Twitter followers of @PriorityClub (currently at 3,495 followers at the time of this post) enter the contest with a tweet answering the question ”What would you do with a free night?” 

Today is Day 1 of the contest and there are still a few hours left to enter for the Tuesday, September 20 giveaway of 50 free room nights. Read the rules carefully before submitting your tweet to improve your chances of winning 40,000 points and the value of those points if you redeem your free night for a top tier InterContinental Hotel.

IHG launched a new Best Rate Guarantee (BRG) policy today that offers the first night free with an approved claim for a same room, same terms, lower rate  found on a third party online travel agency site. I’ll write up the BRG policy in a post tomorrow. The Twitter contest is simply a PR promotion for the new BRG policy and a good odds opportunity for winning a free hotel night.

Link to Priority Club Contest description.

Link to detailed Twitter Contest Terms and Conditions.

• Contest runs as five separate days of giveaways for 50 room nights each 24 hour period.
• Day 1 is Tuesday September 20 12:00am ET and ends September 20 11:59pm ET. The contest continues for each day through Saturday, September 24.
• Follow @PriorityClub on Twitter.
• Tweet a response in English to the question “What would you do with a free night?”
• You may enter once each day of the contest.
• This is a contest. Tweets will be judged on originality (50%), Creativity (40%) and Enthusiasm (10%).
• Winners will be notified by Twitter Direct Message.
• Read the rules yourself before making a submission as these are just some of the rules I thought relevant to readers.
• The short rules state you must add “#bestrateguarantee” to the end of the tweet and the detailed rules state you must have #BestPriceGuarantee http://bit.ly/rulesihg  at the end of the tweet.   I added the rules link just to be sure the submission is eligible, but that shortens the available characters for a question response in the 140 character Twitter limit for the total message.

This Twitter contest is open to residents of the U.S.  (including D.C.), the U.K (excluding Northern Ireland) and Canada (excluding Quebec).

Priority Club Tweet-to-Win Contest Sep 20-24, 2011

Hat tip to AJ, a new BoardingArea blogger with Live from a Lounge.

Note: This post was updated September 21 to reflect the fact that Priority Club Tweet-to-Win prize winners receive 40,000 points rather than a free night credit.

The good news:

• You can earn one free night after two stays, up to five free nights during the promotion period September 20-December 31, 2010.
• You can redeem free nights beginning November 1, 2010 for hotel stays from December 1, 2010 through May 31, 2011. Free nights can be booked at http://www.priorityclub.com/bookfreenights
• Sweet Dilemma free nights offer appears to be combinable with the Crack the Case promotion.

 The bad news:

• Asia-Pacific region IHG hotels are not participating in the free nights portion of this Priority Club promotion. You cannot earn free night credit or redeem free nights in Asia-Pacific hotels. Stays in Asia-Pacific region are eligible only for double points or miles portion of this promotion offer.
• If you register for free nights, then you will not earn any base or elite points or miles during the promotion period from September 20 through December 31, 2010, even after you maximize the free night offer of five nights. So if you complete 10 IHG hotel stays by October 1, you will earn five free nights but you will be ineligible for earning base points and elite points on all your paid stays for the remainder of 2010.
• Free night reservations may not be cancelled without forfeiting free night credit.
• Double points or miles begins with second stay at any IHG hotel worldwide.

Loyalty Traveler Analysis:

Two stays at a Holiday Inn and you can have a free night at an InterContinental Hotel. Most Priority Club members will likely get the best value from free nights. A free night is worth 30,000 or 40,000 points for an InterContinental Hotel. This promotion is potentially worth an equivalent 200,000 points for someone who maximizes the use of free nights at upper tier InterContinental Hotels.

The general consensus among Priority Club members on the value of points is $6 per 1,000 points. The five free nights offer has a potential $1,200 promotion bonus value. Redeeming your free night for a $240+ InterContinental Hotel night is likely an easy exchange to find considering the high cost of luxury class InterContinental Hotels.  Just remember that you cannot use free nights for Asia-Pacific region hotels.

