Club Carlson, SPG, Wyndham and Hilton are the best hotel chains for earning American Airlines AAdvantage miles from hotel stays. SPG is the best earning for the top elite, well-traveled Super 75 Platinum. Still, even if your lifestyle is only Super 8, Wyndham Rewards will get you there on an AA or partner airline flight by earning miles nearly at the same rate of hotel spend as SPG.

My Loyalty traveler series on hotel points-to-miles exchange rates for frequent flyer miles continues with a look at 9 major hotel loyalty programs and points-to-miles exchange rates. These tables look at the miles earned at set levels of hotel spend. Top-tier elite hotel status and the best earning hotel cobranded credit card for hotel stay payment are additional factors in the miles calculations.

Table 1: Comparing Points-to-Miles Exchange Rates in 9 major hotel loyalty programs for American Airlines AAdvantage miles.

This table shows the actual exchange rate based on hotel spend for hotel stays. Credit cards and elite status are not considered.

Table 2: Top-tier elite membership factor when comparing Points-to-Miles Exchange Rates in 9 major hotel loyalty programs for American Airlines AAdvantage miles.

This table shows how top-tier elite membership earning rate alters the total number of points earned at each level of hotel spend.

Table 3: Co-Branded Hotel Credit Card with hotel loyalty top-tier elite membership when comparing Points-to-Miles Exchange Rates in 9 major hotel loyalty programs for American Airlines AAdvantage miles.

This table shows the influence of top tier elite and credit card spend.

Read More…

This week Hyatt Visa added a card member anniversary benefit of one free night at a category 1 to 4 hotel. A common complaint about the Hyatt Visa card since it launched in late 2010 was the lack of any incentive to retain the card after receiving the high value enrollment bonus offer for two free nights at any Hyatt worldwide. This new benefit remedies that complaint to a large degree.

Hyatt Gold Passport has hotels assigned to categories 1 through 6. Category 5 and 6 are relatively small number of hotels, but these are typically the best of the best and include many of the Hyatt resort hotels. The enrollment bonus of two free nights at any Hyatt is still the premier feature of the Hyatt card.

Benefits of Hyatt Visa

• Enrollment Bonus = 2 free nights at any Hyatt to be used within one year (all new cardmembers)
• Enrollment Bonus for current Hyatt Platinum elites = 2 free nights + 2 suite upgrade certificates for use on paid stays.
• Enrollment Bonus for current Hyatt Diamond elites = 2 suite upgrade free nights with the exception of Park Hyatt Beaver Creek, Park Hyatt Sydney, Hyatt Regency Kyoto and Hyatt Regency Paris Madeleine that do not participate in confirmed suite upgrades.
• Earning rate = 3 points per dollar at Hyatt,
• 1 point per dollar for other transactions.
• No foreign exchange fees.
• complimentary Platinum elite status while a Hyatt Card member.

Which Hotel Credit Card is Best?

Hyatt ranks as one of the best hotel credit cards for persons who do not charge tens of thousands of dollars to a credit card. Ben Schlappig, Lucky at One Mile at a Time recently ranked best hotel credit cards and placed Starwood Preferred Guest American Express as his top pick followed by Hilton HHonors Surpass. The Points Guy surveyed hotel credit cards last week and based his analysis on $30,000 in credit card spend.

I see $30,000 on a credit card and think that might happen in five to eight years with my spend pattern. I could care less about SPG Gold elite after spending $30,000 in a year on the SPG American Express. I have been SPG Platinum for nearly a decade and rarely spend more than $3,000 a year at Starwood Hotels. Earning SPG Gold from hotel stays is something I can achieve for under $1,000 annually.

HHonors Surpass Diamond for $40,000 in credit card spend is an elite status I also held for many years with under $3,000 in spend per year at Hilton brand hotels. That is a more attainable route to HHonors elite for me.

5-Star Living on a 2-star Budget

For the low spender there is little benefit to the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express card despite it being exuberantly touted across the blog world.  Sure the SPG AmEx card currently has a 30,000 points enrollment bonus. Read the fine print and the actual enrollment bonus is 10,000 points with an additional 20,000 points for charging $4,500 in the first three months.

The SPG AmEx does not confer instant elite status which is a standard benefit for most hotel credit cards. You have to spend $30,000 a year on the SPG AmEx to receive complimentary SPG Gold elite.

Complimentary Elite with Hotel Credit Cards

• Hilton HHonors No fee Visa or no fee American Express = Silver 15% bonus points (normally requires 4 stays or 10 nights).
• Hyatt Visa = Platinum 15% bonus points (normally requires 5 stays or 15 nights in a calendar year).
• IHG Priority Club = Gold 10% bonus points (normally requires 15 nights or earn 20,000 points or pay $50 in a calendar year).
• Marriott Visa (Signature or Premier) = Silver 20% bonus points (normally requires 10 nights in a calendar year).

Low Credit Card Value for Low Spenders

SPG American Express is a popular card for the versatility of Starpoints conversion into airline miles at the rate of 1 point = 1 mile for about two dozen airlines. I argue this is a minor benefit for a person charging less than $5,000 per year on a credit card. The points-to-miles exchange feature of SPG is a great program benefit, but there is no need to have the SPG AmEx for that benefit.

SPG has a minimum transfer requirement of 2,500 points for SPG members without Gold or Platinum elite status when exchanging points-to-miles. At the rate of 1 point earned per dollar charged to the SPG American Express (2 points/$1 for Starwood Hotel charges), the low spending consumer needs $2,500 in spend to make the minimum transfer of Starpoints to miles.

Earning 20,000 points for airline miles with a 25% bonus (20,000 Starpoints = 25,000 miles) may be a goal that takes years of credit card spending to reach. In contrast to credit card spend,  I estimate I earn  about 50,000 Starpoints per year with $2,000 in hotel stays and often I earn the equivalent of many more points through SPG free night promotions.

Even though the SPG AmEx has one of the best earning rates in terms of point value per dollar charged to the credit card, the card member charging less than $5,000 per year is not getting that much benefit compared to the value of points in other hotel credit cards after spending $5,000.

$5,000 = 5,000 Starpoints = about $125 to $200 in hotel value when used for a Category 2 hotel night (3,000 Fri/Sat or 4,000 points weekday.) Use 4,800 points for Cash & Points Category 5 hotel with $90 cash and the value might be $200+ in savings for a $300 a night Starwood Hotel.

$5,000 = 5,000 Starpoints = 5,000 frequent flier miles = $50 to $100 value.

