[April 2, 2012 Update: Daily Getaways is a travel sale offering the opportunity to buy up to 500,000 Priority Club points on Monday April 9.  This sale allows you to get 75,000 points for $461 and Priority Club Platinum status. My April 2 post in the link discusses strategies for buying points through the Daily Getaways flash sale.]

Earning 60,000 points in a calendar year means IHG Priority Club Platinum Status for the rest of 2012 and 2013. Priority Club Special offer: up to 50% Bonus*
Purchase points between March 30 and April 30, 2012 and earn up to 50% more points!
Buy 1,000 – 19,000 points: get a 20% Bonus
Buy 20,000 – 29,000 points: get a 30% Bonus
Buy 30,000 – 39,000 points: get a 40% Bonus
Buy 40,000 – 50,000 points: get a 50% Bonus

Priority Club has a variable purchase rate that decreases at higher points levels. The normal cost to buy points:

• 1,000 – 10,000 points = $13.50 per 1,000 points.
• 11,000 – 25,000 points = $12.50 per 1,000 points.
• 26,000 – 50,000 points = $11.50 per 1,000 points.

The lower purchase rate at 26,000 points means you can buy 33,800 points for $299 with the 30% bonus compared to paying $312.50 for 32,500 points when buying 25,000 points at $12.50 per 1,000 during this sale.

Buying at the Sweet Spots

Here are a few changeover spots on the Priority Club purchase chart where it is better to pay for an extra 1,000 points to get a better deal.

• $135.00 = 12,000 points for a 10,000 points purchase.
• $137.50 = 13,200 points for an 11,000 points purchase.

The rate drops from $13.50 to $12.50 per 1,000 points at 11,000 so it is better to buy 11,000 points than 10,000.

• $237.50 = 22,800 points for a 19,000 points purchase.
• $250 = 26,000 points for a 20,000 points purchase.

The bonus points increases from 20% to 30% at 20,000 points so it is better to buy 20,000 points with this sale rather than 19,000 points. You get 3,200 additional points for $12.50.

• $312.50 = 32,500 points for a 25,000 points purchase.
• $299 = 33,800 points for a 26,000 points purchase.

The purchase rate drops from $12.50 per 1,000 points to $11.50 per 1,000 points at 26,000 points. You can actually buy 33,800 points for less than buying 32,500 points with this sale.

• $333.50 = 37,700 points for a 29,000 points purchase.
• $345 = 42,000 points for a 30,000 points purchase.

The bonus points increases from 30% to 40% at 30,000 points so it is better to buy 30,000 points with this sale rather than 29,000 points. You get an extra 4,300 points for an additional $11.50.

• $448.50 = 54,600 points for a 39,000 points purchase.
• $460 = 60,000 points for a 40,000 points purchase.

The bonus points increases from 40% to 50% at 40,000 points so it is better to buy 40,000 points with this sale rather than 39,000 points. You get an extra 5,400 points for an additional $11.50.

• $575 = 75,000 points for a 50,000 points purchase.
• Overall rate = $7.67 per 1,000 points.

IHG Priority Club Platinum Status for $460 through December 2013.

There is always the Points & Cash trick for buying points at $60 per 10,000 points by booking a Points & Cash Reward stay, buying points and cancelling the stay. The points go into your account. But Points & Cash purchased points do not count as points for Priority Club elite status.

The advantage of buying points through this bonus points sale is these points purchases count as qualifying points for elite status. Priority Club members earn Gold elite after earning 20,000 points or Platinum elite after earning 60,000 points in a calendar year.

$460 to buy 40,000 points with this special offer will result in 60,000 points posting to your Priority Club account and you will attain Priority Club Platinum status for the remainder of 2012 and all 2013.

And besides the 50% bonus points on IHG stays as a Platinum member, you can get status matches to other hotel loyalty programs like Club Carlson and Best Western.

Links:

Priority Club Buy Points

Priority Club Elite Status Benefits

Update: Priority Club Points & Cash loophole.

So many of the comments to this post mention the Points & Cash trick to buy 10,000 points for $60. Here is how that works for those of you not familiar with the Priority Club Points & Cash Rewards process.

Priority Club members have the option when booking a standard reward to buy 5,000 points for $40 or 10,000 points for $60 towards the reward night cost. This is allowed if you are short points (you only need 15,000 points in your account to buy a 25,000 points reward night) or even if you have loads of points in your account.

Holiday Inn Express Hollywood Walk of Fame (Standard Reward Night = 25,000 points)

May 14-17, 2012 lowest published rate = $193.99 for prepaid, advance purchase rate. This hotel has a 3-night rate after tax of $672.59.

Or I can spend 75,000 points for 3 nights. Redemption value = $8.96 per 1,000 points.

Or I can spend 45,000 points + $180 for this hotel stay. Redemption value = $672 – $180 = $492.

$492 cash saved on room rate / 45,000 points = $10.94 per 1,000 points redemption value.