I see this IHG offer as a low entry promotion given the easy access to over 3,000 Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels with rates under $100 per night. Earning a high value luxury class hotel night for two stays costing under $200 is a great value promotion opportunity.

Earning five free nights for under $1,000 over the next few months is a way to meet your hotel needs this fall while earning enough nights for a high-value vacation in 2011. Five nights at a hotel like the InterContinental Amstel in Amsterdam next spring can easily be a $2,000 value.

I recommend throwing as many short hotel stays to Priority Club as your top alternative to your primary hotel program. And if Priority Club is your primary hotel program, then you may want to get your five free nights and shift some hotel stays over to another hotel program for extra bonuses this fall. The exclusion of base and elite points through December 31, 2010 for all stays completed after maximizing the free nights offer is a real drawback for high frequency Priority Club members.

You may have a not so sweet dilemma if Priority Club is your main program. Choosing free nights as a Priority Club platinum member means forgoing 25 points per $1 for your stays from Sep 20-Dec 31, 2010. It will take you $6,000 to $8,000 in hotel spend to reach the equivalent value of 150,000 to 200,000 points you will receive with free nights.

This IHG fall 2010 promotion announcement leaves only Hilton HHonors left to announce its major fall 2010 promotion. Starwood went with double base points based on nights and triple base points with 10 or more nights. Hyatt has 10,000 points per 5 nights. Marriott has MegaBonus offers for up to two free nights, but the free nights are only valid for the lowest 4 of 8 hotel award categories. Marriott also has triple miles. Compared to the other bonuses this is a high-value, low hurdle to earn promotion offer from IHG Priority Club.

Loyalty Traveler promotion rating = 5 keys (one of best promotions of 2010)

Links: IHG Priority Club Sweet Dilemma Promotion

Sweet Dilemma FAQ

Terms & Conditions clause shows combinability of Sweet Dilemma with Crack the Case promotion offer:

14. Frequency Credits:

(a) During Free Nights Promotion Period: Once registered for the Free Nights Promotion and during the Promotion Period, Members will not earn base or elite Priority Club points, airline miles, or any other frequency credit earning preference Members have chosen (“Frequency Credits”) for the room rate, food and beverage charges or any other incidental charges for any stays at any IHG hotel (except at hotels in those countries in which the Promotion is void), whether pursuant to this Promotion or otherwise, even if the Member has previously registered for, or is otherwise qualified for, another promotion and even if the Member has already earned the maximum of five Free Nights during the Promotion Period. In other words, participation in this Free Nights Promotion excludes the receipt of base and elite Frequency Credits for stays from the date of registration for this Free Nights Promotion until December 31, 2010. Bonus Frequency Credits, however, will be awarded pursuant to the terms of any other promotion in which Member is participating.

InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club Sweet Dilemma Fall 2010 Promotion

52 Aloft and Element Hotel locations

There are currently only seven Element Hotels. There are 45 Aloft Hotels open for this promotion with 40 in the US/Canada and 5 international hotels with two in Chennai and Bengaluru India, and one in Beijing, Brussels, and Abu Dhabi. There are probably high value redemption opportunities available after October when the two New York Aloft Hotels open in Harlem and Brooklyn.

Promotion Registration Required

Register for this promotion by September 30, 2010 at www.SPG.com/aloftandelementfreenights.

Element Hotel lobby Summerlin-Las Vegas

Aloft Hotels ranked #4 out of 15 Upscale Hotel Segment brands on the JD Power 2010 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study released two weeks ago. Personally I do not think the brand should be in the upscale segment of hotels. They are colorfully catchy, but in a midscale hotel sort of way as far as the room goes. The limited room seating is a major drawback. I prefer the standard Hyatt Place room myself for a comfortable room design with a big couch separated from the bed. The lobby socializing is the best aspect of Aloft hotels in my opinion.

Element Hotels are an eco-design extended stay brand with kitchen area. I find the Element Room design very comfortable and a good place to hang out for an extended time.