Best Credit Cards for Low Spenders Offer Annual Free Night

Priority Club Visa = 1 free night every anniversary year good for any IHG hotel globally. 30,000 to 80,000 points enrollment bonus has been offered in past year. I received the 80,000 points offer several times.

Hyatt Visa = 1 free night every year for a category 1-4 hotel. Enrollment bonus is two free nights at any Hyatt.

Marriott Rewards Premier = one free night every year for a category 1 to category 5 hotel. Enrollment bonus is a certificate good for just category 1 to 4 hotels and 50,000 bonus points which are sufficient for any top-tier category 8 Marriott globally and almost any Ritz-Carlton Hotel. One drawback of the free night certificates compared to Hyatt and Priority Club is a six month expiration after certificate is issued.

The value of a free night is worth more than the annual fee for these three hotel credit cards. There is no requirement to be a big spender to get good value from the Priority Club Visa, Hyatt Visa or Marriott Premier Visa cards. The fact that the earn rate in hotel points for general spend categories with these three cards is less than the value of general spend points for the Hilton American Express Surpass or HHonors no fee cards and the SPG American Express card is not a significant factor for a person who spends less than $5,000 per year on a credit card.

Comparing credit cards based on $3,000 in hotel spend annually

• HHonors Surpass = $3,000 x 9 points = 27,000 HHonors points (one category 3 hotel night)
• SPG American Express = $3,000 x 2 points = 6,000 Starpoints (two category 2 weekend nights or two category 3 Cash & Points nights).
• Hyatt Visa = $3,000 x 3 points = 9,000 points (one category 2 night).
• Priority Club Visa = $3,000 x 5 points = 15,000 points (one Holiday Inn/Holiday Inn Express night or 3 PointBreaks nights)
• Marriott Premier Visa = $3,000 x 5 points = 15,000 points (one category 3 night).

There really is very little difference in the value of points based on $3,000 of hotel spend on the hotel chain’s cobranded credit card. It is hard to argue any of these point values are significantly better than another in terms of the value of the free night earned from credit card spend.

Comparing credit cards based on $5,000 annual spend in general categories

• HHonors Surpass or no-fee AmEx = $5,000 x 6 points (cable, wireless, internet, gas, groceries, drugstores = 30,000 HHonors points (one category 4 hotel night, about $150 to $200 value).
• SPG American Express = $5,000 x 1 points = 5,000 Starpoints (one category-5 Cash & Points nights, about $200 value).
• Hyatt Visa = $5,000 x 1 points = 5,000 points (one category 1 hotel night, about $100 to $150 value).
• Priority Club Visa = $5,000 x 2 points (gas, groceries, dining) = 10,000 points (2 PointBreaks nights or Points & Cash, about $100 to $200 value).
• Marriott Premier Visa = $5,000 x 2 points (airline, dining, rental car) = 10,000 points (one category 2 night or category 3 PointSavers, about $100 to $150 value).

Final Word: There are some great value credit cards for the low spender. Hyatt Visa ($75), Priority Club Visa ($49) and Marriott Premier Visa ($85) are three cards that provide a high value annual free night incentive that more than pays for the credit card annual fee. Big spenders may find great value in SPG and Hilton HHonors American Express, but these three Visa hotel co-branded credit cards will give you a hotel free night value every year for a small fee.

In light of the new Hyatt Gold Passport Visa card I thought it would be interesting to see how the hotel related benefits for regular card members stack up next to each other.

Forget the transitory enrollment offer gimmicks of megabonus points and no credit card interest for six months. Bonus offers change frequently and churning credit cards for enrollment bonuses is a game for the creditworthy few. In my opinion, the real comparison of hotel loyalty credit cards needs to focus on the revolving benefits received with each year of membership.

Loyalty Traveler Summary of Annual Hotel Loyalty Benefits for Hotel Rewards Credit Cards

• Carlson Hotels goldpoints plus
• Hilton HHonors
• Hyatt Gold Passport
• InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club
• Marriott Rewards
• Starwood Preferred Guest

Carlson Hotels Goldpoints Plus

Carlson Hotels Goldpoints Plus Visa (U.S. only)

• 5 points per $1 spent at Carlson Hotels worldwide
• 4 points per $1 on all other purchases
• Sign-up bonus (9-1-2010) = 15,000 bonus points after first use within 90 days of opening account.

Loyalty Traveler comments: Goldpoints plus has one of the best exchange rates for hotel points-to-miles transfers where 100,000 points = 18,000 miles. Goldpoints plus gold elite member can earn 100,000 points for $3,334 in hotel spend at Radisson Hotels. Compare to Starwood Preferred Guest elites where $3,334 earns 10,000 SPG points. A person interested in miles will earn miles faster through Radisson hotel stays than SPG.  

However, compare SPG American Express card where $20,000 in spend outside of hotels earns 20,000 points = 25,000 miles in many programs. $20,000 on Goldpoints Plus Visa earns 80,000 points and Goldpoints Plus requires 100,000 points for 18,000 miles.  SPG is a better card for airline miles if you earn most of your points through credit card spend instead of hotel stays.

Hilton HHonors

Hilton HHonors has three different cobranded credit cards for residents of the U.S. There are also credit cards for residents of the U.K., Germany and Japan.

The two Hilton HHonors American Express cards for U.S. residents have more benefits than the Visa card. Top elite HHonors Diamond membership for $40,000 in annual spend on the HHonors American Express Surpass card is probably the highest value benefit of any hotel loyalty program credit card.

Hilton HHonors American Express (U.S.) – No annual fee

• Complimentary HHonors Silver VIP elite membership while a cardmember.
• Complimentary HHonors Gold VIP elite membership with $20,000 or more annual charges.
• 6 HHonors bonus points per US$1 spent at Hilton Worldwide hotels, grocery stores, gas stations, drugstores, home and wireless phone, cable, internet.
• 3 HHonors bonus points on all other purchases
• 500 points online booking bonus when charged to Hilton HHonors American Express
• AXON5/6 and AXON7 discount awards (Four Nights AXON 5/6  = 125,000 points; four nights AXON7 = 145,000 points and is lower cost than HHonors VIP rewards)
• Sign-up bonus (9-1-2010) = 20,000 points after first purchase within one year and 2,500 points per Hilton stay, up to 10,000 points after 4 stays within first 18 months of cardmembership.

Silver elite membership opens access to HHonors VIP rewards with a 15% to 25% discount on award extended stays of four nights or longer.

