Priority Club reward nights will cost less for 20% or about 900 IHG hotels globally.

Priority Club Brand Tiers for Reward Nights as of January 18, 2012.

Click on image for full size view. This chart is located on PriorityClub.com.

60 Days from January 18 to book or rebook at best reward redemption level

Don Berg, IHG VP for Priority Club stated to me in an interview today that members will have two months to book hotel rewards through customer service at the lower points level for reservations up to 360 days from booking date.

FlyerTalk and blogosphere comments indicate IHG customer service agents aren’t really up on the changes yet as news of the impending tier addition and IHG hotels shift spread rapidly across social media channels today.

Loyalty Traveler Analysis (based on pure statistical guesses and no detailed knowledge of actual changes other than 25% hotels going up and 20% going down.)

Every IHG brand has a new higher tier as seen in the chart.

Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express add a new 20,000 point reward tier. Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels already had a 25,000 point hotel reward for about 1,000 hotels globally and 70 % of the 3,300 Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels are currently 15,000 points (60%) or 10,000 points (10%).

[update Jan 3 2:25pm Pacific - the original post read 90% of these two brands were at 10K or 15K. This data was corrected from 90% to 70% based on the Priority Club Reward tier categories compiled by ChongCao on this website.]

I expect 80% or more of the 2,000 hotels changing reward tier up or down will be in these two brands. Four reward tiers will allow easier shifts for Priority Club hotel rewards for Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels based on revenue and reward demand.

InterContinental, Crowne Plaza and Hotel Indigo will likely see a shift upwards in most high occupancy metropolitan areas. Perhaps 25% or more of hotels will increase by 10,000 points per night and that is about 150 hotels in these three brands.

Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites will likely change upward for high revenue locations and affects about 120 hotels of 500 or so if reward nights increase by 25% more points.

Any techie care to produce a list of current Priority Club Reward levels before January 18?

Update Jan 3 2012 - ChongcCao has a UK website updated in August and November 2011 showing Priority Club reward tiers in 2011 for Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express and InterContinental hotels and tier changes from 2010 levels.

Frustrating to me is Priority Club Rewards does not have lists of hotels at the different reward tiers on the Priority Club website. I asked Don Berg, VP IHG Priority Club loyalty program, why Priority Club has no list of reward tiers for its hotels? Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott and Starwood publish the reward cost of all their hotels in easy to search lists. He said Priority Club research indicates the general Priority Club member does not have a need for a master list showing the reward cost of hotels.

Priority Club requires the member to look up a destination like Paris, France or Lubbock, Texas and see hotels and their reward cost.

Priority Club nicely displays Reward Night Rates in hotel searches.

My January 18th question is “Did the hotel reward tier go up or down?”

The need for a master list to me is to make use of the 60-day window for booking rewards at the lower level. There are no master lists of Priority Club reward tiers to know if a hotel went up or down when the new tiers are added January 18. We can tell which hotels increased to 35,000 or 50,000 points with several of the brands. The changes will be easily detected with Crowne Plaza, InterContinental and Hotel Indigo.

What about the midscale traveler’s needs?

Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels is where I think more than 80% of the 2,000 hotels shifting tiers will occur. On January 18 how will you know if that 20,000 point hotel reward was 10,000 or 15,000 or 25,000 points before?

You will only know the January 18 reward rates and not the previous reward rates when you look up Lubbock, Texas or Key West, Florida. How will you even know to call and book the lower rate during the 60-day grace period after the tier changes at those 800+ Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels that go up in reward cost on January 18?

The following data is an addition to the original post based on data from ChongCao’s census of IHG hotels at different Priority Club reward tiers.

2011 reward tier data for Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels prior to January 18, 2012 changes.

InterContinental Hotels (ChongCao hotel tier list for 169 properties)

• 30,000 points = 99 hotels
• 40,000 points = 70 hotels

USA – Holiday Inn  (671 hotels) (ChongCao reward tier hotel list.)

• 10,000 points = 27   (4.0%)
• 15,000 points = 372  (55.4%)
• 25,000 points = 272  (40.5%)

USA – Holiday Inn  Express (1,731 hotels)   ChongCao 25K reward tier hotel list

• 10,000 points = 212   (12.2%)  ChongCao 10K and 15K reward tier hotel list
• 15,000 points = 1,107 (64.0%)
• 25,000 points = 412  (23.8%)

International – Holiday Inn  (549 hotels) (ChongCao reward tier hotel list.)

• 10,000 points = 35  (6.4%)
• 15,000 points = 309  (56.3%)
• 25,000 points = 205  (37.3%)

International - Holiday Inn  Express (367 hotels)

• 10,000 points = 57   (15.5%)
• 15,000 points = 216 (58.9%)
• 25,000 points = 94  (25.6%)

Related link FlyerTalk ChongCao – Master List of 10K and 25K Holiday Inn /Holiday Inn Express List
2011/2012  (Nov 9, 2011)

There was a significant shift in the hotel reward category assignments for U.S. properties. Most U.S. hotels were reassigned to a higher category and increased in points cost for a free night reward despite a reduction in the points required for a free night in each of the six categories of hotel rewards. 395 of 587 hotels in U.S. cost more for a reward night while 134 hotels decreased in reward night cost. 

In Europe and internationally the changes are substantially more favorable with a number of hotels decreasing in category and points cost per night in the new Club Carlson hotel reward category assignments. Europe, Middle East and Africa saw 271 hotels of 349 hotels dropping in cost and only 54 hotels rising in reward night cost.

Asia and Pacific hotels overall saw a decrease in hotel reward night cost.

Loyalty Traveler presents a detailed analysis of the hotel reward category changes in Club Carlson from the former goldpoints plus program and the impact on the cost in points for a free night in different regions of the world.

These reward category hotel assignment changes will be covered in a series of posts due to the length of this analysis.

Club Carlson unifies the Earn Rate Differentials

Goldpoints plus was often called the Radisson Hotel program (FlyerTalk) when in fact midscale hotel brand Country Inns & Suites is the largest brand by number of hotels in the Carlson Hotels family. Country Inns & Suites are predominantly in the U.S. and Canada (475 hotels) along with about 120 upscale Radisson Hotels. USA hotels comprise about 55% of the global properties of 1,070 Carlson Hotels in 77 countries. Carlson Hotels plans to grow to 1,500 hotels by 2015.

Club Carlson has a globally uniform earn rate at 20 points per U.S. dollar for all hotel brands in the 1,070 properties of Carlson Hotels. This program change eliminates the split personality aspect of the former goldpoints plus loyalty program where hotel stays had different earn rates depending on the location and brand of the Carlson hotel.

In the former goldpoints plus loyalty program, hotels in Europe, Africa and the Middle East earned 20 points per Euro for Radisson and Park Plaza hotels stays and 15 points per Euro at Park Inn and Country Inns & Suites . Hotel stays in the Americas and Asia-Pacific earned 20 points per U.S. dollar for Radisson and Park Plaza and 15 points per dollar for Country Inns & Suites and Park Inn.

The change in earn rate to 20 points/US$1 for all hotel stays globally benefits members in all areas.

Currently over 95% of the 500+ Country Inns & Suites are located in North America. Club Carlson members now earn 33% more points per US dollar in hotel spend at Country Inn and Park Inn brands. A Club Carlson member who earned 1,500 points for a $100 Country Inn stay last week earns 2,000 points for the same spend this week.

