Choice Hotels has The Caribbean Dreamin’ Facebook Sweepstakes running March 15–April 30, 2012 for a Grand Prize of 100,000 Choice Privileges points + $2,000 cash. You may enter the promotion one time each day at:

www.facebook.com/choicehotels. 

You can earn up to three additional entries each day by referring friends. Grand prize winner will be selected May 2, 2012.

Sweepstakes open only to residents of 50 US and D.C.

Grand Prize:

One (1) Grand Prize of $2,000 and 100,000 Choice Privileges® points to be used toward a trip to the Caribbean.

Daily instant prizes:

Ten (10) First Prizes: One (1) Amazon® Kindle

Ten (10) Second Prizes: One (1) Apple® iPod® Shuffle

Twenty-Five (25) Third Prizes: One (1) $25 Prepaid Gift Card

Instant Win Game:

After you enter the sweepstakes each day there will be a chance to win the daily instant prize.

Instant Win Game: Forty-five (45) random, computer-generated winning times, one for each prize listed below, will be generated during the Promotion Period. If you are the first player to play the Instant Win Game at or after one of the randomly-generated times, you will be a potential instant winner of the prize indicated.

The NEXT button gives you a chance to refer friends to the promotion.

Tell A Friend Program: After you enter the Promotion, you will be invited to submit the names and email addresses of up to three (3) friends who must be eligible to enter the Promotion. Each person that you refer will receive an email notifying him or her about the Promotion. You may only refer persons with whom you have an existing relationship. For each referral of a friend with a valid email address, you will be given one (1) additional Sweepstakes entry up to a total of three (3) additional Sweepstakes entries per day during the Promotion Period.

Choice Hotels Caribbean Dreamin’ Sweepstakes link.

Save up to 40% at ten Marriott Resorts in the Caribbean and Mexico for stays to September 30, 2011. Must book by April 30. Promotion code LLF.

Participating Resorts:

Aruba Oranjestad

Renaissance Aruba Resort & Casino

• From $176.40 USD 

Aruba Palm Beach

Aruba Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino

• From $209 USD 

 
Grand Cayman

Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Resort

• From $144 USD 

 
Cancun, Mexico 

JW Marriott Cancun Resort & Spa 

• From $149.25 – $314.25 USD 

 
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico 

CasaMagna Marriott Puerto Vallarta Resort & Spa

• From $107 USD 

 
Netherlands Antilles

Curacao

Curacao Marriott Beach Resort & Emerald Casino

• From $119.40 USD 

Saint Kitts and Nevis

Frigate Bay

St. Kitts Marriott Resort & The Royal Beach Casino

• From $122 USD 

Virgin Islands (US)

St. Thomas

Frenchman’s Reef & Morning Star Marriott Beach Resort

• From $214 USD

Loyalty Traveler rate analysis:

In a sample rate check of Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Resort for May 17-23 for six nights the LLF promotion rate is $209 (lowest advertised rate for LLF promotion is $144) for a 30% discount on the standard rate.

Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Resort Oceanfront balcony room is $279 per night for $2008.80 total after tax.

Cancellation policy is 7 nights in advance of stay for no penalty or 1 night penalty (plus 20% tax) for cancellation within 7 days.

AAA rate for Oceanfront balcony room for these same dates is $316 per night or $2,275.20 after tax.

This promotional sale rate is a $266.40 discount on the AAA rate with the same cancellation policies for a real LLF promotional savings of 12% on the comparable AAA rate.

Redeem 40,000 Priority Club points for a free night at the Venetian or the Palazzo in Las Vegas. Or maybe 40,000 points for the new Marriott Autograph Collection hotel like the Algonquin New York or o 35,000 points for the Marriott Rewards category-7 Cosmopolitan Hotel Las Vegas.  The Planet Hollywood Las Vegas used to be available using 10,000 SPG Starpoints and in 2011 you may be able to book free nights with Wyndham Rewards points. Park Hyatt Bermuda and Grand Hyatt Nassau will be hotel reward options in a few years. Hilton’s Waldorf Astoria Collection doubled in size with hotel branding acquisitions the past two years.

