Emirates Airlines was one of many airlines with an exhibit at ITB Berlin featuring its First Class and Business Class seats. While not the same as a 10-hour flight experience there was the opportunity to test out seats and see the features of a dozen or so airlines at the Berlin convention.

Emirates Airlines two-story exhibit capsule at ITB Berlin.

Inside the Emirates exhibit capsule there was a wall of video displays on their products, an A380 onboard lounge and aircraft showers. Emirates staff guides were stationed to answer questions.

Wraparound video display at Emirates exhibit ITB Berlin 2013.

Emirates A380 shower display at ITB Berlin.

One of the popular activities was waiting in queue to test out the First Class suite.

Emirates Airlines A380 First Class Suite

There was even the A380 First Class lounge-bar replicated in the Emirates exhibit capsule. No free drinks though while I was there.

Emirates A380 Onboard Lounge display.

Fairly certain that Lucky has flown Emirates First Class I checked to see his One Mile at a Time December 26, 2012 review of Emirates First Class on a London-Dubai flight. His post contains about 50 photos of the flight experience.

Lucky wrote a series of posts this week on One Mile at a Time giving his take on What Airline Miles and Hotel Points are worth. I criticized his hotel points analysis without reading his ‘Introduction’ piece on the four part series where he gives this disclosure:

But my main point is simply that everyone’s valuation is going to be different, both in absolute terms and in relative terms. Disagree with my analysis? That’s great, and please let me know. This is just my opinion, and at the end of the day there’s no right or wrong answer.

Lucky travels all the time, earns and redeems millions of miles and points and he has a good background for evaluating the relative value of points and miles.

That being said, I think for the consumer collecting miles and points, the value of miles and points is so personalized, especially for hotel points, that there is little value in assigning a specific value for hotel points. The value of points or miles is not set until you actually redeem them for something tangible like a flight or hotel room.

And your elite status level is a major factor in the value of points and miles, especially when comparing value across different hotel or airline programs.

There is a value range for any specific type of hotel points.

For example, Hilton points are rarely going to be worth over $20 per 1,000 points, even if you do get a $1,000 per night hotel room for 50,000 points. Lucky says he values Hilton HHonors points at $4 per 1,000 points. He personally values 100,000 HHonors points to be worth about $400.

100,000 HHonors points buys two nights in a category 7 hotel redeeming for a standard room award. 100,000 HHonors points buys five nights in a category 3 hotel redeeming for a 5th night free award. 

Are both of these Hilton brand hotels going to be a $400 value? The answer not only depends on the hotel, but who you are in the hotel loyalty program.

Are you a general member with 100,000 HHonors points?

Or are you a Diamond member and repeat guest at the hotel where you are redeeming points?

Are you redeeming five nights at a Hilton Garden Inn where nearly all the rooms are identical?

Or are you redeeming points for the Fontainebleau Miami Beach where you can be placed in a high floor ocean view massive suite with complimentary breakfast or a standard low floor level basic hotel room.

The room you receive at a hotel and many of the services included in a hotel points award stay will depend on who you are in the hotel loyalty program and possibly your relationship with the specific hotel.

Suite Living or urban rear window dwelling?

This week I stayed at Hotel Kamp, a Starwood Luxury Collection Hotel in Helsinki, Finland. I redeemed points for a SPG Category 5 Cash & Points award. I applied a suite upgrade certificate. These are the certificates given to SPG Platinum members staying 50 nights or more in a calendar year.

I stayed in an $800 per night room in the historic section of Hotel Kamp with a two room suite, high ceilings and a corner facing view of the famous Esplanade, whereas, there was likely someone else at the hotel using the same type of SPG category Cash & Points award who received a standard room in the modern wing of the hotel with a view of the interior infrastructure of the hotel between two building wings.

We both may have spent the same $90 and 4,800 points for the hotel stay, but my elite status with Starwood and perhaps my relationship with the hotel was a major factor in the type of room I received compared with the room some other SPG base member receives for the same award cost. Besides the room upgrade, there was a bottle of wine and a box of chocolates in the suite and I had complimentary internet and Platinum members on award stays receive breakfast.

Airline Business Class seats are the same regardless of status.

