Best Western has a new Low Rate Guaranteed policy for a $100 Best Western Travel Card if you find a lower rate on another online travel agency website within 48 hours of booking a hotel at BestWestern.com. The  lower rate is matched plus a $100 hotel credit for a future stay. Great Deal! Right?

Best Western says submit a claim when you find a lower rate for the Best Western hotel within 48 hours after booking on BestWestern.com. Best Western reservations made within 48 hours of hotel arrival are not eligible for claims.

The online travel agency room rate must meet these conditions:

• same hotel
• similar room type
• same dates
• same number of people on reservation
• same currency and at least US$1 difference in rates on other website.
• the rate must be bookable by the general public when Best Western customer care agent validates claim.
• opaque sites that do not reveal the name of the hotel until after booking, like Priceline and Hotwire, are not eligible for claims.

Points or miles earned are based on room rate actually paid after Best Rate Guarantee claim processed.

This Best Rate Guarantee policy is only for residents of U.S., Canada and the Caribbean when staying at Best Western hotels in the U.S., Canada or Caribbean.

Other international locations and residents of other regions are still only eligible for a 10% rate discount on the lower rate found on a third party travel agency for approved claims.

Loyalty Traveler analysis

A $100 BW Travel Card is a good value Low Rate Guarantee if you have a claim approved.

I still object to the fact that no hotel chains follow the terms of Starwood Hotels and Hyatt Hotels who allow guests to file a Low Rate Guarantee claim before making a reservation on any site.

What good is a Best Rate Guarantee when I see a lower rate on a competing website, and I am faced with the choice of booking the lower rate or booking the higher rate on Best Western and file a claim?

He said, “We haven’t had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine” Eagles- ‘Hotel California’

While Kayak has lost its usefulness it once had when hotels could be filtered by hotel loyalty program, the fact that all Best Western hotels are in one brand means Kayak is still useful for filtering Best Western Hotels.

Kayak.com is a useful website for finding hotels eligible for Low Rate Guarantee claims.  On the left side of the page is a box for “Hotel Name/Brand”. Type in Hilton or Starwood or Marriott or Best Western and Kayak gives the selection choice to filter hotels for only “All Hilton brands” or “All Marriott brands”. I filtered this search to “All Best Western brands”.

EasyClickTravel,com is an online travel agency that I have used before for approved low rate guarantee claims. The $92 rate on EasyClickTravel.com listed is $17 less than the BestWestern.com rate.

EasyClickTravel.com has a rate of $105.75 after tax. BestWestern.com shows $125.90 for this same room after tax.

Bottom line: Best Western may approve my claim and I get a $100 gift card and the lower rate.

If Best Western rejects the claim for some reason I can’t see at this point, then I paid $20 more than I needed to pay for the same room.

Hopefully the Best Western Rewards points I earn from the hotel stay are worth at least $20 that I overpaid for the room.

For me personally, a Best Rate Guarantee that requires me to book the hotel room on BestWestern.com first is only useful if I have a rate that can be cancelled in case my Low Rate Guarantee claim is not approved.

When I really need a hotel room though, I don’t want to play booking games poker. In this post I have shown how easy it is to find a Low Rate Guarantee claim. I found this hotel in about five minutes. But I don’t want to gamble on whether the room shown in this post is an eligible Low Rate Guarantee with Best Western.

Now if I saw this with a Starwood Hotel or Hyatt Hotel, then I would be filing my claim and see if I could get a great rate deal for San Francisco. Starwood Hotels’ Best Rate Guarantee gives 10% off the lower rate, but I almost always take 2,000 Starpoints and a match of the lower rate. Hyatt’s Best Rate Guarantee will reduce the lower rate by 20%.

This is a good effort from Best Western and some guests are going to be excited to get a $100 Best Western Travel Card.

BestWestern.com Low Rate Guarantee.

The complete pdf Best Western Best Rate Guarantee Terms & Conditions.

Here is a spreadsheet with the ten largest hotel loyalty programs worldwide and all their airline partners for earning miles and points-to-miles transfers.

Hilton HHonors is far and away the biggest program for airline partnerships. That can be a major factor for a frequent guest earning miles from hotel stays in a frequent flyer program where there might be few opportunities to earn miles other than flying.

• Hilton HHonors = 57 airline partners
• IHG Priority Club = 43 airline partners
• Marriott Rewards = 36 airline partners
• Hyatt Gold Passport = 35 airline partners
• Starwood Preferred Guest = 34 airline partners

There are 8 airlines that only partner with one of these ten programs.

[click on image to see full-size in new window]

I will follow up this post with comments and details on airline miles differences in earning rates between different programs.

This seemed like a useful table to create as I work on my series of hotel points-to-miles exchange rates across loyalty programs for a selection of major airlines.