Big hotel chains, big money and big marketing back up big hotel partnerships.

The Venetian Las Vegas - InterContinental Alliance Resort

So what is the lure of US-based resort hotel brands associated with Marriott, Wyndham, Starwood, Hilton, IHG, Choice and Hyatt?

A good read in The Tribune Bahamas paper about Bahamas tourism gives some insight to answer this question. U.S tourists comprise 80% of international visitors to the Bahamas. Only 24.5% of hotel rooms in the Bahamas are associated with the major U.S. hotel brands.

                U.S. Brand Hotel Rooms in Bahamas

• Wyndham 5.1%
• Starwood (Sheraton) 4.2%
• Choice 1.9%
• Hilton 1.7%
• Other U.S. brands 11.6%
• No Marriott or Hyatt or IHG brand hotels in the Bahamas

A June 2010 Bahamas Tourism report cited in The Tribune Bahamas paper: “We can conclude that many of the Caribbean islands, especially the US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Trinidad, the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic have a defined need for US-branded hotels to accommodate the significant volumes of US visitors.”

“It is in our opinion that US-branded hotels are, overall, under-represented in the Caribbean, and that there are opportunities for conversions or new developments of US-branded hotels in the region.” 

“I think that what these brands also do is induce demand,” Mr Jordan said (HVA Bahamas Director). “What that means is that people go to that destination because of that brand, and others do not go to that destination – they go to another. The brand assists destination marketing.

“What we need to understand is that when the US customer travels to a destination, they look for familiarity a lot of the time. Some like going to the Marriott, others like going to the Hyatt. ”

The Difference between Airline and Hotel Brands

Unlike airlines with large corporate control over the flight routes, planes and frequent flyer programs, hotels are a series of partnerships between hotel owners, management companies and hotel loyalty programs for marketing hotel properties.

Baha Mar Ltd. is a hotel development company in the Bahamas. They have signed a deal with Hyatt Hotels to create a 700-room Grand Hyatt Hotel as part of the 1,000-acre Cable Beach, Nassau, Bahamas resort. Baha Mar Ltd. is also planning hotels at Cable Beach with Morgans Group and Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, a luxury brand with high-end U.S. resorts.

The company reportedly planned to work with Starwood Hotels to develop the Cable Beach Bahamas resort complex, but ultimately decided to diversify and work with several other hotel brand companies to branch out marketing opportunities for the US$2.6 billion resort complex.  Cable Beach Nassau Resort will develop with several U.S. based hotel brands. Baha Mar Ltd. already owns the Sheraton Nassau Beach Resort.

While frequent guests may have loyalty commitments to specific hotel chains, the hotel owners are looking to diversify and improve their reach across the markets of potential visitors.

Related links:

Hotel Interactive has the best article I have seen on the Priority Club and Las Vegas Sands Corporation partnership to brand Venetian and Palazzo hotels as “InterContinental Alliance Resorts”. (Oct 28)

IHG Press Release on Sands deal (Oct 25)

Baha Mar and Cable Beach Nassau Bahamas Development (BCworldtravelnews-Oct 18)

The Tribune Bahamas - US hotel brand 24.5% market share costing the Bahamas (Oct 28)

Luxury Hotels – “Show me the Discount”

The hotel industry strategists urged full steam ahead in early 2008 when faced with any discussion of a world recession and that “d” word.  I am talking about “discount” room rates. 

Shhhh. 

The “d” word can’t be spoken too loudly inside the hotel industry.

Wall Street and the hotel industry have been taking a bath with our cash for five years.  Except for the slight downturn in 2001-2003, hotels have been raising the cost of rooms every year for the past decade and now they are through the roof…or at least to the 7^th floor.

I am not Jerry McGuire.  You can yell “Show me the money!” all you want. 

I’m yelling back, “Show me the discount!”

We need a win-win negotiation here.

I rant on and on about the high cost of hotels.  In a world where many leisure travelers and business travelers have watched their retirement tossed out with the bathwater in 2008, the discussion in the hotel industry that rate increases will have to be moderated this year just pisses me off.

You have to wonder how bad things really are when you watch your savings portfolio crash 20% in a week.  