Loyalty Traveler Hotel Reviews:

Aloft Portland Airport (PDX) Cascade Station

Element Hotel Summerlin (Las Vegas)

Overall promotion value: This is a good promotion (4-key) if you are in the right places with these hotel brands. The rebate of a free night will be a high value.

For many of us like me who live hundreds of miles from the nearest participating hotel, this is just a 3-key promotion due to limited time offer for the promotion and limited availability of hotels.

Portland Cascade aloft lobby and wxyz bar

Radisson Blu wants to give you 365 nights over five years for the greatest holiday in the world at your choice of over 200 Radisson Blu hotels.

Europeans – this one is for you. First, you must be an EU citizen or a citizen of Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway, or Switzerland to enter the competition.

Second, you must tell why “I deserve to win 365 hotel nights”.

Third, upload photos and/or videos to support your claim.

Fourth, to win the 365 hotel nights grand prize you must receive the most votes for your entry by July 24, 2010. Candidates can only enter once, but anyone in the world can vote. People can vote once per day.

Contest entry and information. Here are tips for running a campaign to win this 59,000 EUR prize.

Hotel nights must be used by August 1, 2015 or remaining prize nights expire.

I particularly like the 2010 World Cup party idea. World Cup has cut down my productivity these past 18 days.

Go Netherlands. This might finally be your year…if you survive the Brazilian giants Friday.

Registration is required for this promotion and the offer is only for residents of the USA, Canada, and the Caribbean Islands.

General members of Best Western Rewards are limited to one free night per member/household earned for this promotion. Best Western Rewards elite members may earn two free nights per member/household during the promotion period. Free night vouchers expire December 25, 2010.

Members who book stays online at Bestwestern.com and complete two stays during the promotional period earn an additional 250 bonus points. Pay with a Best Western cobranded MasterCard and you will earn an additional 1,000 points bonus. There is a maximum of one online booking bonus and one credit card bonus for this offer.

One piece of advice is to get your elite status match request to Best Western Rewards if you have not taken advantage of the elite “Status Match – No Catch” offer from Best Western’s loyalty program yet.

The terms and conditions “household” restriction sounds like there may be a limit of free night vouchers per household rather than just per member. This term is unclear to me. If I am elite and earn two free night vouchers, then is my wife who lives at the same address excluded from earning her own voucher?

Hotel night rewards from Best Western range from 8,000 points for a free night up to 36,000 points. Best Western Beach Resort in Monterey is a 36,000 points property. This property is actually located right on the sandy beach at the northern boundary of the city of Monterey. The story goes that Governor Jerry Brown in the 1970s seeing the hotel location directly on the beach of Monterey led to the coastal commission zoning act to require extensive review of development on the waterfront in California and maintain public access to the beach for any new development. For tourists the location of the Best Western hotel on the beach of Monterey is a great spot for children and tourists desiring an up close view of the sea and the city of Monterey across the water.

This is a great offer from Best Western Rewards. Two stays for as little as $50 or $60 per night and a free night or two in a $200 per night hotel makes this another great reason to plan on booking a hotel this summer. With over 4,000 Best Westerns to choose from there is hardly any trouble to take advantage of this summer offer.

To recap the summer free night offers: Hyatt Gold Passport – one free night at any Hyatt brand after two stays (ends June 30); Hilton HHonors – one free night at any Hilton brand after four stays or ten nights (ends June 30); Starwood Preferred Guest – one free weekend night (Fri, Sat, Sun) up to category 6 hotels systemwide after three stays (ends July 31). Carlson goldpoints plus – one free night at any Carlson hotel after two stays (ends Aug 31). Marriott Rewards – one free night up to category 4 hotel after three stays (ends August 31)

Best Western Monarch Resort, Pacific Grove, California

One BOGO code is for the member to use for a free night on a two-night stay with an arrival on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday. The second code is a one-time use code to be shared  with a family member or friend.

Barbara De Lollis, writer of Hotel Check-In for USA Today, mentioned this offer yesterday on her blog and when I checked my email I saw I had received the email from Omni Select Guest with two BOGO coupon codes.

