per stay in Wyndham Rewards hotel loyalty program. Wingate Hotels normally earns 2 miles per $1 during your stay. This 25,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles promotion offers 3,000 bonus miles after the 3^rd stay.  An additional 7,500 miles bonus is earned after six stays. An additional 10,000 miles bonus is earned after the 9^th stay at any of these three hotel brands between April 30 and September 30, 2010.

Wyndham Rewards 25,000 American Airlines AAdvantage Miles link

Here is an example of how these Wyndham Rewards hotel stays add up to miles.

Member must choose earning miles as preference for hotel stays and provide frequent flyer number. It is always a good idea to chat up the hotel check-in agent to get a note for miles entered on your record. Correcting and adding miles is possible after the fact through the phone or email, but inconvenient.

• Stay 1: Hawthorn Suites 500 AA miles
• Stay 2: Hawthorn Suites 500 AA miles          
• Stay 3: Wyndham Hotel 500 AA miles + 3,000 miles bonus.

Total: 4,500 miles

• Stay 4: Hawthorn Suites 500 AA miles
• Stay 5: Wyndham Hotel 500 AA miles                  
• Stay 6: Wingate Hotel ($200 in base spend) = 400 AA miles + 7,500 miles bonus.

Total: 13,400 miles

• Stay 7: Wyndham Resort 500 AA miles
• Stay 8: Wingate Hotel ($300 in base spend) = 600 AA miles           
• Stay 9: Wyndham Hotel 500 AA miles + 10,000 miles bonus.

Total: 25,000 miles in American AAdvantage after 9 hotel stays by September 30, 2010.

Starwood Preferred Guest members can earn 1,000 American Airlines AAdvantage bonus miles for every stay with Sheraton Hotels in North America (US, Canada, and Caribbean) from May 1 through July 31. There is no miles earning limit.

This offer is combinable with free weekend nights, similar to last year’s promotion when Starwood Preferred Guest offered free weekend nights + Starpoints + Northwest/Delta miles for hotel stays.

SPG members may earn American Airlines AAdvantage miles with each Sheraton stay in addition to earning Starpoints and a free weekend night after every three stays. There is no need to change your earning preference to Direct Deposit to earn American AAdvantage miles.

Last year I earned 8 free weekend nights for 16 stays + Starpoints + 16,000 Northwest miles. The advantage of last year’s offer was all Starwood brands qualified for bonus miles. This American Airlines AAdvantage offer is limited to hotel stays at the Sheraton brand.

Sheraton happens to be the Starwood brand with the most hotels at over 400 properties. About 40% of all Starwood Hotels are Sheratons and the brand has more hotels than Westin and Four Points combined, the next largest brands by the numbers.

One nice feature of Sheraton Hotels is the benefit of free breakfast for Platinum members at many properties.

Separate registration is required for AAdvantage miles even if you are already registered for Free Weekend Nights.
SPG – AAdvantage miles registration link

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.

[July 1, 2010 update: Marriott Rewards and American Airlines AAdvantage ended their relationship as of June 30, 2010. Marriott Rewards members can no longer earn AAdvantage miles through the program.]

After giving the points-to-miles exchange some more thought since my post on Sunday, I have created simplified points-to-miles conversion tables. Here are tables showing hotel points to airline miles conversions for nine major hotel loyalty programs including Best Western Rewards, Carlson goldpoints plus, Choice Privileges, Hilton HHonors, Hyatt Gold Passport, InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club Rewards, Marriott Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest, and Wyndham Rewards.

In my prior post on this topic I made elite status rate adjustments and correlated points earned to hotel spend levels. I tossed all that for these tables due to the highly variable rates of earning hotel points dependent on elite status, promotions, credit card activity, and partner activity.

For example, the Hilton HHonors blue member earning Points & Miles at 10 points per $1 compared to the Diamond member with a Surpass card earning Points & Points for 29 points per $1 in hotel spend makes it difficult to correlate points earned to hotel spend across a single program, let alone nine programs.

The tables below are only adjusted for Carlson goldpoints, Hyatt Gold Passport, and Starwood Preferred Guest to compensate for variations in base points and provide a similar points comparison to the 10 points per $1 of other programs. The tables use comparable point level column headers allowing a comparison of points-to-miles exchange across programs. The rate a member earns points is not factored into these tables.

The table for Hilton HHonors reveals the poor points-to-miles exchange rate of this program. In hotel travel the HHonors member would earn far more points with Points & Miles earning, but that is really a separate process to the points-to-miles exchange conversion comparison.

Hotel Loyalty Program Ranking for Points-to-Miles Exchange

Marriott Rewards, Carlson goldpoints plus, and Wyndham Rewards are the five star programs for points- to-miles exchanges. Choice is 5-star for Southwest Airlines exchange.

Hyatt Gold Passport and Starwood Preferred Guest (AA, AS, DL, US) are four star programs.

