MilePoint 0.0 – Rain has fallen through most of the night in Monterey, California. A full-scale rain storm is rare in June in this part of California. How rare is it? Since 1849 in San Francisco, there have been four times the entire month of June had rainfall over one inch in accumulation. An inch of rain fell on June 4 in six hours breaking the 77-year old record for rain in San Francisco.

Sand City, Monterey Bay on rainy June day

MilePoint 11.2 – Car overturned in the grassy median beside Highway 1 between artichoke fields of Castroville, California. Most drivers are doing 70 mph with no lights on and the roads are puddled with water. Physics trumps stupidity.

MilePoint 96  – Driving Interstate 680 with blind faith in white out conditions. Road spray creates a mist obscuring everything more than 100-feet ahead. Repeatedly I see arterial spray shoot up and over the barrier from the other side of the freeway as cars drive through puddled water.  Phoebe Hearst, WR’s mommy, would have thought this is Pleasanton in January rather than June with 57 degrees and heavy rain.

MilePoint 131 – The Benicia Bridge toll going north is $5. This bridge certainly hasn’t the view or beauty of the Golden Gate. Driving 580 from Dublin to Tracy and I-5 would bypass the $5 toll, but take $10 more in gas.

MilePoint 200 – Driving through the rice fields of the northern Sacramento Valley as the rain finally subsides to an intermittent sprinkle. I bet you didn’t realize California actually exports rice to Asia. Half a million acres of rice fields are within 100 miles of Sacramento. I pulled off I-5 to snap a photo and watched a Great Egret fly off into the mist. Obviously the blurry bird in my photo is not white or as big as a great egret.

Sacramento Valley rice fields

MilePoint 316 – Redding, California is nestled at the base of the Cascade foothills and is the northernmost city in the Sacramento Valley. This is where I-5 ends its 450 miles of flat terrain along the big Central Valley of California. The town is more geographically beautiful than I recall. The absence of a typical sweltering June afternoon when the temperature would normally be around 98 this time of year gives the appearance of a comfortable living location. This is typically among the sunniest locations in the U.S.

No sun today though. Rain in June just messes with our California sensibilities.

MilePoint 326 – Shasta Lake is at capacity this year. This lake is the largest reservoir in California and helps keep those rice paddies moist in summer and central valley lawns green.

Shasta Lake, California

This lake area is big on houseboat rentals in the summer. Shasta Lake is the third largest lake in California.

The winding road through these mountain stretches is a welcome relief from the flat central valley. A pot of tea I had for lunch at a Chinese Restaurant in Fairfield is keeping me awake.

MilePoint 389 – After dropping down into sage country I pull over at a rest stop. It is feeling rather cool when I get out of my car to snap a photo of Mount Shasta. Weed is a town in the Shasta Valley sagebrush steppe of Siskiyou County. This valley divides the volcanic Cascade Range to the east from the glacial carved valleys of the Klamath Mountains to the west.

The wind is blowing fiercely cold off the snowy mountains. Still miles to go before I reach Oregon. And miles to go before I sleep.

Near Weed, California

Here is a photo of Mount Shasta on my last time through the area in November 2008.

Mount Shasta, California 14,162 ft.

Mount Shasta is the second highest peak in the Cascade Range.  Mount Rainier, Washington at 14,411 ft. is a couple hundred feet higher. Prominence is a mountain term that describes how much higher a peak is compared to adjacent mountains and valleys. Mount Shasta is in the top 100 prominent mountains in the world at 9,822 ft., and Mount Rainier is #21 in the world at 13,211 ft. 

Here is Mount Shasta on June 4, 2011.

Mount Shasta in rain clouds

MilePoint 433 – Crossed the California border. There is no large ‘Leaving California’ sign, although there is a small ‘Welcome to Oregon’ sign. Amazingly I only traversed the northern half of the state. Reaching Mexico from Monterey on Interstate 5 is 457 miles south. I tried to snap a photo of the I-5 Siskiyou Summit marker at 4,310 ft., a couple of miles inside Oregon and the highest point on Interstate 5. My camera only captured the ‘ou’ in the sign. The travails of snapping photos at 60 mph.

