HHonors Premium Room Rewards were introduced in April 2011 as one of three expanded reward options of Points & Money, Premium Room and Upgraded Room reward options. Premium Rewards offer the ability and option to book a higher room category, even a suite using only points.

Upgraded Room rewards offer the ability to book a confirmed upgrade using points to upgrade a confirmed reservation. Points & Money reduce the cost of a reward night to a fixed dollar amount and 50% points of a standard reward. Points & Money rewards were analyzed in this Loyalty Traveler post last week.

Premium Room Rewards Analysis

The Waldorf=Astoria New York room rate for Wednesday, October 19 is $709.

[Note: Click on images below to view full size in separate window.]

Waldorf Astoria New York BAR rate Wednesday 10-19-11 is $709.

The checkbox in upper right corner, “Use HHonors Points“, allows a search for reward availability. The points reward availability appears when the box is checked. The $709 lowest Best Available rate makes a 60,000 points Standard Reward a high value points redemption. But what if there is no standard reward availability?

Waldorf Astoria New York Premium Room Reward 10-19-11 is 212,487 points.

There is no standard reward availability for the Waldorf-Astoria New York for the October 19 date. Premium Reward availability is 212,487 points for a small room at 250 to 300 square feet. This is more than three times the high season standard reward rate of 60,000 points per night.

The extremely high rate for a small room makes paying a bit more points for a one bedroom suite with twice the room space look like a feasible option on this date for an HHonors points millionaire.

Waldorf Astoria New York Premium Room One-Bedroom Suite 10-19-11 is 272,427 points.

Compare Redemption Value of HHonors points for Premium Room Rewards

• $709/212,487 points = $3.34 per 1,000 HHonors points for a superior room Premium Reward.
• $909/272,427 points = $3.34 per 1,000 HHonors points for a one-bedroom suite Premium Reward.

Both Premium Rewards offer the same redemption value of $3.34 per 1,000 points compared to the Best Available room rate. This is a relatively low redemption value for HHonors compared to the $5.00 per 1,000 points most redemption rate analyses for HHonors points. NerdWallet.com changed its point value analysis for HHonors points to a points value extended range from $1 per 1,000 points (0.1 cent/point) to $17/1,000 points (1.7 cents/point).

Using Flexible Dates Calendar tool to find Standard Reward Availability for Waldorf Astoria New York

Standard Rewards at 60,000 points per night will allow a three night stay for 180,000 points compared to a one night premium reward stay at 212,427 points. Flexible Dates calendar tool makes this an easy search option.

Restarting my search and checking “Flexible Dates” box allows me to quickly check two weeks of dates for standard reward availability.

HHonors Flexible Dates reward search tool.

The Flexible Dates search shows there are several dates in a two week period around October 19 where peak season standard rewards are available for 60,000 points per night.

Waldorf Astoria New York Flexible Dates reward search shows several dates with Standard Rewards at 60,000 points.

Moving the hotel stay forward by one week provides a Standard Reward room for three nights at 60,000 points per night or 180,000 points for three nights.

Waldorf Astoria New York Standard Reward availability is 180,000 points for three night stay October 14-17.

When I go back to flexible dates and input October 14-17 I find there is actually much more Standard Reward availability for a 3-night reward stay compared to when I checked Standard Reward availability for a one night stay.

One would think that Premium Rewards would be less for these dates since the Best Available room rate is less for the lowest category rooms. That does not appear to be the case.

In the earlier search for October 19 the flexible dates returned only Premium Reward availability at 212,000+ points per night for each night from October 19-22. When searching 3-night stays there is Standard Reward availability at 60,000 points per night.

Waldorf Astoria New York Flexible Dates search for 3-night stay shows plenty of Standard Reward Availability.

Returning to the original search date of October 19,  the flexible dates reward calendar now shows a three night stay is available for 180,000 points in a Double Deluxe Guest Room on HHonors Standard Rewards compared to my previous search showing only Premium Reward availability at the one night rate of 212,487 points for a King Bed Superior Room.

Waldorf Astoria 3 night Standard Reward October 19-22 is 180,000 points total.

HHonors Redemption Value for this three night stay Oct 19-22 using 180,000 points for Standard Rewards is $10.98 per 1,000 points for a stay that is $1,977 + tax compared to the original Premium Room reward rate of 212,487 points for a $709 Superior King room for one night with a redemption value of $3.34 per 1,000 HHonors points.

The King One Bedroom Suite is still available as a Premium Reward for October 19-22, however the rate is unchanged from the initial search at $909 or 272,427 points per night for a redemption value of $3.34 per 1,000 HHonors points.

Dozens of searches for Premium Rewards at hotels around the world reveal a fairly constant redemption value for HHonors Premium Rewards at $3.34 per 1,000 points. The exceptional case is when a hotel has Point Stretcher Reward availability. In these cases the Premium Reward Redemption Value improves significantly.

HHonors Flexible Dates search tool using points provides members the ability to quickly search and compare paid stay and reward stay rates in a two weeks calendar.

The Flexible Dates Calendar tool allows you to search for better reward and paid stay rates when your dates are flexible.

Starwood Hotels St. Regis Florence, Italy is a hotel built in the 15th century Giuntini family palace in the center of the city near the Uffizi Gallery and within 500 meters of the Duomo. This SPG category 6 hotel has River Arno views and commendable reviews on FlyerTalk since the hotel rebranded from Luxury Collection Grand Hotel Florence earlier this year. The hotel history is available on the St. Regis website.

SPG.com Starwood Hotels Compare Rates Tool

The main point of this article is to examine features of the SPG.com Compare Rates tool that allows three additional Starwood corporate, group and promotional rates to be compared to Standard Rates in a display.

