Hotels.com The Great Unloyaling promotion offers new members and existing members who have never made a Hotels.com booking the opportunity to earn one free night after making first reservation through the program. This can be a high value offer worth up to $400 if you plan your hotel stays to maximize the free night offer.

How It Works:

• Must be U.S. resident and 18 years of age and either a new member of Hotels.com WelcomeRewards or an existing member who has never made a WelcomeRewards.com booking.
• Register at http://www.keycardcollectors.com/ and fill out form.
• Within 24 hours you should receive an email confirmation of keycardcollectors promotion registration.
• Send proof of 3 hotel stays in 3 separate major hotel loyalty programs since 1/1/2011 or proof of 5 hotel stays in any major hotel loyalty program since 2011.
• Any official receipt, email receipt, screenshot that shows you stayed in three different hotels is acceptable. There appears to be no requirement that these hotel stays earned loyalty points so they can be award stays or Cash & Points stays.
• Send statement proof within 45 days of promotion registration by email, mail or fax to:
  • E-mail: wrpromo@hotels.com
  •  Mail: Hotels.com, c/o WelcomeRewards, 10440 N. Central
    Expressway, Suite 800, Dallas, Texas 75231
  •  Fax: Toll Free (866) 362 – 2606
• When you sign up you are enrolled in Hotels.com FiveStar program until December 31, 2011.
• You will receive a coupon code for your first booking in the FiveStar enrollment confirmation email.
• Complete a hotel booking on Hotels.com using the coupon code and complete your stay by November 15, 2011.
• After you have completed your qualifying stay and your hotel loyalty activity has been verified (hotel stays in three hotels from different major loyalty programs or five stays in hotels in any major loyalty program since 1/1/2011 ), your account will be updated to include a free night for the value of the average room night from your completed Hotels.com stay.
• The free night will appear in the form of 10 Hotels.com WelcomeRewards credits for the value of the average room night from your initial Hotels.com booking, with a maximum value of $400.

Loyalty Traveler Analysis

I see two ways to play this promotion.

Low Spender: You can use this to book a cheap room night on Hotels.com, for say $60 to $100 at a hotel. You will earn the free night credits for another room at the same price you paid for the first room night. This is basically a two-for-one hotel nights deal.

High Spender: The real value opportunity I see here is to take advantage of a high priced property or resort that doesn’t have a loyalty program or does not have a good value promotion. This can also be a good opportunity to book a premium suite room and know that the actual rate will be cut in half with your future free night.

For example: Taj Campton Place, San Francisco is a 5-star hotel at Union Square. Hotels.com shows the rate as $342 for September 23, 2011. Campton Place One bedroom King bed suite is $482.

If I book the $482 suite, then my WelcomeRewards free night value will be the maximum full $400 credit for the free night booking. I can book some other high priced hotel and get $400 off the rate.

Las Vegas is a place where a high cost room night can result in a significant savings using Hotels.com. The Wynn Las Vegas, Wynn Encore and Mandarin Oriental are examples of 5-star high cost hotels in Las Vegas. Book one night, even a suite (Wynn Encore $289 Tower Suite Wed. Sep 21) and you will have credit for a future night at the same price anywhere in the world you can book on Hotels.com.

This is a good opportunity to get a high value rebate when staying at an independent hotel. Many ski resorts, beach resorts and major cities have luxury independent hotels where this deal pays off nicely for booking the hotel through Hotels.com. Europe and other international locations have many hotels not affiliated with a major hotel loyalty program.

Bottom line: This is good deal for a Buy One, Get One Free room night that can be used for a free room at whatever price point you desire up to $400 credit for your free night after booking one paid night. Your free night is good for the same value as your paid night average so you can pick your own price point from less than $50 up to $400 and pay for one night and get a future night free.

Not too shabby for compiling three to five hotel stay receipts to send off to Hotels.com.

I personally qualify for this offer and I have been balking at the high rates in San Francisco for a weekend trip my wife wants to take with her friends in peak season September for the City. This looks like the time to take advantage of Hotels.com for my first booking.

