Thousands of Hyatt Gold Passport members are half-way to a free night after checking out of a Hyatt Hotel today, October 1, 2009. Hyatt Gold Passport’s “The Next Big Thing” promotion is huge this year with Faster Free Nights, Stays Count Double, and bonus United miles available in combinable promotions.

In August, I was speaking with Barbara DeLollis of USA Today and discussing with her the current hotel loyalty program climate of 2009 as the best year in the past decade for hotel loyalty program promotions.

I’ve had the equivalent of $3,000+ in free hotel nights over the past six weeks with Starwood Preferred Guest staying at the St. Regis San Francisco, St. Regis Monarch Beach in Dana Point, W San Francisco, and Westin Napa Verasa. The hotel stays in May during Starwood’s Stay 2 times and earn a free weekend night only cost me $1,800 for the 16 hotel stays to earn 8 free nights.

And now Starwood is offering double elite credit for the remainder of 2009 for current SPG elite members. My SPG Platinum elite status provided added value, including full two-room suites at several hotels.

In August, I stayed in some low cost Holiday Inn hotels while traveling.  Priority Club’s Stay 2 nights and earn a free night allowed me to redeem a free hotel stay at the $300 per night InterContinental San Francisco. Too bad their promotion was limited to four free nights.

As a Hyatt Diamond elite member (25 stays or 50 nights) I recently received a free night credit for a Hyatt Place or Summerfield Suites to use by the end of 2009. As a SPG Platinum member (25 stays or 50 nights) I received a free night credit for any Starwood Hotel up to a Category 5 to use by the end of 2009. Ken Burns’ National Parks documentary has really stoked my interest in driving through Yosemite to stay at the Westin Monache in Mammoth Lakes this month before snow season begins.

I have stayed twice this past year for free at the Hyatt Carmel Highlands Inn. That is truly my staycation destination. The Highlands Inn is just a short 8 miles south of my home in Monterey. Kelley and I think it is one of the most beautiful locations in the world. Of course we are biased locals.

My point is not to espouse on my great travel trips.

I am simply a loyalty traveler and you can be one too.

Seriously, this Hyatt Faster Free Nights offer with Stays Count Double elite credit is truly an offer not to be missed.

And now that Gold Passport has opened Faster Free Nights to members who choose miles rather than points for earning preference, this promotion is a no-brainer if you are a United 1K member (and perhaps even if you are just a 1P, 2P, or general UA member like myself).

Whether your travel plans take you to London, Paris, Tokyo, Aruba, New York, or to a Hyatt resort just over the hill, the opportunity to earn free nights while attaining elite status and building up your frequent flier miles is an unprecedented hotel loyalty opportunity.

Priority Club had an earning limit of 4 free nights during their spring/summer promotion and SPG only allowed free nights to be redeemed for Friday, Saturday or Sunday this summer. Hyatt will allow you to book your winter 2010 7-night free vacation in a resort if you earn the nights and find the availability.

Here are some Loyalty Traveler tips for Hyatt Hotels Faster Free Nights planning:

1.       Chart the rates for your regional Hyatt Hotels and plan discretionary trips to hotels when rates are low. For example, during Starwood’s Free Weekend nights promotion I was able to stay in every Starwood Hotel in San Francisco and only once did I pay over $125 for a hotel room. This coming weekend most of these hotels are in the $300 per night range.

 

I find creating a spreadsheet helpful in plotting my stays during low rate nights at the Hyatt Hotels in my region. If you don’t have computer spreadsheet skills, then just draw out a grid on paper and track hotel rates. You will see patterns and with a little effort and research you can save hundreds of dollars on hotel rates.

 

Compare rates on Hyatt.com to online travel agency (OTA) rates. I like to check Kayak.com to get a meta-search view of rates. Hyatt’s Best Rate Guarantee allows a member to make a claim over the phone without having to book a room first. If you see a rate discrepancy with a lower rate on another OTA site and Hyatt approves your claim, then Hyatt will match the lower rate and take an additional 20% off. Discrepancies are more common than you might think.

 

Look for Gold Passport G Bonuses when making reservations. A simple check for a G Bonus link to the hotel you are planning to stay can increase your points earning by 1,000 to 2,000 points.

 

 

2.       Vary your stays to make the acquisition of free nights more pleasurable. Hyatt Place Fremont is my local cheap night hotel at just $70 all-in on most weekends, but no upgrades, fewer Diamond amenity points, and no lounge.

 

$20 more can put me in the Hyatt Santa Clara where there is a lounge, a breakfast restaurant, and the opportunity for nice upgrades.

 

In 2008 I only stayed in half of the Hyatt brand hotels in the San Francisco Bay region during an elite fast-track Stays Count Double promotion. This fall I will try and make at least one stay in the hotels I missed last year and check in with more Hyatt Hotels in southern California. I hear San Diego calling me.