Loyalty Traveler – Airline Tables for Hotel Points-to-Miles Exchange Rates

United Mileage Plus hotel points-to-miles rates favor Marriott, Club Carlson, Wyndham(Feb 8, 2012)

Delta SkyMiles hotel points-to-miles rates in 9 hotel programs(Feb 7, 2012)

AAdvantage Miles for Hotel Elites with Credit Cards: SPG, Club Carlson, Wyndham and HHonors lead the pack(Feb 6, 2012)

American Airlines Points-to-Miles Exchange Rates Compared for 9 Hotel Programs (Feb 5, 2012)

Best Western Rewards comes out with the best midscale hotel segment promotion for 2012 so far. Earn one free night for any Best Western worldwide after 3 stays from February 6 to April 8, 2012. There is an earning limit of one free night with this offer and the free night voucher expires June 30, 2012. Members must register prior to first stay for hotel stays to be eligible.

Read More…

Best Western has launched its winter offer for 2,000 bonus points per night, up to four nights for a maximum 8,000 bonus points on stays in the U.S. and Canada through January 31, 2012. Promotion registration required before first stay. Use the link to register online or call Best Western Rewards 1-800-237-8483 and request enrollment in WINTER12 promotion.

Loyalty Traveler Analysis

Best Western is a useful hotel loyalty program to maintain an account balance. The value of Best Western is the large number of hotels around the U.S. and globally in places where you may not find many other familiar names. Best Western has over 4,000 hotels and nearly half of those hotels are outside the USA. That surpasses just about every other major hotel chain, except Accor A|Club and remove France from that list and Best Western has the most hotels internationally for US/Canada travelers.

One time in Guayaquil, Ecuador I needed a hotel and the Hilton was priced in the $200 range. I looked at the airport terminal hotel listings and saw Best Western and landed a $35 rate in downtown. I ate a steak dinner at the hotel restaurant with beer for US$5. The hotel guard escorted me to the taxi early the next morning packing some ballistic heat.

Best Western promotions are typically not big points earners. This promotion offer looks good for Best Western Rewards.

My main complaint about Best Western Rewards is there is no easy way, at least not that I know, to see what hotels are in the different reward categories. I wish their website would create a list of hotels in each reward category for member ease in locating hotel reward options.

8,000 points is the lowest category reward night for Best Western hotels. I’d love to be able to see a list of which hotels I can redeem 8,000 points for a free night. Hotel reward nights go up in 4,000 point increments to 36,000 points per night. Most hotels around my part of California are in the 16,000 to 28,000 points range.

Best Western hotel stays earn points at the the rate of 10 points/$1.

Assume you stay 4 nights at $75 per night. $300 in hotel spend earns 3,000 points + 8,000 bonus points. At 12,000 points you will see more hotels for reward nights. Best Western offers easy status match for elites from other hotel programs to boost your points earning potential.

Best Western WINTER12 Promotion for 8,000 bonus points after 4 nights by Jan 31, 2012.

Best Western Hotels has a “Share a Spooky Travel Destination” giveaway on its You Must be Trippin’ blog. Answer the question “What’s the spookiest place to travel?” in the comment section by 11:59 pm Pacific Time October 31, 2011. One randonly chosen winner will receive a $250 Best Western Hotels travel card.

There are 258 entries since October 6 at the time of this post and 44 entries occurred in past 24 hours.

Share a Spooky Travel Destination Rules

• Must be 18 years of age.
• Must be U.S. or Canada resident.
• Comment must be submitted by 11:59 pm PST October 31, 2011.
• Winner will be randonly selected.
• Best Western link.

Loyalty Traveler Spooky Post:  I posted a story on Loyalty Traveler October 29, 2008 – “Haunted Hotel or Singapore Changi Madness“ describing my spooky encounter at Le Meridien Changi Village, Singapore.

Welcome to Changi Beach, Singapore.

Best Western has a convoluted fall 2011 promotion offering double points/miles or triple points/miles for some stays from September 12 and November 20, 2011. The bonus is confusing since it only applies to every second stay and has different earning limits depending on elite status and whether the member chooses to earn points or miles.

Fall Promotion Details

• Promotion registration is required prior to stays. Read the different promotion rules before choosing which version of this offer for registration.
• Earn double points for every second stay (20 points per US$1). (see earning limit rule below)
• Earn triple points for every second stay (30 points per US$1). (see earning limit rule below)
• Earning limit: Non-elite members may earn the bonus only two times on 2nd and 4th stays. Elite members may earn bonus only four times on 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th stays. (Miles version has no earning limit).
• Triple bonus points: Stays in two different types of the three Best Western types (Best Western, Best Western Plus, Best Western Premier) results in triple bonus points. The additional bonus points will be added after the promotion ends for members who meet the two different hotel types criteria.
• AAA/CAA members earn an additional 1,000 points bonus when qualifying for this promotion if registered using these promo code links: www.bestwestern.com/fallaaa or www.bestwestern.com/fallcaa.