Omni Select Guest allows members the choice between earning 500 miles per stay or a free night after every ten nights.

Omni Select Guest has 15 airline partners including American Airlines, United Airlines and Amtrak domestically. International partner airlines are Air France/KLM Flying Blue, ANA Mileage Club, British Airways Executive Club, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, China Eastern, Emirates Skywards, Etihad, Jet Airways, Lufthansa Miles & More, Qatar Privilege Club, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, and Thai Royal Orchid.

Omni Hotels has 43 hotels, all in North America, including one hotel in Montreal, Canada, two in Mexico, and the rest in the USA featuring a strong presence in Texas with 13 hotels.

Omni hotel locations.

Email Title and Content

An exclusive offer for Omni Select Guest loyalty members

 

As a valued Select Guest member, enjoy one complimentary weekend night this summer when you buy one night’s stay. Then we invite you to extend our family. Share the second code with your friends and family so they can enjoy a free night on us.

Select Guest Summer Weekend Night FreeEnjoy one complimentary weekend night this summer when you buy one night’s stay as an exclusive offer for members of our Select Guest loyalty program. If you received two codes, be sure to pass along to a friend or family members, so they can enjoy this special offer as well.

 

If you or your family or friends are not yet Select Guest members,

join now. There are immediate benefits and membership is complimentary.

TERMS & CONDITIONS: Select Guest membership required. Valid for arrivals on Thursdays, Fridays or Saturdays from May 29 through September 6, 2010 only. Based on availability.

Loyalty Traveler Rate Analysis

The rate quoted for a stay at the Omni Hotel San Francisco for two nights June 4-6, 2010 was $189 (plus tax) for the  first night and the second night is free.

The best rate I found for these same dates was a 25% weekend retreat promotion offering a 25% discount for a two night stay at $142 per night. The BOGO weekend offer at $216 all-in is a savings of over $100 on the $324 rate after tax for the otherwise lowest rate.

There are currently only 25 comments. Winner will be announced May 3.

Fairmont Newport Beach

Think your Mother deserves a stay at the lovely Fairmont Newport Beach for Mother’s Day? Visit and become a fan of Newport Beach at http://bit.ly/bZXa9D and see contest details. You could be entered to win a 1-Night Weekend Stay at Fairmont Newport Beach in a Junior Suite with Complimentary Valet Parking and Breakfast for 2 in Bambu Restaurant. You must be a fan of us and the Southern California-Newport Beach.

Winner will be announced on May 3rd. Good Luck!

Free nights are still valid at category 6 hotels. There are only about eight category 7 hotels that even offer standard rooms, so the exclusion of category 7 hotels for this weekend free nights promotion is not much of a restriction.

Hyatt free nights after two stays are valid at all hotels and Hilton’s free night only excludes all-inclusive properties and Hilton Vacation Club. Hyatt and Hilton free nights may be used any day of the week. Starwood free nights are only for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights, unless otherwise stated for some locations.

Starwood’s extended time frame of 7.5 months for using free nights should help award night availability. Finding award nights became tough at the category 6 hotels in August and September 2009 when everyone was seeking to use up their free nights before expiration.

This is a good deal even at three stays per free night. Anytime you can get promotion value equal to the cost of earning the award, then the promotion is high value. Finding hotels in the $100 per night range with Starwood is not too difficult in many locations and many category 5 and most category 6 hotels run $300+ per night at least some of the time, and some category 6 hotels run $300+ per night most of the time.

This will be a good time to go for SPG elite while earning free nights from hotel stays. The only thing better than a free $300 per night room is having Platinum status and getting a complimentary upgrade on your $300 per night room to the $600 per night suite. Suite upgrades are not guaranteed, but they sure seem to be a common occurrence in my SPG experiences of the past decade.

The challenge for the frequent guest now is to figure out where to lay your head. You have until June 30 to earn free nights with Hyatt and Hilton, and July 31 to earn free nights with Starwood.

Here is the summary from FlyerTalk per Starwood Lurker II as posted this morning.