MilePoint 449 – Ashland, Oregon is home to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. I’ve never been to the town to see a play, although I did stay at the Holiday Inn Express Ashland on my last drive through the area back in 2008 on a Priority Club 5,000 points PointBreaks night. The rate Saturday night June 4 was around $150.

MilePoint 462 – Medford, Oregon is home to all the chain motels and my resting place for the night. Tip for travelers is pick up the roadside motel coupon book at gas station stops. Holiday Inn, Homewood Suites, Hampton Inn and all the Marriotts were well over $100 per night.

The coupon brought the rate down from $80 to $50 for the Ramada and Quality Inn motels in Medford. Choice Privileges elite members even get free night promotion credit for rates booked using coupons. I didn’t pick up the coupon book, even though I told myself to do that for the last three hours of my drive.

Instead I sat in the lobby of the Ramada Medford and used their computer to book a Wyndham Rewards night at 14,000 points. Those points cost about $45 in last month’s Discover America sale.

Ultimately the redeemed points were not used wisely from a Loyalty Traveler advice viewpoint, but from a Loyalty Traveler business viewpoint I learned that a hotel night can be booked instantly through Wyndham Rewards. I redeemed my points using the Ramada lobby computer and stepped over to the reception desk and picked up my room key.

Pretty cool.

Ramada Medford, Oregon indoor pools

The hotel industry generally ranks the world’s biggest hotel brands by different criteria than Loyalty Traveler. The hotel industry ranks hotel brands by the total number of rooms worldwide. That is the hotelier’s viewpoint since more rooms creates the potential for more money.

My viewpoint as a traveler is whether I will be able to find a hotel in a particular hotel brand in the location I am visiting.  I generally only need one or two rooms for my hotel stay. As a traveler I care less about whether a hotel has 100 rooms or 1,000 rooms and more about the number of hotels in my preferred brand for geographic coverage.

Therefore, Loyalty Traveler ranks hotel brand size by the number of hotels rather than the number of rooms. This results in a different hotel brand ranking order than will be found for most hotel chain size surveys.

When it comes to the number of hotels in a hotel brand you can forget about your upscale Hyatt’s and Hilton’s and Marriott’s being the leaders. There are no upscale market segment brands in the top 20 global hotel brands when ranked by number of hotels.

Marriott Hotels (550 hotels) and Hilton Hotels (540 hotels) just miss the Top 20 cut coming in at #21 and #22 respectively with the distinction of being the highest ranking upscale brands worldwide.

The Benefits of Economy and Mid-scale Hotels

Free internet and complimentary breakfast are the two most desired benefits for upscale hotel travelers. In recent years there has been a move among loyalty programs to add these benefits for elite members of Marriott Rewards, Hilton HHonors, Starwood Preferred Guest and Hyatt Gold Passport.

Travel in the economy hotel market segment pretty much guarantees you will have access to free internet and most of the top brands also offer a free breakfast as a benefit for all hotel guests. Downsizing your hotel brand may upsize your savings in more ways than room rate.

Family-Friendly Hotel Brands  

One of the biggest value benefits of the major economy/mid-scale hotel brands is a policy at six of the Top 20 Hotel Brands to let kids stay free in the room with an adult family member. This policy is extended to a high age limit of 19 years old for Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express which offers some interesting possibilities for taking Mom, Dad or Uncle Bob on spring break.

Children Stay Free Policies can be big savings for big families. Bring the sleeping bags.

Holiday Inn/Holiday Inn Express = Children 19 and under stay free in same room with adult guest.

La Quinta Inn = Children 18 and under stay free in same room with adult guest.

Super 8 = Children 17 and under stay free in same room with adult guest.

Motel 6 = Children 17 and under stay free in same room with adult guest.

Premier Inn (U.K.) = Children 15 and under stay free.

“Honey, I Just Fed the Kids!”

Some hotel brands even offer free restaurant meals to kids when an adult orders off the regular menu. The age limit is a bit lower than 19 for this benefit.