What the hell.  Go traveling.

All year long the industry talk in the media has been how luxury travel is immune from the economic downturn. 

Several articles I’ve read in the past twenty-four hours suggest the media is peddling a different tune in Black October 2008.

·          

Some people don’t just travel , they travel well…

well, expensively.

The Miami Herald ran a story October 8, “South Florida Luxury Hotels Tested in Hard Times”. The Setai Hotel, South Beach, Miami has standard room rates of $1,100 per night.  The sales director says room rate discounts to $620 per night, normally only offered for weekdays, may have to be offered on weekends this  winter season to attract guests.

I am thinking European repeat visitors to the USA may now feel what Americans have experienced in trips to Europe and many other countries where the US dollar declined in value over the past few years.  1000 Euros is only worth $1,368 today, about $200 less, or 13% less than it was three months ago ($1,574 July 9, 2008). 

Miami has had several new luxury hotels open in the past few years with all the major chains buying a piece of the real estate.  Fort Lauderdale has Starwood’s new W Hotel, and the St. Regis Fort Lauderdale rebranded as a Ritz-Carlton, a Marriott hotel .  Hilton has the Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort and Miami has two InterContinental hotels. 

Luxury hotels are abundant in south Florida.  This location may be the bellwether location to watch for luxury hotel trends in 2009.

·          

The Wall Street Journal has a good read on Caribbean hotel discounts, “Silver Lining for Vacationers in the Caribbean,” by Sarah Nassauer.  The article states Puerto Rico hotel rates are down 11%, and Punta Cana on the Dominican Republic is down 16% from this time last year.  The Caribbean may be like 2005 was for housing.  Signs of a turbulent hotel elevator ride ahead. 

Last month I blogged about the global hotel report by Smith Travel Research showing the Caribbean had the only decline of average room rates over the past year.  Airline service cuts, higher airfares with all the fuel surcharges, and already over-priced hotel accommodations have led to tough times. 

·          

And winter 2009 should be worse I predict.

The Europeans and foreigners with stronger currencies than the dollar helped boost tourism in Caribbean locations with European ties.  European visitors to Aruba in the Netherland Antilles have seen the Euro drop 13% against the US Dollar in the past three months.  And the US Dollar is the major transaction currency for hotels in the Caribbean. 

A 5% hotel room rate cut to $400 per night for a Caribbean beach resort in November 2008 will still cost $50 more per night for a Euro-spending European than it was in July 2008.

·          

Joe Sharkey’s New York Times article, “ Travel Industry Shaken by Economic Downturn” cites patterns of luxury travel decline.  British Airways, the grande dame of European luxury air travel, has seen almost a 9% decline in the past year for its long-haul premium travel.  Even Singapore Airlines is offering premium flight discounts as the tiny financial powerhouse island-country of Singapore joins New Zealand as the second major Asia Pacific country to officially go into economic recession. 

Upscale hotels are impacted too.  Sharkey’s article cites Bjorn Hanson, New York University professor at Tisch Center for Hospitality, saying hotel cancellations for full-service hotels have been running about 50% above normal for the past two weeks.

·          

Pebble Beach Lodge and Golf Resort sent me a special offer for two nights with two rounds of golf and a complimentary room upgrade starting at $2,000.  I guess they didn’t read my blog post, “$8 Cups of Beer!  Pinch me, I’m Luxuriating,” written after the ATT Pro-Am last February.  (I changed the title last month to “Monterey County Luxury Hotels” to enable better search engine optimization.)

If you want to learn more about the Pebble Beach offer you can call 1-800-877-0279 and ask for code “PGECP8”.  Book by October 21 to get the added bennies.

·          

Ritz-Carlton Spa and Golf Resort, Half Moon Bay, California

And then there is the AIG fiasco last month at the St. Regis Monarch Beach in Dana Point, California.  I was interested to read in the LA Times yesterday, David Lazarus’ Consumer Confidential, that AIG had another company event planned for the Ritz-Carlton Resort in Half Moon Bay, California next week. 

I was thinking we could organize a beach blanket protest using the California Coastal Commission’s public access to the beach (explained here) for some consumer advocacy and fun in the sun.

