This piece focuses on room rate and reward rate survey for over 60 hotels along the I-15 and I-70 route from Las Vegas to Colorado. Most hotel reward analyses and surveys I have done focus on one city. In Utah there are so few hotels that this survey covers all the major brand hotels along the Interstate in five locations.

I will be traveling east and south of the Utah interstate I-15/I-70 route to Colorado as I travel to Utah’s National Parks over the next week. Hotels in the parks region will be covered in different posts as I travel.

This piece is a comparative look at seven major hotel chains with particular emphasis on Best Western, Choice and Wyndham brands which are the majority of hotel properties in southern Utah.

• Best Western Rewards
• Choice Privileges
• Club Carlson
• Hilton HHonors
• IHG Rewards Club
• Marriott Rewards
• Wyndham Rewards

Utah is not like Disneyland.

Read More…

Hilton is rebranding the former Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas that was foreclosed and closed down in May 2010. The hotel reopened in February 2011 as Ravella Lake Las Vegas managed by Dolce Hotels & Resorts. The hotel is now undergoing another brand change and will be Hilton Lake Las Vegas Resort & Spa in June 2013.

The website is not currently accepting reservations.

What to do around here

Enjoy the fantastic location of the Hilton Lake Las Vegas Resort & Spa, only 15 miles from McCarran Airport and 17 miles from the Las Vegas Strip. The tranquility of the nation’s largest man-made lake and its surrounding 3,400 acres, offers a retreat from the hurried pace of downtown Las Vegas. Explore the picturesque Village at Lake Las Vegas, adjacent to the hotel, which features Casino Monte Lago, championship golf, a marina and a wealth of upscale shops and international restaurants. The Village also hosts a number of events each year, from boat races and music on the lake to winter ice-skating. Take the complimentary shuttle from the hotel to the bright lights of the Strip to experience world-famous shows, impressive casinos, thrilling activities and vibrant nightlife.

Hilton Lake Las Vegas

Lake Las Vegas is east of Henderson, Nevada, about 17 miles from the Las Vegas Strip. In 2009 the two lakefront hotels were Loews and Ritz-Carlton. In March 2012 the Loews Resort rebranded to Westin.

The real estate downturn severely impacted Lake Las Vegas.

Personally I am a fan of the Lake Las Vegas location. A Hilton resort will be a nice addition.

Hilton Lake Las Vegas (This is a 2009 photo when the hotel was Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas.)

I have written several posts about the two Lake Las Vegas hotels over the past few years with numerous hotel photos.

Related Posts:

Ravella at Lake Las Vegas Summer Sale for Cheap Luxury (May 17, 2011)

Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas (8-21-2009)

The Westin Lake Las Vegas Resort & Spa (3-29-2012)

Loews Lake Las Vegas Resort and Instant You First Gold Elite Offer (8-21-2009)

An interesting graphic I came across shows the number of hotels in the U.S. by the seven largest U.S. hotel chains.

U.S. Hotels domestic supply among major U.S. Hotel Chains

• Hilton Worldwide: 3,382 hotels; 506,455 rooms.
• Marriott International: 3,110 hotels; 501,070 rooms.
• Wyndham Worldwide: 5,815 hotels; 451,755 rooms.
• Choice International: 5,081 hotels; 385,827 rooms.
• Starwood Hotels & Resorts: 495 hotels; 152,693 rooms.
• Hyatt Hotels Corporation: 354 hotels; 91,590 rooms. 
• Carlson Rezidor Hotels: 549 hotels; 59,742 rooms.

Source: STR 12-31-2012 year end data.

I’m not sure why Best Western is missing from the list?

• Best Western International: 2,165 hotels (North America); 178,518 rooms (North America). Source: Best Western. What is impressive about Best Western is 1,312 hotels in Europe.

IHG is a UK based company, although, the majority of properties are located in the USA.

• InterContinental Hotels Group: 3,555 hotels; 449,617 rooms (North and South America and Caribbean). Source: IHG Fact Sheets. IHG has 628 hotels in Europe.

Starwood and Carlson have the highest proportion of hotels outside the USA among these chains. There are roughly 500 to 600 hotels outside the USA for Hilton, Marriott, Starwood and Carlson-Rezidor. 

The high number of hotels outside the USA is one of the features I most enjoy about Best Western Rewards. The Best Western chain can put you in many places the other hotel chains can’t. And for free with points stays.

And when you are in the U.S.A. there are nearly 25,000 hotels in just the top nine chains with global points-based hotel loyalty programs.

In January I published a post on the Hilton HHonors $6,000 TeacherTreks grant contest.

http://hhonors.com/TeacherTreks is the website where you can read the 30 finalists essays. You are allowed one vote per day and your vote  for one of ten is an entry into another contest to win a $250 HHonors gift card.

Voting closes April 30, 2012.

Today I came across an article about a teacher who is one of 30 teacher finalists in the contest. Her teacher trek story is about spending ten days in  Mexico to better understand the experience her students have who spend part of the year living in Mexico. She works in the farm lands of Illinois.

Her teacher experience sounds similar to my student population in California ten years ago when I was a public school teacher. Many students in this area return to Mexico over the December holidays, often for 4 to 6 weeks.

Another story I read was a teacher who wants to spend time in Berlin and Poland studying the Jewish Holocaust.

I made that teacher trek last month. I still need to get my head around writing an article about the German History Museum exhibit ‘Diversity Destroyed: Berlin 1933-1938’.

Hilton HHonors has a variety of miles promotions for stays through June 30, 2013. Here are six offers.

Delta and United are global, but require two night stays and set earning limits. Emirates is worldwide and unlimited earning.