My initial rate checks for the St. Regis Florence pulled up several dates with low rates at 550EUR or USD$752 per night in October and November 2011. This certainly seemed the appropriate time to search the SPG.com Compare Rates and Browse Dates/Rates tools. I also checked St. Regis Florence hotel special offers.

SPG Compare Rates allow me to check different rate types while Browse Dates/Rates allow rates on different dates to be compared far more quickly than simply plugging dates into the homepage calendar search.

Finding the SPG Compare Rates and Rate Calendar tools

1. Go to SPG.com or StarwoodHotels.com.
2. Enter City Location and preferred dates.
3. Hotel search results page looks like these two examples.

St. Regis Florence – No available rooms October 20-24, 2011 (click on image to open full size)

SPG.com St. Regis Florence Nov 3-6, 2011

Both screenshots show the option to compare more rates or browse dates/rates. My account is set to show AAA rates shown as SET/Corporate Account # 298940.

Compare more rates allows three rates to be compared and even a specific promotional or corporate rate code to be used.

Starwood Compare More Rates checklist for quick rate checks.

When my interest is paid rates rather than using points, then I can compare AAA, Senior and Breakfast rates together.

Starwood Compare Rates display for AAA, Senior and Breakfast rates.

Different dates I tried resulted in rate differences of a couple hundred euros per night.

Promotion Code Z3H is a third night free offer I entered into the Compare Rates option and the St. Regis Florence returned availability.

St. Regis Florence Compare Rates Display for November 3-6, 2011

The 3 nights for the price of 2 rate is prepaid and nonrefundable. The rate discount looked to be the best deal going.

St. Regis Florence 3rd night free rate.

Two special offers at the St. Regis Florence showed a 20% discount for a 3-night stay and 30% discount on a 4-night stay. These rates have the same prepaid, nonrefundable terms as Z3H and provide a smaller discount for a three night stay compared to Z3H for November 3-6, 2011.

St. Regis Special Offer 20% off Rate is higher than Starwood Z3H rate.

St. Regis Florence Rate Comparison November 3-6, 2011

Deluxe King (no river view)

• Z3H = 290 EUR/night
• 20% = 335 EUR/night

Deluxe King – Panoramic river view

• Z3H = 340 EUR/night
• 20% = 393 EUR/night

Premium Deluxe Panoramic River View

• Z3H = 390 EUR/night
• 20% = 445 EUR/night

St. Regis Florence Rate Comparison on 4-night stays

St. Regis Florence has a hotel special offer 30% discount on four night stays. This rate should be lower than Z4H fourth night free which works out to 25% discount. I went back to the SPG.com Compare Rates function to input Z4H.

Starwood Compare Rates function for Z4H 4th Night Free promotion.

Search results show no Z4H availability, but the lowest rate is the 30% discount on a four night stay.

St. Regis Florence 30% discount on four night stay.

The lowest rate so far is 262 EUR per night on a four night stay November 20-24, 2011.

Rate Calendar for Quick Checks of other dates

The 30% discount special rate on 4-night stays is the best deal seen. The Starwood Rate Calendar allows a quick check of other four-night dates to see if there are even lower rate dates for November 2011.

Starwood Rate Calendar for quicker comparative rate checks.

The 262EUR rate is for November 20-24, 2011. I can enter alternate dates and see a quick rate display.

Starwood Calendar Quick Rate Check Nov 19-23 St. Regis Florence

Shifting the arrival date one day earlier pushes the rate up 100EUR per night for the entire stay from 262EUR/night to 363 EUR/night. About $600 more to arrive one day earlier on a four night stay. The calendar rate function shows this rate instantaneously once dates are inserted into calendar.

Shifting the Arrival date one day later has no impact on the 262EUR rate. I can quickly check every date of the month using four night stays and find 250EUR/night is available beginning November 24.

Starwood Rate Calendar quickly reveals rate drop Novemebr 24-28, 2011 for St. Regis Florence.

Starwood Rate Comparison and Rate Calendar make searching for the best rate a simpler task. The features could be improved by showing lowest daily rates on calendar without having to enter specific dates.

Finding the lowest rates for your hotel stay can be challenging. Starwood’s tools make the task a little bit easier. There is still room for improvement.

Hotel rate data from STR compiled over the past decade show Fridays are the lowest rates of the week and Tuesdays are the highest rates of the week. Sundays have the lowest occupancy of any day on average for US hotels.

TGI Fridays

TGIF is my motto when the weekend comes around and big city hotel rates drop.

While the low occupancy for Sundays is probably accurate for most hotels across the country, the low Friday rates depend on the location of the hotel.

Urban hotels in central business districts are the kinds of places where hotel rates often drop by more than half. San Francisco is my go to location for good hotel promotions where I can stay in an upper upscale market segment hotel like a Westin, Marriott, Hilton or Hyatt for under $150 (in the winter season) when the typical weekday rate is close to $300.

A location like my hometown of Monterey, California tends to have higher rates on weekends when the tourists come to town. Tuesday might very well be the lowest rates of the week for a place like Monterey.

Sunday can be a bargain rate for a resort location where the occupancy drops and the rate often drops too.

Need a Saturday night? Check two night rates for better deals.

One strategy I have learned over the years is to check rates for a two night stay when the Saturday night rates are high. In a city like San Francisco, hotel rates can be much higher for a Saturday night alone. Saturday is a night where there is typically a larger walk-up population for guests who make a last minute decision to stay in a hotel. Frequently hotels will have a higher base rate for a Saturday night stay. Sometimes the rate is significantly lower if booking Saturday night as part of a two night hotel stay for Friday-Saturday or Saturday-Sunday. It pays to check out the two day rate if that is an option for your hotel stay.