The cancellation of the AIG event at the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay was just announced this morning.  Power of the media.  Power to the people.  Our tax dollars shouldn’t be funding golf excursions.

Attention AIG executives!

Loyalty Traveler has a great tip for a Pebble Beach golf getaway – but, please pay on your own dime.

And this takes us back to the downturn in luxury travel.

$500,000 luxury meeting getaways will likely be scaled back dramatically over the next year as this financial crisis winds its way through the travel industry in 2009.

·          

The good news? 

Loyalty Travelers will find hotel bargains in 2009.

Hotels are looking more to consumer groups for targeted hotel rate discounts. 

My wife just turned 50.  She was surprised I hadn’t gift-wrapped an AARP card for her birthday present.

Honey, I think I have already picked out your Christmas gift .

The Nation’s 11^th Annual Caribbean Cruise

Holland America Westerdam, December 14-21, 2008, Fort Lauderdale

I took my first cruise last year on Holland America’s Oosterdam ship to Alaska (not The Nation cruise). The room was small, the views were incredible, and my wife was quarantined to our room for the first 3 days of a 7 day cruise as she came down with an incredible case of food poisoning about 3 hours after leaving Seattle.  Thankfully we had a verandah for her to sit outside once she was feeling well enough to get out of bed.  Oh, and it was not the cruise ship food that made her sick!  Once she could eat again, the Holland America dining options for food were a treat.

Rather than song and dance shows I would prefer to be educated and have thoughtful discussion when stuck with a large group of people in a confined space.  A Caribbean cruise with intelligent speakers discussing the really important questions and issues of our time is a vacation idea that caught my attention today. 

The Nation’s 11^th Annual Cruise is billed as the ‘Bye, Bye (G.W.) Bush Caribbean Cruise’.   I laughed this morning when I heard presidential candidate Ralph Nader on Democracy Now refer to our President as King George.

The Nation Cruise could be your ‘Loveboat’ adventure or a week of purgatory depending on your political leaning –

port (The Nation) or starboard (National Review).

The Nation Cruise 11^th Annual Caribbean Cruise information links:

Itinerary

Speakers

Pricing

Ric and tour guide, Cuzco, Peru, May 2000

Presidents Week Vacation – February 2000

I was anxious and suffering a vacation hangover upon my return from Holland at the end of my two week trip for flying on five member airlines of the Oneworld Alliance for a 100,000 frequent flyer miles bonus. Travel euphoria withdrawal was a shock to my mind.

The Christmas holidays 1999 were designed to celebrate my 40th birthday and the days had been a whirlwind tour of Europe. I dubbed it our “industrial tour” because the routing took us from London to Manchester on British Airways, Manchester to Amsterdam on Cathay Pacific, and Amsterdam to Barcelona on Christmas Day and back to Amsterdam on December 26 for another 3 nights in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Rotterdam blew our minds as the most cosmopolitan city we had ever visited. Rotterdam is a mix of world cultures.

The remedy for a vacation hangover is to start planning the next trip. I desired another adventure to energize my soul with the buzz of planning travel.

Fortunately, I had a quick recovery for my vacation hangover on January 7, 2000. I learned about the possibility for a one million mile bonus by flying with a group of Latin American airlines. It took a few days to ascertain the authenticity of the offer. And another week passed before the details were published on the LatinPass website.

I then worked through three weeks of intensive travel planning.
I planned an itinerary for the 500,000 mile bonus with six flights through Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Venezuela, and either Puerto Rico, Aruba, or Curacao. Using free award tickets from California to Central America or South America would drop the cost of airfare to under $2,000 and the miles earned would be sufficient for six Business Class tickets with KLM Airlines, a LatinPass affiliate airline, from San Francisco to Europe.

There were some reservations in planning the LatinPass tour, and I am using reservations in the hesitation sense.
1. Guatemala having a major volcanic eruption
2. Caracas having devastating floods
3. Terrorist kidnap danger in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru

I mapped out a dozen routings for flights. The routes changed all the time. The key to this trip for me was getting several free award nights at Starwood and Hilton hotels. I actually planned on using Starwood points for hotel stays on this trip and needing the points I developed a scheme for the first two weeks of February to accumulate Starwood points.