Hilton HHonors Surpass Card American Express (U.S.) – $75 annual fee

• Complimentary HHonors Gold  VIP elite membership for first year of cardmembership.
• Complimentary HHonors Diamond VIP elite membership with $40,000 or more in annual charges. Complimentary HHonors Gold VIP elite membership with $20,000 or more annual charges.
• 9 HHonors bonus points per US$1 spent at Hilton Worldwide hotels
• 6 HHonors bonus points per US$1 spent at grocery stores, gas stations, drugstores, home and wireless phone, cable, internet.
• 3 HHonors bonus points on all other purchases
• Priority Pass airport lounge complimentary membership (but still costs $27 per lounge visit)
• 500 points online booking bonus when charged to Hilton HHonors American Express
• AXON5/6 and AXON7 discount awards (Four Nights AXON 5/6  = 125,000 points; four nights AXON7 = 145,000 points and is lower cost than HHonors VIP rewards)
• Sign-up bonus (9-1-2010) = 40,000 points after first purchase within one year and 2,500 points per Hilton stay, up to 20,000 points after 8 stays within first 18 months of cardmembership.

Citi Hilton HHonors Visa Signature (U.S.) – no annual fee

• Complimentary HHonors Silver VIP elite membership while a cardmember.
• 6 HHonors bonus points per US$1 spent at Hilton Worldwide hotels.
• 3 HHonors bonus points at gas stations, grocery stores and drugstore.
• 2 HHonors bonus points on all other purchases
• Sign-up bonus (9-1-2010) = 25,000 points after first purchase within four months of opening account.

HHonors credit card terms

Loyalty Traveler comments: Hilton HHonors is the clear leader in the credit card game with its array of benefits. The HHonors American Express cards allow you to earn high value bonus points for groceries, cable, internet, cellphone bills and gas.

The ability to earn HHonors VIP elite through HHonors American Express credit card spending, discounts on reward nights with VIP hotel reward access and exclusive American Express AXON award discounts, and the online booking bonus make HHonors American Express and particularly the HHonors Surpass card the best all around cards for hotel loyalty programs. 

The only drawback to the HHonors American Express is for someone who wants miles. Starwood American Express is a much better program than Hilton HHonors for points-to-miles exchange rates. 

The HHonors American Express Surpass card offers the highest value return for the big spender who wants free hotel stays with Hilton Worldwide.

Hyatt Gold Passport   

Hyatt Chase Visa Card (U.S. residents only) – $75 – link

• Complimentary Hyatt Gold Passport Platinum elite membership while a cardmember (platinum elite normally requires 5 stays or 15 nights).
• 3 Gold Passport bonus points per US$1 spent at Hyatt brand hotels worldwide.
• 1 Gold Passport bonus point per US$1 on all other purchases
• No foreign transaction fees
• Sign-up bonus (9-1-2010) = 2 free nights after first purchase. Gold Passport Diamond members will receive complimentary suite upgrade on these two free nights. Gold Passport Platinum members will receive two complimentary suite upgrades for use on paid stays. (according to View from the Wing)

Loyalty Traveler comments: The Chase Hyatt card website advertises a card feature as award nights with no resort or internet fees. While this is a true statement, these benefits are available to any Gold Passport Platinum elite member. Hyatt Gold Passport does not charge resort fees on award nights at Hyatt Resorts and all platinum and diamond members receive complimentary internet at Hyatt brands globally. 

The two free nights is a nice sign-up feature, but I think the Priority Club Visa has better benefits with the annual free night.  

Starwood Preferred Guest American Express card is a hugely popular credit card for its points-to-miles exchange with a 25% bonus on points transfers in blocks of 20,000 points into 25,000 miles. Hyatt Gold Passport has the same 25% bonus when transferring 50,000 points into 25,000 miles. The earning rate of 1 point per US$1 for everyday purchases with both the Hyatt Visa card and the SPG American Express places the balance heavily in favor of SPG American Express for persons interested in maximizing credit card spending for airline miles.

InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club Rewards 

Priority Club Chase Select Visa Card (U.S.) – $49 annual fee after first year free

• Complimentary Priority Club Gold elite membership while a cardmember ($50 value).
• Annual free night e-certificate (valid for any IHG brand hotel worldwide)
• 10% rebate on all free night redemptions up to 100,000 points rebate per year.
• 5 Priority Club bonus points per US$1 spent at IHG hotels worldwide.
• 3 Priority Club bonus points per US$1 at gas stations, dining and grocery stores.
• 1 Priority Club bonus point per US$1 on all other purchases
• No foreign transaction fees
• Sign-up bonus (9-1-2010) = 30,000 points after first purchase or first use (includes balance transfers).
• Priority Club Select Visa Card link

Loyalty Traveler comments: The best benefit of the Priority Club Visa is the annual free night e-certificate. An InterContinental Hotel night will usually be a $200+ rate or even $400+ per night in some locations. 

10% rebate on reward nights is unique and can be a 10,000 to 20,000 points savings for an active Priority Club member. 

Priority Club Visa and Marriott Rewards Visa are the only cards with higher points earning for dining. That can be a big factor for the restaurant aficionado. 

Marriott Rewards 

Marriott Rewards Signature Visa from Chase – $30 annual fee with first year free 

• Complimentary Marriott Rewards Silver elite membership with 10 nights annual elite credit while a cardmember.
• Earn 1 additional elite night credit for every $3,000 in charges annually.
• 15,000 points rebate for reward stays of seven or more nights at category 7 or 8 properties.
• 3 Marriott Rewards bonus points per US$1 spent at Marriott brand hotels worldwide.
• 1 Marriott Rewards bonus point per US$1 on all other purchases
• Sign-up bonus (9-1-2010) = free night e-certificate (valid for any Marriott Rewards category 1 to 4 hotel worldwide) and 22,500 bonus points after first purchase or first use (includes balance transfers). 

Marriott Rewards Premier Visa from Chase – $65 annual fee with first year free

• Complimentary Marriott Rewards Silver elite membership with 15 nights annual elite credit while a cardmember.
• Earn 1 additional elite night credit for every $3,000 in charges annually.
• Annual free night certificate (category 1-5 hotels). First year is a category 1-4 e-certificate.
• 15,000 points rebate for reward stays of seven or more nights at category 7 or 8 properties.
• 5 Marriott Rewards bonus points per US$1 spent at Marriott brand hotels worldwide.
• 2 Marriott Rewards bonus points per US$1 spent on airlines, dining and rental cars.
• 1 Marriott Rewards bonus point per US$1 on all other purchases.
• Sign-up bonus (9-1-2010) = free night e-certificate (valid for any Marriott Rewards category 1 to 4 hotel worldwide) and 30,000 bonus points after first purchase.