FlyerTalk has a 56-page thread on Hilton’s Best Rate Guarantee with over 800 posts covering 7.5 years since 2003. Over 80 posts from the past 12 months indicate there have only been a couple of posted successful Best Rate Guarantee claims approved by Hilton Worldwide and even these often required escalating the claim to Hilton supervisory levels after initial denials of claims. All in all, it appears the chance you will have a successful BRG claim with Hilton is about the same probability you will stay at an Embassy Suites with no children on the premises.

Hilton Worldwide has one of the most restrictive Best Rate Guarantee policies of the major hotel chains.

• First you must book a hotel room through Hilton channels.
• Then, you must find a lower rate within 24-hours of your Hilton booking.
• The terms must be identical and anecdotal evidence indicates Hilton will deny a claim based on some rather minute differences between the Hilton reservation and the third party room description or fees.
• Approved claims will match lower rate and Hilton will give you a $50 American Express gift cheque for hotels in U.S., Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Your bill will be adjusted by US$50 for approved claims at hotels in other regions.

Anecdotal evidence indicates Hilton BRG claims are denied for a variety of factors due to some discrepancy between different wording used on third party sites to describe the basic room category for the hotel, the room bed size, different check-in times posted, third party website booking fees and taxes combined and breakfast rates on third party sites. 

The general consensus on FlyerTalk is even taking the time to submit a Best Rate Guarantee with Hilton is a waste of time. Advice FlyerTalkers frequently give to Hilton HHonors members is just book the lower rate on the third party site and forget the loyalty benefits, since you will unlikely ever get a rate match and even if you manage to get a rate match, the likelihood of getting the $50 American Express voucher is low without follow-up at higher management levels.

Another common piece of advice is book with Marriott.

Marriott’s Look No Further threadon FlyerTalk has 48 pages with 719 posts since April 2006. Since the beginning of 2010 (page 35 of the FlyerTalk thread), there are over 200 posts in the Marriott Look No Further thread and almost all of the posts report  an approved Best Rate Guarantee claim for a Marriott brand hotel.

Marriott Look No Further Best Rate Guarantee Policy

• Guest must first book room on Marriott site.
• Must file claim within 24 hours for lower rate found on third party site.
• Approved claims will discount lower rate by an additional 25%.

Starwood Hotels and Hyatt Hotels actually allow the guest to file a Best Rate Guarantee claim prior to making a confirmed reservation for the hotel. Starwood Hotels Best Rate policyoffers 10% off lower rate or match the lower rate and gives 2,000 bonus Starpoints for an approved Best Rate claim. I generally take the 2,000 points if the 10% savings off the lower rate is less than $50.

There are 45 pages with 671 posts since January 2008 in the FlyerTalk Starwood Best Rate Guarantee thread. Denied claims tend to be related to specific third party websites. Most seemingly eligible claims appear to be approved.

In my experience, I find Starwood Hotels to be fairly straightforward with their approval of Best Rate Guarantee claims. I actually book between 25% and 50% of my Starwood Hotels using BRG claims and earn an additional 2,000 points per stay for most of these bookings. In summer 2009 when Starwood Preferred Guest offered a free night after two stays, I completed 16 stays and half of those stays earned a 2,000 points Best Rate Guarantee claim bonus. And SPG was giving out Delta/Northwest miles too. That was a great year for hotel travel.

Now in 2011 we really need the Best Rate Guarantee backup as many hotels are skyrocketing rates.

Hyatt Hotels, on the other hand, reminds me a bit of the Hilton policy. Getting a Hyatt BRG claim approved for 20% lower than the third party rate  is more difficult in my experience than with Starwood Hotels. A check of FlyerTalk Hyatt Best Rate Guarantee thread shows several successful Hyatt Best Rate Guarantee claims over the past year, however, there are only 37 posts in the three page thread since June 2009.

Priority Club is a Best Rate Guarantee program that I have little knowledge of its practical use. I couldn’t find the FlyerTalk thread covering IHG Best Rate Guarantee anecdotes.

The IHG Lowest Room Rate webpage does not instill much faith in me for the program. This is why.

Here is a piece describing how their Best Rate Guarantee works:

The following is from IHG Lowest Room Rate webpage.

Lowest Internet Rate Guarantee Claim Questions & Answers:

Did you make a reservation on an IHG Web site? IHG’s portfolio consists of the most recognized and respected hotel brands in the world, including InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn Express® Hotels, Hotel Indigo® Hotels, Staybridge Suites® Hotels and Candlewood Suites® Hotels. With full-service Web sites in eleven languages to support worldwide operations, we feature over 4,500 hotels in nearly 100 countries and territories. A reservation must be made directly on an IHG Web site to qualify for the Lowest Internet Rate Guarantee, and you must have a valid reservation confirmation number.

Did you use the Best Available Rate search? When you search for a room on an IHG Web site and specify “Best Available” as your rate preference, you will be presented with a variety of rate types (e.g. Best Flexible, Advance Purchase). These are the best hotel room rates available currently that meet your search criteria.

Did you choose the lowest rate from the Best Available Rate search results for your reservation? A guest must book the lowest available hotel room rate through the Best Available rate search – for the type of accommodations sought – in order to qualify for the Lowest Internet Rate Guarantee.

Did you find a lower rate on a “competing Web site” within 24 hours of your IHG reservation? A competing Web site is a Web site that sells a hotel room from the IHG Family of Brands (InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn Express® Hotels, Hotel Indigo® Hotels, Staybridge Suites® Hotels and Candlewood Suites® Hotels). It is not another hotel brand Web site.