 

3.       Be persistent and be flexible when it comes time to redeem your free nights. Starwood Lurker reported St. Regis Monarch Beach was the most requested free night property during the SPG promotion. I found availability over half the weekends in summer during my regular periodic checks. Sometimes availability lasted less than an hour. Westin Napa was a difficult property to get. I got it.

Hyatt Carmel Highlands is one of the more difficult hotels to get with FFN. I stayed twice this past year using FFN credits there.

Related Boarding Area blogger posts for Hyatt’s fall 2009 promotion:

One Mile at a Time – http://boardingarea.com/blogs/onemileatatime/2009/09/30/13500-united-miles-and-one-free-night-at-any-hyatt-for-every-second-stay-united-1ks-only/

View from the Wing – http://boardingarea.com/blogs/viewfromthewing/2009/10/01/the-best-hotel-promo-ive-ever-seen-13500-united-miles-and-a-free-night-for-every-two-cheap-one-night-hyatt-stays/

Loyalty Traveler – Analysis of Hyatt FFN and Stays Count Double (Sep 17, 2009)

Related Loyalty Traveler posts:

Loyalty Traveler – Carmel Highlands Inn review (Jan 5, 2009)

Loyalty Traveler – Hyatt Regency San Francisco Review and Stays Count Double Economic Rationale (March 22, 2008)

Finding a good email hotel rate offer is hard work. I want to rant about the crap offers that regularly come into my email inbox. Most of the hotel special rate offers I analyze are offers I never write about since they are such blatantly poor value for money. Today I will share the latest offers I found in my email inbox from the major hotel chains.

Marketing sales is a science I have not studied from a seller’s perspective. From a consumer perspective as a traveler who will stay in hotels several days over the next month I have to ask the question. Why do hotels regularly send me emails promoting poor value room rate special offers?

The email special rate offers are generally so bad that I tend to go no deeper than skim my hotel email. After many years of email offers from Hilton, Starwood, Marriott, Hyatt, and IHG –  I still think I can count the good value offers I’ve received in the past five years in low double digit numbers. My general evaluation of emails from hotel chains is 95% of the time the rate is not a good value compared to what you would find by a simple search for better rates on the hotel’s website.

AAA rates are the first place to start for better value. Special offers on a specific hotel’s website will usually find a better special offer rate than the national or regional rate offers sent from the hotel corporate office to your email box.

I actually just pulled that 95% estimate out of the air. A systematic approach to hotel email analysis would have more consumer validation. So, here are recent package offers I have received from Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt, Priority Club, and Starwood in emails this past month.

Hotel Deals for Stupid People

Hilton Hotels Doubletree is first on the rate analysis block since their Doubletree promotion email for the Fall Getaway Package $50 Food & Beverage Credit put me on this rant today.

 

First – the fine print, that tiny font at the bottom of the promotion ad states this offer is only valid with a two-night stay.

Why not put that detail in the clearly visible print?

This promotion made me recall fond memories of a stay at the Doubletree Sonoma in Rohnert Park back in 2001. The hotel upgraded me to a suite with a Jacuzzi tub that took 90 minutes to fill. I paid a $75 room rate. And I was only Hilton HHonors Gold. I wouldn’t mind staying there again.

Rate check: Doubletree Sonoma in Rohnert Park

December 4-6, Friday-Sunday

 

Fall Weekend Getaway Rate = $154 per night (cancellation policy 24 hours before arrival)

Best Available Unrestricted rate (BAR) = $129 per night (cancellation policy 24 hours before arrival)

Internet nonrefundable rate = $74 per night.

 

Are you kidding me?

 

Doubletree is actually running a promotion for a $50 food and beverage credit on a two night stay that has a room rate exactly $50 more than the rate otherwise available for the same room type and same cancellation policy.

Actually the Fall Weekend Getaway rate is even slightly higher since the 14% hotel tax on the $50 Food & Beverage credit is higher than the 9% state sales tax if you just go to the restaurant and pay for the meal.

 

Better yet for me as a consumer is my option to book a nonrefundable rate and have $150 for dining and beverages anywhere I please over the weekend, including alcohol which is excluded from the $50 F&B credit in the special offer rate.

 

Hyatt’s Balance Spa Credit Package

 

Hyatt Spa Package includes breakfast daily, $100 spa credit and 5,000 Gold Passport points. Since Hilton has me thinking about Sonoma County I decided to check this offer for the Hyatt Vineyard Creek in Santa Rosa. I checked hotel rates for Monday and Tuesday, November 16-18 since these tend to be the lower rate nights for Sonoma County hotels where Bay Area getaways drive rates up on weekends.

 

Hyatt’s Balance Spa Package costs $598 for 2 nights and I get $100 spa credit and 5,000 Gold Passport points.