Another advantage of booking a reward night is many hotels offer higher category rooms for the same reward price. The $193 room was a standard room on a prepaid nonrefundable rate. I can book a King Bed Executive Suite using a Points & Cash reward for 45,000 points + $180 per night that would have cost $826 using the Best Flexible Rate that has the same cancellation terms as the Points & Cash reward.

The redemption value for my 45,000 points is now $826 – $180 = $646 / 45,000 = $14.35 per 1,000 points.

That is a high redemption value for Priority Club points.

 [Click on image to full size in separate window.]

This reservation can be cancelled up to 6pm on the day of arrival for this Points & Cash reward.

The Points & Cash trick comes into play when I cancel the reservation. I paid $180 for 30,000 points and that purchase is nonrefundable. 45,000 points were taken from my account to complete the 75,000 points reward transaction for this stay at the HI Express Hollywood.

After cancelling the stay I get to keep the 30,000 points and I effectively paid $60 per 10,000 points. I get back the 45,000 points from my account and my account balance goes from 73,724 to 103,724 points.

The Points & Cash trick allows me to buy 30,000 points for $180.

You need at least 5,000 Priority Club points in your account to book a 15,000 points Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn Express hotel buying 10,000 points for $60.

I don’t play this game, but it works for buying points at $60 per 10,000 points.

There is a limit of $240 in Points & Cash points purchases per day.

Priority Club Terms & Conditions

Priority Club Rewards “Points & Cash” is an option for obtaining a Reward Night. You may choose to redeem Priority Club points for a Reward Night in three ways: using your existing points for all required points for the desired Reward Night; using your existing points and 5,000 points purchased for US $40 to total the required points; or using your existing points and 10,000 points purchased for US $60 to total the required points. The total purchase on any single day may not exceed $240 US. Points & Cash Reward Nights may only be redeemed online at www.priorityclub.com. Point purchase amounts are subject to change by PCR. You must use a valid credit card for points purchase. Upon completion of the points purchase, you agree that the total dollar amount will be immediately charged to the credit card you specified. The cost for the points purchased is non-refundable. If the Reward Night is cancelled in accordance with these Terms & Conditions and with each hotel’s cancellation policy, the purchased Priority Club points will be re-deposited into your Priority Club Rewards account. Cash components of this award that are paid in currencies other than U.S. dollars will be adjusted by Priority Club Rewards, as needed, to reflect the USD equivalent of the non-USD payment at that time. All other Reward Night terms and conditions apply.

My perception as a top-elite member in several hotel loyalty programs over the past decade (but, not Marriott Rewards program) is life is good at the top of the elite chain, regardless of program. Reading about members’ experiences as elite Marriott Rewards Platinum, Hilton HHonors Diamond, SPG Platinum, Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond and IHG Royal Ambassador gives a general consensus that the benefits are very good in all these programs despite the differences in specific published benefits.

My loyalty experience, primarily with SPG, Hilton and Hyatt, is one that generally has provided thousands of dollars of more hotel value each year when staying enough hotel nights to earn that status with each of these hotel chains.

You as the consumer have the choice to move to a competitor program if you don’t feel you are being treated well. The reality that you might checkout for the last time keeps upscale and upper upscale hotels in most major loyalty programs working to keep your loyalty.

Marriott Rewards or Hilton HHonors for the frequent business traveler.

Many business travel frequent guests around the USA tend to favor either Hilton HHonors with about 3,800 hotels globally or Marriott Rewards, also with about 3,800 hotels globally. I think both of these chains have over 2,700 hotels in the USA for widespread geographic distribution.

The vast majority of these U.S. hotels are in the upper midscale chain segment with Hilton’s  Hampton Inn (1,700+ hotels) and Marriott’s Fairfield Inn and TownePlace Suites (900 hotels) or upscale Hilton brands with about 1,100 hotels (Hilton Garden Inn, Homewood Suites, Doubletree) and about 1,700 upscale Marriott brands (Courtyard, Residence Inn, SpringHill Suites). These brands are in far more locations like metropolitan suburbs, interstate highways and small towns compared to Starwood Four Points, Aloft and Element brand hotels, IHG Staybridge Suites and Crowne Plaza, and Hyatt Place or Hyatt House.

Holiday Inn Express and Holiday Inn are the only other brands with anywhere near the geographic coverage of Marriott and Hilton in the USA without dropping to predominantly midscale brands in Best Western, Choice, La Quinta and Wyndham.

Marriott and Hilton have upscale and upper upscale hotels in all major cities and many smaller cities. The option of Hyatt Gold Passport and Starwood Preferred Guest are strong competitor programs with high value defined benefits like suite upgrades and breakfast benefits when staying in resort locations and major urban centers. But travelers outside major urban centers need Hilton, Marriott or IHG if they want a program with a selection of upper upscale and luxury hotels to use for vacations with the points earned from business travel stays. And IHG has far fewer upper upscale and luxury hotels in the USA than Hilton or Marriott.