Loyalty Traveler comments: The initial free night e-certificate is limited to the lowest four of the eight Marriott Rewards hotel categories. The annual Marriott Rewards Premier Visa e-certificate with cardmembership renewal is good for category 5 hotels and that is a significantly higher value. There are some really nice Marriott category 5 hotels. 

The Hyatt card gives you two free nights at any Hyatt hotel as an enrollment bonus. Priority Club gives one night at any IHG hotel for each year of cardmembership. 

The Marriott Rewards card has weak benefits compared to most of the surveyed cards (except for dining credit), however, Marriott Rewards has the best points-to-miles exchange rate of any hotel loyalty program when transferring over 100,000 points. Marriott Rewards has its benefits but this card may not be the best fit for you. 

Big spenders may prefer the Hilton American Express for elite status. Starwood American Express has a better earning rate for miles. 

Starwood Preferred Guest

Starwood Preferred Guest American Express – $45 (increases to $65 October 14, 2010)

• 2 bonus Starpoints per US$1 spent at Starwood Hotels and Resorts worldwide.
• 1 bonus Starpoints per US$1 per US$1 on all other purchases.
• Annual 50% off rack rate certificate (this benefit will be discontinued in October and replaced with five elite night credits annually and a 3^rd night free credit offer).
• Sign-up bonus (9-1-2010) = 10,000 bonus points after first purchase and 15,000 additional bonus points for $15,000 in credit card spending during first six months of cardmembership. 

Loyalty traveler comments: SPG is the program if you really want options to convert your hotel points to a variety of airline miles. Marriott Rewards and Goldpoints plus have better points-to-miles exchange rates for high transfers, but the SPG credit card favors the person who earns more points from credit card spending than hotel stays.

United, Continental and Singapore Airlines offer a poor exchange rate with SPG. You might prefer the Hyatt or Marriott card for these airline programs. Hyatt has the same or a better exchange rate for many airline partners but the earning rate is better for general purchases using the SPG program card compared to the Hyatt card. 

Update: Sep 30, 2010 – Wyndham Rewards Visa card was not included in this comparison. This card is actually a high value card for people interested in airline miles. All purchases earn 2 points per dollar and Wyndham hotel brands earn 5 points per dollar. Wyndham Rewards has a fixed points-to-miles exchange rate at 2.5 points = 1 mile. Most of the hotel loyalty cards shown here only give 1 point per dollar for most purchases. 

Wyndham Rewards is essentially giving 0.8 miles/dollar. SPG gives 1.25 miles per dollar for 1:1 airline partners points-to-miles transfers at the 20,000 points level and 1 mile per dollar at lower transfer levels.  Wyndham Rewards Visa is a good back-up card for miles with 17 airline partners. $4,000 in credit card spend earns 4,000 miles through American Express SPG or 3,200 miles for Wyndham Rewards Visa cardmembers.

If hotel stays are your primary interest and not miles, then consider the array of benefits offered by other cards, particularly the high annual value of Priority Club Visa free night and reward nights rebate or Hilton HHonors American Express award night discounts and elite status.

Loyalty Traveler Card Rank based on annual benefits

1. Hilton HHonors Surpass American Express card
2. IHG Priority Club Select Visa Card from Chase
3. Hilton HHonors American Express
4. Starwood Preferred Guest American Express
5. Hyatt Gold Passport Visa from Chase
6. Marriott Rewards Premier Visa from Chase
7. Hilton HHonors Signature Visa from Citi
8. Marriott Rewards Signature Visa from Chase
9. Carlson Hotels Goldpoints Plus Visa

Update Sep 2: The ranking shown here was based on my subjective analysis of each card’s added value to the hotel loyalty program. In a subsequent post I compared these same credit cards using annual spend scenarios of $6,000, $13,000, $24,000, and $48,000 in various earning categories. The total annual points were then given cash equivalent values to rank the 9 credit cards.

The results of that analysis repositioned some of the cards slightly with Marriott Rewards Premier Visa moving above Hyatt Visa and Goldpoints Plus Visa moving above Marriott Signature Visa. SPG American Express ranks higher for higher spenders. See the points value credit card analysis in the post link below.

Loyalty Traveler – Hotel Loyalty Credit Card Comparison by value of points (Sep 2)

I have to wonder if SPG and American Express raised the cardmember bonus points offer from 10,000 to 30,000 points in anticipation of the new Hyatt Visa card to be launched in the next couple of months? This sure makes me wonder what kind of initial membership bonus will be forthcoming for the Hyatt Gold Passport Visa card later this year.

The current American Express deal for SPG members is sign up for a new American Express personal or business card by July 6 and spend $1,000 during the first three months of card membership to receive a 30,000 points bonus.

Update: July 15 – Lucky reports this offer has been extended to July 31. Links are provided on his One Mile at a Time blog here.

30,000 Starpoints exchange into 35,000 airline miles with almost two dozen airline partners.

But, that is not the best value for Starpoints in my opinion unless you are getting a high value premium class award ticket with the miles. There are several hotel loyalty programs – Carlson goldpoints plus, Hyatt Gold Passport, Marriott Rewards, and Wyndham Rewards with similar or better points-to-miles exchange rates than Starwood Preferred Guest.

30,000 points will get you one free night at Starwood’s über-luxury Category 7 hotel resorts like the St. Regis New York or Mystique on the Greek Island of Santorini.

But in my analyses I find the better value is generally to pay for a free night and save your 30,000 points for higher value opportunities.

I am writing about this deal because I see a high value opportunity for someone who may not typically stay at Starwood Hotels. 30,000 Starpoints can easily provide over $1,000 in real hotel savings and as long as you do not find yourself leaving a balance on your card that gobbles up the points value through interest payments, then you have a good opportunity to open up cheap access to Starwood Hotels using your 30,000 points sign-up bonus.

I generally do not write about credit card bonuses. My interest is getting people into hotels and not into bank card debt. We all hear the advice about paying off your card every month and you will have minimal expense from a credit card. That is great advice until you find yourself suddenly unemployed or you have an emergency, charge up the credit card to help with the emergency finance need and find yourself unable to pay off the balance the next month. Credit cards would not be propping up bank balance sheets if everyone could pay off their cards every month. The debt cycle keeps these cards highly profitable for the banks.