The value of frequent flyer miles has a much smaller range for airline travel. The United Mileage Plus 1K member is not going to get a better seat in First Class than the Mileage Plus general member redeeming miles for the same First Class award ticket. Regardless of elite status, both members are in the same First Class cabin on the same plane with the same access to meals and drink and the same access to the airport First Class lounge. The elite member may have an advantage with award change fees or cancellation privileges, but not with the type of product received for the miles.

Yet, elite status can also play a big difference in the value of airline miles.

Again, the example of  my personal travel award this week shows how elite status can greatly impact the value of miles.

I redeemed 30,000 AA miles for economy class award tickets to travel this week from Berlin to Oslo, Norway to Helsinki, Finland to London to Chicago to San Francisco with four overnight layovers. My American Airlines Platinum elite status allowed me to visit airport lounges as part of my international award travel.

On Monday I was in the British Airways lounge at Berlin Tegel eating and drinking for 90 minutes before my flight.

On Tuesday I was in the Oneworld lounge at Oslo Airport. Sitting in the lounge I was hit with a Finnair 90 minute flight delay. No problem. I consumed the equivalent of another $100 in food and beer, based on Oslo prices. Seriously! $100 in food and drink is like two smoked salmon sandwiches and three glasses of beer based on Oslo dining prices.

On Wednesday I had dinner and beer at the Finnair lounge in Helsinki and Thursday I had a multiple course Thai, Chinese and Indian dinner with beer at the Cathay Pacific lounge in London Heathrow before getting into my economy class American Airlines seat for the flight back to the US.

30,000 United miles for an economy class award flight from Berlin to San Francisco would not have given me access to any airport lounges. I do not have elite status with United Mileage Plus.

But I can status match to Premier Executive with United Mileage Plus and on the next award flight to Europe get Star Alliance airport lounge access even when flying economy class. The value of points and miles fluctuates and with elite status the value of points and miles in your account can go up.

The value of points and miles does not necessarily go down year to year.

Value of points and miles are truly personalized and elite status matters.

Elite status is probably the biggest single factor affecting the value of your miles and points. Elite status is a major factor in the value of points for hotel award nights. Elite status primarily plays a factor in the value of airline miles when you are traveling international on economy class awards.

December is the month for securing elite status. People in the know, those frequent guests and fliers making mattress runs and mileage runs this month, know that a few unnecessary hotel room nights or a few thousand miles of unnecessary airline flights are truly necessary. Some loyalty travelers are frantically booking travel solely for the purpose of attaining the magic threshold of higher elite status in 2010.

And it is magic when after 10 minutes waiting in the elite security line at the crowded airport, you barely get on your plane just before it taxies out of the gate. You reflect on the frazzled family who walked up to the elite check-in airport counter just in front of you, each parent cradling a crying toddler, with a hands-free wandering preschooler lagging behind dragging a backpack, a babystroller under Dad’s arm, two suitcases, two backpacks, and a purse.  You watched as you moved closer to the elite member check-in counter while the parents were steered away from the Star Alliance Gold members check-in line to the hopelessly long economy class general members’ line extending halfway down the terminal. They were supposed to depart on the same flight as you, but they hadn’t even arrived at the security zone as you passed through the detectors and rushed off to the gate. They are still waiting in some non-elite fliers’ line while you are comfortably seated in First Class as the plane heads toward the runway.

Elite level status has practical implications in the frequent flier world beyond upgrades and airport lounges.

I haven’t been on a plane in the past few months. I watched scenarios like I described here over a number of years when I traveled as a United Airlines Mileage Plus elite member. I flew over 100,000 miles a year for several years primarily as a means of flying comfortably and having the privilege to hang out at airport lounges during international flights.

Joe Sharkey has a piece posted this week on his blog, Joe Sharkey At Large, “Continental Airlines is the Latest Airline to Diss Lower-Level Elite-Status Customers”. His piece is about how Continental Airlines offers enhancements to the most frequent fliers in the 100,000 flight miles per year category and new super-tier called Presidential Platinum elite for the cream of the Platinum fliers.

Flying 100,000 miles is expensive for a leisure traveler. I held United 1K for a couple of years with less than $2,500 in spending on flights annually, but then there was another $1,500 or so for my wife’s flights. And then add another $4,000 to $5,000 for lodging, and then add daily expenses when traveling. 