Link: Hilton, Marriott and IHG hotel brand market segments (Jan 15) lists the number of hotels in each brand for these three chains.

Marriott Rewards is a minor player for my travel pattern.

I am a leisure traveler and while Marriott Rewards is a hotel loyalty program where I see good value for points rewards, the Marriott hotel chain is not the best match for my current travel pattern. I tend to be in urban centers where SPG, Hyatt and IHG work well or rural areas where Choice, Wyndham and Best Western and IHG Holiday Inn Express work well. Marriott and Hilton in the rural areas tend to be quite a bit higher rates than the predominantly midscale brands. I would love to give Marriott Rewards a good year of travel, but that just hasn’t happened yet.

Most of my Marriott brand stays over the past decade have been via Priceline winning bids. I certainly wish I had 120,000 Marriott Rewards points right now to book JW Marriott LA Live for next month when I could get a $2,000 value from the points; by far the best deal in downtown Los Angeles for a reward stay I need for a 5-night travel conference.

But, I don’t have anything close to that number of Marriott Rewards points. The problem for me with Marriott Rewards is the recurring MegaBonus promotion for a free night reward after two stays is a great value promotion for free nights, but that doesn’t earn much in the way of points.

Working the Marriott Rewards MegaBonus.

$200 for two hotel nights might earn 2,000 Marriott Rewards points. A limit of two free night certificates per MegaBonus promotion means I can stay 8 nights a year, earn 8,000 Marriott Rewards points if I avoid Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites brands, and I’m still likely shy of Silver elite status earned by staying 10 hotel nights in a calendar year. Still I can earn four free hotel nights with only 8 paid hotel nights and about $800 in annual spend. Chances are I can get 12 nights in Marriott brand hotels and $1,600 in hotel stay value for $800 or less per year staying with Marriott Rewards and working two MegaBonus promotions per year.

Marriott Rewards is a good value hotel loyalty program to me for low cost hotel nights, but not a good program for maintaining high tier Platinum elite status requiring 75 nights.

I want to get the most nights for the least cost with plenty of high market segment hotel options when looking to redeem free hotel nights. I can usually maintain high level elite in two or three other hotel programs for the same number of nights as maintaining Marriott Rewards Platinum.

Of course you can always maintain Marriott Rewards Silver elite status just by getting the Marriott Rewards Visa credit card and its benefit of 10 or 15 nights elite credit every year.

If you are not yet a Marriott Rewards member, then you can sign up through a member referral and you both receive 2,000 points for the first 5 hotel stays.

Your elite status is bumped to the elite level you are trying to get for the three months after the month you enrolled in the Challenge according to Reports on FlyerTalk.

You can only apply for an elite challenge once every 12 months. You will need to wait another year if you do not complete the challenge in the time specified.

Your status reverts back to your old level if you do not meet the Gold Challenge goal of 12 nights or Platinum Challenge 18 nights in 90 days.

If you enrolled in a Gold/Platinum Challenge today, then you have the rest of March, April, May and June before your status drops back to Silver or general member.

Marriott Rewards Challenge Information

• You do not necessarily need elite status with another program to enroll in Marriott Rewards Gold or Diamond elite challenge.
• You will be upgraded to the elite level of your challenge (Silver, Gold or Platinum) immediately after enrollment in Marriott Rewards Elite Challenge.
• Your elite status will last for the month you start the Challenge and three full months following your enrollment month.
• FlyerTalk recent reports indicate your elite status will remain valid through February 2014 if you successfully meet the Challenge nights required, but it may only last through February 2013 if you enroll in the challenge before May 2012.
• Silver = 6 nights. Gold = 12 nights. Platinum = 18 nights.

This data is based on information from FlyerTalk as reported by Marriott Rewards members regarding elite challenges in January to March 2012.

FlyerTalk threads on Marriott Gold/Platinum Challenges:

Marriott Rewards Gold/Platinum Challenge (thread started Dec 19, 2011)

Platinum Challenge (thread started Aug 8, 2011)

Marriott Rewards Taste of Gold/Platinum promotion (thread started Jan 16, 2012)

Gold/Platinum Challenge valid to Feb 2012 or 2013 (thread started Feb 18, 2011) and includes response from Marriott Rewards customer service on Challenge requirements for a person enrolling Feb 2011.

I just enrolled in the Platinum Challenge (thanks to everyone on this site) and this is the email I received:

From: RewardsProcedures [mailto:rewards.procedures@marriott.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2011 2:48 PM
Subject: RE: Marriott Rewards Program

Dear F……,

Thank you for your reply.

I would be happy to extend an offer to you to conditionally upgrade your status to the Platinum Elite level. This new status would be valid until the following terms have been met.

You must stay 18 paid nights beginning with the date the offer is accepted, through May 31, 2011.

