Hyatt Gold Passport announced a new feature for 2012 allowing members to earn points when dining or paying for spa services even when not staying as a registered guest of the Hyatt hotel.

There are few participating hotels at the present time. The program has been rolling out the past few months and is supposed to continue adding properties through August 2012 according to the initial announcement by Jeff Zidell, Hyatt VP Read More…

Reuters Travel and Leisure Summit is happening in New York City Feb 22-24. So far I have seen nothing new coming out of the conference reports, but I guess it is news to lots of people.

There is a lot of chatter about rivals going after disgruntled Hilton HHonors members. Here is a good read from Deena Beasley mentioning  HHonors executive lounge closures.  And this quote regarding the recent hotel category shift across the chain from Hilton’s senior VP of global customer marketing Jeff Diskin, “We had an increase in free night redemptions. We did see a need to recalibrate.”

The comments by Henry Harteveldt, a highly regarded travel industry analyst at Forrester Research, and Bjorn Hanson, hospitality academic at NYU, indicate there may be a trend toward executive lounge closures in hotels. Some hotel management view guest lounges with free breakfast, appetizers, and personnel as an unprofitable expense. 

Interestingly there are two arguments being played out in these loyalty program stories.

1. Loyalty program members are important revenue sources to the hotel chains.
2. Frequent guests are less profitable to the chain due to savvy travelers gaining benefits and free nights, while often paying some of the lowest rates offered by the hotel rooms. 

I plead guilty. I call it smart shopping. Value is important to me since every purchasing decision means something else I desire doesn’t get bought.

Perhaps hotel lounges will remain a part of international travel, just not so prevalent in the USA.

Could the airline model of paid lounges for USA and complimentary access for elites when traveling internationally spread to hotel loyalty programs?

Despite all the gloomy outlooks there is another bright spot for Starwood Preferred Guest Platinum elites who will receive free internet access at any Starwood Hotel beginning March 1, 2010.

I think that rule change just saved me $50 next week. I might be able to afford the hotel restaurant this trip.

Providing of course the hotel has not shut down the restaurant during my stay.

Reuters Travel and Leisure Summit stories:

Repeatedly mentioned in these stories is the fact that hotel growth is primarily international and the US is the worst performing hotel market globally. Unfortunately for the hotel chains their properties are predominantly located in the USA with most major chains having 75% or more hotels in the US.

“Travel Companies Grapple with New Normal” text story.

 Travel industry outlook for 2010 video.

(video length = 5:46 min)

Discusses hotels, airlines, and Las Vegas hotels and convention business.

Finishes with forecast of well-financed public hotel companies buying out private hotel companies.

Expedia and Priceline executives discuss “Online travel bookings shift overseas” in this piece by Kyle Peterson. 

Starwood discusses growth in China in this story and an interesting item is 40% of Starwood bookings are happening in emerging markets. China could become Starwood’s largest market after the USA in a few years.

February 24, 2010 – Barbara DeLollis, Hotel Check-in blog at USA Today wrote the piece on hotel lounge closures Feb 22 that got me following this topic and yesterday she followed up with another post showing anecdotal evidence and comments confirming changes are happening.

Restaurant.com has dining certificates on sale today until 11:59pm Pacific time. Restaurant.com sells certificates for dining discounts, mostly at $10, $25, or $50 face value. Several of the participating restaurants in the program are located in major hotels or near major hotels.

This sale has been going on for several days and I have been planning to write an article about the opportunities for hotel dining discounts, but I just noticed this morning that the sale is time-limited and ends tonight.

Restaurant.com 70% Savings link: http://www.restaurant.com/consumer-promotion/lp_5a.asp

Here is the Restaurant.com deal:

1.       Sign up at Restaurant.com for an account if you are not a member.

2.       Look for hotel restaurants in places you plan to visit in the next couple of months.

3.       Buy a certificate at 70% savings in the value amount you can reasonably use for your dining. Restaurant menus can be accessed through links on the Restaurant.com website to help plan your certificate value.

4.       $25 dining certificate is regularly $10, but only $3 with this special offer. Usage rules are variable and posted on the site, but generally require either a $35 or $50 minimum tab, or two entrée order. $22 savings on a $35 to $50 tab.

5.       $50 dining certificate usually requires minimum $100 spending, but the cost for a $50 certificate is only $6 with today’s special offer. $44 savings on a $100+ tab.

6. Use Discount Code TREAT when ordering to receive 70% discount on certificate.

Some Gift Certificate Terms & Conditions:

• limit of one certificate redemption per party, per month, per restaurant. (You can’t use a restaurant.com certificate for every meal of your week-long stay!)

• Only one gift certifcate can be used per party even if seated at separate tables. (You can’t hang out with your FlyerTalk buddies eating dinner and then both of you whip out a restaurant.com certificate even though you asked for separate checks.)

• No cash back on redemption value of certificate.

• Valid for parties of two or more unless otherwise stated.

• Valid for dine-in only unless otherwise stated.

• Use of gift certificate for alcoholic beverages is at sole discretion of restaurant. (Always wise to ask first before finding out that $80 bottle of wine doesn’t get you to the $150 minimum purchase for your $75 certificate.)

• Gift certificates can be exchanged for Restaurant.com Gift Certificates within 90 days of purchase date.

• Gift certificate expires 1 year from date of issue, except in California. (Where I assume consumer protection regulations mean the expiration is a longer date??)

Loyalty Traveler analysis:

When I search 93940 using my Monterey, California zip code I see there are certificates for the two restaurants at the Hyatt Highlands Inn in Carmel: Pacific’s Edge and California Market.

I anticipate staying at the Highlands Inn using some of the Faster Free Nights I will earn over the next few months. As a Gold Passport Diamond member I will likely get complimentary breakfast, but with the dining certificate I can go all out on the menu order or get a dinner dining discount.

The Highlands Inn restaurants only come in $25 certificates for $10. This is unfortunate since a $100 dining tab at Pacific’s Edge is fairly easy to rack up and most upscale restaurants offer a $50 certificate for $20.

California Market certificate at Hyatt Highlands Inn

Pacific’s Edge requires a two entrée order. Assume the meal is $60 all-in. Your $25 Restaurant.com certificate only cost $3 so your net cost for a $60 tab is $38.

California Market is the breakfast restaurant at the Highlands Inn. In the past my tab has run about $45 for breakfast. The certificate requires a minimum of $35 in dining spend which is fairly easy to do with two diners. Assume you have a $45 breakfast tab all-in. The purchase of a $3 restaurant.com certificate for California Market will reduce your hefty breakfast tab from $45 to $23 for a hearty breakfast without leaving the Highlands Inn property.  

Restaurant.com 70% off dining certificates make extravagantly priced hotel restaurants merely high-priced.

Restaurant.com 70% Savings on Dining Certificates

Other Hotel (or near hotel) restaurants I saw available on Restaurant.com:

Scottsdale, AZ

Starwood Hotels The Phoenician – Il Terrazzo (This property offers up to $100 certificates)

San Francisco, CA

Elephant & Castle Pub is across the street from Le Meridien San Francisco.

San Francisco Airport (SFO)

Hyatt Regency SFO – Scalini Italian Restaurant

View from California Market restaurant patio, Hyatt Highlands Inn, Carmel, CA