This two bonus nights promotion is only for new U.S. members to the Hotels.com WelcomeRewards hotel loyalty program. The basic deal with Hotels.com WelcomeRewards is a free night after every 10 nights at any of 65,000 hotels booked through Hotels.com. This Challenge promotion gives an extra free night bonus  after 15 nights and 30 nights completed by October 1, 2011.  Bonus free nights have a $150 value.

Hotels.com WelcomeRewards Challenge  promotion link.

WelcomeRewards free night is normally the average rate paid from the 10 nights you purchased at Hotels.com. This WelcomeRewards Challenge has the feature of offering a bonus night after 15 nights and 30 nights worth $150 in Hotels.com credit. This gives a promotion leverage potential for anyone paying under $150 night average rates.

One of WelcomeRewards terms appears to allow only one free night per hotel booking.

“Limit one (1) reward night per booking. If you have accumulated more than one reward night, you may choose which reward night to apply to a particular booking.”

WelcomeRewards Terms & Conditions

WelcomeRewards Example: $100 per night average room rate

• Assume you pay an average $100 per night at Hotels.com.
• After completing 10 purchased nights you earn a $100 credit for another hotel night at Hotels.com.
• After 15 nights earn another $150 credit with WelcomeRewards Challenge.
• Pay $1,500 for 15 hotel room nights and get $250 in hotel credit = 16.7% rebate.
• Pay $3,000 for 30 hotel room nights and get $600 in hotel credit = 20% rebate.
• After 30 nights by October 1, 2011 you will be able to book two future hotel nights with $150 per night credit and three hotel nights with a $100 per night credit
• You can always book a more expensive room at Hotels.com for your free night and pay the rate difference of your credit and the hotel room rate.

WelcomeRewards Example: $50 per night average room rate

• Assume you pay an average $50 per night at Hotels.com.
• After completing 10 purchased nights you earn a $50 credit for another hotel night at Hotels.com.
• After 15 nights earn another $150 credit with WelcomeRewards Challenge.
• Pay $750 for 15 hotel room nights and get $200 in hotel credit = 26.7% rebate.
• Pay $1,500 for 30 hotel room nights and get $450 in hotel credit = 30% rebate.
• After 30 nights you can book two future hotel nights with $150 per night credit and three hotel nights with a $50 per night credit.
• You can always book a more expensive room at Hotels.com for your free night and pay the rate difference of your credit and the hotel room rate.

welcomerewards® Refer-a-Friend Email Program

There is a referral program to give a free night to a WelcomeRewards member referrer for any member referee who signs up for the challenge and stays 15 nights. If this Challenge looks like something of interest to you -please consider using my email, ricgarrido@loyaltytraveler.com as referrer.

I’ll check back in a year and see if I have any free night credits.

Or pick a spouse, relative or friend to earn more free nights by using the referrer-referee opportunity.  

WelcomeRewards Challenge Quiz

There is a sweepstakes quiz portion to the challenge for current members of WelcomeRewards. Answer three simple questions about Hotels.com and WelcomeRewards and be entered to win a Flip Ultra Camcorder. You can enter once per day through December 31.

WelcomeRewards Challenge Quiz rules.

Hotels.com advantage over traditional hotel loyalty programs

65,000 hotels are a competitive advantage for Hotels.com. Wyndham Rewards, Choice Hotels, and InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) are the three largest hotel chains globally.

Wyndham has 13 brands with over 7,000 hotels and continues to acquire new hotel brands every year.

Choice Hotels has 11 hotel brands and more than 6,000 hotels globally.

Wyndham Rewards and Choice Privileges provide hotel loyalty programs for hotels priced in the economy hotel market segment. These tend to be more Mom & Pop type owned and managed hotels.

IHG has around 4,500 hotel properties, most famously Holiday Inn brands, and IHG is the largest hotel chain globally by number of rooms.

Hotels.com Welcome Rewards has the advantage of many hotel choices across all hotel chains. There is a rebate potential in the 20% to 30% range if you use this promotion on inexpensive hotel nights through the WelcomeRewards loyalty program.

WelcomeRewards is a good rebate opportunity when staying at hotels that are not otherwise in a hotel loyalty program like Priority Club, Wyndham Rewards, Choice Privileges and such. You will generally get a better rebate value, potentially in excess of 30% by taking advantage of hotel loyalty program promotions from the major hotel chains.