Once you have stayed 18 paid nights, the Platinum Elite status will be extended until February 2013. To retain this status for all of 2013, you would need to stay the qualifying number of nights during 2012. The Silver Elite level requires 10 personal paid nights, the Gold Elite level requires 50 personal paid nights, and the Platinum Elite level requires 75 personal paid nights.

Should you be unable to stay the 18 paid nights during this trial period, your account would be returned
to your original status, and you would need to stay the normal night requirements to regain this Platinum Elite level.

Elite nights earned through promotions that appear as non-stay nights in your account do not qualify for this offer.

Please reply to this email if you would like to accept this offer, and I will process the information.

Thank you for the opportunity to be of assistance and for making Marriott your preferred hotel chain.

Sincerely,

Internet Correspondence Specialist
Marriott Rewards Guest Services

Related Loyalty Traveler post:

Making elite with Marriott, IHG and Hilton (1-18-2012)

Members seeking a fast-track to SPG Gold (normally 10 stays or 25 nights in calendar year) or SPG Platinum status (normally stays or 50 nights in a calendar year) need to email a request for consideration of a “Stay Challenge” to platinum.liaison@starwoodhotels .

The SPG Platinum “Stay Challenge” criteria reported by several members indicate 15 nights in 90 days to earn SPG Platinum elite. Earning Platinum elite status in 2011 through a Stay Challenge or normal stays/nights qualification will provide elite benefits through February 2013.

I haven’t seen any information yet on the criteria for SPG Gold elite challenge.

Source: FlyerTalk – Starwood policy change related to Status Match Requests Beginning April 1, 2011

Hyatt Trial Diamond elite Offer

Hyatt gave away Gold Passport instant Platinum elite and Diamond elite status for most of 2009 and through mid-May 2010 to anyone who signed up in a series of elite promotions or asked for a status match from a competitor hotel loyalty program.

Hyatt eliminated its fast-track elite status promotion in May 2010, seven months earlier than posted for the promotion end-date. In November 2010 Hyatt stopped elite status matches from other programs.

Now Hyatt Gold Passport offers Hyatt Trial Diamond for members with mid-tier to upper-tier elite in Hilton (Gold/Diamond), Marriott (Gold/Platinum), Starwood (Platinum) and Priority Club (Platinum).

Hyatt Gold Passport requires 12 nights in 60 days after starting the Diamond Trial Challenge to maintain Diamond elite beyond the trial period. Normal qualification criteria for Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond is 25 stays or 50 nights in a calendar year.

The main difference with Hyatt’s challenge compared to Starwood’s Platinum Challenge is your status is bumped up to Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond elite during the 60 days of the trial offer and includes all the benefits and bonuses of Diamond membership.

Complete the 12 nights in 60 days and your Diamond elite membership qualification is met for 2011 and you will have Diamond elite status for all 2012 and through February 28, 2013. Members report receiving the four confirmed suite upgrades for Gold Passport Diamond elites during the Trial Diamond period.

An additional perk of the Diamond Trial offer is 1,000 bonus points per night on your first six nights of the Hyatt Diamond challenge.

Suite upgrades certainly make 12 paid nights at Hyatt Hotels more enjoyable while working to extend your Diamond membership beyond the trial 60 days.

Contact Hyatt Gold Passport customer service to request Gold Passport Diamond trial offer.

Related Links:

FlyerTalk – Hyatt Tier (Status) Matching Information

I have been writing a monthly column for Randy Petersen’s InsideFlyer magazine for nearly two years. My column is always original content that has not appeared on this Loyalty Traveler blog. My monthly column is also a free web access feature of InsideFlyer. I have links to all my InsideFlyer columns on the Ric Garrido page of my blog.  

Categorically speaking, I am predicting two steps up and one step back.

I am sharing my latest InsideFlyer column at the end of this post. The start of the 2011 year saw the return of Starwood Preferred Guest peak season hotel reward dates for category 5, 6 and 7 hotels after a two year absence. My column addresses the return of SPG peak season awards.

February and March are the months when we typically see hotel categories adjusted for the calendar year. Considering Marriott and Hilton raised category levels in 2010 for many of their upper end hotels in the midst of a two year recession does not bode well for this year’s hotel reward category changes.

Starwood made no attempt to lower hotel reward category levels last year; a move to be expected after several consecutive years of rapid rises from 2003 to 2008 attributed to rising average room rates. For some reason when room rates plummeted in 2009, the SPG hotel award category assignments did not follow suit. Granted there was an overall downward movement in SPG category assignment in 2009, but that was a small concession from SPG not repeated again in 2010. Here is my March 2010 article on Hilton HHonors hotel category shift and my April 2010 InsideFlyer column regarding hotel category assignments for 2010 with particular focus on SPG.

So what do the next two months have in store for hotel category shift?