 

$376 all-in is the Best Available Rate (BAR) for the same room with the same cancellation policy of 24 hours before arrival.

 

The spa package is an additional $222 for the weekend for a $100 spa credit, breakfast for two, and 5,000 points. Since the spa credit has a $100 value for a guest using the spa, the package differential is the extra $122 for 5,000 points and breakfast for the two mornings. Points are generally worth between 1.5 and 2.5 cents per point when redeeming for a free night meaning the 5,000 points have a potential value in most hotel redemption cases of $75 to $125.

 

Hyatt’s Balance spa package is a decent value compared to a comparable best available rate (BAR) since it essentially provides complimentary breakfast for the hotel stay considering the equivalent value of the Spa credit and bonus points in this one example.

 

$320 all in for the same room on the same weekend is for risk takers who are willing to accept the terms of a nonrefundable rate.

 

In this comparison the difference in rates at $280 less for a two night stay is nearly half-off if you just buy the room and forget the package concept of a $100 spa credit, free breakfast, and 5,000 points.

 

The question becomes, “Is breakfast for two mornings and 5,000 points worth $180?”

 

In my opinion the answer is no.

 

Priority Club Points & Cash for Flights

 

This was actually a Priority Club marketing person who read this blog and sent me an email to check out the Points & Cash option for flights.

 

I haven’t evaluated many flights yet.

 

Priority Club Points & Cash Flight Sample

 

Monterey, CA – Denver, CO

Fri, Oct 23- Mon, Oct 26

1 Adult Coach Class ticket

 

83,000 Priority Club Points

Delta/Northwest (2-stops)

Fare on Kayak.com = $289

 

131,000 Priority Club points

American Airlines (1-stop)

 

174,000 Priority Club points

United Airlines nonstop

Priority Club Cash & Points rate reduces to $600.60 + 20,000 points.

United.com rate = $590.00 all-in

 

Redemption rate for Priority Club points is $3.39 per 1,000 points just using points for a United Airlines nonstop flight. Only a stupid person would pay use Priority Club for this ticket and spend 20,000 points + $10 more than a ticket purchased directly from United Airlines.

 

I like to get a minimum of $10.00 per 1,000 points with my redemptions. My last Priority Club free night redemption was worth over $20 per 1,000 points when I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express on a 5,000 points Points Break free night.

 

Delta Airlines is a $289 fare or 83,000 PC points. The redemption value for the Priority Club member is only $3.48 per 1,000 Priority Club points. This is a poor use of points. You can easily get a redemption value of $15 per 1,000 Priority Club points using your points for hotel redemptions by waiting for better opportunities to spend your points.

 

Starwood Hotels sent a W Hotels 40% discount offer using promotion code “Daily21”. I checked Scottsdale and the code wasn’t valid for a 4-night stay I tried using November dates.

 

$203 per night was the lowest rate I saw for the four nights. That is a nonrefundable, no changes rate. AAA quickly lowered the rate to $179 per night. In fact the next higher category room was only $202, one dollar less than the nonrefundable discount rate. And I didn’t even delve into the multi-night discount codes to look for free night rates which would likely take at least another $100 to $200 off a 4-night stay.

 

Marriott Free Night in the Caribbean or Mexico

 

Sep 7-Dec 12, 2009 Marriott Sand Dollars package (promotion code M11)

-Free night (stay requirements vary by resort)

-Breakfast for two daily

-$100 resort credit per stay

 

First, I checked Aruba and I didn’t see any information regarding the minimum stay requirement since I couldn’t find this special rate using the link from the email.

 

I did find a similar rate on the Marriott Aruba special offers page.

Dates checked: Sun, Nov 22 – Fri, Nov 27

Special rate “S29” with free night, breakfast, and $100 per stay resort credit

Lowest S29 special offer rate: $289 per night. With free night this would mean pay 4 nights = $1,156 (before tax).

 

AAA rate for same room type is $145 per night. 5 nights = $725.

 

The Free Night + $100 Credit Rate is $431 more (before tax) for a $100 credit and five days of breakfast. $331 is some expensive breakfast tabs over 5 days.

 

My preference is to book the ocean view room at $220 per night for my stay. $1,100 for five nights. Checking out the ocean view while staying at a resort hotel in Aruba holds a lot more value to me than free breakfast with the S29 rate.

 

The best hotel email in my inbox lately is from Accor A-Club. I registered Kelley as a new member a couple of weeks ago and she received a 2,000 points registration bonus. Last week Accor A-Club sent Kelley a Happy Birthday email with another 500 points birthday gift. After earning 2,500 loyalty points in September 2009, Kelley is now an A-Club Silver elite member eligible for a 50% elite bonus on her Accor hotel stays.

 

Happy Birthday from your A|Club team!

This is the ideal opportunity for us to thank you for your loyalty by offering you a birthday bonus of 500 A|Club points !