$4,000 to $5,000 in airfare was one expense I had to cut back, about 30% of my annual travel budget, to have some money available to put into Loyalty Traveler business expenses. Loyalty Traveler was founded as a business for explaining the value of elite status with travel loyalty programs and ironically I had to give up elite status air travel to conserve resources for the business. I hope to get back to a much higher level of air travel in the next year or two.

Right now my focus is maintaining high elite status in a couple of hotel programs – Hyatt Gold Passport and Starwood Preferred Guest – for my hotel travel. I just suffer like the masses when I have to get on a plane.

Ed Perkins wrote a piece on SmarterTravel.com, “Dollars Trump Miles as a Measure of Airline Loyalty”. Ed had an issue with upgrading a United flight using miles. He could not get an advance confirmation of the upgrade.

My experience of traveling around the world as a United 1K was a blast when I could buy a $600 ticket from California to Singapore, upgrade my ticket to a business class seat with a systemwide certificate (SWU), hang out at the international lounge in SFO before the flight, and then pop into the United Red Carpet Club at Narita Airport Tokyo for a free shower and a couple of glasses from the automatic beer dispenser. My cheap economy ticket also allowed me to earn 40,000 to 50,000 redeemable miles and 18,000 to 36,000 elite qualifying miles depending on promotions.

The problem with all that lovely treatment as a United 1K is that travel with my wife Kelley wasn’t always as fun. I’m not talking about a need for Tiger Woods entertainment without the wifey. I am talking about the fact that my United Airlines Mileage Plus elite status regularly provided upgrades for me, domestic and international. However, Kelley’s low level elite status, and sometimes even as a Premier Executive, frequently did not allow her to clear the upgrade list. We often traveled separately on the same plane to Europe with me in her assigned economy class seat and her in my upgraded Business Class seat.

Mom & Dad’s Florida Vacation

My parents have learned the value of Starwood Preferred Guest elite status – especially since they do not have it. This morning I received a call from my mom vacationing in Florida. Their hotel travel tally so far is three Starwoods and a Hilton in Florida. I asked them to take pictures of the view from each bedroom window at their hotels.

Hotel websites are generally good about photos of the hotel entrance, the lobby, restaurants, and pool.

Hotel websites rarely show a prospective guest the view from the less desirable side of the hotel. I am struck by the number of times I stay at a hotel and receive the preferred view and think this was a good deal. And I consider all those people I see coming out of their room located on the other side of the hallway and I wonder, “Do you feel like you’ve been cheated with this hotel stay?”

So my mom tells me they had a nice size room at a Sheraton in Fort Lauderdale, but faced the parking lot for the multi-night stay. Then, it was the Sheraton in Key West at a resort property on the beach, but their room was not facing the beach side of the hotel. Then, her description of the room in Coral Gables was “nicely furnished, but the room was miniscule.” She said the rooms are nothing like I get when I stay at Starwood Hotels.

“Elite Status” is my Two Word Response

Earning elite status with a hotel chain is really a much easier affair than airline frequent flier programs. Playing the 100,000 mile game with airlines is a matter of either several long-haul international trips or a whole lot of domestic flying. Hotel loyalty high-level elite-status is something many travelers can earn without even leaving town. You will appreciate your effort when you take that $3,000 beach resort vacation and spend the week looking at the beach from your hotel room window and balcony.

Here is the view from my room when I stayed at the Westin Mission Hills near Palm Springs, California.

Westin Mission Hills - Room with a View

I received an upgrade on my Cash & Points stay to a golf course view preferred room. A general member of SPG on the same rate would be more likely to have received a room with this type of view across the parking lot.

Westin Mission Hills Resort – the other side of the hotel

Stays Count Double through January 31, 2010 with Hyatt Gold Passport

(The Next Big Thing registration required)

Hyatt Gold Passport is offering double stay credit for elite status through January 31, 2010. Elite status is based on paid stays completed in a calendar year. This means you can earn Hyatt Gold Passport Platinum level elite membership with just 3 stays in January or Diamond elite with 13 stays. The elite status you earn with Hyatt Gold Passport in January 2010 during stays count double will remain valid for over two years through February 2012.