Yesterday, the Washington Post ran an article citing positive economic indicators as a sign that hotel rates will climb in 2011. Higher rates are anticipated to rise disproportionately for business travelers relative to leisure travelers.

What I think this means is the leisure traveler is going to be screwed if needing a city center hotel during midweek business days or weekend conventions. We find ourselves back in 2007 mode where business travelers are gouged and leisure travelers are shut out with high prices for big city midweek hotels.

Fortunately there will still be opportunities for the flexible traveler who goes where the deals are located. And loyalty programs become even more vital in stretching your hotel dollars.

February 2011 InsideFlyer magazine Loyalty Traveler column:

Scaling Peaks of High Category Hotel Awards

SPG reinstituted peak season dates for Starwood Preferred Guest hotel rewards at 65 percent of its category 5, 6 and 7 hotels for 2011 and 2012. Over 100 Starwood hotels have peak season dates. Some hotels like the category 5 Westin Verasa Napa and Four Points Manhattan Chelsea have four months of 2011 peak season dates at 16,000 points per night.

Peak season dates master list: https://spgpromos.com/highseason

Earning Free Award Nights

SPG is an outlier among hotel programs for the amount of hotel spend needed for a free night at a high category hotel–even without peak season rates. SPG altered its hotel award structure over the past decade, adding category 6 and category 7 hotel award levels. A similar pattern of new higher category awards played out across the hotel loyalty world in the past few years including Marriott category 8, Hyatt category 6, Hilton category 7 and Priority Club tiers for Holiday Inn and InterContinental brands.

The structure for earning points is the most stable aspect of hotel loyalty schemes. Base points are loyalty points earned per dollar of hotel spend before any promotion or elite bonuses. The base points earn rate for SPG is 2 points/$1. Hyatt uses 5 points/$1. The standard for most major hotel programs is 10 points/$1.

Scaling High Category Awards

An interesting pattern emerges when base points earned per dollar are correlated to the cost of award nights at various category levels in different hotel programs. The amount of hotel spend needed to earn sufficient points for a free night at the highest award levels is similar across hotel programs–except Starwood Hotels.

Marriott Rewards highest category 8 hotel nights are 40,000 points. Earning 40,000 base points requires $4,000 in hotel spend. Priority Club top-tier InterContinental Hotels at 40,000 points take $4,000 in base spend. Lower earning brands at 5 points/$1 are ignored in this analysis. Hyatt Gold Passport category 6 awards at 22,000 points per night equate to $4,400. Hilton HHonors category 7 hotels at 50,000 points range from $3,334 in hotel spend for Points & Points earners to $5,000 for Points & Miles earners.

In contrast, earning 12,000 base points for a SPG category 5 standard hotel award requires $6,000 in spend or $8,000 for peak season nights. Starwood Preferred Guest is an outlier in this award pattern at the category 5 level, let alone SPG category 6 and 7 awards requiring 20,000 and 30,000 points for a standard free night. This correlates to $10,000 or $15,000 in hotel base spend.

HHonors and Marriott Rewards also have higher cost award nights for some Waldorf Astoria and Ritz-Carlton properties.

A Competitive Set Comparison of Marriott and Starwood

A debatable argument is SPG program high category hotels are higher quality hotels than other chains.

Hotels in a specific location and similar hotel market segment are in the same competitive set. Hotels in different chains but the same competitive set tend to have room rates on any given day within about 10 percent of each other.

St. Regis New York and Ritz-Carlton Central Park are two New York City luxury hotels in the same competitive set. Both hotels had an identical room rate of $895 per night for June 7, 2011 when I checked.

St. Regis New York is a category 7 SPG award hotel at 30,000 points for a standard free night. SPG members need $15,000 in hotel spend to earn 30,000 base points. Ritz-Carlton New York Central Park is the highest tier 5 hotel award at 70,000 points for a free night. Marriott Rewards members need $7,000 in hotel spend to earn 70,000 base points. Marriott Rewards members earn two free nights for the same level of spend the SPG member earns one night at the St. Regis. And this is without peak season rates at the St. Regis raising the price to 35,000 points per night for part of December 2011.

Comparing award nights using base points value ignores key points-earning components for loyalty members: elite bonuses, promotions and co-branded credit cards. SPG has a slight advantage at the Gold level with 50 percent elite bonus points. Other programs offer 10 to 25 percent bonus at mid-level elite. SPG’s elite advantage is lost at the SPG Platinum level where most programs match 50 percent elite bonus points for top-tier elites.

SPG needs high-value promotions to compensate for an uncompetitive award scheme at high category hotels. Bridging the hotel spend gap of $4,000 to $7,000 to earn the highest awards in most programs with $6,000 to $17,500 for SPG awards necessitates better promotions than double points on stays. Otherwise, high category SPG hotel awards are geared more for high-spend SPG credit card points earners than frequent guests.