You can’t even buy 30,000 points for your account for $1,000

The value of 30,000 points is $1,050 based on the purchase price of Starpoints from SPG, however, the annual purchase limit imposed by SPG is 20,000 Starpoints in a calendar year. Lucky on his One Mile at a Time blog last week listed point values for several airline and hotel programs and he suggested the value of Starpoints is $25 per 1,000 points. This is a figure I support in general based on the ability to easily get that value when redeeming points.

That is still a $750 value for this credit card sign-up bonus.

The Real Value Opportunity for 30,000 Starpoints

I generally try to get $50 per 1,000 points value when making room redemptions and that is most easily achieved through SPG Cash & Points awards. These awards require only 40% of the points for a free night and a cash supplement saves 60% of the points cost.

There are many category 4 Starwood Hotels that will post room rates around $300 after tax that can be purchased with $60 cash and 4,000 points. The cash and points award will have a value of $240 for the 4,000 points redeemed for a free night. This is $60 equivalent value per 1,000 points and significantly more than the $25 per 1,000 points value suggested by Lucky.

The main drawback of Cash & Points awards are limited availability. Most Starwood Hotels are available on any given night in any given location for a standard free night award, but Cash & Points awards may only be available for about half of these hotels – sometimes more and sometimes less.

The other disadvantage of Cash & Points is no elite qualifying credit is given for the stay and the SPG member does not earn points on the Cash portion of the award night payment. Incidental spending does earn points and you need to contact the hotel if the stay does not post and you should have earned points from incidental spending.

Here are some sample Cash & Points values:

Le Meridien Vienna

• December 6-9, 2010 = 179 EUR/night or about US$220
• Category 4 hotel Cash & Points Award = $60 + 4,000 points ($180 + 12,000 points for 3 nights)
• $660 – $180 = $480 saved with 12,000 points.
• SPG Points Value = $40/1,000 points. 

Hotel Des Indes, The Hague, Netherlands

• May 16-19, 2011 = 255EUR/night or about US$318
• Category 5 hotel Cash & Points Award = $90 + 4,800 points ($270 + 14,400 points for 3 nights)
• $954 – $270 = $684 saved with 14,400 points.
• SPG points value = $47.50/1,000 points.

Westin Grand Cape Town, South Africa

• February 7-10, 2011 = 1,722 ZAR/night or about US$222
• Category 3 hotel Cash & Points Award = $45 + 2,800 points ($135 + 8,400 points for 3 nights)
• $666 – $135 = $531 saved with 8,400 points.
• SPG points value = $63.21/1,000 points.

Do you get the picture now?

30,000 points has the potential, when used with discretion, to save nearly $1,900 in hotel room rates at a hotel like the Westin Cape Town. That is a great sign-up bonus for a credit card that has no membership fee for the first year and $45 per year thereafter. 

Just don’t fall into the credit card interest payment trap.

Hey Dude, Where are my credit card Miles and Points?

Beginning in January 2010 American Express will not transfer points to your hotel loyalty program account with Hilton or Starwood if you are late with your monthly payment. The change will affect co-branded American Express credit cards with Hilton, Starwood, Delta Airlines, and JetBlue.

Getting your points or miles for the statement period of late payment will cost $29 for a reinstatement fee. The miles and points reinstatement fee is on top of the late payment fee and the possible higher interest rate triggered from a late payment.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_travel/20091118/ap_tr_ge/us_travel_flight_plan_credit_card_fees

Starwood Preferred Guest

New Members Offer for Instant SPG Gold Elite through February 2011 (normally requires 10 hotel stays or 25 nights in a calendar year), plus 1,000 bonus points per night through March 31, 2010.

Details:  http://boardingarea.com/blogs/loyaltytraveler/2009/11/20/my-midas-touch-gives-new-spg-members-starwood-preferred-guest-gold-elite/

Loyalty rewards and elite status can be earned at a quicker pace if you have a loyalty program branded credit card to accompany your hotel stays with Marriott or Hilton. I rarely write about credit cards, but I took a look at the current offers recently when comparing Marriott Rewards and Hilton HHonors.

Heavy spenders may favor the Hilton Surpass American Express card for its instant Diamond elite membership offer if you are in a position to spend $40,000 per year.

Marriott Rewards Premier VISA Credit Card from Chase offers 15 nights toward elite status conferring instant Silver elite and reducing the annual elite qualification threshold for Marriott Rewards Gold to 35 nights and Platinum to 60 nights. This card is only available to US residents in the 50 states and District of Columbia.

One feature of the Hilton-branded American Express card is access to discount 4-night awards for 125,000 points at Category 5 hotels (AXON5) and 145,000 points at Category 6 hotels (AXON6). These American Express award offers will likely be amended for January 2010 since the current American Express member awards for Category 5 and 6 hotels will actually be offered at a lower rate to all HHonors members in the new HHonors Rewards chart in 2010. It seems HHonors and American Express will likely offer a discounted AXON6 and AXON 7 reward in 2010.

Here is a table of the features for Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card from Chase Bank and the Hilton Surpass from American Express. While Hilton has a larger sign-up bonus and better earning on hotel and everyday spending, Marriott Rewards offers a free night every year of membership that equates to a 25,000 points annual bonus.

Marriott Rewards Premier Visa and Hilton HHonors American Express Surpass

Starwood Preferred Guest

New Members Offer for Instant SPG Gold Elite through February 2011 (normally requires 10 hotel stays or 25 nights in a calendar year), plus 1,000 bonus points per night through March 31, 2010.

Details:  http://boardingarea.com/blogs/loyaltytraveler/2009/11/20/my-midas-touch-gives-new-spg-members-starwood-preferred-guest-gold-elite/

The best redemption value for Hilton HHonors points is generally a high category hotel on a HHonors VIP Reward of six or more nights. 

Hilton Auckland, New Zealand

What do you do when after a year of traveling you have 100,000 points and you want a vacation in three months at a Category 6 hotel or Waldorf=Astoria low season hotel stay for 6 nights, but you need 75,000 more points for the hotel stay reward?

HHonors allows a member to purchase points, up to 40,000 points in a calendar year at a rate as low as $10 per 1,000 points.  The points should be in your account and available for redemption in less than an hour. 

Still, after a $400 internet purchase of your maximum annual buying limit of 40,000 points at HHonors, you are 35,000 points short of the 175,000 points needed for a six-night Category 6 GLONP2 HHonors VIP reward.

What does a determined traveler do to get 35,000 points at minimal expense? 

HHonors Points Transfers

Hilton HHonors allows members to transfer or receive an unlimited number of points between member accounts.  The fee to transfer points is only 25% of the fee to buy points. 