The majority of Park Inn locations are in Europe and the change to 20 points per dollar is a 33% increase along with a present-day currency factor of 1.40 US dollars per Euro. A member staying at a 100€ per night Park Inn last week earned 1,500 goldpoints in the former program and now with Club Carlson the same 100€ stay earns about 2,800 points, dependent on currency conversion rates. That is an 87% increase, so international members should keep this in mind if feeling slighted about the Club Carlson CWT Vacation rewards and Club Med options being restricted to U.S. and Canada residents at the present time.

Hotels in some countries, specifically the USA, see rises in the number of points required for a free night and hotels in other countries, particularly places in Europe see the cost of a free night fall to new lows.

Category 1 Hotels

There were 131 hotels assigned to Category-1 in goldpoints plus. Club Carlson reduced the cost of a reward night in Category-1 from 15,000 points per night down to 9,000 points per night, a 40% reduction in reward cost, yet also reduced the number of hotels assigned to category-1 from 131 to 51 hotels.

Category-1 hotel global distribution of 51 hotels.

• USA = 24 hotels
• Canada = 0 hotels
• Mexico = 3 hotels
• Europe = 14 hotels
• Egypt = 3 hotels
• China = 1 hotel
• India = 6 hotels

Earning 9,000 points for a category-1 hotel reward night takes only $450 in hotel spend for a general member, making Club Carlson the lowest spend to standard reward cost ratio among hotel loyalty programs. Club Carlson Concierge level members earn a 75% elite bonus and the cost of a free night requires only $257 in spend. Concierge elite requires 75 nights or 30 stays in a calendar year.

For comparison, HHonors Points & Points is the next lowest program with an earn rate at 15 points/$1 requiring $500 in spend to earn a 7,500 points category 1 reward night. Marriott Rewards requires $750 in spend for a category 1 reward night at 7,500 points. Keep in mind that the cost of a reward does not have a correlation to the number of hotels assigned to that reward category. For example, Hilton has about 40 hotels or only around 1% of its 3,600 hotels in category 1, whereas Club Carlson has 51 hotels in category 1 for nearly 5% of its global hotels. Marriott Rewards has about 250 hotels in category 1 or about 7% of its global hotels.

USA Hotels overwhelmingly reassigned to higher reward category in Club Carlson.

USA Category 1 Hotels

• 24 hotels in USA are Club Carlson category 1 hotels.
• Only 19 hotels of 107 hotels in the U.S. in category 1 last week remain in category 1.
• Only 3 hotels in the USA dropped from goldpoints plus category-2 to Club Carlson category-1.
• Over 50 hotels formerly category-1 increased to Club Carlson Category 2 and are still 15,000 points for a reward night in Club Carlson for no change in points required for a free night.
• About 20 hotels that were goldpoints plus category 1 increased to category 3 and currently cost 28,000 points compared to 15,000 points last week; an 87% increase in reward night cost.

Europe, Africa and Middle East (EMEA) Category 1 Hotels

• There are 17 hotels in Club Carlson hotel reward category-1. Europe sees a rise from 3 hotels formerly in category-1 to 14 hotels. Europe only had three category-1 hotels before Club Carlson and all were in Sweden. 
• Two of the Sweden hotels are now category-5 hotels and increased from 15,000 points to 44,000 points per night (193% increase) and one hotel is category-4 at 38,000 points (153% increase).
• The other three former category-1 hotels were in Egypt and two of these hotels remain at category-1 and Radisson Blu Resort Sharm el Sheikh was reassigned to category 3 and increased from 15,000 to 28,000 points per night.
• 14 hotels in Europe and one in Egypt were reassigned to category 1 in Club Carlson from the former Goldpoints Plus category-2 (7), Category-3 (6), and Category-4 (2). This is a dramatic reduction in the cost for a hotel reward night at these hotels.
• Park Inn Pribaltiyskaya St. Petersburg and Radisson Blu Alexandria Egypt dropped from category-4 at 40,000 points per night to category-1 at 9,000 points per night for a 72% reduction in cost. Four nights at these hotels are less than the cost of one night last week.
• 6 hotels in Europe dropped from category-3 (30,000 points per night in goldpoints plus) to Club Carlson category-1 at 9,000 points for a 70% decrease in reward night cost.

Club Carlson Category 1 Hotels and Former Category Assignment

Yellow-fill cells with no 2010 category were not listed on the Goldpoints Plus website in February 2011 when data was acquired.  (Click on image to open full size in separate window).

Links will be added to this post as more analyses are added to the Club Carlson hotel reward category reassignments.

Related Posts:

Club Carlson Hotel Rewards Category Reassignment Analysis – Overview and Category-1 (April 7)

Club Carlson Category 2 Hotel Rewards Analysis (April 8 )

Club Carlson Category 3 Hotel Rewards Analysis (April 8 )

Club Carlson Category 4 Hotel Rewards Analysis (April 8 )

Club Carlson Category 5 Hotel Rewards Analysis (April 9)

Club Carlson Category 6 Hotel Rewards Analysis (April 9)

Competitive Advantages of Club Carlson Hotel Rewards (April 10)

Marriott Rewards has only released the names of 50 hotels changing category in current categories 5 through 8. Of these 50 hotels, 31 are increasing in category and 19 are decreasing in reward category. The other 400 hotels changing category are currently in category 1 through 4.

Marriott Rewards has not posted a complete list at this time of the 450 hotels changing reward category on March 8, 2011. Last year Marriott Rewards never posted the complete hotel list prior to the 2010 category changes taking effect.

Loyalty Traveler excoriated Marriott Rewards for its lack of transparency last March when it chose not to publish the full list of category changes prior to the new reward category levels taking effect. Obviously my rants had no effect as Marriott Rewards has chosen to follow a similar strategy again for 2011.

The hotel reward costs what it costs, so what’s the big deal about an incomplete list of changes?

Marriott Rewards has announced it will change the hotel reward category assignment at 450 hotels. The 350 hotels moving up in category represent 10% of Marriott’s global hotel portfolio which was 3,507 hotels as of December 31, 2010.

The changes released in Marriott’s advance notice to members of Marriott Insiders and FlyerTalk include only 31 hotels of the 350 hotels increasing reward category March 8. That is less than 9% of the hotels revealed that will cost more points as of March 8.

There will be an increase in points needed for a reward night at 319 other Marriott brand hotels on March 8. Making a reservation at the lower reward level is rather difficult when members do not know the names of these 319 hotels.

Marriott Rewards Free Night Certificates Often Restricted to Category 4 and Lower

Currently Marriott Rewards offers MegaBonus 2011 for a free night certificate after two hotel stays. The free night certificates earned from the MegaBonus promotion are only valid at Marriott Rewards category 1 to 4 hotels.  New members of Marriott Rewards Visa card also receive a free night certificate restricted for use at Category 1 to 4 hotel rewards. 

Marriott Rewards members holding these types of free night certificates do not have a list of the hotels that will be increasing to category 5 on March 8. The reassignment of hotels to category 5 hotel rewards will likely make dozens of Marriott hotels ineligible for free nights as of March 8, even though these hotels are currently eligible with a Category 4 free night certificate earned from credit card membership or MegaBonus.

At least this year I am seeing numerous requests to Marriott Rewards from members seeking the full list of hotel reward category changes before the changes go into effect. More voices calling for transparency create a louder voice.