Best Western Rewards, IHG Priority Club Rewards, and Choice Privileges are three star programs.

Hilton HHonors and Starwood Preferred Guest (CO, UA) are two star programs.

Hotel points-to-miles exhange rates (updated 9-24-10)

The George Clooney movie “Up in the Air” about a frequent business traveler feeling the love from American Airlines and Hilton HHonors will be released December 2009.  Hilton HHonors has launched a dedicated sweepstakes website to accompany the movie release with a chance for HHonors members to win a grand prize of one million HHonors points, HHonors Diamond status for a year, and a trip to Paris for two with a stay at the Hilton Arc de Triomphe. 

The sweepstakes is divided into 10 weekly prizes and the Grand Prize. Contestants need to make a booking for a Hilton Hotel during the contest week to be eligible for the weekly prize. Hilton Hotels is the only Hilton brand eligible for the sweepstakes, so forget about those Hampton Inn, Doubletree, and Homewood Suites bookings. Only one entry per week will be counted.

The sweepstakes began November 3 and this is Prize Week #2 from November 10-November 16. The prize for week 2 is a private screening for the movie with up to 200 of your friends.

What counts for the weekly sweepstakes entry is the date you book the hotel stay – not the date of the hotel stay. Make a reservation today at a participating Hilton Hotel for a stay in February 2010 and you will be entered into this week’s contestant pool.

Here is the hiltonupintheair.com link to the weekly prizes.

Week 1, Nov 3-9: Movie Premiere and two-night stay at Beverly Hilton, roundtrip airfare for two and ground transportation.

Week 2, Nov 10-16: Private screening of movie with 200 friends

Week 3, Nov 17-23: 150,000 Hilton HHonors points and Gold VIP membership for one year.

Week 4, Nov 24-30: 3 nights in Presidential Suite, Hilton St. Louis Ballpark, air travel by American Airlines, $150 dining certificate

Week 5, Dec 1-7: Hilton Serenity Collection bed and bedding

Week 6, Dec 8-14: 200,000 Hilton HHonors points and Gold VIP membership for one year.

Week 7, Dec 15-21: 3 nights at Hilton Hawaiian Village and 3 nights at Hilton Waikoloa and air travel for two

Week 8, Dec 22-28: TravelPro luggage set and Hilton in-room amenities – robe, ice bucket, coffee maker, alarm clock.

Week 9, Dec 29-Jan 4: 250,000 points Hilton HHonors and Gold VIP membership for one year.

Week 10, Jan 5-11: Two nights at Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek Resort, air travel for two, $150 dining credit

Grand Prize: 1,000,000 HHonors points, Diamond VIP membership for one year and trip to Paris.

The hiltonupintheair.com website has a trailer and photos from the movie. I am looking forward to seeing the movie next year.

Another section on the hiltonupintheair.com website is called “Our Stories” where hotel managers discuss some of the frequent guests who stayed at their hotels.

Ric Garrido’s “Hilton Up in the Air” story or “How I became a poverty jet set HHonors millionaire.”

In the summer of 1999 I found FlyerTalk and I learned about the opportunities to play the frequent flyer loyalty game for some incredible travel bargains. There was a promotion from September through December 1999 for flights with the oneworld alliance airlines including American Airlines, British Airways, Canadian Airlines, Iberia, Cathay Pacific, Finnair.

100,000 bonus miles were earned for flying one segment on 5 different oneworld airlines. Fly 4 airlines earned 50,000 miles. Fly 3 airlines earned 25,000 miles. The strategy I learned from FlyerTalk was not to submit any frequent flyer number in the passenger record, keep the tickets and boarding passes from each flight, and then submit the different boarding passes to different frequent flyer programs for retroactive credit and multiple promotion bonuses.

For example, I flew Cathay Pacific from Manchester, UK to Amsterdam and back. One boarding pass for the outbound flight went to British Airways and the other boarding pass for the inbound flight went to American Airlines. I was able to use different flight segments from one roundtrip ticket to qualify for multiple bonuses. This was playing by the rules of the promotion since each frequent flyer program registered miles for a unique flight segment. There was no double dipping on flight segment credit.

Ultimately my wife and I ended up with a 300,000 miles in bonuses with British Airways and American Airlines. I actually missed out on 100,000 bonus miles due to my ignorance of booking fare codes and the purchase of a fare code with Cathay Pacific that was not eligible for earning miles with American AAdvantage. (In 2002 after a few years of FlyerTalk training I completed a mileage run for the Star Alliance 5^th anniversary promotion for 55,555 miles. The promo also required 5 airline members. I purchased five 4-segment airline tickets with United, Air Canada, Lufthansa, Austrian, and bmi to earn 55,555 miles with four programs: ANA, Mexican, United, and Lufthansa.)