Is that lower rate for the same type of accommodations? Same type of accommodations includes the same hotel, the same type of room(s), same dates and length of stay, and same number of guests.

“Example of a resolution to a valid Lowest Internet Rate Guarantee claim:

A guest books a one night’s stay at the lowest available rate through the Best Available Rate search for a hotel in Atlanta, GA, (USA) on an IHG branded site for a rate of $200.00.

Within 24 hours, that same guest finds a rate of $190.00 on a competing Web site for the same hotel, same night and same room type (same number and type of bed(s)).

The guest contacts IHG to claim the Lowest Internet Rate Guarantee either by phone or by filling out the online form.

Once the Guest Relations team confirms that the Lowest Internet Rate Guarantee claim filed is valid, they will modify the guest’s room rate to $181.00 to uphold IHG’s Lowest Internet Rate Guarantee policy! That’s 10% better than the lower hotel rate reported.” 

Loyalty Traveler Analysis of IHG methodology:

• IHG website = $200
• Competing third party online website = $190
• IHG will modify the guest’s room rate to $181

InterContinental Hotels Group Lowest Room Rate Guarantee Example is incorrect math.

The example as shown is $9 off of $190 room rate. That is not a 10% modification of the lower rate. IHG is showing a discount of less than 5% below the lower third party rate.

The modified room rate should be $171 to be 10% lower than $190. ($190 x 0.90 = $171)

Readers, please share your experiences of claiming Best Rate Guarantees. Specifically people who have made claims in different programs can share some comparisons of the experience across hotel chains.

What are your good and bad stories about Best Rate Guarantee claims?

Loyalty Traveler Best Rate Guarantee Hotel Report Card

Starwood Hotels = A (Guest may file claim before booking room and easy claims process)

Marriott Hotels = B (Guest must book room first with Marriott, file claim. Easy validation process.)

Hyatt Hotels = C  (Guest may file claim before booking room, but not so easy validation process.)

InterContinental Hotels Group = no grade (need more data to assess program)

Hilton Hotels = F  (Guest must book room first with Hilton, file claim within 24 hours and seemingly valid claims denied for variety of reasons.)

American Airlines AAdvantage program offers car and hotel awards for miles. The hotel awards have some very good redemption values for hotels starting under 10,000 miles per night. Some hotels I checked like Park Hyatt Washington, D.C. were around 24,000 miles for a night in February when the published rate is over $600 per night after tax.

Cash and Miles, beginning at just 1,000 miles is another option for American AAdvantage car and hotel awards. The same Park Hyatt hotel is only 1,000 miles and $281.71 for a free night. This offer gives a whopping $300+ value for 1,000 AA miles or more than 30 cents per mile. This value is near the upper end value of a high value international flight award (equivalent in value to a $30,000 ticket for 100,000 miles).

Award Restrictions

1. These awards are not refundable. Cancel award and you lose miles.
2. $30 change fee on awards for date changes or room category changes. Any additional change fees must be paid in cash.
3. No changes allowed within 24 hours of reservation.

AAdvantage Elite members

There is a limited time special offer for AAdvantage Platinum and Executive Platinum elite members giving a 20% discount in miles and AAdvantage Gold elites 10% discount in miles.

Sample Hotel Rates: Wednesday, February 16, 2011 

Washington, D.C.

• Park Hyatt Washington D.C. = 24,100 miles ($549 published rate = 2.28 cents/mile)
• Four Points = 11,400 miles  ($259 published rate= 2.27 cents/mile)
• Washington Hilton = 11,500 miles ($251 published rate = 2.18 cents/mile)
• Sheraton National = 12,600 miles ($205 published rate = 1.63 cents/mile)
• Washington Marriott = 12,900 miles ($121 published rate = 0.94 cents/mile)

American Airlines AAdvantage Hotel Award = 24,100 miles for Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Park Hyatt Washington D.C. for 24,100 AAdvantage miles = 2.6 cents/mile

Related Loyalty Traveler post: High Hotel Award Value for 1,000 AA miles (Feb 6, 2011) provides examples of hotel award value in the 25 cents to 50 cents per mile range for New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Sydney, Australia.

Some people think I get free travel. The hotels and opportunities I get for discount rooms are the same opportunities open to any loyalty program member who plans with good travel strategies. I do not take complimentary rooms from hotels when I travel.

My goal is to show readers what is possible with hotel loyalty programs. Sometimes I probably get a nice upgrade due to being Loyalty Traveler, but the nice upgrades were a benefit I received as an elite hotel loyalty program member for many years prior to writing this blog.

Here is an example of how I stayed mostly in upper upscale and luxury hotels in Chicago for under $100 per night this past week even though a major Opthalmologist Convention was happening and filling many of the downtown Chicago hotels.

Holiday Inn Elk Grove (O’Hare Airport)

• Points & Cash = 0 points + $30
• Priority Club elite benefit = free Gatorade and chips from hotel pantry
• Published room rate = $109 or $122.08 after tax
• Loyalty Traveler Checkout total = $30 + $5 maid tip = $35
• Loyalty Traveler Savings = $87.08

Holiday Inn Elk Grove Village (O'Hare)

Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers

• SPG Cash & Points $60 + 4,000 points
• SPG Platinum benefits = 33^rd floor lounge access with evening snacks and sodas, morning lounge breakfast, free internet, SPG Platinum Welcome Amenity 500 points and late checkout
• Published Room Rate = $265 or $304.75 after tax.
• Loyalty Traveler Checkout total = $69 + $5 maid tip = $74
• Loyalty Traveler Savings = $230.75
• There is no cash equivalent value given for the 8,000 Starpoints used in Chicago since I earned 70,000 free Starpoints through this “My Midas Touch” promotion. There was also an option to buy SPG points at the rate of $145 per 10,000 points through DiscoverAmerica.com in May 2010. The cash equivalent value for 4,000 points would have been $58.