Will Marriott Rewards listen to their members’ voice before March 8?

Marriott Rewards Hotel Category Changes taking effect March 8, 2011 (the incomplete official list).

Update: February 28, 2010

Here is Marriott’s official response to members’ request for a complete list of hotel reward category changes before the changes go into effect on March 8, 2011.

“The entire list is considered proprietary.”

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/15948807-post43.html

Flyertalk.com post on February 28 by Marriott Concierge

Update Wednesday, March 2: Marriott posted today on FlyerTalk the full list of properties changing categories on March 8.

http://boardingarea.com/blogs/loyaltytraveler/2011/03/02/marriott-posts-complete-list-of-hotel-reward-category-changes-for-march-8/

A fundamental question needs to be addressed whether all hotels can continually improve category status or whether the entire family of hotels is evaluated against each other to set up an allocation of hotels distributed within the categories of the SPG [insert name of any hotel frequent guest loyalty] program.

          Loyalty Traveler blog – March 2008

Hyatt Category 5  - Dec 2006       18,000 points (20% increase)

SPG Category 7  - March 2007       30,000 to 35,000 (50% increase)

Priority Club tiered rewards - March 2007

          Holiday Inn/HI Express  10,000; 15,000; 25,000 (40% increase)

          InterContinental Hotels 30,000; 40,000 (33% increase)

Marriott Category 8  -  Jan 2009      40,000 points (12.5% increase)

Marriott Extended Stay Discount Reward Tables for up to 7 night hotel stays changed to 5^th Night Free Reward Stays – Jan 2009    (up to 60% increase)

Marriott Vacation Club Awards  - July 2009 (up to 85% increase)

Hilton Category 7  - Jan 2010  (up to 29% increase)

Hyatt Category 6  - June 2010  (22% increase)

Ritz Carlton Rewards 2 Tiers to 5 Tiers - Sep 2010  (up to 68% increase)

This FlyerTalk thread shows 26 hotel changes since March 2010. 

Autograph Collection, Marriott’s new hotel brand of independent hotels, accounts for three of the hotel category shifts. Two hotels shifted down from category 6 at 30,000 points per night to category 5 at 25,000 points per night.

The Bohemian Hotel Celebration in Celebration, Florida is a DisneyWorld vicinity, Orlando-area Marriott Rewards category 5 hotel.  El Monte Sagrado is located in Taos, New Mexico. Since both of these Autograph Collection destinations are the kind of hotels where a five night stay may be your desire, the cost of Marriott Rewards 5^th night free 5-night reward is 100,000 points. These two hotels dropped since March 2010 when they required 120,000 points as category 6 hotels for a 5-night reward stay.

But you will need to pay 5,000 points more per night for the recategorized Category 6 Autograph Collection Grand Bohemian Hotel Asheville in North Carolina. That tacks on a 20%  points increase with 120,000 points needed for a five night vacation using the 5^th night free reward.

The Algonquin Hotel in midtown Manhattan New York, another Autograph Collection hotel being added to Marriott Rewards in September 2010 adds to the highly select trophy travel properties in Marriott Rewards category 8.

(Click the hotel name links and the hotel photos tell the story of why you might want to linger on these stays.)

Here are 13 hotels in the top half Marriott rewards hotel categories of 5 through 8 with changes and initial category level for new hotels .

Category  8 – 40,000 points per night (160,000 points 5^th night free award)

New York- Algonquin Hotel, Autograph Collection  (new Marriott Rewards property)

Category  7 – 35,000 points per night (140,000 points 5^th night free award)

Miami, Florida – Hotel Beaux Arts Miami (new Marriott Rewards property – opening Oct 2010) 

Honolulu, Hawaii - The Waikiki EDITION  (new Marriott Rewards property – opening Sep 2010. This will be the first hotel of the newest Marriott brand.)

Category 6 – 30,000 points per night (120,000 points 5^th night free award)

Miami, Florida – JW Marriott Marquis Miami  (new Marriott Rewards property – opening Oct 2010) 

Orlando, Florida – Marriott’s Lakeshore Reserve (Marriott Vacation Club property)

Chicago, Illinois – JW Marriott Chicago (new Marriott Rewards property – opening Oct 2010)

Asheville, North Carolina – Grand Bohemian Hotel Asheville, Autograph Collection (increase from category 5)

San Antonio, Texas – JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa (increase from category 5) 

St Croix, US Virgin Islands – Renaissance St. Croix Carambola Beach Resort & Spa  (new Marriott Rewards property – opening Sep 2010)

Category 5 – 25,000 points per night (100,000 points 5^th night free award)

4 hotels dropped from category 6 to category 5 since March. 

Celebration, Florida – Bohemian Hotel Celebration, Autograph Collection

Miami, Florida – JW Marriott Hotel Miami  

Hyannis, Massachusetts – Courtyard Cape Cod Hyannis  

Taos, New Mexico – El Monte Sagrado, Autograph Collection

Five stars is a start, but most of us are familiar with the variations in star rankings across different websites and organizations.

The main differentiation between luxury hotels and the lesser tiers of hotels is generally price.

Defining Hotel Class

Knowing how hotels compare themselves to each other makes analyzing paid hotel night and reward night opportunities easier. Price and hotel loyalty program reward category do not necessarily have a tight correlation with regard to average price for specific hotels. The reward category for hotels in Las Vegas is generally quite high relative to the published price for many of the days of the year, whether you look at Starwood or Hilton or Marriott.

Most hotel loyalty programs require the same reward value in points whether booking in the hotel’s high-season dates or low-season dates. Published rates for many high-end hotels can be discounted more than 50% in low season periods.

Some ski resort lodges with $500 per night rooms in February may be less than $200 per night in July. When the luxury beach resort with the perfect water in one season is too cold to swim in the ocean in another season you may find the hotel pools are still warm and open without enormous crowds and the beach is still there for viewing. And the room nights can be discounted hundreds of dollars per night.

Smith Travel Research

There are a few major hotel data research firms in the U.S. with Smith Travel Research, PKF-Hospitality Research, and PricewaterhouseCoopers being some of the major companies who produce reports and press releases cited frequently in hospitality publications.

Smith Travel Research is based in Hendersonville, Tennessee. The website http://www.strglobal.com/ is the industry report side and HotelNewsNow is the hotel data news side. The 2010 Hotel Data Conference is taking place this week at Loews Vanderbilt Hotel Nashville. The Gaylord Opryland Hotel was the planned host for the annual conference until the devastating Nashville floods in early May wrecked the convention hotel. The Gaylord Opryland is scheduled to reopen November 15, 2010.

Smith Travel Research (STR) has a glossary of hotel data terms that I find useful as a language tool when reading hotel research. Luxury Hotels in the industry can be defined as a Hotel Market Class category or Chain Scale segment category and is based on the average daily room rate of the hotel.

This is how STR defines luxury hotels in three definitions.

Chain Scales

Chain scale segments are a method by which branded hotels are grouped based on the actual average room rates. Independent hotels, regardless of their average room rates, are included as a separate chain scale category. The chain scale segments are:

Luxury Chains

Upper Upscale Chains

Upscale Chains

Midscale Chains with F & B (Food & Beverage)

Midscale Chains without F & B (Food & Beverage)

Economy Chains

Independents

*** 

Market Class

Class is an industry categorization which includes chain-affiliated and independent hotels. The class for a chain-affiliated hotel is the same as its chain scale (see chain scale). An independent hotel is assigned a class based on its ADR, relative to that of the chain-affiliated hotels in its geographic proximity. There are six class segments: 

Luxury

Upper Upscale

Upscale

Midscale with F&B

Midscale without F&B

Economy.