Starwood Preferred Guest became a partner in the internet company ClickRewards and for the months of February and March 2000, ClickReward miles were worth 2 Starpoints or double the normal exchange rate. In addition to that bonus, FTD had a Valentine’s Day special offer for double ClickRewards points. I was able to earn 16,000 Starpoints by purchasing $550 in gift certificates for several shops where we regularly shop anyway. I bought $110 in Barnes and Noble gift certificates and while in Denver I purchased Let’s Go Central America 2000.

My first ticket purchase for the LatinPass promotion was a KLM roundtrip from London to Amsterdam for the Easter week vacation. I booked The Pulitzer Hotel for 7,000 Starpoints. The cheapest cash rate for the week was $350 per night. I also redeemed 45,000 HHonors points for two nights at the Amsterdam Hilton.

My initial LatinPass itinerary to South America and Central America required two trips and were designed via these routings:

First LatinPass Trip: 12 flights and 7 nights
San Francisco – Guatemala City (American Airlines award ticket 30,000 miles) (SFO-GUA)
Guatemala City – San Salvador, El Salvador (GUA-SAL) – Aviateca Airlines $100 one-way
San Salvador, El Salvador – Managua, Nicaragua (SAL-MGA) – Taca Airlines $175 one-way
Managua – Miami, Florida (MGA-MIA) – Nica Airlines $500 one-way
Miami, Florida – Caracas, Venezuela (MIA-CCS) – Aeropostal $250 one-way
Caracas, Venezuela – Bogota, Colombia (CCS-BOG) – Avianca $250 one-way
Bogota, Colombia – San Juan, Puerto Rico (BOG-SJU) – ACES $450 one-way
San Juan, Puerto Rico – San Jose, Costa Rica (SJU-SJO) – Lacsa $300 one-way
San Jose, Costa Rica – Guatemala City, Guatemala (SJO-GUA) – Copa $250 one-way

Second LatinPass Trip: 6 flights and 4 nights
San Francisco – Quito, Ecuador (American Airlines award ticket – 60,000 miles Business Class)
Quito, Ecuador – Lima (UIO-LIM) – SAETA $330 round-trip
Lima, Peru – Cuzco, Peru (LIM-CUZ) – Taca Peru $170 round-trip

This LatinPass scheme kept me up all night thinking and I decided to ask for a week off work and fly the six airlines. Then I kept thinking how easy it would be to get 8 airlines in one trip as I showed above. And then I figured why not just go for one million miles since it only costs about $1,000 to $1,200 more.

First Day of LatinPass Run March 31, 2000

I completely rerouted my trip from the February planning. I waited until this morning to pack a suitcase and at the last minute I threw in my Sharper Image mini-luggage cart. I didn’t pack much: socks, underwear, 4 shirts, jeans, and Teva sandals. I didn’t bring a raincoat. I figure I won’t be outside much. I actually had jeans in the car and at the last minute before leaving the airport I went out to get them.

I am flying in seat 5A, the first row of Business Class. It has been a few years since I’ve flown this class and the comfort level is really incredible. I had to read the card on the seat control functions to learn the features of all these buttons. There are 7 knobs for adjustment and the seat goes damn near horizontal. I have the leg rest up and the head rest out and it more comfortable than any place I sit at home. I have my own video monitor with a choice of five movies and several audio channels. The flight has been incredibly smooth so far.

The plane is over Nevada and the Becks beer has arrived. The movie hasn’t yet started and I feel like I am in a near full-service bed, trapped between a video monitor straight up in front of me, a tray table horizontally across my lap and a headphones cord draped diagonally across my chest. It is good I do not feel the need to go anywhere quickly. I am on a 767 to Miami that continues on to Buenos Aires. San Francisco was gorgeous today and forecast to be 75 to 80 degrees.

So what else did I pack? I brought a flashlight, a tape recorder, an alarm clock, a camera and 7 rolls of film.

The coolest feature is being able to listen to music while watching a flight map of the current plane position. The sun is just about setting over Duncan, Oklahoma. This is so cool.