• 1(One) Free Weekend Night award for every 3(Three) eligible stays.
• Registration begins 1 May 2010 and ends 30 June 2010. Only 61 days, so do not miss the window.
• Earning period begins 1 May 2010 and ends 31 July 2010.
• Redemption period begins 7 May 2010 and ends 19 December 2010.
• Awards are redeemable only at Participating properties from Categories 1 to 6.
• Free Weekend nights refer to any Friday, Saturday or Sunday except for properties otherwise stated.

Here is the SPG promotion Free Weekends link. The SPG registration link goes live on May 1, 2010.

See the Loyalty Traveler April 14, 2010 H.E.L.P. post for a summary of 25 or so current hotel loyalty program promotions and links.

April 14, Loyalty Traveler Current Hotel Loyalty Promotions Guide

The frequent guest has the choice of many hotel loyalty promotions with little guidance to their relative value. Loyalty Traveler’s summary of current hotel loyalty promotions and limited time offers for the frequent guest are shown below.

Rate discounts and loyalty program bonuses are two types of hotel chain incentives to consider when booking travel. 

Rankings are subjective and subject to change. Your specific travel pattern may result in some promotions ranking more favorably for you. When assigning a key rank I take into consideration the following factors and probably more: 

• The opportunity for a significantly high-value return on hotel spend in terms of a hotel rebate in free nights and discounted  hotel nights. 
• Current loyalty program promotions and offers from other hotel chains.
• Past loyalty program offers and rates for the specific hotel chain and loyalty program.
• Current economic conditions in the travel industry and hotel location.

Loyalty Traveler ranks the consumer value of hotel loyalty promotions on a Five Key Scale.

Five Keys = one of the best hotel loyalty promotions of the year.

Four Keys = high value rebate on the cost of hotel stays.

Three Keys = good value hotel loyalty promotion or rate offer

Two Keys = a bonus value if you play, but not necessarily worth going out of your way.

One Key = There is limited or no value. You are likely paying more than the bonus value.

April 14 HELP Summary for Current Hotel Loyalty Promotions by Program 

Best Western Rewards 

3-key Promotion $50 gift card after two stays by May 30 (March 30, 2010)

Elite Status Match Offer (February 19, 2010) FlyerTalk members are stating there is an accompanying offer for 5,000 bonus points after first stay.

Carlson Hotels – Goldpoints Plus

5-Key promotion: Award Nights On Sale through May 31: Radisson 50% off, Country Inn and Park Inn 25% off

4-Key promotion Country Inn & Suites Third Night Free is Truly a Free Night (March 18, 2010)

3-key promotion Up to Quadruple Points for stays through May 28, 2010 (March 31, 2010) This can be a 4-key or 5-key promotion if you have 4-night stays at a Radisson which combined with 50% free nights can be one or two free nights earned. 4x points is 80 points/$1. Top category hotel award at 50% discount is just 30,000 points. $800 on a 4-night stay will earn 65,000 points with online booking bonus.

Choice Hotels – Choice Privileges

3-key promotion Spring Promotion Stay Twice and Earn 8,000 points Feb 22-April 30

(good for free night at 1,500 hotels)

Hilton HHonors

4-key promotion Nine bonus airline miles promotions that may be combined with free night promotion (April 13, 2010)

4-key promotion Fast Ways to Free Stays (Earn a free night after every 4 stays or 10 nights through June 30) (April 7, 2010)

Hilton HHonors earn unlimited free nights through June 30 – Fast Ways to Free Stays promotion (April 4, 2010)

Hyatt Gold Passport

Limited Time Special Rate Sale US, Canada, and Caribbean (ends Wed. April 14, 11:59pm CST) Prepaid, nonrefundable rates for stays through July 5, 2010.

5-key promotion – Big Welcome Back promotion for one free night after every two stays March 26-June 30 (March 26, 2010)

5-key promotion – Hyatt Gold Passport Instant Platinum Elite and Diamond Elite Fast-track (Feb 21, 2010)

3-Key Limited Time Offer American Express Membership Rewards Hyatt $100 certificate for 2-night stay for 1,500 Membership Rewards points through May 31, 2010. Certificate valid in US, Canada, and Caribbean through December 30, 2010.