Got all that fine print?

Best Western Rewards has made this promotion unnecessarily complicated for what is ultimately a relatively low value bonus.

Sample Bonus Points Earning showing why the order of your hotel stays matters.

Best Western Stay 1: September 19 – Best Western Park Crest Inn, Monterey California

• $120.89
• 1,200 base points
• No promotion bonus points

Best Western Stay 2: September 27 – 30 (3 nights) Best Western Plus Victorian Inn, Monterey California

• $143.20 x 3 = $429.60
• 4,290 base points
• 4,290 double points bonus (2nd stay)
• 4,290 triple points bonus (two types of Best Western hotels)
• 12,870 total points for second stay.
• 14,070 total points for these two hotel stays.

The main thing to remember for this promotion is the bonus is based on the money spent for only the 2nd, 4th, 6th or 8th hotel stays. You may want to plan out stays to be sure the high spend stays fall on these alternate stays.

Using the same two stays shown above, but in reverse with the three nights high spend stay first and the lower spend stay second will result in far fewer points.

• Stay 1 = $429 = 4,290 base points
• Stay 2 = $120 = 1,200 base points + 2,400 bonus points.
• Total Best Western Rewards points = 7,890 total points.
• Original stay pattern shown = 14,070 points for the same amount of hotel spend.
• Depending on which stay is second the total points earned changes by 6,180 points for the same hotel spend.

Bonus Miles promotion has an advantage and disadvantage

Members can register for double or triple miles with American Airlines or Aeroplan or Airmiles.

• American Airlines (250 base miles)
• Aeroplan (250 base miles)
• Air Miles (20 base miles)

The rules are basically the same when choosing to earn double miles on every second stay. Members earn triple miles if stays in two different types of Best Western hotels during the promotion period. The advantage of the miles bonus promotion is there is no limit to the number of times this bonus can be earned and the hotel spend per stay is not a factor. The number of miles earned is independent of hotel spend.

Double miles = 500 miles on the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th and so on … stays for AAdvantage or Aeroplan.

Triple miles = 750 miles.

Miles can be a better deal for someone with low spend stays.

• Stay 1 = $70 for 250 AAdvantage miles.
• Stay 2 = $60 for 500 or 750 AAdvantage miles.
• Double miles = 750 total miles. (Double points = 2,000 points)
• Triple miles = 1,000 total miles. (Triple points = 2,500 points)

Bottom line is this offer is rather complicated and not necessarily worth strategizing too much over unless you have a really high spend Best Western stay planned. There are bonus miles and points to be earned, and with hotel rewards typically in the 16,000 points range, this offer might get you a free night or two or a couple thousand bonus miles if you frequently stay at Best Western hotels.

Best Western has a TWEET1 promotion code that reduces the room rate from 5% to 20% at participating hotels. TWEET1 shows as Managers Special rate. TWEET1 is only a 5% discount at most hotels I checked, yet some Best Western hotels offer up to 20% discount with this promotion code. Many hotels do not offer this rate code.

Post Update July 14: Thanks to reader Jimmy for comment on this post (see comments) showing Best Western Rewards T&C state Managers Special rates are deeply discounted rates not eligible for points or miles. The Tweet1 rate should probably be avoided if going for 3 stays = 1 free night promotion. I’ll stick with AAA deeply discounted rates that are eligible for points and promotion credit.

AAA is generally a 10% rate discount so TWEET1 is only useful if you are not a AAA member or the hotel offers a greater discount than 10% with TWEET1 promotion code. I’ve actually been asked to show my AAA card more in 2011 than in the entire previous decade so hotels appear to me to be carding guests more frequently to verify actual AAA membership.

Thanks to SC Flier for posting this discount promotion code on Milepoint.com.

Finding TWEET1 (Managers Special) promotion rate on BestWestern.com.

1. Search for hotels in a city on Best Western (Moab, Utah).

Best Western Hotels in Moab, Utah and July 13, 2011 Best Available rates

2. Click on “Check Availability” button for hotel and enter TWEET1 in the promotion code box.

Enter TWEET1 in promotion code box

3. Look for Managers Special rate and compare to Best Available and AAA rates. TWEET1 offers a 5% discount at Moab Best Western Plus Canyonlands Inn.

Best Western Canyonlamds Inn TWEET1 rate is 5% discount on BAR.

4. Compare Managers Special rate (TWEET1) to AAA rate. Best Western Plus Canyonlands Inn, Moab, Utah offers AAA 10% discount rate for a better deal than TWEET1 if you are eligible for AAA rate.

Best Western Plus Canyonlands Inn Moab has better AAA discount of 10%.