Maybe you’ll be able to use this exceptional bonus to order an A|Club rewards gift voucher to pay for all or part of your next stay at one of the 2,000 Accor hotels participating in the program, or to convert your points into airline miles to get your free ticket and head off to your dream destination even sooner!

To earn even more points, take advantage of the many promotional A|Club offers listed on
www.a-club.com.

See you soon on www.a-club.com and at the 2,000 participating Accor hotels around the world!

Your A|Club team

 

Now that is an email with value.

The more complex programmes become, the harder it is for consumers to compare them.

 

“The average consumer will not try and work out return on spend (the monetary value of earning points), never mind factoring in the value of value-added services, such as, early check-in or access to an executive lounge,” Conradie maintains.

 

– Razor’s Edge Business Intelligence press release for the Multinational Hotel Rewards Programmes 2009 report. http://www.razorsedgebi.com/

 

Thank goodness there is Loyalty Traveler for the average consumer.

 

I received an email the other day regarding Razor’s Edge Business Intelligence recently published report on Multinational Hotel Rewards Programmes 2009.

 

The altered spelling of ‘Programmes’ may clue you in on the fact that this report is not published in the USA. Razor’s Edge Business Intelligence is a South Africa company.

 

The report sounds like a great resource for Loyalty Traveler.

 

12 major hotel loyalty programs are profiled in detail.

 

·         Accor A|Club

·          Best Western Gold Crown International

·          Carlson Goldpoints Plus

·          Choice Hotels Choice Privileges

·          Golden Tulip Flavours

·          Hilton HHonors

·          Hyatt Gold Passport

·          InterContinental Priority Club Rewards

·          Marriott Rewards

·          Sol Meliá Mas Rewards

·          Starwood Preferred Guest

·          Wyndham Rewards

 

 

Loyalty Traveler has written about all these hotel loyalty programs in the past year, except for Golden Tulip. I hold a grudge against Golden Tulip Flavours. I am not convinced Golden Tulip Flavours ever got their act together. 

 

Soon after the Flavours program was launched a few years ago I had Golden Tulip stays in Amsterdam and spent time educating the staff at each hotel’s front desk on their own chain’s hotel loyalty program. I never received credit for any of my stays. Follow up emails with the company came back with replies that I would not receive any benefits or a membership card until I completed a hotel stay.

 

Those Dutch customer service representatives at Golden Tulip understood my English perfectly well, they just didn’t understand their hotel loyalty program.

 

Golden Tulip hotels are fine and I do not hesitate recommending these hotels to guests. Actually, I did include a little piece with photos of the functional and well-designed little space of my Golden Tulip Amsterdam Art 160 square feet room in this June 2009 Loyalty Traveler blog post.

 

 

The 200-page Hotel Loyalty Programmes 2009 report by Razor’s Edge is only US$1,900 if purchased by December 31, 2009. US$2,200 after that date.

 

I double-checked hoping it was priced in South Africa Rand.

 

Hey Razor’s Edge. Can you cut Loyalty Traveler a free slice?

 

Loyalty Traveler is free hotel loyalty program business intelligence for consumers.

No deep pockets here.

 

 

 

 

 

Marriott Rewards offers a PointSavers discount whereby the rate for a free night using points is reduced by one category level for participating hotels. UK hotels are heavily featured for 2009. The PointSavers participating hotels list is up-to-date.

The PointSavers advertisement is up to 33% savings. This is true if you book a Marriott Rewards category 3 hotel participating in PointSavers. The regular rate of 15,000 points per night for a free night at a Category 3 hotel will be reduced by 33% to 10,000 points per night. In effect you can redeem 3 nights at a Category 3 hotel for the normal price of 2 nights.

33% is the maximum savings using PointSavers.

The savings is reduced as you go higher in category level using PointSavers.

Here is a table to show the savings by hotel category level for Marriott Rewards PointSavers.

Marriott Rewards Hotel Category	Regular Points for Free Night	PointSaver Rate	Discount
Category 1	7,500	6,000	20%
Category 2	10,000	7,500	25%
Category 3	15,000	10,000	33%
Category 4	20,000	15,000	25%
Category 5	25,000	20,000	20%
Category 6	30,000	25,000	17%
Category 7	35,000	30,000	14%
Category 8	40,000	35,000	12.5%

 

Marriott Rewards feature of “Redeem 4 nights and get the 5^th night free” is applicable for PointSaver redemptions.

 

Ritz-Carlton PointSavers

Ritz-Carlton Hotels are part of the Marriott Hotels chain. You can redeem your Marriott Rewards points for Ritz-Carlton hotel stays, however, you do not earn Marriott Rewards points for Ritz-Carlton stays.

A great feature of Marriott Rewards is the participation of Ritz-Carlton Hotels in PointSavers. In fact, the advantage of Ritz-Carlton PointSavers is the per night rate for multi-night stays still decreases for longer stays just as the old Marriott Rewards chart did for Marriott brand hotels.