InterContinental Hotels Group – Priority Club

2-Key promotion Earn 200 miles or 1,000 points per night up to 20,000 points or 4,000 miles through April 30, 2010 (Dec 22, 2010)

Priority Club PointBreaks 5,000 points per night awards to June 30 (March 29, 2010)

IHG Friend & Family Hotel Rates (Dec 26, 2010)

Leading Hotels of the World (LHW) – Leaders Club Rewards 

3-key promotion – Earn 1 free night after every 5 hotel stays in 2010. Must stay in at least two different hotels. Bellagio in Las Vegas is LHW member. (April 13, 2010)

Marriott Rewards

5-Key promotion – May 1-July 31 New members of Marriott Rewards earn a free night after two stays  (April 5, 2010)

3-key promotion – $50 Gift card for weekend stays at Marriott to April 18 (Feb 24, 2010)

1-Key offer – Marriott Rewards Instant Redemption Awards (March 24, 2010)

Marriott Rewards Triple Airline Miles through April 30 (Feb 18, 2010)

Marriott Rewards 2010 MegaBonus Feb 1- April 30, 2010 (Dec 22, 2010)

Starwood Preferred Guest

4-key promotion $100 Amazon Gift Card for 2 Westin Stays in US/Canada by May 13 (Feb 20, 2010)

3-key promotion SPG link: Pay Your Birthyear Rate (This promotion can be an incredible savings or no savings depending on the hotel and your birthyear.) LT post 4/28/2009

3-key limited time offer Buy up to 20,000 Starpoints at 20% discount = $28/1,000 points. SPG link

2-key promotion SPG up to 4x points through April 15, 2010 (Dec 18, 2009)

1-key promotion Four Points Breakfast for a Buck (April 12, 2010)

Starpoints Airline Direct Deposit is Better for United, Continental, and Singapore miles (March 25, 2010)

Wyndham Rewards

2-key promotion Lufthansa Miles & More 1,000 miles per stay, up to 4,000 miles March 15-May 15.

Hotel Points-to-Miles Conversion Tables for 9 hotel programs and 7 U.S. airlines (March 30, 2010)

Other Offers:

5-key offer – Condé Nast/Competitours - Condé Nast/Competitours 250,000 miles giveaway for 200 words by April 30   (LT post April 9, 2010)

Frequentflyerbonuses.com – Five Years, Five Ways to Win (2005-2010)

Frequentflyerbonuses.com 5^th Anniversary Contest – Prize is $250 Marriott Gift card or 10,000 Spirit Airlines miles

Congratulations to Patrick Sojka of FFB for five years. Loyalty Traveler had its four year anniversary this month.

Nobody on FlyerTalk reports being successful in acquiring a free room reservation. I had planned to go for the Las Vegas Summerlin element only to be told it was not a participating property for this promotion. A free night is nice, but I learned a long time ago not to book  great hotel deals without a plane ticket already in place if it means a flight is necessary.

*** [original post content below]***

“I am not a plastic package” campaign is a Starwood Hotels Element extended stay brand hotel promotion for a free night over Earth Day weekend from April 22-25, 2010. The first 100 callers to reserve rooms at 1.877.ELEMENT (1-877-353-6368) on April 5, 2010 (starting midnight local time of hotel) and reference promotion code:

“GoGreen”

will receive a free room by bringing in 10 single use plastic bottles to be recycled.

Element hotels are currently open in Lexington, MA, Las Vegas, Baltimore, Denver, Dallas, Houston and Ewing, NJ. 

I was told by element hotel customer service agent that the Las Vegas Element is not participating in this promotion. Figures since Nevada doesn’t recycle using bottle deposits. In fact, Massachusetts is the only state of the six states with element hotels that participates in beverage container redemption deposits. 

Story link: http://www.hotelinteractive.com/article.aspx?articleid=16605