Holiday Inn (U.S. and Canada only) – ‘Kids Eat Free’ policy allows up to four children age 12 and under to eat free from kids menu any time of day when adult guest pays for meal from regular menu.

Premier Inn (U.K.) – free breakfast for up to two children (15 or under).

Loyalty traveler note on hotel numbers and Choice International hotel brands count:

The source of hotel numbers is primarily hotel brand website checks February 8-10, 2011 and data from the most recent financial reports. Choice Privileges only reported domestic properties in its Sep 30, 2010 financial statement. There were 1,140 international Choice Hotels Sep 30, 2010. This is the only detail on international franchised Choice Hotels properties I located without making a hand count by country.

My website checks indicate these 1,140 international hotels are primarily Comfort Inn & Suites and Quality Inn & Suites properties with about 150 Clarion and a handful of EconoLodge and Sleep Inn properties. Australia and New Zealand have more than 200 Choice Hotels.

Choice Hotels total hotel numbers for Days Inn and Quality Inn are from TopHotelChains.com Sep 2010. Hotel numbers for U.S. properties are taken from Choice International financial statements for Sep 30, 2010.

Loyalty Traveler Survey of the Top 20 Hotel Brands in the World

Loyalty Traveler Top 20 Hotel Brands by Number of Hotels Feb 11, 2011

Tip: Click on the spreadsheet picture to open in a new window and see in full size. (You may need to click on picture again in new window to magnify size).

Please add a comment if there are other noteworthy features and benefits for these 20 brands; particularly some first-hand knowledge of Mercure and Ibis would be appreciated for these non-U.S. hotel brands.

1.      Air Canada Aeroplan

2.      American Airlines

3.      Continental

4.      Delta

5.      Midwest

6.      Northwest

7.      Spirit

8.      United

9.      US Airways

10.  Sun Country (100 UFly points)

11.  Amtrak Guest Rewards (10,000 points)

Rates are $50 or less per night for many of these brand hotels in many locations across the USA. You have a great opportunity to save money on hotels while earning a substantial boost to your frequent flyer account.

Register: for this miles promotion or enroll in Wyndham Rewards at this link: http://www.wyndhamrewards.com/triplestay

Important: Your Wyndham Rewards account earning preference must be set for miles instead of points. Change this yourself online or call Wyndham Rewards Member Services at 1-866-996-7937 to enroll in promotion and set your earning preference to miles. You must select a frequent flyer program for miles.

Wyndham Hotel Group consists of 11 brands:

1.      Days Inn,

2.      Super 8,

3.      Ramada,

4.      Travelodge,

5.      Howard Johnson,

6.      Knights Inn,

7.      Baymont Inn,

8.      Hawthorn Suites,

9.      Microtel Inn,

10.  Wingate

11.  Wyndham Hotels and Resorts

Wyndham Hotels is the largest hotel chain in the world with over 7,000 hotels. The 11 hotel brands are primarily in the economy market segment and about 80% of the Wyndham brand hotels are located in the USA. Days Inn, Super 8, and Ramada are three Wyndham brands in the top 20 brands in the world by number of hotel rooms.

Apparently, Travelodge in Canada does not participate in Wyndham Rewards, so keep that detail in mind when fulfilling this promotion.

Loyalty Traveler analysis: I missed this promotion when I wrote my InsideFlyer column for July 2009 on earning airline miles with hotel stays. I like this deal for its ability to earn 10,000 airline miles on budget-price hotel stays. The value of the miles can be worth as much as the three hotel stays.

I personally have a couple of accounts where 10,000 miles will put me at an award level for travel and I look forward to some cheap rooms and air travel. Considering airlines typically sell miles at $25 per 1,000 I view this promotion as a cheaper way to miles without flying.

10,000 Mile Action Plan for a Monterey Vacation (or in my case Staycation)

Come to Monterey for a midweek vacation and earn some Wyndham Rewards miles while basking in the sun or bundling up in the fog. Monterey has two streets with a high density of hotels. Munras Avenue and Fremont Street both have several Wyndham Rewards hotel brands within a few blocks of each other. Both of these locations are located in the Monterey sun belt.