Room view from Sheraton Chicago

W Hotel Lakeshore

• SPG Cash & Points $60 + 4,000 points
• SPG Platinum benefits = Lakeview room, high floor, two free drinks at the Wave Bar, free internet, SPG Platinum Welcome Amenity 500 points and 4 pm checkout
• Published Room Rate = $309 or $355 after tax.
• Loyalty Traveler Checkout total = $69 + $5 maid tip = $74
• Loyalty Traveler Savings = $281

View of Navy Pier from W Hotel Whiskey Sky Bar (similar to my room view)

Crowne Plaza Hotel Avenue

• Priority Club 25,000 points award ( I purchased 25,000 points last May for $150 through DiscoverAmerica.com Priority Club discount offer).
• Priority Club elite benefits = 15% off breakfast buffetat 40^th floor lounge; free beer at Elephant & Castle pub; complimentary upgrade to Tech floor with Mac computer and free internet.
• Published Room Rate = $329 or $379.67 after tax
• Loyalty Traveler Checkout total = $15 (Elephant & Castle pub meal) + $5 maid tip = $20
• Loyalty Traveler Savings = $229.67

Chicago at sunset from 40th floor rooftop pool deck at Hotel Avenue Crowne Plaza

Park Hyatt Chicago

• Hyatt Gold Passport Category 6  award for 22,000 points ( I purchased 22,000 points last June for $206.25 through DiscoverAmerica.com Hyatt Gold Passport discount offer) (oops … I posted this a few minutes ago incorrectly stating I paid $123.75, so now my average is a little over $100 per night.)
• Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond elite benefits = complimentary breakfast at NoMI ($33 value for crab omelette); free internet; Diamond member welcome amenity of 1,000 points; preferred view room on top floor (18) of hotel facing historic Chicago Water Tower.
• Published Room Rate = $422.50 (AAA) or $487.56 after tax
• Loyalty Traveler Checkout total = $5 maid tip
• Loyalty Traveler Savings = $281.31

Breakfast at 7th floor NoMI Restaurant Park Hyatt Chicago

5 hotel nights in Chicago = $564.25 for Loyalty Traveler

Actual lowest published rates for these hotel rooms = $1,649.06

That is why I am a loyalty traveler.

Three weeks ago I suggested San Francisco Starwood Hotels had optimistically high hotel rates for the July 4 weekend. Rates today for this July 4 weekend have dropped to their lowest level for six of the seven San Francisco city hotels (Le Meridien had an incredible $109 rate last week).

AAA rates are at their lowest level of the past three weeks for all seven San Francisco Starwood Hotels just three days before the weekend.

Four of the seven Starwood hotels loaded their lowest rates of the month just today.

Last minute rate drops are the primary reason to avoid prepaid, nonrefundable room rates.

Update: July 1 – Rates dropped even more down to $129 today for the Westin St. Francis for tomorrow night. Westin Market Street dropped to $109. These are the lowest rates of the past month for these two hotels. Le Meridien dropped to $129 today for this weekend.

I am generally a last minute booker of hotel travel. Time and time again I read travel expert’s advice that the best rates or award availability are available to the hotel guests who book early. There is some truth in that, but I don’t accept the belief that you need to be the early bird to get the hotel of your choice on an award or the lowest room rates. I am overwhelmingly a last minute reservations kind of guy.

My cases in point are Hyatt Free Night awards and Starwood Hotel rates for San Francisco for the July 4 weekend.

Help! I have earned free nights but I can’t get a reservation!

I was reading FlyerTalk Tuesday morning and a Gold Passport member was complaining about the lack of award availability for free nights. I developed some concern as I had two free nights expiring June 30.

Could I find a room at short notice?

My free nights were leftover award nights from the January 31, 2010 end-date for the original Gold Passport Big Welcome promotion. These nights were extended from the original March 31 expiration date to June 30 at the request of this Diamond member. And now there are thousands more guests with free night credits from the current Big Welcome Back promotion.

I called up the Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond line.

     “Do you have any rooms available at the Carmel Highlands Inn?”

     “Yes, Mr. Garrido. You can use your free night award for any night except Saturday or Monday.”

     “What about Lake Tahoe? Is there any availability at that hotel?”

     “Lake Tahoe is wide open. You can book an award night for any night through June 30 at the Lake Tahoe resort.”

I redeemed my two nights without any problem.

The Starwood Last Minute Hotel Rates Case Test 

Two weeks ago I made a survey of 21 San Francisco Bay Area Starwood hotel rates for the July 4 weekend. This earlier survey compared 2010 rates to 2009 and revealed 16 of 21 hotels with higher rates for the 2010 holiday weekend. In my June 8 post I stated the higher rates, in several cases 25% to 50% higher than 2009 rates, were possibly the “ecstatically optimistic” hopes of hoteliers that tourists were coming back big time in 2010.

From my June 8 post – “For this same time period in 2010 as when I checked rates about four weeks before Fourth of July holiday in 2009, hotels in San Francisco city appear to be pushing the rate envelope. I’ll try and remember to check back in next week and see if the Starwood Hotels envelope is a little too stuffed for San Francisco tourism economy this summer. That will be indicated by a room rate price drop next week.” 