I ate a bland Hindu rice and veggie meal and drank a couple of glasses of cabernet for dinner. We are traveling at 626 mph at 37,000 feet altitude. The outside temperature is -73 F. There is a 120 mph tailwind.

I drank a couple of more Becks and grooved on New Age music and tripped on the lights of Florida. This was quite a ride. Passed over Tampa Bay as I listened to Celtic tunes with a tartan blanket across my legs to cover my bare knees against the cabin cold. I can’t wait for the harsh reality of Miami 80 degrees F at 10 pm at night. The flight attendant just offered me another Becks with only 15 minutes of flight time left. I love Business Class. I declined the beer. This buzz is just right and Miami is below. This is fun.

Avianca Airlines flight #9 on-time departure from Miami to Bogota, Colombia. The safety instructions for the flight are running in Spanish with German subtitles. Guess I will wait and see if American comes up. This flight is a 767-300 and only about 25% full in economy. I am in the back section of the plane and look to be the only person seated next to someone on the entire aircraft. The woman beside me is Spanish speaking, but holds an American passport. I moved two rows back to the empty three seats in the middle section of the plane. The safety messages are now playing in English with French subtitles as the aircraft taxis down the runway.

Flying over the Caribbean Sea and the water below is a shade of light blue, so different from the dark Pacific Ocean of the California coast. The colors are hypnotizing. Looking down on the wisps of clouds sitting above the light blue water gives the illusion of gazing up into the bright sky. The imagery is beautiful.
The white edges of sea breaking on the shoreline of Cuba breaks the hypnotic azure spell. The green agricultural landscape of Cuba comes into view.

The drink cart coming down the aisle refocuses my attention. There are 2-liter bottles of Coke and Diet Coke, and 1-liter bottles of scotch and vodka. I receive a can of Club Colombia, Bavaria Brewery, 4% Colombian beer. The two women flight attendants do not appear to be even 20 years old. Several men are also working the aisles. This flight has a large crew to service a small passenger load.

The island of Jamaica appears much browner and extensively developed compared to the interior green cultivated farmlands of rural Cuba. Jamaica passed by quickly as we skirted the western end of the island over Negril. The sea once again is reflecting the white clouds and mirrors the sky.

The snacks on the plane were something different to eat. Coctel, a Colombian product – crunchy chick peas and faba beans – kind of like Corn Nuts. I also received Achiras, original Colombian biscuits made expressly for Avianca. They are made from cottage cheese and achira starch to make a biscuit. They are quite tasty and different. I can’t think of another food they taste like. It is a kind of mini-bread stick with a cheesy flavor, sort of Cheetos-like, but definitely different.
The subtle differences of travel. Despite the hassle of a language barrier there are entertaining, ordinary changes like the kinds of snack foods served on a Colombian airline compared to United Airlines. The little alterations make all the difference in the travel experience.

We have just crossed the Colombian coastline and the rivers, brown with sediment and silt, flow into the Caribbean. There are no coastal cities below us and we cross over to land. I picked up a Colombian paper on the plane and the Bogota section had an article about deaths and 59% of people who die of unnatural causes are murder victims. Traffic accidents account for 21%, suicide 8%, 9% by accidents, and 2% undetermined causes.

Tomorrow, April 2, 2000, is some kind of Colombia Peace Day ribbon campaign, being promoted by a newspaper half-page ad.

The sky was too hazy to see the ground once we crossed over Colombia. Flying into Bogota the skies cleared and the beautiful countryside appeared below. We passed over farmhouses and country estates. An upscale country club golf course was on the outskirts of the city. The few cars on the streets below appeared to be moving slow. Most people on the roads were traveling on bicycles. Bogota Airport is situated in a beautiful valley about ten miles from the downtown urban sprawl. The region looks to be about 20 flat square miles surrounded by mountains.

[Feb 2008 note: This is interesting to see my enthusiasm for air travel back in 2000. Back in the days when travel was solely for fun. I ended up with 1,014,000 LatinPass miles. The miles allowed me to live about 4 months in the Hilton Hotels after transferring most of the airline miles to Hilton HHonors over the course of several years.]