This past week on the Monterey Peninsula has seen constant fog in Carmel, Pebble Beach, and Pacific Grove while Monterey has enjoyed a cool sun with the fog sitting just hundreds of yards away along the ridgetop of the hills separating the city of Monterey from Carmel and Pebble Beach.

Here are the rates from last night, a Tuesday night, at six different Wyndham brand hotels in Monterey:

Knights Inn Carmel Hill $49 (Munras Ave)

Howard Johnson Express $50 (Munras Ave)

Monterey Bay Travelodge $50 (Fremont St.)

Super 8 Monterey/Carmel $54 (Munras Ave)

Ramada Limited $59 (Fremont St.)

Days Inn Monterey $65 (Munras Ave)

Days Inn Monterey Downtown $69 (Abrego St.)

Ramada Limited Carmel Hill Monterey $69 (Cass St)

I was blown away that rates are so low in the summer for Monterey. These are truly tough times for hotels. Weekend hotel rates are always higher in this tourist location.

And if economy lodging is not your style, then the three resorts at Pebble Beach just over the hill are still running $595 to $845 per night. Pebble Beach Resorts are offering free golf, but no miles.

Promotion Terms and Conditions fine print:

To qualify for the Triple Stay promotion and earn 10,000 airline miles, rail points,or 100 Ufly Rewards Points the member must (i) choose to earn airline miles or rail points in his/her Wyndham Rewards member profile, (ii) register at wyndhamrewards.com/triplestay or at 1-866-WYN-RWDS (1-866-996-7937), (iii) book a reservation for, and complete a total of three (3) stays at three (3) different hotel brands participating in the Wyndham Rewards program at a qualifying rate between May 14, 2009 and September 10, 2009, and (iv) complete his/her hotel stay by October 10, 2009. Members who check-out after October 10, 2009 will not receive the 10,000 bonus miles. Members will receive, the regular two (2) miles per dollar spent for all qualified stays at participating hotels in the following Wyndham Rewards hotels brands: Baymont Inn & Suites®, Days Inn®, Howard Johnson®, Knights Inn®, Microtel Inn & Suites®, Ramada®, Super 8®, Travelodge® (U.S. hotels only), and Wingate® by Wyndham. Miles are earned on the qualifying room rate only, not on taxes, food and beverage or other incidental expenses. For stays at participating Hawthorn Suites® (U.S hotels only) and participating Wyndham Hotels and Resorts properties members will receive the regular five hundred (500) miles per stay. For the full list of countries in which there are participating hotels please vist http://www.wyndhamrewards.com/earn/hotels/countries/ Members should allow six to eight weeks after completion of registration and stay for the standard airline miles, rail points or Ufly points to be credited to their account, and six to eight weeks after the completion of promotion for the bonus 10,000 airline miles, rail points or 100 Ufly Rewards Points to be credited to their account. Rates offered by most on-line travel agencies and certain other rates do not qualify. One stay includes all consecutive nights at the same hotel regardless of check-ins or check-outs. Currency for Amtrak Guest Rewards program is points.

Airline and rail programs participating in the Triple Stay Promotion include: Aeroplan, American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Midwest Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines, United Airlines, US Airways, Sun Country Airlines and Amtrak.

“Lunatic bloggers can have the blog sphere all to themselves as our people are far too busy driving down the cost of air travel”.

Ryanair spokesperson comment to blogger posts regarding Ryanair website glitch showing £0.00 fares. Story link.

My first flight on Ryanair was in 1997.  When our plane landed at Dublin, the flight attendants refused to open the door of the aircraft until they located a watch that had disappeared from the duty free cart.

The young lady told the passengers, “Nobody is getting off this plane until we find the criminal who stole the watch.”

A couple of minutes later a passenger located the watch under a seat. That was my introduction to Ryanair customer service.

Ryanair pay-to-pee fee 

I just had to add this story link making the rounds today, Feb 27, 2009.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/news/article5814577.ece