5. At some Best Western hotels the Managers Special offers a bigger discount than AAA. Best Western Park Vue in Ely, Nevada offers a 20% discount on BAR using TWEET1 promotion code compared to just 10% rate discount using AAA.

Best Western Park Vue, Ely Nevada offers 20% discount rate using TWEET1.

You may also want to try COSTCO as a promotion code rate offering a 10% discount at many Best Western hotels if you are not a AAA member.

Best Western is offering a free night after three hotel stays from June 19 through August 14. Here is Loyalty Traveler’s post on summer free night offers.

My Pacific Northwest trip has been rather boring so far. Certainly nothing exotic like the international trip reports being published by Lucky with his two weeks around the world journey or the Points Guy in Tokyo. I’ve seen a few hotels and drank a few good microbrews, but my original plan to visit several national parks during this road trip has been a bust.

As I have discovered, early June is still a bit too soon to visit the mountain parks with the heavy snow accumulations from winter/spring 2011. That is why Yosemite National Park had some of the best waterfall flow in years last month. Mid-May heavy rain and snow storms kept me from visiting Sequoia National Park, California when I was in neighboring Kings Canyon National Park three weeks ago. Rain and deep snow kept me away from Lassen, Crater Lake and Rainier too this week.

There are six parks within the driving range of Monterey to Vancouver.

• Redwoods National Park, California
• Lassen Volcanic National Park, California
• Crater Lake National Park, Oregon
• Mount Rainier National Park, Washington
• North Cascades National Park, Washington
• Olympic National Park, Washington

From a hotels viewpoint, an interesting thing I learned this past month is two major companies run many of the hotels in several of the western states National Parks.

Delaware North is a privately owned company that runs hotels and restaurants in the National Parks of Yosemite, Yellowstone and Sequoia. The company also operates dining establishments in many major airports like Denver, Los Angeles and numerous sports stadium venues. Here is a link to hotels run by Delaware North.

Delaware North CEO Jeremy Jacobs also owns the Boston Bruins. That is the National Parks and Stanley Cup connection. Tomorrow night should be an interesting time to be in Vancouver for game five of the 2-2 tied Stanley Cup ice hockey championship final series.

Glad I have my room in Vancouver already booked.

Xanterra Parks & Resorts runs hotels in National Parks of Yellowstone, Crater Lake, Zion, Mount Rushmore and Death Valley.

Three U.S. National Parks were created around Cascade volcanoes.

California’s Lassen Volcanic National Park features Mount Lassen at 10,462 feet. This is the most southern volcano of the Cascade Range. Besides the volcanic eruption at Mount St Helens in 1980, Lassen Peak is the only other volcano in the lower 48 United States to have erupted in the 20^th century (1914-1917). Lassen is the snowiest place in California and this year’s snowfall is about 36% above average.

I first learned to drive in snow and ice at Lassen National Park when I was 17 and staying with my cousin who grew up in that area of California around Lake Almanor. Those memories of spinning the car on ice tend to keep me away from the high mountains of California in the winter. The rain storms this past week also changed my mind about visiting Lassen National Park on this trip.

Crater Lake National Park (Mount Mazama) is an iconic image in my mind going back to when I was five years old. After a few minutes of internet research I realized that my fascination with National Parks started in 1965.

CBS televised a cartoon called TennesseeTuxedo from 1963 to 1966. The voice for this animated penguin character was Don Adams of ‘Get Smart’ fame. He had a companion called Chumley the Walrus. General Mills cereal was the primary sponsor of Tennessee Tuxedo and in 1965 there was a promotion offering a National Parks coloring book with national parks stamps. My favorite stamp in the coloring book was Crater Lake National Park. That image of Crater Lake National Park is one of my most vivid childhood memories.

I stayed in Medford, Oregon Saturday night and I was within 90 miles of the park. I have never been to Crater Lake National Park. The weather looked cloudy on the Crater Lake web cam when I was a two hour drive away. The rain I experienced Saturday made me think twice about heading up a 7,000-foot mountain with a possibility of rain. I decided to postpone Crater Lake on this trip and hopefully I can get there later in the summer after the snow has melted away somewhat. Though this guy looks pretty cool driving Crater Lake Rim Road surrounded by snow last week.

Southern Oregon – Rednecks, Bears and God

I took a leisurely drive up I-5 through southern Oregon.

Stopped in Grants Pass where I drove into town to check out the Rogue River. Just by chance I pulled into the parking lot of the #1 TripAdvisor rated hotel in Grants Pass, Oregon – The Lodge at Riverside.

The Lodge at Riverside, Grants Pass, Oregon

Grants Pass is mountainous bear country. Looking at my photos reveals a love for bear statues in this town.