A free night using Marriott Rewards points for a Tier 2 Ritz-Carlton Hotel for a 1-night stay will cost 70,000 points regularly. A 7-night hotel stay will cost just over 35,000 points per night. The per night cost using points decreases by almost 50%.

There are four main Marriott Hotels in San Francisco all at Category 6 or 30,000 points per night. The 5^th night free award saves 30,000 points. A Marriott Rewards guest will spend 180,000 points for 7 nights on a regular award at one of these San Francisco hotels. None of these hotels are currently participating in PointSavers for discount award nights.

PointSavers for 7-nights reduces the cost for a free night at a higher level Ritz-Carlton Hotel to just over 27,000 points per night for a hotel like the Ritz-Carlton San Francisco and Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay, 35 miles south of San Francisco. A Marriott Rewards guest will spend 190,000 points for a 7-night PointSavers stay available through September 30, 2009. An additional 10,000 points will upgrade the guest from a Marriott or Renaissance to a Ritz-Carlton in the San Francisco area.

 

Ritz-Carlton PointSavers Table

Marriott Rewards Ritz-Carlton Hotel Category	Regular Award Points for Ritz-Carlton	PointSavers Award for Ritz-Carlton	Discount
Tier 1 – 1 Night	45,000	35,000	22%
Tier 1 – 2 Nights	75,000	60,000	20%
Tier 1 – 3 Nights	100,000	80,000	20%
Tier 1 – 5 Nights	150,000	120,000	20%
Tier 1 – 7 Nights	175,000	140,000	20%
Tier 2 – 1 Night	70,000	50,000	28.6%
Tier 2 – 2 Nights	110,000	80,000	27.3%
Tier 2 – 3 Nights	150,000	110,000	26.7%
Tier 2 – 5 Nights	200,000	150,000	25%
Tier 2 – 7 Nights	250,000	190,000	24%

 

Marriott Rewards Ritz-Carlton Hotel Category	Regular Award Per Night Points for Ritz-Carlton	PointSavers Per Night Points for Ritz-Carlton
Tier 1 – 1 Night	45,000	35,000
Tier 1 – 2 Nights	37,500	30,000
Tier 1 – 3 Nights	33,333	26,667
Tier 1 – 5 Nights	30,000	24,000
Tier 1 – 7 Nights	25,000	20,000
Tier 2 – 1 Night	70,000	50,000
Tier 2 – 2 Nights	55,000	40,000
Tier 2 – 3 Nights	50,000	36,667
Tier 2 – 5 Nights	40,000	30,000
Tier 2 – 7 Nights	35,714	27,143

 

Ritz-Carlton Hotel stays are a great value for Marriott Rewards points.

Here is the link to the Summer 2009 participating hotels through September 30, 2009.

http://www.marriott.com/rewards/ritzCarltonPointSavers.mi#summer2009pointsaversrewards

 

 

 

 

 

Hey Marriott! PointSavers webpage update is overdue.

Marriott Rewards has not updated the PointSavers FAQ page. The webpage describing PointSavers has been out-of-date for all of 2009 since the Marriott Rewards program changes in January 2009. The FAQ provides an incorrect example for the first question:

“What type of value does PointSavers provide?

The PointSavers value is exceptional. Members may receive up to a 33% savings on point redemptions depending on the hotel category and number of nights requested.

Locations participating in PointSavers are discounted by one category in Marriott Rewards point requirements.*

For example, members can stay in a Category 5 hotel while redeeming points for a Category 4 hotel. So, to stay at a Category 5 hotel for two nights at a standard redemption would require 46,000 Marriott Rewards points. The same stay with PointSavers would be 38,000 points or a 21% savings.”

http://www.marriott.com/rewards/marriottRewardsPointSaversFAQs.mi

Using the current Marriott Rewards free night redemption table the example should read:

“For example, members can stay in a Category 5 hotel while redeeming points for a Category 4 hotel. So, to stay at a Category 5 hotel for two nights at a standard redemption would require 50,000 Marriott Rewards points. The same stay with PointSavers would be 40,000 points or a 20% savings.”

Hotel News Now published a story on “10 hotel booking trends” from a presentation at the inaugural Hotel Data Conference by Brian Ferguson, Expedia VP of Lodging Demand and Analysis. Hotel News Now is the newsletter publication of Smith Travel Research, a leader in hotel rate data and research for the hotel industry.

The consumer trend of the past year has been a swing in hotel bookings made through online third-party hotel reservation sites like Expedia, Travelocity, and Orbitz. The viewpoint of Expedia, expressed by Ferguson, is the increased volume in bookings does not directly increase profits for third party online travel agencies due to the lower revenue generated as a portion of lower room rates across all hotel market segments.