*** 

Market Price Segments (U.S. Only)

The five categories of a metro STR market which are defined by actual or estimated average room rate. The five price categories are shown below: 

Luxury – top 15% average room rates

Upscale – next 15% average room rates

Mid-Price – middle 30% average room rates

Economy – next 20% average room rates

Budget – lowest 20% average room rates 

In rural or non-metro STR markets, the luxury and upscale segments collapse into the upscale and form four price segment categories: 

Upscale – top 30% average room rates

Mid-Price – next 30% average room rates

Economy – next 20% average room rates

Budget – lowest 20% average room rates

 ***

Another definition can be used to illustrate Loyalty traveler strategies

Price Tier is a glossary term applicable to U.S. only. I imagine the currency exchange fluctuations make it much more complex to compare room rates internationally.

Basically I see hotel loyalty programs as a way to focus purchase power in the economy and midprice room rates and with the use of loyalty promotions earn free nights and points to redeem for hotels in the upscale and luxury price tiers.

STR Glossary: 

Price Tier (U.S. Only)

The three categories of a state, STR market or submarket which are defined by actual average daily room rate or average published rate. The three categories are:

Upper Tier – top 33% room rates

Middle Tier – middle 33% room rates

Lower Tier – lowest 33% room rates

 ***

Here is a Loyalty Traveler example to illustrate the value of hotel loyalty programs.

Let’s assume some average hotel room rates

• Upper Tier – $225
• Middle Tier – $140
• Lower Tier – $90

Assume 20 hotel nights in a calendar year.

• Upper Tier – $4,500 hotel spend in 2010
• Middle Tier – $2,800
• Lower Tier – $1,800

A hotel loyalty program promotion like Best Western Rewards, Carlson Goldpoints Plus or Hyatt Gold Passport’s stay 2 and earn one free night, or Starwood’s stay 3 and earn one free night could earn 7 to 10 free nights after 20 paid nights.

Concentrate your lower and middle tier paid stays within a large hotel company like Carlson, Starwood or Hyatt with hotel brands in multiple market price and class segments to maximize the free night promotions and points bonuses.  Use free nights earned to maximize upper tier hotel stays. Redeem free nights at hotels above your price point to increase the value of $2,000 to $3,000 in hotel spending annually to $4,000 to $5,000 in hotel rooms with several free or highly discounted stays at upper-upscale or luxury hotel properties made available to you through the hotel company’s loyalty program.

Earn seven free nights on $2,400 in hotel spending and redeem your free nights for a hotel with $300 per night published rates (7 x $300 = $2,100) and you have received $4,500 total hotel rate value for your $2,400 in spend. You have increased your hotel spend value by almost 90%. 

Priceline is a bit opposite in strategy. You may pay an overall lower cost with Priceline or Hotwire, but you also likely receive inferior rooms compared to what you can have as an elite hotel loyalty program member. And 20 paid nights will get you top elite in some programs if you plan your stays for that purpose.

So which market class do a Holiday Inn, W Hotel, Hyatt Place, Fairfield Inn, and Hilton Garden Inn fall when calculating where your price point and comfort level lies in the economy to midscale to upper-upscale and luxury chain segments?

Smith Travel Research does not have a listing that I could find showing which hotel brands are in which chain scale or market class.

Here is a pretty comprehensive link to MarketMetrix.com listing of hotel brands in different Hotel Chain Scale/Market Class segments of luxury, upper-upscale, upscale, midscale with F&B, midscale w/o F&B, and Economy.

These are states and countries where the majority of Holiday Inn hotels are 25,000 point awards.

Priority Club has three tiers of hotel awards for Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express with free night awards at the 10,000 points, 15,000 points, or 25,000 points level.

Maine, New Jersey, New York, Wyoming, and the United Kingdom are the only states or countries where 50% or more of the Holiday Inn Express hotels are at the 25,000 point award level.

The vast majority of hotel awards for Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels are at the 15,000 point level.

Priority Club is the largest of the major global chain hotels in several statistical categories such as number of rooms (620,000+) and the number of countries with hotels (100). Holiday Inn is the #2 hotel brand in the world by number of rooms with over 250,000 rooms. Best Western is #1 with over 300,000. Marriott #3 and Hilton #4 both have about 200,000 rooms. Holiday Inn Express is #5 at 175,000 rooms.

Looking at a Loyalty Traveler post from July 9 on “InterContinental Hotels Group By the Numbers” shows IHG has added a new Holiday Inn Express hotel at the rate of one new hotel member every one or two days! While many of these hotels are rebranded properties, many are also newly built.

Looking up the award level of hotels in the Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express brands are a pain. A Priority Club Rewards member must log as a member, pick a location, and select redeem points to see how many points are required for a free night at any particular Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn Express hotel.

The website is not designed to allow a member like me to see all the hotels in California.  I can pick a location and at most see all the hotels in a 100 mile radius. A road traveler may find the 25,000 points Holiday Inn Express Elk Grove as a Sacramento area I-5 hotel, but miss the I-5 Corning Holiday Inn Express at 10,000 points farther north since it is not in the 100 mile radius of Sacramento. Many travelers might prefer to drive an extra 120 miles to save 15,000 Priority Club points for a free hotel night in transit on I-5.

Wouldn’t it be great to have a list of all the 10,000 point Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express properties?

Cao Chong of the U.K. has a website where he recently posted a listing of the current hotels worldwide in Priority Club at the 10,000 point level. Hotels at the 25,000 points level and international properties at the 15,000 points level are also listed. USA hotels at the 15,000 points level are not listed, however, by default these hotels are all the 1,700+ remining HI/HIX hotels not listed.

At the rate of one new Priority Club member HI/HIX hotel being added every day or two, this list will soon be outdated, but for now this is the only listing I know showing the tiers for Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels. I am currently about 20% of the way through building a IHG property spreadsheet, but it is slow work with over 4,000 hotel entries to compile.

Cao Chong’s site has a table showing the geographic breakdown of Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express Hotels by country and tier level on this web page. He also provides some analysis on trends he sees in the data.

Here is some additional analysis based on his data tables.

Holiday Inn brand has 1,333 properties worldwide with 762 hotels (57%) located in the USA  and 571 hotels (43%) located internationally outside the USA in 70 other countries.

Award tier Breakdown for 1,333 Holiday Inn hotels with 762 USA hotels and 571 international hotels.

10,000 point award nights are available at 118 Holiday Inn hotels of 1,333 worldwide or 8.9% of all Holiday Inns.

15,000 point award nights are available at 796 Holiday Inn hotels worldwide or 59.7% of all Holiday Inns.

25,000 point award nights are available at 419 Holiday Inn hotels worldwide or 31.4% of all Holiday Inns

USA (762 Holiday Inn hotels)

10,000 point award nights are available at 62 of the 762 Holiday Inn hotels in the USA or just 8.1% of all US Holiday Inn hotels are the lowest tier award.

15,000 point award nights are available at 500 of the 762 Holiday Inn hotels in the USA or 65.6% of all US Holiday Inn hotels are the middle tier award.