Our first mileage run in 1999 was done over two teacher holidays during the November Thanksgiving break and the December/New Year’s  break. We traveled San Francisco-Reno-Las Vegas- Los Angeles-Vancouver-San Francisco on American Airlines and Canadian Airlines (acquired by Air Canada in 2000). We flew London-Manchester (British Airways), Manchester-Amsterdam (Cathay Pacific), and Amsterdam-Barcelona (Iberia) in December.

The airfare was a drain on our bank accounts and the cost of hotels in Europe looked formidable until I realized an opportunity available through Hilton HHonors.

Hilton HHonors allows frequent flyer miles from some programs to be exchanged into HHonors points. I exchanged 50,000 TWA miles in 1999 into 100,000 Hilton HHonors points which allowed us to stay at the Barcelona Hilton and Rotterdam Hilton for 7 free nights. (Amsterdam Hilton was unavailable.)

The LatinPass promotion was announced a week after we returned home from Amsterdam. LatinPass was another Hilton HHonors airline miles to HHonors points exchange program participant. In the spring of 2000 I flew around Central America, the Caribbean, and South America on 10 LatinPass airline qualifying flights, partner flights with KLM and National Airlines (defunct Las Vegas start-up), completed some hotel stays with Radisson, Holiday Inn, and Marriott, and a 5-day car rental.

In summer 2000 I received 1,014,000 miles in my LatinPass frequent flier account. Over the next two  years I exchanged 660,000 LatinPass miles into 1,320,000 HHonors points before LatinPass and Hilton HHonors ended their partnership.

Hilton HHonors 6-night VIP awards were 100,000 points until June 2003. My favorite redemption was a 6-night stay at the Amsterdam Hilton for 100,000 points. When I returned home I saw I had earned over 40,000 points for the award stay. I don’t think I paid more than $50 upon checkout at the end of the award stay. Basically, I stayed 6 nights at the Amsterdam Hilton for 10,000 points per night.

Hilton Amsterdam

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

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

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

·         Air Canada

·         Alaska

·         American

·         Amtrak

·         Continental

·         Delta

·         Midwest

·         Northwest

·         Southwest

·         Turkish

·         United

·         US Airways

·         Virgin Atlantic (750 miles x 6)

Registration Links:

Air Canada

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

Alaska

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

American

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

Amtrak 

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

Continental

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

Delta

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

Midwest

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

Northwest

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

Southwest

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

Turkish  

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

United

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

US Airways

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

Virgin Atlantic (750 miles x 6)

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

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

EARN SIX TIMES THE MILES WITH HYATT

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

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

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

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

The registration page is uploaded for this double elite qualifying miles offer from American Airlines.

Registration code: DBEQM

Basic terms:

1.    Registration required for double EQM. No credit for flights taken before registration.

2.    Offer applies only to new ticket reservations purchased and traveled between March 18 and June 15, 2009.

3.    Only elite qualifying miles are doubled. There is no doubling of redeemable miles for awards.

Basic benefits: link to AAdvantage Elite Member Guides

1.    12,500 flight miles will earn AAdvantage Gold.  Lots of fee waivers for the periodic traveler.  The savings on baggage fees alone may justify a mileage run trip.

2.    25,000 flight miles will earn AAdvantage Platinum and 100% redeemable mileage bonus. Oneworld Sapphire benefits including complimentary airport lounge access when flying international.

3.    50,000 flight miles will earn Executive Platinum and eight complimentary systemwide one-way upgrade certificates.  Your elite status and certificates will be valid through February 2011.

This just might be the offer that gets me back in the skies. I voluntarily grounded myself in summer 2007 after back-to-back trips to Buenos Aires over an 11 day period in which I spent nearly 20 hours sitting on airplanes on runways at Atlanta, Washington DC Dulles, and New York JFK.  I went from Star Alliance Gold back to driving myself in my car along the west coast for staycations.

Executive Platinum at 50,000 flight miles is economical for a somewhat frequent traveler.

The benefits are huge with waived fees galore and complimentary international upgrade certificates for this year and next.  Spend $2,500 over the next three months, or even less if you have time to fly the really cheap fares, and you can be looking at numerous flights in the front cabins for the next two years.

It has been a while since I did 50,000 miles in economy class, and this deal may not be workable for me due to the family illness. And if it turns out I go on a ticket buying spree, my wife will certainly have sanctioned my absence.  She knows the value of international upgrade certificates awarded to Executive Platinum members.  

For my wife, flying 50,000 miles in economy during a calendar year, let alone three months, is an unfamiliar experience.  She has flown over 50,000 miles in a calendar year during many years, however, the majority of her travel was in Business or First Class. My sheer butt pain from long-haul economy class travel over the years has been her sheer lie-flat bliss in the skies.

Update: March 19 – United Airlines matches with its own Double EQM offer through June 15: http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,52639,00.html