What I want to share is the “10 Booking Trends” discussed by Expedia’s Lodging Demand and Analysis VP. I am just a hotel consumer who tries to figure out how to get great value from hotel rates. Reading what the industry experts have to say helps me focus my Loyalty Traveler work on a targeted audience who will benefit from my reporting on hotel rate trends as a frequent guest.

1.       Expedia VP Ferguson: Exchange rates are shifting travel patterns.

Hotel rates in UK have dropped primarily due to the better exchange rate for Americans. Combine the exchange rate with promotions and the UK is a bargain.

Loyalty Traveler: I totally agree, but the window appears to be closing on the exchange rate issue. Winter 2009 offered some of the best deals in years for UK and Europe due to the combination of a much better exchange rate for the US Dollar and hotel loyalty program promotions. The dollar has been losing ground as the stock market goes up. Anyone thinking Wall Street inflation?

2 nights for the price of 1 has been an ongoing deal for the past couple of years to entice travelers to the major chain hotels in Europe and Asia.

2.       Expedia VP Ferguson: Consumers are looking for a deal. Bookings made with promotions are increasing as a share of total hotel reservations.

Loyalty Traveler: I’ll take some credit for this one. I take the time to analyze hotel promotions for readers. Loyalty Traveler rarely books a room without a promotion offer. “Hotel value for the frequent guest” is the Loyalty Traveler motto. 10,000+ unique visitors a month are reading Loyalty Traveler to learn more about hotel loyalty program promotions.

3.       Expedia VP Ferguson: Promotions matter more than ever.

 

Loyalty Traveler: I get a chuckle out of all the news articles showing how to get better value from your spending in all segments of consumer purchases from groceries to hair cuts to travel.

I had an oil change yesterday for 25% off. The coupon took two minutes to locate on the internet. All the other people at Jiffy Lube paid full price.

Friends have commented I am a cheap ass when I pull out a 2-for-1 dining coupon. I rarely eat out for more than half-price.

 

I frequently stay in hotels for less than half-price. Promotions matter if you want more money for life’s other necessities and pleasures.

 

4.       Expedia VP Ferguson: Promotions are getting more creative. It used to be about cutting rates and now hotels add free nights and value-added incentives.

 

Loyalty Traveler: Promotions are more creative and take more time to analyze for this Loyalty Traveler. I’m looking for the deal whether it is a bargain rate now (free parking, free breakfast) or will result in a bargain hotel rate in the future (free hotel night).

 

5.       Expedia VP Ferguson: Customers who book online are trading up. Four and five star hotels are getting more affordable.

Loyalty Traveler: I have stayed in some of San Francisco’s finest hotels this year and only once paid over $125. And I received a $500 per night suite for that stay. 2009 is a leisure traveler’s hotel dream.

6.       Expedia VP Ferguson: There are massive swings in online market share.

Loyalty Traveler: No real comment to make here. I haven’t tried the phone call reservation this year. I’ve read articles on Hotel Chatter and Budget Travel about people getting a much better deal through the phone. I’ve been an online customer for 10 years and my experience has rarely been to find a better deal over the phone. I do recall my mother getting good phone rates when my mom and the hotel reservationist could not locate the online promotion I was telling her to book.

7.       Expedia VP Ferguson: Booking compression. People are waiting closer to stay date to book.

Loyalty Traveler: I reported in several posts that my rate analysis of San Francisco hotels revealed the lowest rates typically are found between 7 and 14 days before the stay date. Smart shoppers wait (or at least go with a rate allowing cancellation in case a better rate appears).

8.       Expedia VP Ferguson: Leisure rates went down first and are going down more.

Loyalty Traveler: My hotel rate focus is geared for the leisure traveler. I don’t stay in San Francisco on paid rates when a convention is in town and the hotels go up to $300+ per night. The same hotel room is around $100 per night, a 50% decrease from average leisure rates a year ago, during weeks when business travel is light. And getting an upgrade is much easier when there are not corporate executives buying up the suites.

9.       Expedia VP Ferguson: Increased use of rate fences in packages.

Loyalty Traveler: I am not a marketing person and I need to study this concept since I have been seeing it more frequently lately. Basically it seems the concept is to hide the room rate in a package of bundled services such as airfare, rental car, or hotel amenities like champagne and spa treatments.

I generally find these to be a poor value for a hotel when the components are broken down. Packages are convenient and there are some great deals if you need the car or the airfare. I think this is generally a better strategy for reducing high-cost airfare rather than getting a better value on a hotel room.

10.   Expedia VP Ferguson: Opaque channels are growing faster than non-opaque channels.

Loyalty Traveler: Opaque channels are hotel reservation sites like Priceline and Hotwire where you get a really low rate for an unspecified hotel. Opaque channels are the way to go when hotels are priced at high nightly rates. I opt for Priceline when the alternative is a $200+ night room.