I used my Loyalty Traveler charm to get a little tour of the The Lodge at Riverside hotel.

Deluxe Room in The Lodge at Riverside, Grants Pass Oregon

Room rates are $130 for a standard room to $325 for a suite. I think I saw a deluxe room $195.

The hotel location looked convenient with the main city park across the river and a fine dining riverside cafe adjacent to the hotel. The riverside pool seemed like a relaxing place to hang out for a couple of days when the weather is warm. Memorial Day weekend is a major event in Grants Pass with the Boatnik festival.

Outdoor pool beside Rogue River at the Lodge at Riverside, Grants Pass, OR

The Rogue River is a place for whitewater rafting and jet boat excursions. I had several elementary school students who raved about taking the jet boat rides on the Rogue River when I was a teacher in Eureka, California ten years ago. In all the years living in Eureka, we never traveled north until we moved to Massachusetts.

The Lodge at Riverside, Grants Pass, OR

So this was my first time to the Rogue River. No jet boat ride for me that day. 250 miles to go to Portland, Oregon and the forecast was afternoon thunderstorms.

River Town - Grants Pass, Oregon

I pulled off I-5 after a couple hours drive in the small town of Sutherlin, Oregon to buy soda and try to wake up for the remaining three hour drive.

My brain was fuzzy from a bad night’s sleep in Medford. There was no problem with the Ramada Medford hotel, but rather the guest in the adjacent room who had the TV blaring all night long until 6:15am in the morning.

The Best Western Plus Hartford Lodge right off the interstate caught my attention as did the Microtel, a Wyndham brand. There seemed to be a Best Western hotel at just about every small town along the interstate as I drove through Oregon.

Best Western Hartford Lodge, Sutherlin, Oregon

Best Western Plus Hartford Lodge off Interstate 5 in Sutherlin, Oregon, AAA 3-diamond hotel.

Best Western Hartford Lodge, Sutherlin, Oregon

The hotel is relatively new with an indoor pool and guest laundry room, business center, small conference room and McDonald’s next door. The sign mentioning Bakery made me curious. These people were so friendly when I told them I am a hotel loyalty blogger on my way to Vancouver and I wanted to check out their hotel.

Best Western Plus Hartford Lodge Sutherlin, Oregon

Flat screen TV, microwave and room refrigerator

Best Western Plus bathroom at Hartford Lodge, Sutherlin, OR

After telling the manager about my bad night’s sleep in Medford, she even generously offered me a room to get a couple hour’s sleep before continuing my drive. I kindly thanked her for the courtesy, but refused. Don’t want to be mired in the debate over ethics as a professional blogger.

Indoor pool and hot tub at Best Western Plus, Sutherlin, Oregon

In full disclosure to my readers, I did accept a complimentary chocolate chip cookie baked by the hotel manager herself for a nice sugar buzz as I continued my drive north. In my opinion the cookie was excellent quality, but since you will likely have to pay $1.75 for the same cookie I received gratis, I realize my opinion probably doesn’t mean much to some readers in my biased review of the Best Western bakery.

The hotel was pretty nice too.

God’s Country

Radio stations in southern Oregon tended to be one of three genres: Country, God and obnoxious metal rock. I was so happy to approach Eugene and actually locate a bluegrass music show. Although, I thought  “redneck yacht club” appropriate for the southern Oregon locale and the tune is kind of catchy.

Cottage Grove farm, Oregon's Willamette Valley

Oregon, like most places, has different regional personalities with different cultural norms. Even my family has a couple of Oregon immigrants. I have one cousin who grew up in Alaska and now lives around Portland, Oregon and spends his spare time as an amateur cyclist. Another cousin moved from southern California to southern Oregon in the mid-1980s and changed his name to Buck.

Oregon lumber

Willamette Valley, Oregon is a relatively flat area about 100 miles south to north and 15 to 25 miles wide. This area is truly heaven with great soil in a large inland valley surrounded by abundant natural resources of wood, water, wildlife and great weather. California’s Central Valley is rather arid in the southern sections and significant industrial scale improvements to control flooding and irrigate land in the dry season were necessary to make the ‘Big Valley’ an agricultural crop mecca. The Willamette Valley is a compact version of the California Central Valley with better weather.

Willamette Valley, Oregon view east from Interstate 5

The drive through the Willamette Valley finally hit home with me for how rich this Oregon land must have been for early pioneers. I taught 5^th grade for several years and 5^th grade history focuses on ‘Exploration of America’. The western movement and the Oregon Trail is a major component of the curriculum. After being in the Sierras last month and driving 300 miles in the hilly terrain from Redding to Eugene, I realized the geographical significance of the Willamette Valley, Oregon. This is where the major cities of Oregon are found including Eugene, Salem and Portland just north of the valley.