25,000 point award nights are available at 200 of the 762 Holiday Inn hotels in the USA or 26.2%.

International (571 Holiday Inn hotels)

10,000 point award nights are available at 56 of the 571 Holiday Inn hotels outside the USA or 9.8% of all international Holiday Inns.

15,000 point award nights are available at 296 of the 571 Holiday Inn hotels outside the USA or 51.8% of all international Holiday Inns.

25,000 point award nights are available at 219 of the 571 Holiday Inn hotels outside the USA or 38.4% of all international Holiday Inns.

Holiday Inn Express brand has 2,212 properties worldwide with 1,851 hotels (83.7%) located in the USA  and 361 hotels (16.3%) located internationally outside the USA in 27 other countries.

Award tier Breakdown for 2,212 Holiday Inn Express hotels with 1,851 USA hotels and 361 international hotels.

10,000 point award nights are available at 188 Holiday Inn Express hotels of 2,212 worldwide or 8.5% of all Holiday Inn Express hotels.

15,000 point award nights are available at 1,437 Holiday Inn Express hotels worldwide or 65.0% of all 2,212 Holiday Inn Express hotels.

25,000 point award nights are available at 587 Holiday Inn Express hotels worldwide or 26.5% of all 2,212 Holiday Inn Express hotels.

USA (1,851 Holiday Inn Express hotels)

10,000 point award nights are available at 164 of the 1,851 Holiday Inn Express hotels in the USA or just 8.9% of all US Holiday Inn Express hotels are the lowest tier award.

15,000 point award nights are available at 1,203 of the 1,851 Holiday Inn Express hotels in the USA or 65.0% of all US Holiday Inn Express hotels are the middle tier award.

25,000 point award nights are available at 484 of the 1,851 Holiday Inn Express hotels in the USA or 26.1%.

International (361 Holiday Inn Express hotels)

10,000 point award nights are available at 24 of the 361 Holiday Inn Express hotels outside the USA or 6.6% of all international Holiday Inns.

15,000 point award nights are available at 234 of the 361 Holiday Inn Express hotels outside the USA or 64.8% of all international Holiday Inn Express hotels.

25,000 point award nights are available at 103 of the 361 Holiday Inn Express hotels outside the USA or 28.5% of all international Holiday Inn Express hotels.

InterContinental Hotels Group by the numbers

InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club Rewards covers the hotel brands of Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, InterContinental Hotels, Crowne Plaza, Staybridge Suites, Candlewood Suites, and Hotel Indigo.

IHG is the largest hotel company in the world ranked by number of hotel rooms. Hotelsmag.com 2009 rankings listed IHG with 620,000 rooms. Wyndham Hotels, the largest global company by number of hotels, had about 20,000 fewer rooms in 2009.

IHG is ranked #1 of all hotel chains in terms of the number of different countries with a hotel property.

Loyalty Traveler posts: July 9, 2009 IHG by the Numbers gives hotel brand data for the other IHG brands of InterContinental Hotels, Crowne Plaza, Staybridge Suites, and Candlewood Suites.

Marriott by the numbers, Hyatt by the numbers, and Starwood by the numbers can also be found in these Loyalty traveler posts.

The hotel media is acting like this is the first year there has been competition for hotel loyalty program members. I see loyalty wars as a continual endeavor and there is really nothing remarkable about 2010 except for the fact that elite status is easier to get with several programs this year.

Best Western Rewards is currently offering instant elite to members of other programs. So what?

Hyatt has been giving away elite status for a year now and most programs will match your elite status with another hotel program.

My favorite line from the SmartMoney article is from Bjorn Hanson of New York University Tisch Center for Hospitality, “Before you switch loyalties, though, crunch the numbers on rewards to make sure you are getting the best deal.”

Great advice for a loyalty member, and I agree with this, but does anyone care to lay out a method for how to “crunch the numbers” on hotel awards in different hotel loyalty programs?

In the April 2010 issue of InsideFlyer I proposed a method for comparing hotel loyalty program awards. The InsideFlyer article is not easy reading, and I fault myself for not being a better writer, however, I wanted to show a way I think allows a frequent guest to “crunch the numbers” on hotel awards to compare hotel award value between programs. I think the method works for a basic comparison.

The rest of this post is a step by step explanation of the problems encountered when trying to compare hotel programs and award value between programs, followed by an example of how I compare award value for seven hotels in San Francisco. This article is also not an easy read, but useful if you are into calculating the value of hotel points.

Difficulties with calculating hotel award value across programs

There are several difficulties encountered when trying to crunch the numbers on hotel awards.

Here are a few of the variables:

Hotel loyalty programs have different rates for earning points.

• Carlson Hotels goldpoints plus gives 20 points per $1 for Radisson Hotel stays, 15 points per $ for Country Inn & Suites.
• Hilton HHonors members earn 15 points per $1 if earning preference is set for Points & Points, but only 10 points per $1 if earning Points & Miles.
• Gold Passport members earn 5 points per $1.
• Starwood Preferred Guest members earn 2 points per $1.
• Marriott Rewards and IHG Priority Club Rewards members earn 10 points per $1, except when staying at Marriott’s Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites, or IHG’s Candlewood Suites and Staybridge Suites.

Award Categories Are Difficult to Align Across Programs    

Hotel loyalty programs use different award levels for classifying hotel awards and the hotels are unevenly distributed across award levels for different programs.

Is a Hilton category 7 the same as a Starwood category 7 award?

A person on FlyerTalk made an analysis the other day equating these two award levels in a comparison of which program offered the best value. The Hilton San Francisco Fisherman’s Wharf (category 7) or Embassy Suites, Seaside, a few miles from my home in Monterey, California (category 7) are nowhere near the same hotel market segment as the Hotel Gritti Palace (SPG category 7) in Venice, Italy or the Mystique in Santorini, Greece (SPG Category 7).

Uneven Distribution of Hotels Among Award Categories

The distribution of hotels within a program’s award category levels is variable. Hilton has just 42 hotels of 3,500 hotels in category 1 for 7,500 points a night; a little over 1% of its properties. Marriott Rewards has 288 hotels in category 1 after the March 8, 2010 changes. Marriott has almost as many hotels as Hilton in its loyalty program, yet seven times the number of hotels in its category 1 award level.

You could argue that Hilton has higher quality properties justifying fewer hotels in category 1. I don’t buy that argument.

Elite Status impacts the rate you earn loyalty points

Elite status offers the potential for up to 50% more points, but earning elite status is dependent on your hotel travel pattern. Marriott only counts nights as the one route to elite status, while all the other programs offer an additional route to elite status. The rest (except for Priority Club) allow elite status qualification for fewer stays than nights. This is the more favorable route to elite for a frequent guest who typically only has one night stays. Hilton HHonors allows elite membership to be earned through spending. Priority Club counts total earned points for elite qualification and bonus points earned through promotions and partner activity count.

Crunching the Numbers the goldpoints plus way

Carlson’s goldpoints plus award calculator shows the commonly used method for comparing hotel loyalty programs. The number of hotel nights is multiplied by the average room rate and the total base points are calculated.

Example of loyalty program comparison at goldpoints plus www.dothemathsite.com.

The calculations shown are based on $3,750 in annual hotel spend.