My basic loyalty traveler argument is over the course of the year when traveling and staying 20 to 50 nights in hotels, the hotel loyalty program strategy can be used as effectively as Priceline to pay for rooms when they are relatively low priced and redeem points for high priced rooms.

I have saved a couple thousand dollars in past years using Priceline for trips when the chain hotels were high priced.

2009 has seen incredible promotions from hotel loyalty programs. My Starwood Hotels stays in May averaged less than $60 per room night at upscale hotels, frequently in suites, while allowing me to book $500 per night rooms with the free nights I earned.

Try doing that with Priceline.

 

 

Earn 2,500 bonus Lufthansa Miles & More miles in addition to 500 miles per stay, beginning with your 2nd stay at Marriott brand hotels from August 15 through November 15, 2009.

Registration required.

You must also change earning preference in your Marriott Rewards account to earn miles instead of earning points.

5 stays during promotion period earns total 12,500 miles with Miles & More.

 

Miles & More is the frequent flyer program for Lufthansa Airlines, Austrian Airlines, SWISS, LOT Polish, Air One, Adria Airways, Croatia Airlines, and Brussels Airlines.

Stay 1 = 500 miles

Stay 2 = 500 miles + 2,500 miles bonus

Stay 3 = 500 miles + 2,500 miles bonus

Stay 4 = 500 miles + 2,500 miles bonus

Stay 5 = 500 miles + 2,500 miles bonus

Total Miles and More earning is 12,500 miles for 5 stays.

 

Hilton Hotels has extended the reservation dates for their international hotels 2-for-1 sale to include weekends in September. The booking date remains unchanged at August 17 for special offer rates good for any night of the week to August 31 or weekend nights (Friday, Saturday, or Sunday) thru September 27, 2009. This special offer is valid at participating hotels in Europe, Africa, Middle East, Asia, and Pacific. The rate includes free breakfast and late checkout, up to 6pm where available. This special offer requires a prepaid, no changes, nonrefundable booking.

Analysis and details and of this promotion were covered in this June 24 Loyalty Traveler post.

The animated Hilton Hotels Asia-Pacific website for this sale is worth checking out just to watch the rubber duckies bob in the tub and squeak. I had the catchy musical tune playing in my head all day.

Europe, Middle East, Africa hotel locations

Double Points or Miles continues in 2009 beginning September 15, 2009. Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites hotel stays start earning the double points or miles with the first hotel stay. Other IHG brands: InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn, HI Express begin earning double points or miles with the second hotel stay.

Priority Club Registration link

 

InterContinental Hotel stays regularly earn 2,000 points per stay. Double points earns 4,000 points per stay.

 

Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites regularly earn 5 points per US$1 and will earn 10 points per US$1.

 

Other IHG brands regularly earn 10 points per US$1 and will earn 20 points per US$1 for eligible stays during the promotion period.

 

Priority Club has nearly 50 airline partners for earning frequent flyer miles. There are different earning levels for different airlines. Hotel brand also impacts the miles earned.

Here is the link to the miles earning terms for USA Priority Club members.

 

 

Hilton HHonors Delta-Northwest EQM Promotion for two-night stays

Offer: Earn one Delta or Northwest elite qualifying mile (EQM) and one bonus mile for every fixed or variable mile earned with minimum 2-night stay July 15 thru October 15, 2009 at Hilton brand hotels worldwide.

Registration is required. There are different registration links depending on whether you choose Delta or Northwest miles.

Promotion link: https://www.hiltonhhonors.com/processLanding2.aspx?lp=deltanorthwest&cid=OM,HN,deltanorthwest,Q309

 

Got it? So what does this actually mean for the miles collector? Loyalty traveler will take a stab at interpreting the terms of the promotion.

HHonors has three Double-Dipping earning preferences a member can choose:

a.       Points & Points, (must change your earning preference to points & miles for this promotion)

b.      Points & Fixed Miles, (Earn 500 EQM = 500 bonus miles per hotel stay, but only 100 EQM and 100 Bonus miles for eligible stays at Hampton Inn or Homewood Suites)

c.       Points & Variable Miles (Earn 1 EQM + 1 bonus mile for every US$1 spent on eligible hotel stays regardless of hotel brand. This option limits EQM earning to a maximum 5,000 EQMs).

The rules cap the variable miles earning to 5,000 EQM. I guess this is to keep someone from earning Delta super elite status on one $100,000 hotel stay. I would think Delta wants an elite member who can spend $100,000 on hotel stays.

Loyalty traveler promotion rating = 3 hotel keys out of 5.

Loyalty traveler analysis:

Stays at Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites will earn more by switching earning preference to points and variable miles since fixed miles are capped at 100 EQM. You are likely to spend more than $100 for a two-night stay in these brands so earning 1 EQM per $1 will be better than the 100 EQM with points and fixed miles.