10,000 points can be transferred from one account to another for a $25 fee.  35,000 points can be transferred from one member’s account to another member’s account for $87.50.

“Hilton HHonors® points can be transferred to another HHonors member in increments of 10,000 points, at a cost of $.0025 USD per point, or $25.00 USD per 10,000 points. There is no limit to the number of HHonors points a member can transfer or receive. Fees are based on the number of points a member transfers out of his or her account. After transferring 200,000 points in a calendar year, any subsequent transfers that calendar year are complimentary.”

http://hhonors1.hilton.com/en_US/hh/terms.do#hilton_hhonors_point_transfer_and_registry_program

Your potential ability to tap this option is proportional to your network of friends and family who have HHonors points and who are willing to transfer them. 

Recap:  Goal is 175,000 points

                You have 100,000 points in your account from hotel stays and credit card activity.

                You purchased 40,000 points for $400.

                You need 35,000 more points which is an $87.50 transfer fee.

                You need to find someone willing to transfer HHonors points to your account.

Welcome to FlyerTalk’s Coupon Connection Trading Network

The next piece of advice is the grey area of traveler strategies Loyalty Traveler generally does not touch upon in blog posts, but today I will discuss what routinely happens in the world of frequent flyer and hotel loyalty programs.

Travelers often find a great deal is just out of reach of your miles or points balance. 

Remember the corollary:

“Miles and Points have no real value, only potential value, until they are redeemed.” 

FlyerTalk has the Coupon Connection forum where members make exchanges of frequent flyer miles and hotel points through mutual agreement of terms.  There has been much discussion on FlyerTalk and elsewhere over the years of whether bartering these airline miles and hotel points is a violation of frequent flyer and hotel loyalty program terms and conditions.   All I can say is trades happen all the time and generally the only problems encountered are when a traveler sells miles to a broker. 

I have been contacted many times over the years by companies wanting to buy my frequent flyer miles. These kinds of companies are sometimes listed in the classified section of USA Today and major papers with pitches like – Sell Your Miles for Cash. 

Basically they pay you to redeem your miles for an award ticket for someone else.  I have been offered $2,000 for 100,000 miles, and I presume, the company can sell the award ticket for $3,000 to $5,000 and make a profit.  I have never sold my miles, but I sure was tempted a few years ago when I was unemployed and sitting on more than one million frequent flyer miles. 

I like travel too much to sell my hard-earned miles or points.

Now – present day – a million people have lost jobs in the past six months, and many big-time road and air warriors currently find themselves miles-and-points rich and cash poor.  This is the time for some mutually beneficial trading.

The Value of a Point

Coupon Connection may be an avenue to find people with points, but why would anyone just give points to you, even if you offer to pay the transfer fee?  For the timid traveler who wants to avoid trading with someone for HHonors points there are other methods to quick HHonors points.

HHonors Partners for Miles to Points Exchanges

Hilton HHonors allows some airline frequent flyer miles to be exchanged for HHonors points.

5,000 airline frequent flyer miles can be exchanged for 10,000 HHonors points from these programs:

·         American Airlines ($25 fee)

·         Amtrak

·         Hawaiian Airlines

·         Icelandair

·         Mexicana

·         Virgin Atlantic has a lower exchange rate of 5,000 miles = 5,000 points.

I have to wonder how many thousands of flyers are sitting on 5,000 Icelandair miles that will likely go unused after that one trip to Europe on Icelandair.

Purchasing 35,000 points would cost $350 if you were allowed to purchase unlimited HHonors points.  A good value would be to get 35,000 points for $350 with a transfer.  After deducting $87.50 for the transfer fee, the member needing points still has $262.50 in trade value to offer someone else for their points. 

I’ll leave it up to the reader to fill in the details of what is a fair trade for 35,000 points.

American Express Membership Rewards

Another route to HHonors points is making a credit card exchange of Membership Rewards points to HHonors points.  The exchange rate is:

                1,000 Membership Rewards = 1,300 points

This is not a particularly favorable exchange considering HHonors sells 1,300 points for $13, whereas, an airline sells 1,000 miles for $25 to $35 and 1,000 Membership Rewards points can be exchanged for 1,000 miles in many programs. 

A better option is to exchange American Express Membership Rewards points to one of the HHonors miles-to-points partner airlines.  Hawaiian, Mexicana, and Virgin Atlantic are Membership Rewards points-to-miles exchange partners.

Transferring Membership Rewards points to Hawaiian Airlines is your best choice due to the fact it is a US based company and gives a better exchange rate than Virgin Atlantic. 

Feb 13 Update:  There is limited usefulness to this strategy since Mexican and Hawaiian both limit mileage transfers out to miles earned from flying.  WebFlyer has a mileage calculator with options for maximizing transfers from one program to another.  I suggest checking it out for creative ways of exchanging miles and points between programs.

http://www.webflyer.com/programs/mileage_converter/index.php

Mexicana Airlines has restrictions on transferring miles out of Mexicana Airlines.  I have had over 100,000 miles in Mexicana Airlines for over five years and I can’t transfer them to HHonors due to earning them from a promotional bonus.  This condition may not apply for Membership Rewards exchanges, but I wouldn’t risk hassling with Mexicana Airlines when you have Hawaiian as an alternative.

                1,000 membership Rewards = 1,000 Hawaiian Airlines miles = 2,000 HHonors points

Miles must be earned from flight activity to be eligible for transfers from Hawaiian miles to HHonors.

Starwood Preferred Guest as a route to HHonors points

Another option is to transfer 20,000 Starpoints to an airline for 25,000 miles.  American Airlines is a SPG airline partner. 

                20,000 Starpoints = 25,000 AAdvantage miles = 50,000 HHonors points

Diners Club Rewards as a route to HHonors points

Icelandair and Amtrak are  Diners Club Rewards exchange partners. 

                1,000 Diners Club Rewards points = 1,000 Icelandair miles = 2,000 HHonors points

Club Rewards points can be transferred directly to HHonors, but at a lower rate:

Direct transfer of Club Rewards points to HHonors:

 1,250 Diners Club Rewards points = 2,000 HHonors points

To recap ways to accrue HHonors points:

1.       Purchase HHonors Points at rate of $100/10,000 points

a.       (40,000 point limit in a calendar year)

2.       Transfer HHonors points

(transfer fee is $25 per 10,000 points)

3.       Exchange airline miles directly for HHonors points:

5,000 airline miles = 10,000 HHonors points.