The calculator accounts for elite status, but does not tell you what level elite status is being used. It appears each night is being counted as a separate stay.

Elite Status

goldpoints plus = Gold after 20 stays or 35 nights = 50% elite bonus

$3,750 x 20 points/$1 = 75,000 base points + 37,500 elite points = 112,500 points

Marriott Rewards = Silver after 10 nights= 20% elite bonus

$3,750 x 10 points/$1 = 37,500 base points + 7,500 elite points = 45,000 points

Hilton HHonors = Gold after 16 stays or 36 nights = 25% elite bonus

$3,750 x 10 points/$1 = 37,500 base points + 18,750 bonus points (Points & Points 50% bonus) + 9,375 elite points = 65,625 points

Priority Club Rewards = Gold after reaching 20,000 points or 15 nights = 10% elite bonus.

$3,750 x 10 points/$1 = 37,500 base points + 3,750 elite points = 41,250 points

Starwood Preferred Guest = Gold after 25 nights or Platinum with 25 stays.

$3,750 x 2 points/$1 = 7,500 base points + 3,750 elite points = 11,250 points.

Note the dothemathsite.com calculator inconsistency for HHonors v. goldpoints plus.

Goldpoints plus is calculated using Gold status which requires 20 stays or 35 nights. Obviously the stays requirement is used for goldpoints plus in this example based on 25 hotel nights. But Hilton HHonors Gold is reached with 16 stays or 36 nights. The calculation shown for the dothemathsite.com result is based on nights for HHonors and results in just a Silver elite 15% bonus. Silver elite requires 4 stays or 10 nights.

Actually HHonors Gold elite should be used to be consistent in the comparison or the goldpoints plus points should also be based on Silver elite and only a 25% bonus for a total 93,750 goldpoints plus points rather than 112,500 points.

The inconsistency in the dothemathsite.com is a calculation error and not the main issue with this hotel loyalty program comparison method.

The real problem I see?  Using free nights earned as a basis for comparing hotel programs on the surface seems like a reasonable measure for comparing the value of different hotel loyalty programs, but I find this method has a couple of problems that are not so apparent.

First, the category 1 level comparison implies all category 1 levels are equivalent among the different programs. I have already explained how this is not the case between Hilton and Marriott.

Starwood Preferred Guest is another program with a pretty vacant list of category 1 hotel properties. There were around 75 Starwood hotels in category 1 in 2005 and today in 2010 there are just 29 hotels in category 1. As the number of hotels in Starwood has increased, the number of hotels available as category 1 hotel awards has decreased.

The second problem is with the mid category comparison.  The calculation explanation on DotheMathSite.com states the middle category is used for comparison.

The calculator bases Hilton awards on category 3 at 25,000 points. This does not account for the recent changes which makes category 4 the middle award level. Regardless of the Hilton category level used, there is no basis for comparing programs on each program’s defined middle category level. That just doesn’t align with real hotel award placement.

When the lights go down in the City

San Francisco is a good example for showing how this arbitrary alignment of hotel award categories is not grounded in the actual placement of hotels.

San Francisco Fisherman’s Wharf has hotels in all the major hotel chains. They are all fairly identical within a couple of blocks of each other, three or four stories, and none with anything particularly outstanding in their architectural features or amenities. They are all upscale hotels in the same hotel market segment with similar room rates most of the time.

Here are the actual hotel category placements for seven hotels in this area.

Radisson Fisherman’s Wharf = goldpoint plus category 4 = 40,000 points

Hilton Fisherman’s Wharf = HHonors category 7 = 50,000 points

Holiday Inn Fisherman’s Wharf = Priority Club tier 3 = 25,000 points

Holiday Inn Express Fisherman’s Wharf = Priority Club tier 3 = 25,000 points

Hyatt Fisherman’s Wharf = Gold Passport category 3 = 12,000 points

Marriott Courtyard Fisherman’s Wharf = Marriott Rewards category 5 = 25,000 points

Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf = Starwood Preferred Guest category 4 = 10,000 points

My Award Value Analysis Method for Comparing Across Programs

The main issue to address is the need to adjust these awards requiring different number of points to a common scale to allow a value comparison.

Step 1. Determine the room rate which requires an actual hotel stay date. I pick Tuesday, March 23, 2010.

Step 2. Calculate award value for each hotel based on room rate divided by points needed for award night.

Step 3. Apply an adjustment factor to correlate the rate hotel points are earned to the award value to create a common scale for comparison. The award value adjustment factor is explained below.

This table shows the results of steps one and two.

Step three is using an adjustment factor to place each hotel program on a similar scale. For example the Hilton HHonors member earning Points & Points is accumulating base points and bonus points at the rate of 15 points per US dollar. The Starwood Preferred Guest member earns points at the rate of 2 points per $1. Reaching 10,000 points for the Sheraton award night could require as much as $5,000 in hotel spend while the HHonors non-elite member would only need to spend $3,334 to earn 50,000 points.

Elite status bonus points, promotion bonus points, credit card transaction points, and partner activity points are additional variables for earning points that are significant factors in real travel.

But for now, this is the baby steps introduction to crunching the award numbers. This adjustment to award value to enable comparison between programs will only consider base points and elite bonus points similar to the calculations in the DotheMathSite.com analysis.

Hotel Award Adjustment Factors to place awards on similar scale of 10 base points/$1)

Adjusted Award Values for Hotels at Fisherman’s Wharf San Francisco

 The gap between the programs closes up. You can see the Hilton Points & Points earner falls in the middle of the pack. Hyatt and Marriott are at the top, however, they are also the most expensive hotels for that night. Using points for these two hotels is great for an award night, but not so desirable if paying cash. If one program is consistently higher priced than another for same market segment hotels, then you may need to spend more money to stay all the hotel nights you need during the year.

Award values ranked by hotel and program:

1. Hyatt  7.88
2. Marriott  7.16
3. Radisson  5.80
4. Holiday Inn Express  5.52
5. Hilton (Points & Points)  4.05
6. Holiday Inn   3.96
7. Sheraton   2.98
8. Hilton (Points & Miles)  2.70

Holiday Inn Express ($138) and Hilton ($135) have similar prices and Holiday Inn Express comes out a significantly higher award value at 5.52 compared to Hilton’s 4.05.

And if you take Hilton HHonors Points & Miles, meaning your rate of earning Hilton points is reduced by one-third the base points, then award value for Hilton is the lowest of the lot.

While Starwood comes out low at 2.98 for a member without elite status, the impact of elite status on award value is quite apparent.

Adjusting Award Value to Account for Elite Status

Members may earn as many as 50% more points per hotel dollar spend dependent on elite status.

Throw in a low elite status and now the Starwood Preferred Guest has a higher award value at the Sheraton than the Holiday Inn and matches the award value for the Hilton Points & Points earner.

Here are the award values ranked for the Fisherman’s Wharf hotels and low level elite status:

1. Hyatt    9.05
2. Marriott Courtyard   8.59
3. Radisson   7.25
4. Holiday Inn Express   6.07
5. Sheraton   4.47
6. Hilton (P&P)   4.46
7. Holiday Inn    4.36
8. Hilton (P&M)  3.11

The award value ranking changes again when considering top elite status. This is primarily due to Starwood not increasing at all from low level elite as an effect of SPG Platinum status while Hyatt increases from 15% to 30% and the other programs all increase to a 50% elite bonus.  