Willamette Valley, Oregon view west from Interstate 5

Approaching Portland I got off the freeway and drove the country roads. Found myself in the historic Christian colony of Aurora founded in 1856. There are several 19^th century houses that today are antique shops.

Antique shop in Aurora, Oregon

I spent the night at the Sheraton Portland Airport. Too tired to go into town. Too noisy to sleep while the planes landed and took off. I had stayed at this hotel a couple of times before, but this was the first time I stayed in a runway facing room. It was loud!

Sheraton Portland Airport runway view room included complimentary sound effects.

Related Posts:

Cascading my way to TBEX Vancouver – Day 1

Marriott, Starwood, Best Western and Choice have free night promotions allowing you to pay now and stay free later on another trip. They all have restrictions on the type of free night allowed, so read the rules carefully and see if the free night looks like one you can use.

Marriott Rewards – One Free Night after Two Stays June 1 – August 31.

Marriott International hotel brands: Marriott, JW Marriott, Marriott Vacation Club, Renaissance, Fairfield Inn, Residence Inn, Courtyard, SpringHill Suites, TownePlace Suites, Autograph Collection, Ritz-Carlton, Edition. (AC Hotels is Marriott’s new brand in Europe, but AC Hotels are not listed as a participating brand for this promotion.)

• Register for this promotion by June 30.
• Stays at Marriott brand hotels worldwide qualify for promotion.
• Maximum of two free nights may be earned per member during promotion period after 4 stays.
• Free night is valid for any hotel category 1 to category 4 hotel worldwide. These are the lower category hotels, but includes around 2,500 hotels globally.
• Free night may be redeemed from June 5 to December 31, 2011.
• Award nights are not transferable and may not be gifted.
• Loyalty Traveler May 16 post on this Marriott promotion.

Strategy for Marriott Rewards promotion: My wife and I have traveled where one night at a hotel is a reservation in my name and the second night is a reservation in her name. First person should check out and get a hotel stay folio before second person checks in under different member account to be sure the stays credit appropriately to each member’s account for the free night credit.

This allows longer stays without changing hotels while maximizing promotion credit. Just tell the hotel you are staying on two different reservations to maximize the Marriott Rewards promotion and you might not need to change rooms during your hotel stay.

Starwood Preferred Guest – One Free Night at a Starwood Resort after Three Stays, May 1 – July 31.

Starwood Hotels brands: Westin, Sheraton, Four Points, Aloft, Element, St. Regis, Luxury Collection, W Hotels, Le Meridien.

• Register for this promotion by June 30.
• Stays at Starwood brand hotels worldwide qualify for promotion.
• No limit to earned free nights during promotion period.
• Free night is valid at over 200 Starwood Resorts worldwide.
• Free night may be redeemed any day of week to December 21, 2011.
• Redeem free nights by calling Starwood customer service 1-888-625-4988 (toll-free) and requesting Award ID 3FRN
• Award nights are not transferable and may not be gifted.
• Loyalty Traveler April 15 post on this promotion.

Choice Hotels – 8,000 points after Two Stays, May 19 – August 11, 2011.

Choice Brands: Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Sleep Inn, Quality Inn, Clarion, Cambria Suites, Ascend Collection, MainStay Suites, Suburban, Rodeway Inn, EconoLodge.

• Register for this promotion to increase earning limit to 4 bonuses for 32,000 points, otherwise the limit is 2 bonuses for 16,000 points. Elite Platinum and Diamond members may earn bonus 10 times for 80,000 points.
• Must be a resident of U.S., U.S. territories or Canada.
• Book at ChoiceHotels.com or 1-800-4CHOICE. (Elite platinum and elite diamond may book through any channel.
• Important to note: a minimum 2-night stay is required for an eligible stay at the Choice Hotels budget brands of EconoLodge and Rodeway Inn and extended-stay brands Suburban and MainStay Suites.
• 8,000 points is sufficient for about 1,500 hotels or 25% of all Choice Hotels. Many hotels will require 16,000, 20,000 or 25,000 points for a free night.
• Loyalty Traveler May 16 post on Choice Hotels promotion.

Best Western Hotels – One free night after three stays June 19-August 14, 2011.

Best Western hotels are all one brand, but in 2011 three tiers were created with most of the worldwide 4,000+ properties remaining Best Western and about 800 hotels as Best Western Plus and around 100+ hotels (mostly outside U.S.) as Best Western Premier.