Fixed miles will be a better value with stays at other Hilton brands unless you plan to spend more than $500 for your hotel stay. 500 EQM and 500 bonus miles is a good bonus. A two-night stay will earn 500EQM and 1,000 redeemable frequent flyer miles. 2009 has been the year of hotel frequent flyer giveaways. Those airlines just keep churning miles out and Hilton HHonors is the premier mileage earning hotel program.

An expensive hotel stay like a week at the Hilton Waikoloa Village will earn more miles using Variable Miles earning preference since you will likely spend well over $500 for a multi-night hotel stay in Hawaii. A $1,500 eligible hotel stay with variable miles earning will earn 1,500 EQM with Delta or Northwest and 3,000 redeemable frequent flyer miles compared to only 500 EQM and 1,000 redeemable miles if you have your HHonors earning preference set to Fixed Miles.

Earning Preference Guidelines:

1.       Hampton Inn or Homewood Suites hotel stays – choose Variable Miles and Points

2.       Other Hilton brands when stay is less than $500 – choose Fixed miles and Points

3.       Any stay where spending is greater than $500 – choose Variable miles and Points

You can change your earning preference to maximize your miles for different types of stays.

Hilton Hotel brands include Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton Inn, Homewood Suites, Embassy Suites, Doubletree, Conrad Hotels, and Waldorf-Astoria Collection. 

 

Hilton has a free night offer for 166 hotels in 44 different countries running through the summer months for participating hotels in Europe, Africa, Middle East, and Asia/Pacific regions.

Hotels in North America, Caribbean, Central and South America are excluded from this offer.

Offer:  Valid 7 days a week from for stays from May 1 thru September 30, 2009.

Rates include breakfast.

 

1 free night on a 3-night stay or

2 free nights on a 5-night stay or

3 free nights on a 7-night stay.

Free nights are valid for actual booked stay and do not carry-over to another stay.

Link to Hilton Extra Nights Free offer.

Loyalty Traveler Analysis:

I’ve been searching Paris Hotel rates for someone planning a week in the city of lights. I checked this Hilton Hotels offer to see if the free nights is actually a discount rate. While the free nights rate was not available at all the Hilton Hotels in Paris for dates I checked, I am happy to report that where I did find the special offer rate I found the free nights rate to be a rate discount for Hilton Hotels in Paris.

The problem with many free night offers is the discounted nights are based on purchasing a rack rate or some rate substantially higher than rates otherwise available. About half the time I analyze free night offers I discover they are not the best deal available.

Case Study: Paris, France 7-night hotel stay for September 7-14

Hilton Paris La Defense is not participating in the Extra Free Nights rate.

Hilton Arc de Triomphe does provide a savings on the nightly room rate for dates I checked.                            

Hilton Arc de Triomphe, Paris, France for 7-night stay, September 7-14, 2009
Lowest rate	7-night cost on AAA rate	Extra Nights Rate (Pay only 4 nights)	7-night cost on Extra Nights rate	Extra Nights Rate Savings
280 EUR King Deluxe	1,960 EUR	415 EUR King Deluxe	1,660 EUR	300 EUR
337 EUR King Deluxe Plus	2,359 EUR	475 EUR King Deluxe Plus	1,900 EUR	459 EUR
375 EUR King Executive	2,625 EUR	515 EUR King Executive	2,060 EUR	565 EUR
404 EUR King Executive Plus	2,828 EUR	545 EUR King Executive Plus	2,180 EUR	648 EUR
537 EUR Junior Suite	3,759 EUR	685 EUR Junior Suite	2,740 EUR	1,019 EUR

 

Based on the offer of 3 free nights with a 7 night stay a guest would expect to save about 3/7 or 43% on the hotel rate. Unfortunately, the standard practice for hotel free night offers is to base the free nights on higher rates than otherwise available. When calculating actual savings with a special offer the hotel guest should base savings on the otherwise lowest rate available for the hotel stay.

7-night cost on AAA rate (lowest rate found in regular search)	7-night total rate with Hilton Extra Nights offer	Actual savings using Extra Nights offer
1,960 EUR King Deluxe	1,660 EUR	15.3%
2,359 EUR King Deluxe Plus	1,900 EUR	19.5%
2,625 EUR King Executive	2,060 EUR	21.5%
2,828 EUR King Executive Plus	2,180 EUR	22.9%
3,759 EUR Junior Suite	2,740 EUR	27.1%

 

The Extra Nights free offer does provide a substantial discount, but the discount in this sample is far less than the 43% one might assume with a Pay 4 Nights, Get 3 Nights Free offer.

The savings are greater as one buys up to higher category rooms. This is a good offer to keep in mind when searching international hotel rates.

Loyalty Traveler Promotion Rating for Hilton Extra Nights Offer = 3 of 5 hotel keys.