I generally take the points, but now and then a bottle of wine and cheese plate is more impressive and appreciated as a gift to share with friends at the hotel. My wife and I have stuffed animals from Starwood Hotels in Australia and assorted Delft pottery around the house from stays at various Starwood Hotels in the Netherlands. Gifts are more common at hotels outside the U.S.

Fruit, cheese, bread, hors d’oeuvre plates are typical welcome amenities at full service upscale hotels.

Points are generally my choice since I don’t care too much for cheese, hors d’oeuvre or wine. How about a 6-pack of Stella Artois beer?

So, generally I bring my own beer and take points, unless I have friends visiting in the room.

The Value of Amenity Points

SPG Platinum and Hyatt Diamond amenity points really add up over the course of the year.

Assume 25 stays in 2011 (minimum qualifying stays to earn annual SPG Platinum or Hyatt Diamond elite).

SPG Platinum = 500 points per stay (250 points at Aloft, Element and Four Points brands)

25 stays x 500 points per stay = 12,500 Platinum elite welcome amenity bonus points.

Here is how I perceive the value of 12,500 Starpoints.

SPG Cash & Points reward night at any category 4 hotel requires $60 + 4,000 points.

My experience assures me there is high potential to save over $200 at a Starwood Hotel using 4,000 points for a SPG Cash & Points award with a $240+ nightly room rate. My stay at the W Chicago Lakeshore saved more than $200. I only paid tax on the $60 cash portion of the SPG reward night rather than 15% Chicago tax on the full $280 room rate.

SPG Platinum amenity points will likely have $300 to $600+ cash savings redemption value if 12,500 points are earned by the Platinum member in 2011 from 25 hotel stays. This is a high value opportunity for earning bonus points simply by checking in and turning down food or hotel credit.

Assume you take a $10 movie or mini-bar credit and you save $250 after 25 stays.

Points are generally worth more than the in-hotel amenity if you prefer earning free or discount reward nights from hotel stays.

Hyatt Diamond Amenity

Most Hyatt Hotels offer a choice of 1,000 points as a Diamond amenity. Hyatt Place and Summerfield Suites offer 500 points.

25 stays x 1,000 points = 25,000 bonus points

Hyatt category 6 hotel reward night is 22,000 points. Mid tier category 3 reward is 12,000 points.

25,000 points will likely have $400 redemption value.

Base points equivalent value shows the amenity points bonus is like having significant additional hotel spend on each hotel stay.

• SPG Platinum = 250 or 500 points ($125 or $250 base points equivalent value)
• Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond = 500 or 1,000 points ($100 to $200 base points equivalent value)
• Marriott Rewards Platinum = 1,000 points ($100 base points equivalent value)
• Hilton HHonors = 500 to 1,000 points ($50 to $100 base points equivalent value) 

Bottom line is top level amenity points are equivalent to spending an extra $100 to $250 for your hotel stay and the value of points can add around $300 to $600 in free room night rebate value to your annual hotel spend for top elite status with Hyatt or Starwood.  The value will likely be less for Marriott and Hilton members.

Elite is an annual strategy for many loyalty travelers. Hotel and airline travel offers so much more when you are elite. 

Personally I plan hotel stays throughout the year with the purpose of earning elite in my primary loyalty programs and free nights for cheap upscale lodging with other hotel programs.

Business travelers with 100+ nights per year paid by an employer may not care about counting hotel stays and analyzing the value of points and promotions. But as a frequent guest and traveler who generally pays my own way, I want to stretch my few thousand dollars in annual hotel spend as far as I can. 

When I spend $500 on hotel rooms I try and get $1,000 in hotel value. Over the course of a year’s hotel stays I tend to average that rate.

Meet Me in the Elite Line

You do not need to be a high roller to play the upgrade game. Airlines offer complimentary and certificate upgrades to elite frequent fliers. Hotels offer complimentary room upgrades to high level elite frequent guests.

Attaining top elite hotel loyalty member status takes anywhere from 10 to 50 eligible nights during the calendar year in the hotel program. Nights or stays required for high elite depends on the hotel program. How much you spend to earn elite status is a matter of your travel needs and preferences.

My travel anecdote I typically toss out to readers is top elite status in a hotel loyalty program can be $100 per night added value between bonus points, special offers, hotel amenity gifts, complimentary room upgrades, service issue points (points given when something goes wrong) and extra personal attention.

This value will be quite a bit lower for some frequent guests.  Depending on your travel pattern the added value of high elite may be $50 or less per hotel night.

Large full-service hotels have many rooms and room types and upgrade potential. Room upgrades will be far less in lower hotel market segments. For example, Hilton Hampton Inn, Hyatt Place, Marriott Fairfield Inn, Priority Club Holiday Inn Express properties are the kinds of places where upgrades may be few and far between.

Better room location and view is common for elites.  Frequent guests who commonly have extended stays of three or more nights may have reduced upgrade-to-suite potential. A hotel is less likely to give a suite upgrade to someone on a four-night stay compared to someone staying one night when the suite at check-in time is unsold for that single night.  