• Register for this promotion by logging into account, click My Account tab, and in section titled “Membership Overview” click the tab “Special Offers Sign-Up“.  This promotion should be listed.
• Here are the promotion terms.
• Promotion registration only open for residents of U.S., Canada, Bahamas and U.S. Virgin Islands.
• Stay at any Best Western worldwide to qualify for free night.
• Limit of one free night voucher per member during promotion period.
• Free night voucher expires January 31, 2012.
• Free night voucher valid only at Best Western hotels in U.S., Canada, Bahamas and U.S. Virgin Islands.
• Elite members of Best Western Rewards earn 6,500 bonus points if two of three stays are in two different tiers of Best Western (Best Western, Best Western Plus (about 800 hotels), Best Western Premier (100+ hotels). Limit of one elite bonus per member.
• Earn an additional 6,500 bonus points if each of three stays paid with Best Western Rewards MasterCard. Limit of one credit card bonus per member.

Where to find Best Western Rewards promotion registration link

This post organizes newly opened New York City hotels by hotel loyalty program and shows the cost of a reward night.

NYC & Company at nycgo.com compiled a New York City briefing sheet on Hotel Development in NYC distributed at International Pow Wow 2011. I do not see the paper I have online, but here is a similar briefing sheet from six months ago. The paper covers recently opened hotels in the five boroughs of New York City and a list of hotels scheduled to open in the next two years.

42% of new NYC hotels were built outside of Manhattan in the past three years from 2008 to 2011. The city has seen a 25% increase in hotel rooms in the past five years from 72,625 rooms to more than 90,000 active inventory rooms by the end of 2011.

There are 86,230 hotel rooms in New York City in active inventory as of April 30, 2011. Occupancy rates averaged 85% in 2010 and average daily rate, ADR was $263 for April 2011.

Here are some of the hotels opened since 2010 and hotels in the pipeline for opening in the next two years across major hotel loyalty programs.

2010 and 2011 Hotel Openings in New York City organized by hotel chain:

Room data shown here is mainly from NYC & Company press release. I found some discrepancies with numbers compared to hotel website room number at a couple of hotels.

Best Western Hotels – Best Western Rewards

Best Western Plus Prospect Park, Brooklyn – 99 rooms, opened December 2010. Best Western Rewards 28,000 points.

Best Western Plus Arena Hotel Brooklyn  – 56 rooms. Best Western Rewards 24,000 points.

Choice Hotels – Choice Privileges (Reward levels shown are through Sep 15, 2011)

Comfort Inn Lower East Side – 32 rooms, opened September 2010. New build hotel located Lower East Side. Choice Privileges 25,000 points.

Comfort Inn Brooklyn – 77 rooms, opened August 2010. Choice Privileges 20,000 points.

Sleep Inn Brooklyn – 72 rooms. Choice Privileges 20,000 points.

Quality Inn Woodside near Shea Stadium and JFK. – 72 rooms. Choice Privileges 20,000 points.

Comfort Inn Staten Island – 93 rooms. Choice Privileges 20,000 points.

Hilton Worldwide – Hilton HHonors

Doubletree by Hilton NYC Financial District – 399 rooms, opened December 2010. HHonors category 7 at 50,000 points.

Hilton New York Fashion District – 280 rooms, opened February 2011. HHonors category 7 at 50,000 points.

Conrad New York – 463 rooms. Scheduled for late 2011 opening. Undoubtedly this will be HHonors category 7 at 50,000 points (unless they create a category 8 before the end of year).

Hyatt Hotels – Hyatt Gold Passport

Andaz 5^th Avenue – 184 rooms, opened July 2010. Hyatt Gold passport category 6 at 22,000 points.

Andaz Wall Street – 253 rooms, opened February 2010. Hyatt Gold passport category 5 at 18,000 points.

Hyatt 48 Lex New York– 116 rooms. Opening July 2011.

Hyatt Union Square opening late 2011? No official page yet, but the link has construction updates.

InterContinental Hotels Group – Priority Club

Holiday Inn Express Staten Island West – 95 rooms, opened August 2010.

InterContinental New York Times Square – 607 rooms, opened July 2010. Priority Club 40,000 points.

Holiday Inn Express NYC Wall Street –112 rooms, opened July 2010.

Staybridge Suites Times Square – 310 rooms, opened May 2010. Priority Club 20,000 points.

Hotel Indigo Brooklyn  – 172 rooms. Scheduled for late-2011 opening as one of the premier hotels in the downtown Brooklyn area.

Loyalty Traveler Note: Priority Club’s site has been terribly dysfunctional for the past month and I find it quite difficult to look up hotel rewards at the moment. I assume the HIX hotels are 25,000 points.

Kimpton Hotels – Kimpton In Touch

Hotel Eventi –  Kimpton Hotels –287 rooms, opened June 2010.

Marriott International – Marriott Rewards

Courtyard New York Manhattan/SoHo – 120 rooms, opened December 2010. Marriott Rewards category 7 at 35,000 points.

Fairfield inn & Suites Manhattan/Chelsea – 112 rooms, opened December 2010. Marriott Rewards category 6 at 30,000 points.