Between fast-track elite status and Costco Hyatt Check Certificates at a 20% discount, the cost to earn high elite Diamond status with Hyatt can readily be accomplished for under $1,000 in many places while earning free nights for a fantastic February or March 2010 resort vacation. Check out your local Hyatt Place hotel rates. You can even go upscale Hyatt at a bargain with low January rates in many locations. The Hyatt Regency San Francisco was over $250 per night for most of summer 2009 and is less than half that rate for most weekends in January 2010. San Diego hotels are an incredible bargain right now.

Starwood Preferred Guest instant SPG Gold elite for New Members

Starwood Preferred Guest has offered a “stays count double” promotion every year for the past several years. Take advantage of the offer if it comes around next year and you can set yourself up with high-level elite-status.

Seriously, when you are spending a couple of thousand dollars for a vacation, a little bit of annual hotel planning can put you in that beach resort hotel on the beach side of the hotel rather than the resort view of the parking lot.

If you are new to Starwood Preferred Guest and you would like to receive instant SPG Gold elite membership, valid through February 2011, then just send me an email ricgarridolt@gmail.com. With my SPG Platinum member referral, you can be registered for 1,000 bonus points per night ($35 value) at Starwood Hotels through March 31, 2010 and you will receive an instant upgrade to SPG Gold Elite membership. And I get 1,000 points if you actually stay in a Starwood Hotel by March 31. A win-win-win deal for you, me, and Starwood.

Hotel Loyalty Program Links:

Hyatt Gold Passport “The Next Big Thing” Promotion

Hyatt Gold Passport Platinum elite benefits (lower-tier elite)

Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond elite benefits (higher-tier)

Starwood Preferred Guest Gold elite benefits

Starwood Preferred Guest Platinum elite benefits

Loyalty Traveler posts:

Passports with Purpose Win 50,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points

Earn 2,500 airline miles with every two nights at Hyatt brand hotels (Oct. 5, 2009)

Hyatt Faster Free Nights + Stays Count Double promotion analysis Oct.1 – Jan 31, 2010 (Sep 19, 2009)

Hyatt Gold Passport Enhancements – And they really are enhancements (April 2, 2009)

Coach Air Travelers to Pay for Premium-class Excess?

Joe Brancatelli has a great read from the Washington Post on the long term outlook for air travel.  He predicts the economics of premium cabin extreme makeovers these past few years will result in higher economy class fares for the leisure traveler coming soon as the profitable premium-class flyers dwindle.

When it comes to hotels the Early Bird gets Hosed

Sarah Nassauer had a piece in the Wall Street Journal March 31, “Travelers find it pays to wait for late deals”.  The article cites data from Travelocity’s senior editor, Genevieve Shaw Brown, indicating hotel guests received average room rates 20% lower within 30 days of travel compared to reservations made more than 60 days before travel.

My observations for San Francisco over the past year show the lowest rates typically occur between 7 and 14 days prior to travel for upscale San Francisco hotels.

Cool Hotel Websites

Adam Kirby, associate editor of Hotelsmag.com, had a visually stimulating piece “Web Designers Name Favorite Hotel Sites”.  I liked seeing what designers like in a web site.

I really do intend to put LoyaltyTraveler.com back online this year and I was looking for ideas.  The capital Catch-22 for a small business is you need money to make money. I’ve been in short supply.

Europe Hotel Rates Decline but Brits are Still Too Broke

The Telegraph, a British paper had an April 6 article by Charles Starmer-Smith “European Hotels Cut Rates” showing the steep decline in European hotel rates of 10% to 25% since November 2008. The impact of the Sterling’s value dropping 20% against the Euro during the same period means hotel rooms are still more expensive for Brits traveling to the continent.

Hawaii Hotel Rates Near Record Decline

USA Today published a piece by Jaymes Song, AP writer, “Hawaii Hotels have worst February in 18 Years”.  Hawaii had its worst hotel room occupancy for February in 18 years since Gulf War # 1. Apparently February is normally the busiest month of the year in Hawaii. Occupancy varies across the islands with Oahu doing the best at 78% and the Big Island Hawaii down to 64%.  Rates were down across the board, but after several years of huge annual increases the hotel rates are still no bargain. The average daily rate is still $187 per night after a 12% decline over the past year. 