Current Fast-Track Elite Promotions

Here are two current promotions to jumpstart elite status at the mid-tier level while you consider the benefits and working your way to a higher level.

Currently Starwood Preferred Guest is offering Gold elite with four hotel stays by January 31, 2011 at three Starwood Hotel brands: Aloft, Element and Four Points. SPG Gold elite normally requires 10 hotel stays or 25 nights in the calendar year. You can earn one year of Gold elite for under $400 compared to around $1,000 without a fast-track promotion.

This offer allows registration until January 31, 2011 and all eligible stays completed during the promotion period are counted. So register and get counted for SPG Gold elite.

Marriott Rewards offers instant Gold Elite via an Air China offer requiring 12 nights within 90 days to maintain elite for 2011. Join Air China Phoenix Miles (Star Alliance member airline) for free.  The great thing about this offer is hotel rates are their seasonal lowest of the year over the next three months in many locations.

Marriott Rewards normally requires 50 nights in a calendar year making this fast-track elite available for 2011 at around $1,000 to $1,200 compared to $4,000 to $5,000 by the normal hotel stay requirement.

Marriott Rewards Silver requires 10 paid eligible nights in a calendar year, Gold is 50 nights and Platinum is 75 nights. These are the toughest standards for elite among the major hotel industry loyalty programs.

Elite rollover makes Marriott Rewards elite requalification a much easier task and places Marriott Rewards elite attainability on par with other hotel loyalty programs.

How Elite Rollover Works

Assume the Marriott Rewards member stayed 36 eligible paid nights in 2010 at Marriott brand hotels.  36 nights is 26 nights over Silver elite requirement of 10 nights and 14 nights short of Gold elite.

Elite rollover carries the extra 26 nights the member stayed over the 10 nights Silver elite threshold to the 2011 calendar year.

The Marriott Rewards member starts 2011 with 26 elite nights. Elite rollover nights from 2010 automatically qualify the member for 2012 Marriott Rewards Silver elite. The member needs just 24 nights in 2011 to qualify for Marriott Rewards Gold elite in 2012. Elite rollover reduces the Gold elite threshold for this sample member from 50 nights to just 24 nights in 2011.

Marriott Rewards credit card elite boost

Marriott Rewards Signature Visa credit card offers 10 elite qualifying nights annually with membership. Marriott Rewards Premier Visa offers 15 elite nights annually.

Sign up in 2011 for the Visa card and the member described above with 26 rollover nights elite credit for 2011 increases to 36 or 41 nights with the credit card elite nights. This Marriott Rewards member only needs 9 or 14 nights in all of 2011 rather than 50 nights to qualify for Marriott Rewards Gold elite for the 2012 calendar year.

This same elite rollover scenario now plays out for the 2011 calendar year with the recent announcement of 2011 elite rollover nights. Members can lock in 2013 elite status by planning Marriott Rewards hotel stays strategically in 2011.

Elite rollover makes Marriott Rewards one of the easier programs to earn elite status for loyal guests.

Elite Rollover Incentivizes Member Hotel Stays

The advantage of elite rollover for Marriott Hotels is a Marriott Rewards member incentive to stay more than the minimum nights for an elite qualifying level.

Many loyalty members move their hotel stays to another program once the desired elite status level is reached. For example, after 25 stays at Starwood Hotels in 2010, a member earns one extra Starpoint per dollar in spend through a current SPG promotion. Some members prefer to earn promotion bonuses like a free night after every two stays with Priority Club or perhaps elite status with another hotel program rather than stick with Starwood Hotels for stays at the end of the year once top level SPG Platinum elite status has been earned for 2011.

Marriott Elite Rollover incentivizes the Marriott Rewards member to keep staying with Marriott brand hotels in 2010 since all nights over the elite threshold rollover for a head start on 2011 qualification for 2012 calendar year elite status with Marriott Rewards. Marriott Rewards elite rollover in 2011 will keep some members locked into Marriott Rewards through 2013 for easy elite.

Marriott Rewards is the lone hotel loyalty program offering an elite rollover incentive. After three consecutive years of elite rollover, time will tell if 2011 is the last calendar year Marriott offers this unique loyalty program feature. The hotel economy is predicted to improve greatly in 2011.

And will any other hotel loyalty program follow Marriott’s lead with its own elite rollover promotion?

JW Marriott San Francisco

Hyatt Diamonds may not be getting a suite upgrade on a Priceline booking, but you may receive Welcome Amenity points and you may earn points on other charges to your room.

Marriott Rewards members state receiving access to the hotel Club Lounge and Club Level rooms and earning points on incidental spend.

I was upgraded to a suite and lounge access at a Hilton Hotel one time when I was HHonors Diamond on a Priceline stay.