Fairfield Inn & Suites New York Brooklyn – 133 rooms June 2011. Marriott Rewards Category 5 at 25,000 points.

Fairfield Inn & Suites New York Manhattan/Fifth Avenue – 92 rooms. Marriott Rewards Category 6 at 30,000 points.

SpringHill Suites by Marriott New York Queens/Corona – Opening June 2011. Marriott Rewards Category 4 at 20,000 points.

Starwood Hotels – Starwood Preferred Guest

Aloft Harlem – 128 rooms, opened December 2010. SPG category 3 at 7,000 points.

Aloft Brooklyn – 176 rooms. Opening June 9. SPG Category 4 at 10,000 points.

Element New York Times Square West – 410 rooms, opened November 2010. SPG category 5 at 12,000 or 16,000 peak-season points.

Four Points by Sheraton Long Island City – 91 rooms, opened April 2011. SPG category 3 at 7,000 points.

The Chatwal, Starwood Luxury Collection  – 88 rooms, opened August 2010. SPG category 6 at 20,000 points or 25,000 points in peak season.

Sheraton Hotel Brooklyn –321 rooms, opened June 2010. SPG category 4 at 10,000 points.

Sheraton TriBeCa New York Hotel – 360 rooms, opened October 2010. SPG category 5 at 12,000 or 16,000 peak-season points.

W New York Downtown – 217 rooms, opened August 2010. SPG category 5 at 12,000 or 16,000 peak-season points.

Wyndham Worldwide – Wyndham Rewards

Super 8 Brooklyn New York Park Slope – Wyndham Rewards Tier 4 at 16,000 points.

Dream Downtown – 315 rooms. Scheduled for summer 2011 opening. New hotel brand partner with Wyndham Worldwide.

New York City Hotels In Construction 

There are plenty of other big hotel projects with scheduled openings in late 2011 and 2012. There are not official links for most of these hotels on the hotel chain websites yet. Google searches indicate New York neighborhood papers and bloggers have interesting stories and photos on the construction development of several of these hotels.

Aloft Chelsea (Starwood Hotels) – 170 rooms. 815 Sixth Avenue. Projected opening 2013.

Best Western Staten Island – 111 rooms. 290 Wild Avenue. Projected opening late 2011.

Clarion Brooklyn – 65 rooms. 1120 36th Street, Brooklyn. Projected opening late 2011.

Hampton Inn – 150 rooms. 231 E. 43rd Street. Projected opening late 2011.

Holiday Inn – 132 rooms. 150 Delancey Street. Projected opening late 2012.

Holiday Inn Express – 175 rooms. 538 W. 48^th Street. Projected opening late 2012.

Park Hyatt – 210 rooms. 157 W. 57^th Street. Projected opening 2012.

Hyatt Place – 219 rooms. 206 E. 52^nd Street. Projected opening late 2012.

SpringHill Suies by Marriott – 173 rooms. 25 W. 37^th Street. Projected opening late 2012.

Tryp New York City by Wyndham – 173 rooms. 345 W. 35^th Street. Opening summer 2011.

Wyndham Garden Hotel – 108 rooms. 93 Bowery at Hester Street. Projected opening summer 2011.

Related Post: Travel Weekly – New York Hotel Market Booming, and not just Manhattan (May 4, 2011)

Best Western has a Twitter campaign happening May 19 through June 17, 2011 offering daily points and cash prizes. “Wanna Go, Wanna Bring Summer Edition” has $4,000 in prizes. Prizes only awarded Monday through Friday.

Simply follow Best Western on Twitter and then tweet this:

I wanna go to (location), I wanna bring (@twitter username) and I wanna (activity)! #wannagobw @thebestwestern.

Insert a place, a Twitter member and an activity and keep it all under 140 characters or it doesn’t submit your tweet.

Main Rules:

• Contest only open to U.S. 50 states and D.C. residents.
• You may enter as many times as you want each day.

Prizes:

• 5,000 Best Western points or $100 Best Western Travel Card  = one prize daily Monday – Friday.
• Grand Prize = $2,000 Best Western Travel Card  = two prizes awarded by July 8.
• Notification of prize win will be by Twitter. Must respond to Best Western within 7 days or forfeit prize.

Here is the primer for readers who don’t yet use Twitter.com.

1. Sign up for Twitter.
2. Explore, look up some categories and follow some people.
3. @loyaltytraveler is how you reply to someone or locate tweets mentioning a specific member on Twitter.
4. #SanFrancisco is what is called a hashtag. This is how you can search topics where a keyword or name may not be so effective. For instance #tbex is a hashtag for people discussing the Travel Blog Exchange 2011 conference happening in Vancouver June 11-12. (note: earlier version of this post used #tbex11, but it does not seem the date is being used.)

Best Western 'Wanna Go, Wanna Bring' Twitter sweepstakes