The rankings shift again when the elite bonus points of top-tier loyalty members are factored into the earning side of the award value equation. Courtyard now moves to the top and Priority Club leaps above Hilton. This is due to the fact that a Priority Club Platinum member is earning 50% more points at 15 points per $1 in hotel spend. The Hilton Points & Points member is only earning 33% more points at 20 points per $1 as a Diamond member, compared to 15 points per dollar for the HHonors member with no elite status.

Hotel award value rank for Fisherman’s Wharf for high elite loyalty members

1. Courtyard  by Marriott   10.74
2. Hyatt  10.23
3. Radisson   8.70
4. Holiday Inn Express   8.28
5. Holiday Inn  5.94
6. Hilton(Points & Points)  5.40
7. Sheraton   4.47
8. Hilton (Points & Miles)  4.05

The Missing Factor – Promotions, Promotions, Promotions!

Promotions are variable. My opinion from watching promotions across the different loyalty programs for several years is the promotion points earned with Starwood, Hyatt, and Priority Club make up a far higher percentage of total points earned during the course of a year of hotel travel than seen with Hilton or Marriott. Actually quantifying the promotion variable is difficult and the ability to earn promotion points is dependent on your travel pattern.

Ignoring promotions favors Hilton and goldpoints plus due to the higher level of base points earned per $1. In real travel promotion points and other bonus points from credit cards and partner activities are additional factors to be considered. Over the past couple of years Hilton HHonors has taken the lead with credit card earning while falling behind on promotion points earning compared to other programs.

So what’s my point?

The bottom line and the point of this post is to illustrate how “crunching the numbers” is actually quite a bit more involved than one might think when reading a simple statement from the SmartMoney.com, “Before you switch loyalties…crunch the numbers on rewards to make sure you are getting the best deal.”

I have thought about how to crunch the numbers to compare awards between programs. I present a method here that is far from perfect, but at least provides a simple starting point for comparing award values between hotel loyalty programs.  I think this method is more accurate and fair in its comparison of hotel award value between programs than I have seen in other analyses.

[Article correction April 12, 2010 - The original version of this article incorrectly listed Gold elite status as requiring 40 nights when it is 35 nights or 20 stays. This error did not affect any of the calculations or analysis.]

The full list of 600 Marriott hotel award category changes effective March 8, 2010 can be found here.

J.W. Marriott awards follow the current industry trend of luxury at bargain prices

J.W. Marriott hotels, the premier Marriott brand fully within the fold of Marriott Rewards, reduced award cost in several locations through a one level reduction in hotel award category. The website shows 54 named J.W. Marriott hotels in the system and nine of these hotels dropped one award category level.

Six of the hotels were reduced from category-6 at 30,000 points per night to category-5 at 25,000 points per night. The award cost for a 5-night stay has basically dropped from 120,000 points with the 5^th night free discount to 100,000 points for these category-5 upper upscale hotels.

Kuala Lumpur, a long-time destination for luxury at bargain basement prices, sees the JW Marriott Kuala Lumpur retreat from its category 5 status to category-4 at just 20,000 points per night.

Two other high category J.W. Marriott hotels dropped. Santa Monica’s Le Merigot was in the newly created 2009 category-8 award level at 40,000 points per night and now is a cool 5,000 points per night less in category-7 at 35,000 points.

The popular J.W. Marriott Ihilani on Oahu (one of my favorite hotels to use as an example of the high cost of Hawaii vacations) dropped from a category-7 award down to category-6.

120,000 points for a five night stay at the Ihilani hotel is probably a good points redemption award much of the time.  Throw in a little cash and an extra 5,000 or 10,000 points per night and you might get the Hawaii ocean view upgrade, even if you do not have high elite status. Maui is consistently the highest priced Hawaiian Island. If you want bargain resorts, and not Oahu, then Kauai is the island of some good hotel deals.

J.W. Marriott Caracas is the only JW Marriott to move up; from category 4 to category 5 in the 2010 changes. How typical for Venezuela to run against the current.

Three of the new Marriott Autograph Collection hotels sound like southern dreams with the rebranding this month of the Grand Bohemian Hotels in Asheville, Orlando, and Savannah from their Preferred Hotels Group affiliation. These three hotels are listed as category 5 hotels in Marriott Rewards.

J.W. Marriott Hotels in lower award category for 2010

Ritz Carlton is the number 1 luxury brand according to the recent BTN survey of corporate travel bookers, and you can even use your Marriott points for free nights at the RC. Some great deals and a trend of moving down several hotels from the 70,000 points per night Tier 2 level down to 45,000 points per night as Tier 1 Ritz-Carlton awards available with Marriott Rewards points.

Category-4 and category-5 hotels were the big unknown in the hotel award shift since the announcement last month of the award category changes provided an early release of changes, but only for the higher categories beginning with category-5 hotels moving to category-6 and category-6 hotels moving down to category-5.

Category-4 and category-5 hotels contain some gems. There are upper upscale full-service hotels in some locations that will be the top of the line hotel for that city. , there are the international locations where the Marriott or Renaissance address identifies you as a serious business person or tourist with a prominent hotel address.   This is the award category area where room rates can easily fluctuate from $100 to $300+ per night. Some upper upscale hotels will provide a great award value when your stay aligns with high cost.

China Post-Olympics

Here are some notable examples of category-5 hotels (25,000 points) dropping down to category-4 hotels (20,000 points) last week. The change results in a 20% award cost reduction for 2010.

Beijing, China has seen the Marriott Hotel City Wall, Renaissance Beijing Capital, and Renaissance Beinjing Chaoyang drop from category-5 to category-4. Hong Kong Sky City Marriott.

Airport Layovers get Cheaper

Renaissance London Heathrow dropped from category-5 to category-4 as did the Orlando Airport Marriott. At London Gatwick the Courtyard dropped from category-4 to category-3 reducing the cost of award nights by 25%. Toronto Airport Marriott also dropped to category-3.

Germany mostly up

Nine hotels in Germany from the full-scale Marriott and Renaissance hotels to Courtyards across the country from Hamburg to Heidelberg increased a category level.  The Renaissance Karlsruhe went the other way dropping from category-4 to category-3.

Russia up too

For a city that led the world for highest hotel rates just two years ago, the increase from a category 4 to a category 5 for two Marriott Hotels in Moscow still seems like a steal.

USA College Towns See a Pattern of Increases

From State College, Pennsylvania to Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, the Courtyard Hotels apparently have been booked and award rates have seen the rising. You will pay more points when you are sleeping with the Washington Huskies in Spokane, WA or the partiers in Chico, CA; and across the country to the old money at Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tennessee or Old Dominion College in Norfolk, Virginia. College towns are hotel boom towns in 2010.

Staycations Outside the D.C. beltway

Virginia, District of Columbia, and North Carolina have seen rises. Virginia Beach is hitting the big-time resort award categories with three former category-5 hotels reaching category-6 and even the Fairfield Inn Virginia Beach rising to a category-5.

Head south – a lot of Florida is a little cheaper in 2010

Almost 1 in every 6 Marriott brand hotels dropped in award category for 2010 is located in Florida.

The Miami Beach Marriott South Beach was knocked from its perch at category-8 and is now down to category-7 for this year. For the leisure traveler seeking something a slight step down from luxury, the Ponte Vedra Beach dropped from category 6 to 5. Five hotels in Orlando are 5,000 points less as well as six other full service Renaissance and Marriott hotels dropping from category 5 to category 4.