Here are the room rates for Starwood’s seven San Francisco city hotels today on June 24 for the July 4 weekend. This rate check is 16 days after my June 8 rate check and eight days before the start of the July 4 weekend.

5 of 7 Starwood hotels are a lower rate today than earlier this month. Only the St. Regis and Westin Market Street Hotels have increased rates. 3 of the 7 hotels also have lower AAA rates today than on June 8. Two other hotels (Palace and Westin St. Francis) have the same AAA rate today as on June 8.

San Francisco may not be typical for all major cities, but last minute rate drops is a pattern I frequently see with San Francisco hotel rates.

These rate surveys I periodically conduct are the primary reason I avoid nonrefundable, no changes rate offers. In my experience, the last minute booking often offers better rates or free night award availability.

And if you are sitting on free weekend nights earned from the current Starwood promotion… well, all seven of the San Francisco Starwood Hotels are available for free night awards Friday July 2 through Sunday night July 4.

A quick check of New York City shows every hotel except Westin Times Square is available for free night awards over July 4 weekend.

OffandAway.com launched in May 2010 as a new kind of hotel room bidding website. The only opaque aspect of this site is how much you will ultimately spend in an effort to win a hotel room bidding war. Unlike Priceline or Hotwire where you simply have to reach a bid level that the company finds acceptable to win your room at an undisclosed hotel, the OffandAway concept is based on bidding against others and the last person standing (bidding) wins the known hotel room package.

The OffandAway concept is simple. Buy bids at $1 per bid and bid for high value hotel rooms in places like Manhattan, California resorts and Miami South Beach. There are descriptions of the hotel room packages on the website and a calendar of available dates.

Here is a sample room offer for The Setai, South Beach Miami from yesterday -

“The Studio Suite at The Setai – South Beach Miami.  2 nights in a king suite over looking the Asian inspired courtyard.  Hotel genius, Adrian Zecha, and architect/designer Jean-Michel Gathy have come together to create an oasis in the premier South Beach location.”

This auction for The Setai started out as a 10 cent bid. Each subsequent bid raised the auction price by 10 cents. Remember each bid cost the bidder $1.

The final winning auction price was $103.

The winning bidder spent $23 in bids and ultimately paid $126 for two nights at The Setai. This is an incredible bargain — for the winner.

Mathematically though, the $103 final winning price means 1,030 bids were placed on this auction for two nights at The Setai. The winner placed $23 in bids and was competing against other bidders who collectively spent $1,007 in bids and did not win this auction for The Setai hotel.

Here is the step-by-step of how OffandAway.com sells hotel rooms.

1. Register on the website and buy bids for $1 each.

2. Find an auction. At the current time there are only two to four properties available for bidding at any one time.

3. The bidding war does not even begin until the time has run out on the auction. You could place a bid on the Bodega Bay Lodge for 30 cents, but that will be a wasted dollar since someone else will bid just before the auction ends. Each bid raises the auction price by 10 cents.

Every bid at the end of auction time extends the auction for another 30 seconds.

4. Here is The Setai auction after the Auction Time Left had expired and 15 minutes before someone actually won the auction.

5. Eventually nobody makes a bid during the 30 second window and there is an auction winner. I suspect many bidders drop out after running out of bid money. Perhaps the auction ends as competing bidders are trying to buy more bids from OffandAway.com.

6. The winner spent $23 in credits. The final auction price is $103. The winner pays $126 for two nights at The Setai. There were $1,030 in bids spent for this auction. The winner got a great deal. The losers gave OffandAway $1,000 for nothing. A portion of this money will be credited for other hotel rooms. In the end, OffandAway is the clear winner in this game.

7. Losers can apply their bids to another hotel room as a credit. The credit is not for another auction, but another hotel booking at your choice of thousands of hotels using OffandAway as an online trasvel agency, similar to booking through any online travel agency such as Expedia or Travelocity. If you spent $53 bidding for the Setai and did not win the auction, then you get 110% credit of $53 for another room. You can book a $90 Holiday Inn Express or a Hampton Inn or whatever and you get $58.30 in credit towards  the alternate booking.

You have to book the alternate room within a week of losing your bids in a specific auction. You can only apply your bids from one auction to booking an alternate room. If you lost bid money in three different auctions you can’t combine those bids. The bids from each auction can be applied as a credit for three other room bookings within the week of each auction loss.

Since your booking is through a third party online travel agency you will not be eligible for loyalty program points and benefits with your hotel loyalty program.

***

There are some good deals.

There were only 136 bids for this room auction. $136 in bids and the winner paid under $25. Great odds for this property and this was one that I actually considered trying.

My reluctance though is the chance of hitting an auction like this for the New York Empire Hotel:

The winner here bid 191 times and won the auction in which there were 2,394 bids.

If you are lucky you can be off and away to a $1,000 hotel suite for $100 or so by placing about $30 or so in bets (bids). The gambling aspect is based on the fact that for every hotel suite winner who scores a $1,000 room for $100 and $30 in bets, there are dozens more betters (bidders) who spend $30, $50, or perhaps $75 or more in purchased credits and get nothing except an opportunity to apply the money you bet (bid) away as a credit on the purchase of another hotel room at the same prices you will find on Travelocity or Expedia.

The house always wins is the cardinal rule of gambling. OffandAway.com has hotel rooms for winners and lots of profits for the house based on the dreams and bids of numerous losers, @$1 a bid.

OffandAway.com will probably become a highly profitable website built on the hopes of gambler-travelers getting a high value hotel room for a fraction of the cost. Las Vegas was built on the dreams of the average gambler hitting the jackpot. Las Vegas is an architectural marvel built on house winnings.