Register Your Hotel Loyalty Membership Number to OTA Bookings

Add you hotel loyalty membership number to any third party hotel reservation after your booking is confirmed by the OTA. Call the hotel, email, or take time at the check-in desk to register your hotel membership number to the reservation.

There is nothing to lose and high potential for gain when your hotel stay receives some loyalty recognition during your stay like a room upgrade, breakfast and internet, even if no elite stay credit is earned for the third party OTA booking.

The End of the OTA Merchant Model

Most hotel loyalty programs do not recognize loyalty members who book through third-party online travel agencies (OTA) due to the high cost of distribution for the hotel owners with the OTA Merchant Model.

I read an article this morning by Max Starkov – “End of the OTA merchant model – this time for real” providing some numbers on the OTA Merchant Model.

The data cites 20% to 25% room rate as a typical fee for the hotel to sell a room via an OTA.

For example: Expedia sells a room for $100. The room is also selling for $100 on the hotel’s own websites. Expedia makes $25 when it sells the room. The hotel loses on a room it did not sell directly to the guest. The hotel loses about 90% of that $25 Expedia gained through an indirect sale.

Seems to me consumer logic would indicate more hotel guests would like the added value of hotel points, free breakfast, internet and other amenities provided when booking sufficient volume through a specific loyalty program to earn elite membership and its value-added perks.

Comparing straight room rates for any specific major brand hotel, the hotel websites sell the room for the same price as an OTA like Expedia and Travelocity.  Hotel websites offer Best Rate Guarantee terms to provide an additional discount or benefit if a lower rate than the hotel sites low rate is found on an OTA site elsewhere.

Yet, hotels have seen the OTA share of bookings for the top 30 hotel brands rise from 25.4% in Q3-2008 to 37.5% in Q3-2010. This has occurred in the past two years while hotel loyalty programs have been offering the most rewarding loyalty incentives in years.  The proportion of people booking hotel rooms outside the hotel’s own websites has risen despite offers for free nights and huge points bonuses through hotel loyalty programs.

So are consumers ignorant to the value of hotel loyalty programs as hotel guests or are they really getting incredible savings with OTA bookings?

Travel packages where the hotel is bundled with a car or flight and opaque sites like Priceline and Hotwire where the hotel is not known until booked are popular as other cheaper options than published room rates. Bidding database forum sites like BetterBidding.com and BiddingforTravel.com can assist you in narrowing the likely hotels you will book into when submitting a successful bid for a hotel room on an opaque site like Priceline.

OTA indirect booking  v. Hotel site direct booking

The tide of OTA popularity during the period of extraordinarily low hotel rates in 2009 and 2010 may keep rising and make trouble for hotels seeking to push rates higher and faster in 2011.

Enjoy elite benefits on your third-party bookings when you get them. The economics of hotel booking channels make this a highly generous practice as a common courtesy for their elite loyalty program members at Hyatt and Marriott hotels.

My only experience this year with an OTA booking for a major hotel brand was a Hyatt Place Orlando Airport booking that Gold Passport refused to recognize as a Best Rate Guarantee valid claim even though I booked the hotel for $90 less than the Hyatt website wanted. I was a bit grumpy on arrival at missing out on a hotel stay credit in what I still feel was a wrongfully denied BRG claim, but that feeling quickly dissipated when I entered the hotel lobby to find free food and beer in a hotel happy hour.

Please share your experiences with hotel loyalty elite status and third-party OTA bookings.

Did you receive elite recognition and benefits?

FlyerTalk – Marriott Benefits on OTA Stays

FlyerTalk – Hyatt Benefits on OTA Stays

Anarchy Loyalty in the U.K.

Cornell Panel talks distribution management, customer loyalty (Nov 16)

Expedia on how to grow your ADR without impacting occupancy (Nov 29)

Last night I ate dinner with a 400,000 mile per year frequent flyer and leisure traveler InterContinental Royal Ambassador. He showed me his certificate for complimentary Royal Ambassador status to another person. One of the perks of being Royal Ambassador is complimentary in-room mini-bar items.

So how does one reach these invitational über-elite status levels?

Being someone with influence, high spend, frequent stays, and true loyalty revenue potential.

There is a FlyerTalk thread on Hyatt Courtesy Card über-elite status. Here is my favorite line from the Hyatt thread in an experiential post from Hyatt Courtesy Card member InJapan:

“Sometimes, you get the very best suite the hotel has to offer, the very best means you are walking a long way from kitchen to bedroom. These are the rooms usually featured on the hotels homepage, with super sized entry, separate living area, office, kitchen, and a workout area in the bathroom.”

Well, perhaps this sentence from the post is even more entertaining –  

“Is there anything above CC? Probably the only thing better is being one of the owner’s children.”

Here is a link to a 13-photo display of the Courtesy Card package, materials and card. The package comes with a robe.

There is also an article in October 2010 Executive Travel magazine by Alessandra Bianchi about these über-elite status levels – The New VIP Hotel Experience.