And nearly 40 other hotels from the ranks of Courtyard, Springhill Suites, and Fairfield Inn have been reduced for Florida travelers.

Marriott Orlando Airport dropped to a category-4 award

Marriott Rewards shifted hotels last week to move nearly 300 hotels up in award category, however, there were even more hotels moved down in award category making free nights less to buy with points. The changes in points required for a free night affected fewer than 18% of the 3,375 hotels  in the Marriott network. 

Link to Loyalty Traveler list of Marriott Hotels that changed award category March 8, 2010.

In January 2010 Hilton HHonors shifted hotels among its award categories which resulted in 82% of hotels costing more points in 2010. Marriott Rewards raised the award level last week for just over 8% of its hotels.

Hotel award category distribution matters

The tables below show the distribution of hotels within award categories for Marriott and Hilton. Marriott has a distinct advantage with 1 in 3 hotels available as category 1 or 2 awards. Hilton has fewer than 5% of hotels in its two lowest categories, or less than 1 in 20 hotels.

Marriott has 68.74% of its properties at 15,000 points or less. 2 of every 3 Marriott brand hotels are available for 15,000 points or less.

Now, compare the higher earning rate for a Hilton HHonors member earning Points & Points to the higher award rate. Assume the Hilton member earns 22,500 points in the same amount of time as a Marriott Rewards member earns 15,000 points. Hilton has 4.5% of its hotels for less than 22,500 points or less than 1 out of every 20 hotels in the chain. 

Sure you may earn points faster with Hilton, but the award levels are proportionately higher for hotel awards with Hilton HHonors; perhaps even disproportionately higher.

How do the programs match up for free nights using points with hotel awards?

The relative cost of a hotel award is related to the rate a member can earn points in the program. Money spent, elite status, and promotions are the primary factors determining how many points a member will earn in the loyalty program.

Hotel Spend

Assume the money spent is the same whether staying with Hilton or Marriott.

The HHonors member can choose to earn Points & Points and receive base points at a 50% faster rate than Marriott Rewards members for the same level of spending.

Elite Bonuses 

Hilton has the advantage on elite bonus points, since it is much easier to reach HHonors Gold on 16 stays or 36 nights (25% bonus) vs. Marriott Rewards Gold at 50 nights (25% elite bonus points).

Hilton Diamond at 28 stays or 60 nights is a lower threshold than Marriott Rewards 75 nights for Platinum. Each program offers a 50% elite bonus for top tier members. 

Promotions are difficult to compare. Hilton HHonors had a couple of good promotions over the past six months. The 25,000 points after 4 stays was a great offer. Marriott Rewards consistently offers its MegaBonus. Each program seems to offer members an opportunity to earn around 100,000+ bonus points per year. Bonuses are highly variable and dependent on an individual traveler’s pattern of hotel stays.

Base Points Earned favors Hilton 

One definite advantage of Hilton is 10 base points per $1 for every hotel brand. Marriott Rewards members with frequent stays in Residence Inn or TownePlace Suites will only earn 5 points per $1. If extended stay properties are your normal stay pattern, then the comparisons below may need to consider that your earning rate could be just 1/3 the rate of a HHonors member receiving 15 points per $1 with Points & Points.

A few hotel award samples for comparison of HHonors and Marriott Rewards:

Fairfield Inn Manchester Airport, New Hampshire dropped from a Marriott Rewards category 2 to a category 1 and is now 7,500 points per night.

Hilton has a Homewood Suites located at Manchester Airport which is certainly a higher hotel market competitive set than the Fairfield Inn, but this hotel will set you back 30,000 points for a night.

Hilton has the better hotel. Marriott probably has the better value award. Unless you are hanging out at the airport for business, a bed at the Fairfield Inn will likely give most travelers what they need at 25% of the award cost. 

But here are other hotel options for airport rooms in Manchester, New Hampshire 

Manchester Regional Airport

Marriott SpringHill Suites Manchester Regional Airport is a Category 2 hotel for 10,000 points per night.

• Wednesday, March 17 rate = $93.
• Award value = $9.30/1,000 points.

Hilton Homewood Suites is a category 4 hotel for 30,000 points per night. 

• Wednesday, March 17 rate = $129.
• Award value = $4.30/1,000 points.

SpringHill Suites and Homewood Suites are both extended stay apartment style rooms. Courtyard is not an extended stay type hotel, but offers another airport hotel for Marriott Rewards members. 

Marriott Courtyard Manchester Regional Airport is a category 2 hotel at 10,000 points per night.

• Wednesday, March 17 rate = $125.
• Award value = $12.50/1,000 points.

While Hilton may offer an advantage with easier elite qualification for higher tiers and more bonus points, the cost of awards at this location still favors the Marriott Rewards member.

Tucson Airport Arizona

Marriott Rewards

Courtyard Tucson Airport is Category 2 Hotel = 10,000 points

• Wednesday, March 17 rate = $167.
• Award value = $16.70/1,000 points

Fairfield Inn Tucson Airport is Category 2 Hotel = 10,000 points

• Wednesday, March 17 rate = $129
• Award value = $12.90/1,000 points

Residence Inn Tucson Airport is category 3 = 15,000 points

• Wednesday, March 17 rate = $215
• Award value = $14.33/1,000 points 

TownePlace Suites Tucson Airport is Category 2 Hotel = 10,000 points

• Wednesday, March 17 rate = $149
• Award value = $14.90/1,000 points

Hilton HHonors

Hampton Inn Tucson Airport is HHonors category 4 hotel = 30,000 points (this hotel increased from a category 2 award in January 2010)

• Wednesday, March 17 rate = $118
• Award value = $3.93/1,000 points

Hilton Garden Inn Tucson Airport is HHonors category 3 hotel = 25,000 points

• Wednesday, March 17 rate = $169
• Award value = $6.76/1,000 points

After all that flying around and sleeping in airport hotels you might want a vacation.

Resort Hotel Stay Guanacaste, Costa Rica (7 nights from March 21-March 28)

JW Marriott Guanacaste Resort & Spa

Marriott Rewards category 5 hotel is 25,000 points per night or 150,000 points for 7 nights (5^th night free).

• Published room rate = $299 per night
• Award Value = $13.95 per 1,000 points.

Hilton Papagayo Costa Rica Resort & Spa

Category 7 hotel is 50,000 points per night with a 25% discount for a 7 night stay = 262,500 points.

• Published room rate  = $169 per night.
• Award Value = $4.51 per 1,000 points

Hotel Award Category Matters

Hilton HHonors likes to advertise its option to earn Points & Miles as the only program giving members both hotel points and airline miles for each hotel stay. Members taking that option earn hotel points at about the same rate as Marriott Rewards members. HHonors members also have the Points & Points option to earn a 50% bonus of base points (15 points per $1 instead of 10 points per $1 with Points & Miles).

While you may be able to earn 50% to 100% more points with Hilton HHonors, the payback comes when you decide to redeem your points. The cost of HHonors hotel nights in many different markets where both have similar market segment hotels of midscale, upscale and resort, the cost is likely to be a much higher award level for the Hilton free night compared to the cost for a free night with Marriott Rewards.

Hotel award category plays an important part of the equation when figuring out the value of your points.