4.       Exchange Starwood Preferred Guest points to airline miles and then to HHonors points.

20,000 Starpoints can be exchanged 25,000 American AAdvantage miles and then into 50,000 HHonors points.

5.       Exchange American Express Membership Rewards points to airline miles and then to HHonors points. 

5,000 MR points = 5,000 Virgin Flying Club miles = 5,000 HHonors points

6.       Exchange Diners Club Rewards points to airline miles and then to HHonors points

5,000 Club Rewards points = 5,000 Icelandair miles = 10,000 HHonors points

A direct transfer from Diners Club to HHonors results in 20% fewer points:

5,000 Club Rewards points = 8,000 HHonors points. 

Loyalty Traveler Review of Hotel News

Here are some of the interesting articles and reports I read this past week.

#1: Hotel Internet Security – Guess who is looking at your files!

The Center for Hospitality Research at Cornell University has published a study of internet security practices for hotel guests accessing internet connections in the USA. 

The CHR report findings are not comforting for hotel guests. 

“We concluded that hotels in the U.S. are generally ill-prepared to protect their guests from network security issues.” 

The report, “Hotel Network Security: A Study of the Computer Networks in U.S. Hotels” by Josh Ogle, Erica Wagner, Ph.D., and Mark Talbert is available for free download from the Center for Hospitality Research (registration required).  http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/research/chr/pubs/reports/2008.html

#2: Hotel Loyalty Programs Category Shift story from December 2006

This is an older story from December 2006, “Hotel Loyalty Programs Undergo Point Value Changes” on creditcards.com, however, the background overview of the shift in hotel category and points required for free night hotel room redemption with Hilton HHonors and Starwood Preferred Guest is a good reminder that hotel programs made dramatic adjustments upward when hotel travel was booming these past two years.  There continued to be substantial shifts upward in 2007 and 2008. 

I am interested to see how US hotels shift in redemption category for 2009 as the average daily rates for hotels in USA are currently at a substantially lower price level than any other region around the globe.  A downward adjustment is in order based on the numbers for average daily room rates at US hotels.

Will hotels in the USA see a major shift downward in category redemption levels? 

See my post last week to read more about category shift and global hotel rates, “Hotel Travel Going Down, Down, Down.  It’s the Economy, Stupid!”

#3: American Express leads in “credit card satisfaction” J.D. Power survey

This article about the 2008 JD Power survey on credit card satisfaction supports my post on hotel loyalty program affinity credit cards and the value of American Express over VISA and MasterCard.  My independent analysis last month, “Comparison of Hotel Loyalty Program Affinity Credit Cards,” showed the earning power of Hilton HHonors AmEx and Starwood Preferred Guest AmEx made these two cards the best value for hotel loyalty program affinity credit cards.

Link to J.D. Power 2008 Survey on Credit Card Satisfaction

#4: Airline and Hotel Social Networks – I know someone that knows someone who knows you.

Ron Callari discusses a European study that suggests the internet has shrunk our global affiliations from six degrees of separation down to three.  The travel industry is trying to take some control over the proliferation of social networking through its own internal hotel and airline social forums.  Somehow, I think FlyerTalk is still going to dominate for years to come.

#5: Hyatt Gainey Ranch, Scottsdale, Arizona offering 5,000 points for 3-night stay

Last April I spent time at the Hyatt Gainey Ranch and I absolutely loved their swimming pools.  The hotel is open air, green grass, colorful flowers, cacti, and swimming pools against a lake backdrop.  The remodeled rooms looked very similar to the San Francisco Hyatt Regency remodeled rooms and bathroom design.  Glass door showers instead of tubs.  This is the Hyatt property to stay at in the Phoenix area. 

Hyatt Promotion offer code is Scot5K for the 5,000 point bonus on a 3-night or longer stay through December 31, 2008.  Link to offer here.

#6: Hawaii Hotel Occupancy Still Dropping; Rates Slow to Drop

Hawaii continues to see a decline in hotel travel due to airline flight cuts and high airfares.  Supposedly there are great deals to be had if you look.

http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2008/09/08/daily27.html

#7: Frequent travelers book directly with suppliers while infrequent travelers tend to use online travel agencies (OTA) like Expedia.com

Glenn Hausmann, editor-in-chief of Hotel Interactive has a good read on the battle between hotel companies and online travel agencies for consumers in the online world.

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

I am a fan of Diners Club for using Club Rewards points to keep airline and hotel accounts active. Case in point is my wife’s Air Canada Aeroplan account. The Aeroplan website had a notification warning my wife that her miles would be deleted on April 13 if there was no account activity. She also received an email warning. This is good customer service to give advance warning before simply deleting miles.

April 2007 we had a flight on United to Las Vegas and inserted her Aeroplan number in the reservation. Now, a year later, I needed to get some account activity and I transferred 1,000 Diners Club Rewards (the minimum transfer allowed) to 1,000 Aeroplan miles.

I made the transfer on April 2, 2008 and hoped the miles would register in the Aeroplan account before April 13. I decided to check today to see if the transaction had gone through. The website stated 2-6 weeks and my wife has too many miles to let expire. My fall back plan was simply to buy Aeroplan miles.

The Diners Club transaction posted 1,000 Aeroplan miles on April 4, 2008. The process was completed in 48 hours.

I use my Diners Club primarily to top off frequent flyer accounts for premium awards. There is a $0.95 charge per 1,000 points transfer. It is a small price to pay when 20,000 points exchanged for 20,000 miles can mean the difference between an economy award flight and a business class award flight (although the differences between economy and business or business and first tend to be more in the 40,000 mile range these days for most airlines).

Starwood American Express is also good for airline transfers, however, I find the Starpoints much more valuable as hotel points than airline miles, even with the 25% bonus on transfers of 20,000 Starpoints.

I use Starpoints for extending the miles in frequent flier accounts where I have had no activity. I have Mexicana miles I have been holding since 2002 (how I wish I had redeemed this two years ago when the redemption options would have allowed a First Class ticket to most anywhere in the world from the USA for 100,000 miles) and each year I simply transfer 10 or 100 Starpoints to Mexicana to extend the mileage expiration.

SPG Platinum members have no minimum transfer requirement for Starpoints to airline miles. Gold members have a 1,500 Starpoints minimum transfer and non-elite members have a 2,500 Starpoints minimum transfer. That is why I like the Diners Club card since 1,000 Diners Club points to airline miles is a transfer option I favor over spending 2,500 Starpoints from my wife’s account.