Las Vegas, London, Scotland and Europe, Middle East and Africa offer bonus miles for stays in specific regions.

Miles & More is only for weekend stays, but covers all Europe, Middle East and Africa Hilton brand hotels.

These are great opportunities to earn 1,500 to 4,000 frequent flyer miles per stay from now through June 30, 2013. 

• Earn 2,013 Delta Skymiles with a two-night stay at Hilton brand hotels worldwide. Delta promotion limit of 14,091 miles.
• Emirates 4x miles. HHonors.com/SkywardsQuadruple. Earn 1,000 miles 2nd stay, 1,500 miles 3rd stay and 2,000 miles per stay from 4th stay onward.
• United Mileage Plus 1,000 bonus miles for stays of 2 or more nights at Hilton brand hotels worldwide. Up to 5,000 bonus miles.
• 3x miles with a variety of airlines for stays at Las Vegas hotels. Aeroplan, AIR MILES, Alaska Air, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Jet Blue, United, US Airways or Virgin America.
• Miles & More 4x miles (2,000 miles per stay) with weekend night hotel stay (Friday, Saturday or Sunday) at any of 303 Hilton brand hotels in EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa).
• Virgin Atlantic 4,000 miles per stay at participating London and Scotland hotels only.

I will follow up with a more extensive look at the opportunities these airline bonus miles offer.

Virgin Atlantic is particularly appealing for London and Scotland travelers with 4,000 miles per stay. Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles can be exchanged into HHonors points at 10,000 VS miles = 20,000 HHonors points. That is a hefty miles bonus for hotels stays in the UK region.

Ric Garrido, writer and owner of Loyalty Traveler, shares news and views on hotels, hotel loyalty programs and vacation destinations for frequent guests. Follow Loyalty Traveler on Twitter and Facebook and RSS feed.

April 2013 is a time of reassessment for many hotel loyalty program members. The sudden and dramatic changes to the structure of hotel rewards across five of the top ten global hotel loyalty programs in the first quarter of 2013 was an incredible amount of information to digest.

The changes in the opening months of 2013 comprise the biggest overall change in the hotel loyalty program industry over the past decade.  Read More…

The cost of London hotels using HHonors points can vary significantly depending on the month you travel. Analysis of summer rates for the first weekend in July and August 2013 shows your money and points go much farther for August travel.

HHonors pulls up 34 hotels in a search of London. About ten of these hotels are in outlying suburbs and the airports at Heathrow and Gatwick.

My analysis of London hotels initially looked at only one weekend, Friday July 5 to Sunday, July 7, 2013 and that weekend looks like a high priced weekend compared to other dates in July and August. The lower August 2-4 rates in the table appear closer to average room rates for these two months. Read More…

Studying the hotel rewards available for HHonors points in five U.S. cities of Boston, Charlotte, Minneapolis, New York and San Francisco revealed some trends and standard practices for HHonors based on my analysis of about 100 or so hotels.

Standard Rewards in the USA typically offer redemption value in the range of $4.00 to $6.00 per 1,000 points. This means 100,000 HHonors points will buy about $400 to $600 in Hilton-brand hotel room stays based on the Best Flexible Rate (BAR). Standard Reward value in the USA is more likely to fall below $4.00 per 1,000 points (e.g. 50,000 points for a $200 room rate) than above $6.00 rate (e.g. 50,000 points for a $300 room rate).

In my survey of Hilton-brand hotels I generally found 90% or more hotels offered Standard Rewards. Read More…

The new Hilton HHonors is confusing. HHonors redesigned their hotel rewards in a radical way that no other hotel loyalty program has gone, except for Choice Privileges. HHonors in its restructured form is more member-friendly than Choice Privileges, yet it has removed one of the basic tenets of reward stays for consumers: the ability to know what a hotel reward will cost based on its hotel reward category within the program.

Book a Marriott category 6 hotel and the price is 30,000 points whether it is for a stay tonight or six months from now.  Book a Hyatt category 6 hotel and it is 22,000 points. Book SPG category 5 standard reward and the rate is 12,000 or 16,000 for peak season. In all the major hotel loyalty programs the hotel reward category does not change until the annual reassignment of hotels. Choice Privileges was the exception with seasonal rates changing the cost of rewards at some hotels every few months with a swing like 8,000 points per night to 20,000 points per night from season to season.

HHonors joins Choice Privileges in letting hotel reward category drift, yet HHonors is not displaying their HHonors Hotel Category and Standard Reward chart in that way. Read More…

New York City saw a blistering rise in the points price for HHonors Standard Rewards with the March 28, 2013 changes. Many hotels that were 50,000 points per night are now 80,000 to 95,000 per night.

New York City was the first U.S. city to make a striking comeback in room rates following the 2008-2010 hotel recession. At one point nearly all the hospitality industry gains in the U.S. were coming from New York and a couple other cities. New York room rates are back up in the $400 range for an upper upscale hotel and even Hampton Inn is fetching that rate after taxes in Manhattan.

DoubleTree Suites New York Times Square is a hotel rising from 50,000 to 95,000 points per night as a new HHonors category 10 hotel reward. Hilton Times Square goes from 50,000 points as a Category 7 to 80,000 points peak season in may as a category 9 hotel in the new rewards system.

The Waldorf-Astoria is 80,000 points per reward night for the historic flagship property of Hilton’s luxury brand while the hotel charges a $459 room rate.

And the Hampton Inn Times Square North is also 80,000 points per Standard Reward night at Hilton’s upper midscale brand with a $359 rate.

New York lights up the topsy-turvy world of the new Hilton HHonors rewards.

New York is the fifth city in my five U.S. cities survey of Hilton HHonors rewards following the March 28, 2013 changes to the loyalty program. Read More…