Bottom Line: OffandAway is a clever concept for selling hotel rooms. I am not a gambler, so this site has little interest for me. The odds are too much of a long-shot for the typical player.

Hotels call it “revenue management” and we frequent guests call it the “room rate”. I started this article in response to a New York Times Practical Traveler article “Hotels: Fewer Deals but Low Rates” published this week. My initial reaction was to think 2010 actually has better hotel loyalty program promotion deals than last year. I realized Susan Stellin’s piece barely addressed loyalty programs until the last paragraph. And then only to give a general pitch for signing up to the hotel’s loyalty program for potential benefits.

Her focus was finding rate deals. Opaque sites and HotelChatter.com.

If Twitter is your idea of the best way to plan a hotel stay, then perhaps you need a better self-directed strategy for checking hotel rates and finding deals on your own. Sure there are good deals on Twitter. I found free rooms several times at the Westin Bonaventure during their Twitter campaign this past year, but using loyalty programs affords some of the best summer deals you can get in years.

My focus is actually finding the low rates on my own while planning to earn a high value loyalty program rebate with every hotel stay. For this article I use Starwood and San Francisco, but these tactics work for any hotel loyalty program and destination.

There are free night credits with two, three, or four stays with a variety of hotel loyalty programs for stays from June through August.

Since I couldn’t leave a comment about considering the rebate value on hotel stays this summer using free night hotel loyalty program promotions on the NYT piece (I did not see a comment section on the page), I decided to follow up on the article’s idea of finding low rates.

I looked locally at Starwood Hotels

• to see how rates look for this Fourth of July holiday weekend.
• I also analyzed 2010 rates to 2009 rates to see how the hotel rates changed in the San Francisco Bay Area for this Fourth of July holiday weekend compared to last year’s weekend rates.
• I also show how big a savings AAA rates are for hotels with 20% rate discounts potentially buying back the cost of your auto club membership with one weekend. (I just renewed AAA for $130).

Practical Advice for finding low rates while using hotel loyalty programs

Here are ways I check hotel rates when planning to earn lots of free nights through promotions like Starwood’s Stay 3 and earn one free night. I also check rates when planning a multiple night trip to see if there are good discounts on two or three night stays.

The table belows shows room rates for 21 San Francisco Bay Area hotels in the Starwood Hotels loyalty program.

Multi-night Discounts

• 9 of 21 hotels in the sample offer a rate break for a two or three night stay (Friday July 2, Saturday July 3, and Sunday July 4).
• Two of the 9 hotels only discount on a three night stay.
• Special offer rates on the hotel’s individual website or Starwood’s three nights for the price of two special rate were not searched for this article. Those would be the next rates to check.

It seems reasonable for a hotel to discount when guests stay multiple nights.

However, 5 of the 21 hotels actually charge a higher rate for a two or three night stay over the holiday weekend compared to the single night rate. Sheraton Sonoma revealed the highest multi-night boost with the three night, Fri-Mon weekend stay, costing $537 + tax compared to the individual nightly rate of just $468 + tax. The extra $69 for staying three nights is a 15% mark-up over the single night rate.

[lower rates for multi-night stays are coded in green]

[higher rates for multi-night stays are coded in yellow]

Finding AAA Rates on Starwood Hotels websites

Starwood Hotels website is a pain because you can’t do a search of AAA rates as a group of hotels. Every hotel has to be checked individually. That is a lot of wasted time for the frequent guest. Unfortunately the time is worthwhile to check AAA rates due to potentially high discounts, sometimes 20%+ off the lowest published rate visible when conducting a general rate search on Starwood sites.

The AAA rates for Friday July 2, 2010 shows 15 of 21 San Francisco Bay Area Starwood Hotels have lower rates using AAA. Five hotels have a lower published rate than AAA.

21 San Francisco Bay Area Starwood Hotels

• 5 hotels AAA savings 15% to 20%
• 4 hotels AAA savings 11% to 14%
• 6 hotels AAA savings 2% to 6%
• 1 hotel has same published rate as AAA rate
• 5 hotels lower published rate available than AAA rate, but generally prepaid, nonrefundable

As a consumer you should decide if it is worth two or three hours of your time to conduct a rate analysis. A few hours can save several hundred dollars as you stumble upon the right mix of lower rate hotel dates, AAA rates, loyalty program options, and hotel special offers at hotels.

Testing the Low Rates Claim for July 4, 2010

The problem with knowing if hotel rates are going up or down is you have to follow them closely and collect data. Hotels pay data collection businesses for rate information and analysis on their hotel competition’s rates.

As a consumer you can create your own hotel rate analysis.

I made a spreadsheet for room rates at San Francisco Starwood Hotels last year when I was hotel hopping for free nights during the two stays for one night promotion from May to July 2009. Last year’s room rate data collected on June 6, 2009 reveals year-to-year changes for this summer’s Fourth of July weekend at this set of Starwood Hotels in San Francisco.

In general rates are substantially higher for July 4, 2010 weekend than one year ago in San Francisco. Although some hotels in San Francisco like The Palace, Westin Market Street, and St. Regis (AAA rate)  are actually less than one year ago.

[lower rates for AAA rate compared to lowest published rate are coded in green]

[higher rates for AAA rate compared to lowest published rate are coded in yellow]

For this same time period in 2010 as when I checked rates about four weeks before Fourth of July holiday in 2009, hotels in San Francisco city appear to be pushing the rate envelope. I’ll try and remember to check back in next week and see if the Starwood Hotels envelope is a little too stuffed for San Francisco tourism economy this summer. That will be indicated by a room rate price drop next week.