We can better use 2,500 Starpoints for a Cash and Points hotel room or a free night at a category 2 hotel on the weekend. (Technically, 3,000 points for SPG Category 2 weekend award night, but as a platinum member using an award booked with my wife’s points, I get 500 points back as a platinum amenity and therefore 2,500 points for a weekend stay.)

The Diner’s Club card is expensive at $95/year, however, for loyalty travelers the Club Rewards program offers many hotel reward options using Club Rewards points that are not available with SPG AmEx (although a regular American Express Membership Rewards card does have hotel transfer options).

Diners Club is a useful card to have for the exchange options of points into airline miles or hotel points.

Frequent travelers know that staying with your preferred hotel loyalty program is difficult at times. Hotels may be sold out, some chains are not present in an area (the nearest Starwood hotel to Monterey is 75 miles away while two Hyatts are within a few miles of my home), or the price is just too high.

Over the past ten years I have earned somewhere around 4,000,000 airline frequent flier miles and 1,000,000 hotel points. I seldom write about credit cards as a means of earning hotel frequent guest points. I have never owned an airline frequent flier affinity card.
Less than 2% of those 5 million miles and points were earned from credit card activity. I do not have the kind of money passing through my hands to make the credit card option a major factor. Travel is the fastest way to earn miles and points, unless you are wealthy or have a way to funnel money through your credit card without going into debt.

I have used Diners Club as a credit card, however, for its versatility with points exchange from Diners Club Rewards points to another airline or hotel currency. I have moved hundreds of thousands of miles and points through Diners Club by moving one airline currency into the program and exchanging the Diners Club Rewards points to a different airline currency. It used to be possible until about 2004 to move American and United miles into Diners Club and back out for the same number of British Airways miles during the periodic promotions for double miles when exchanging Diners Club points. Diners Club still has high value for exchangeability options not provided by American Express or Starwood or any other card at a good exchange rate between loyalty programs.

Here is a brief Loyalty Traveler analysis of the value of credit card diversity for your hotel travel options.

Consider 3 credit card options for the Marriott Rewards member:

1. Marriott Rewards Visa offer on website gives 20,000 bonus points for initial purchase, 2 points/$1 on travel/dining purchases, and 5 points/$1 for Marriott-brand hotel purchases, 1 points on other purchases, and a free night certificate each year. Points are good for Marriott awards only.

2. American Express Membership Rewards offers exchange options for Membership Rewards points into Hilton HHonors, InterContinental Priority Club, or Starwood Preferred Guest. Members can also buy nearly unlimited amounts of Membership Rewards points. Not too useful for Marriott, but has options for three other hotel chains.

3. Diners Club/MasterCard Club Rewards points can be exchanged into the major loyalty programs of Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, Priority Club, Starwood, and Choice or Best Western.

Marriott VISA card earns 20,000 point bonus, 5 points/$1 at Marriott and 2 points/$1 for travel/dining purchases, and 1 points/$1 on other purchases.
After the first year card-owner bonus, assume the second year spending is $18,000 on stuff (18,000 points), $5,000 on travel/dining (10,000 points), and assume $2,000 spent at Marriott (10,000 points) = 38,000 points.

38,000 Marriott Rewards points for $25,000 credit card spending with Marriott VISA..

Purchase value of 38,000 Marriott Rewards points at $12.50/1,000 points = $475.00 value

The question:

Can you recoup anywhere near the $475 value available from $25,000 spending on a Marriott Rewards card by earning points primarily with a Diners Club or American Express credit card and exchange these points into hotel program points?

Exchange options is the name of the game for the frequent guest.

American Express exchange rates
1, 000 Amex Membership Rewards points = 333 Starpoints
1,000 Amex Membership Rewards points = 1,000 Priority Club points
1, 000 Amex Membership Rewards points = 1,300 HHonors points

Diners Club exchange rates
1,250 Club Rewards points = 750 Hyatt Gold Passport
1,250 Club Rewards points = 1,500 Marriott Rewards points
1,250 Club Rewards points = 2,000 Hilton HHonors points
1,250 Club Rewards points = 1,500 Priority Club points
1,250 Club Rewards points = 750 Starwood points

A comparison of credit cards based on a simple analysis: $25,000 annual spending (calculation is based on spending after first year, so 20,000 Marriott Rewards points bonus does not come into play in head-to-head matchup.)

Diners Club Rewards $25,000 spending = 25,000 points

Exchange 25,000 Club Rewards points for:

30,000 Marriott Rewards or
17,500 Hyatt points or
30,000 Priority Club points or
17,500 Starwood points or
40,000 Hilton HHonors points or

AMEX $25,000 spending = 25,000 Membership Rewards points
Exchange 25,000 Membership Rewards points for

8,325 Starpoints or
25,000 Priority Club points or
32,500 Hilton HHonors

Here are some potential values for hotel points from an exchange of $25,000 in Diners Club Rewards points:

30,000 Priority Club points is sufficient for any Crowne Plaza in the world and most InterContinental Hotels. Typically a $300 value.

It may be possible to book 6 nights of PointBreaks awards through Priority Club that could have a $1,200+ value at certain locations.

17,500 Starpoints can be obtained with 25,000 Club Rewards points. This is good for a 4-night stay, midweek at a Category 2 hotel. This can easily be a $700 savings.

Also, Starpoints can be used for Cash and Points awards. 4,000 points and $60 for a Category 4 hotel or 4,800 points + $90 for a Category 5 hotel can mean a savings of $800 on the regular cash rate for hotel rooms. Category 4 hotels are often $250/night and a Cash&Points award can typically save over $200/night on room rate and tax savings when using Starpoints. A Category 5 hotel award can likely be a $300/night savings. 17,500 points may allow you to save $1,000 on hotel rooms at Starwood.

The purchase value for 1,000 Starpoints = $35.00, so 17,500 Starpoints = $612.50 and this is more than the value of the Marriott Rewards points using the Marriott card for $25,000 in spending ($475.00).

Another factor to keep in mind is when you have to stay in a hotel without elite status. The ability to transfer Diners Club points into hotel programs, along with the ability to buy points from the hotel programs, may make room upgrades using hotel points a high-value alternative to the cost of paying for a better room category at a hotel where you will not be upgraded on elite status.

Flexibility with hotel loyalty points is a high value opportunity and Diners Club provides many hotel brand options for your travels. AMEX is good for the option of purchasing points, but has fewer hotel loyalty partners than Diners Club. Marriott VISA is a good earnings card, but while VISA may be accepted everywhere you want to be, a good-value Marriott may not always be where you want to be.

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.]