Hotels are crying about revenue, but at Hawaii RevPar $140 in this downturn compared to $74 in late 2001, I say that still looks like some impressive growth – something like 10% per year average since 2001. I am not a hotel economist so perhaps the data is worse than it appears to me.

Does Priceline help the local economy?

Tom Belden had a piece in the Philadelphia Inquirer, “Winging It: Bad business climate means good hotel rates”. This article cites PKF Hospitality Research saying the decline in hotel profits, about 30% in 2009, will be the greatest one year decline since the 1930s. Interesting that the article mentions hotel stays as a frugal and civic minded way to help your local community. In the end the writer books a $65 Priceline stay at the Sheraton City Center. 

As Loyalty Traveler I advocate local hotel stays as a frugal and civic minded staycation strategy to reach elite status that pays off on the real out-of-town vacations.  But I advocate booking through the hotel’s website.  

Does Priceline help the local economy? I guess so, since the hotel guest will likely spend money at businesses in the vicinity of the hotel.  A direct booking with the hotel probably helps more.

Tim Winship  - Commandeering  the campaign for more frequent flier awards, temporarily at least

“Survey finds no improvement in frequent flyer awards” – Tim Winship

548 people have spoken to Smarter Travel and Frequentflier.com. Award tickets to Europe are easier to get these days. 

Apparently the frequent flier programs are lining up the miles for paying customers with all the ongoing double and triple elite miles offers. When it comes time to spend your miles earned from all those flights that made you an Executive-1KChairman-Platinum elite flyer, the airlines are still being stingy.

Tim thinks the airline’s are missing a great opportunity for customer relations by holding back award seat inventory in this economic climate.

Kimpton Hotels Had a Birthday and I missed it

Last week was a bad time to miss out on emails. I missed the Kimpton Hotels $81 sale .  The basic deal was $81 per night for a two-night stay at nearly any Kimpton. Reservations were accepted from Thursday April 2 to Sunday, April 6, 3pm Pacific time. By Saturday, April 4, two days into the sale there were few properties left.  There were still some rooms at three or four San Francisco Kimptons when I finally saw the Kimpton sale.  

Hilton HHonors announced their HHonors second quarter promotion for 1,000 points per night.

www.hiltonhhonors.com/1000bonuspoints The offer runs from April 13 to June 30 and registration is required.

On a Personal Note:

The past two weeks I have seen project deadlines, relative visitors, and the flu – first for K and then for me.

We did work in a stay at the Hyatt Highlands Inn in Carmel and had another wonderful visit in our wannabe home away from home where the mountains meet the sea. The irony was our stay in the Carmel Highlands was the only day with fog for the entire week. 

K started chemotherapy this week for her rectal cancer and I feel like I acquired “chemo brain”.  

Really – it is a published side effect of mental fog for cancer patients (and based on my experience chemo brain is contagious like the flu). Perhaps this week, now that the fog has temporarily lifted, I will get back to writing on hotel loyalty program developments.

Sunset view from Highlands Drive (above Hyatt Highlands Inn), Carmel, California

Delta Airlines JFK

The loyalty race moves to the airlines with an offer from Delta for a fast-track to elite status promotion. We have seen the hotel chains trying to grab a loyal customer base with Starwood and Hyatt offering elite fast-track promotions already in 2008. I expect at least one other airline to follow pace in this competition for capturing 2008 market share for the traveling public.

Delta SkyMiles Promotion Terms & Conditions

Offer:

Earn double Medallion Qualification Miles/MQMs on all Delta-coded flights booked and purchased on delta.com between March 31 and April 30, 2008 and flown between March 31 and June 30, 2008.

Eligibility:

You must be a new or existing SkyMiles member with a U.S. mailing address in your SkyMiles account to take advantage of this offer. To participate in this offer, eligible members must register online between March 31 and April 30, 2008.

Travel Period:

Travel must be between March 31 and June 30, 2008. All travel must be completed by June 30, 2008.

Validity:

Medallion Qualification Miles are based on a multiple of distance flown and fare class purchased for qualifying flights and do not include bonus miles. Medallion Qualification Miles are used for Medallion status qualification and are based on calendar year activity.

Miscellaneous:

Medallion Qualification Miles will post to the SkyMiles account of the qualifying member 6-8 weeks following the end of the promotion, which is June 30, 2008.