A price increase could mean leisure travel is hopping again or hoteliers are ecstatically optimistic.

20,000 teachers in California are out of a job this month as the school year ends. I hope the tourists are coming from other places.

Results from an American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) indicate nearly 40% of hotels are using flash selling like last minute website sales, or Twitter and Facebook specials. I saw some examples of flash selling with Hyatt and Starwood hotels in San Francisco for this weekend.

Here is the AH&LA poll survey question:

Poll: A recent report described that hotels, airlines, and other travel suppliers are increasingly finding success in flash selling, or offering last minute deals in the form of emails or other means to fill unsold capacity – and more customers are purchasing such deals. Is your hotel increasingly using flash selling and has this method improved the filling of unsold capacity?

Results:               

• 61% No flash selling tried;
• 26% Flash selling has boosted last minute sales;
• 13% Flash selling has not significantly boosted last minute sales.

I was finding all kinds of hotel deals on Twitter a few months ago, but then I hit follow on loads of people who were following me and the hotel deals now seem to be lost in the myriad of tweets on my page. I think I need to aggressively unfollow to filter my tweet follows back down to mostly hotels.

The problem I find with Twitter is not enough hashtags, #, are used in tweets to allow good searches. For example, if all hotel deals were labeled #hotel, then it would be easy to search for deals. But with only 140 characters to write for a tweet, labeling with multiple hashtag terms takes up the strictly limited writing space.

Question for the twitterati – I would love to learn about some good resources for tutorials on using Twitter and Facebook. Anyone have sites to share?

Hotel Rates this week in San Francisco

I like the case study method for analyzing hotel rates. I spent the past week studying room rates for San Francisco this weekend. I was struck by the high rates I saw for San Francisco hotels this Friday and Saturday April 23-24 when I started looking last week. The rates were generally low with Hilton and IHG all week, but the rates were quite high for Starwood and Hyatt hotels.

I noticed huge discrepancies between rates displayed on Kayak.com and rates displayed on the hotel websites during the course of the week.

Last Sunday I spotted several lower rates on Kayak.com compared to the Hyatt and Starwood websites. I clicked on several of the lower rates listed on the Kayak.com search results. The rates generally were incorrect on Kayak.com and came out matching the hotel website when I followed through a booking on Orbitz or Expedia.

I happened to find a $45 discrepancy for the Westin Market Street San Francisco between EasyClickTravel.com and Starwood. I applied for a Best Rate Guarantee (BRG). I applied for the wrong night. I resubmitted a second BRG for a different night.

The odd discrepancy was the standard room, called traditional at the Westin Market Street was not showing up on Starwood’s site. A higher category Deluxe room was the lowest room category bookable through Starwood for most of this week. The EasyClickTravel.com room was a standard room.

The responses from Starwood’s Best Rate Guarantee representatives were interesting. My first submitted claim was rejected. The response stated my claim was invalid since EasyClickTravel.com did not have a Deluxe room available on its website and only the Deluxe room was listed on the Starwood site for $143 . The fact that EasyClickTravel.com had a lower $98 standard room did not matter since the lower category rooms were not being sold on Starwood’s sites.

No problem. I had submitted that BRG claim for the wrong date anyway.

But it does bring up a lingering question of logical consequences since I book so many rooms using Best Rate Guarantee claims.

If this were truly a rational reason for rejecting a BRG claim, then what keeps the hotel from moving their lowest room category inventory to online travel agencies and charging more on their own websites for higher category rooms? This seemed to be the case with the Westin Market Street this week when standard rooms were available through several online travel agency sites but not on Starwood’s sites.

Turned out to be a moot point.

Twenty minutes later I received a second email from a different Starwood Best Rate Guarantee specialist who approved the second submitted claim for the night I actually wanted. I got the $98 room and 2,000 points.

Then the hotel rates suddenly dropped yesterday for this Friday and Saturday.

Hyatt Regency San Francisco on Monday $200+; Thursday ($159 AAA with breakfast)

Grand Hyatt San Francisco on Monday $179; Thursday ($116 AAA)

Le Meridien San Francisco on Monday $199; Thursday $109 Starpicks prepaid rate

W San Francisco on Monday $219; Thursday $149 Starpicks prepaid rate

Westin Market Street $159 Monday; $114 Starpicks rate for the “traditional” room. Suddenly Westin Market has traditional rooms for sale after only offering Deluxe rooms all week.

The other interesting fact is the OTAs have not lowered their prices for the weekend.

Orbitz is charging $139 for Westin Market Street – Starwood is $114.

Expedia is charging $189 for W San Francisco – Starwood is $149.

Orbitz is charging $199 for Hyatt Regency San Francisco with a $25 Food & Beverage Credit– Hyatt is $169.15 (AAA with breakfast for two at hotel restaurant).

Orbitz is charging $199.01 for Le Meridien San Francisco – Starwood is $109.

There has been a growing clamor among big-chain hoteliers that online travel agencies like Expedia and Orbitz are playing too large a role in dictating room rates. I cited an article earlier this week arguing room bookings over the internet through third parties like Expedia, Orbitz, and dozens of other online travel agencies cost hotels about 8 times more than direct booking through hotel websites.

Hotel revenue is the largest proportion of OTA profits for the big companies like Expedia.

Too bad the San Francisco hotels waited so long to drop their rates this week. They would have taken in more money from me, but I already went for the bonus points of a Best Rate Guarantee due to the lower rates with the online travel agencies much of this week.

The point to take away from all this is keep an eye on hotel rates as you go for the free night promotions these next few months. Hotel revenue management tactics mean you will see highly dynamic room pricing. Getting the best room rate deal is really a matter of timing and luck.