Hotel.com WelcomeRewards Challenge for new U.S. members

All good stories come to an end, and sequels rarely match the original offer. Hotels.com launched WelcomeRewards in July 2008 with a simple proposition: Book and stay at any Hotels.com property partner with a Price Match Guarantee sticker and a base rate of at least $40 and the member earns a free night for any hotel up to $400 value after accumulating 10 nights within 18 months. Qualifying hotel night credits expire after 18 months.

My initial review of the Hotels.com WelcomeRewards program launched July 10, 2008 was highly favorable.

“WelcomeRewards is the first loyalty program I have seen to emerge from the online travel agencies that holds significant value comparable to the corporate chain frequent guest programs like Marriott Rewards, Hilton HHonors, and Starwood Preferred Guest.  I look forward to seeing how the hotels.com program evolves.” – Loyalty Traveler, July 25, 2008

The potential to leverage 10 cheap hotel nights into a luxury hotel night worth $400 is definitely a great deal for some travelers. A $40 night here and a $60 night there over the course of 18 months had potential for a high value rebate on your total Hotels.com hotel spending.

Here are the program details highlighting the major features of WelcomeRewards and changes.

Welcome Rewards Program Current Rules for Bookings made before March 9, 2010

1.       You receive one loyalty credit for each qualifying night’s stay booked on Hotels.com at a Price Match Guarantee property priced at $40 or more before taxes and fees.

2.       Bookings must be made on US hotels.com site.

3.       Package bookings and bookings using a coupon do not qualify.

4.       Hotel credits expire after 18 months.

5.       Maximum of 10 free nights (100 WelcomeRewards credits) can be earned in a calendar year.

6.       Maximum value of free night is $400 before taxes and fees and must be a Price Match Guarantee hotels.com partner property.

WelcomeRewards Changes Effective March 9, 2010

1.       Any loyalty credit earned before March 9, 2010 will be subject to new rules.

2.       The minimum room rate for earning loyalty credits is removed, but must be more than $0.00.

3.       Hotel credits expire after 36 months.

4.       Any loyalty credits earned before March 9, 2010 which have not yet expired will receive a new expiration date of March 8, 2013.

5.       There is no limit on free nights earned in a calendar year.

6.       The value of the free night will be valued at the average daily rate paid for the 10 qualifying nights.

7.       The reward night can be used for a higher priced room than your WelcomeRewards credit value, but member must pay the room rate difference.

Sources: Hotels.com WelcomeRewards webpage on March 9, 2010 program changes

Hotels.com Terms & Conditions for WelcomeRewards

In effect, WelcomeRewards has removed the leverage factor whereby a member could get great reward value from low priced hotel stays. Currently a person can stay 10 nights in a $40 per night room and then redeem the credits for a $400 per night hotel. Spending $400 and receiving a $400 credit was the potential leverage factor that made WelcomeRewards a viable alternative to hotel loyalty programs for the frequent traveler desiring flexibility in hotel choice.

Next month the rule changes mean the $40 per night average rate paid by a hotel.com guest will only earn a $40 hotel value credit after 10 nights.

And you thought the Hilton HHonors changes were bad!

Here is a positive note in the 2010 hotel loyalty program scene. Carlson Hotels GoldPoints Plus program has eliminated FlexNights Premium award levels for free nights. The program also lowered the cost for a free night at nearly 30% of their 1,000+ hotels.  

Loyalty Traveler will take a closer look at the GoldPoints Plus program later this week. In this tough hotel economic climate there are programs making consumer-oriented changes and there are programs repositioning their value through loyalty member takeaways.

Thanks to Jeff B. for bringing the WelcomeRewards changes to my attention.

Hotels.com, an Expedia company, has launched a new loyalty program called WelcomeRewards.

My survey of the WelcomeRewards program leaves Loyalty Traveler with quite a favorable impression of the earning power and usefulness of this frequent guest program. 

The WelcomeRewards program is quite simple.  Earn a free night after you stay 10 nights at any Hotels.com partner property with a base rate of $40 or more and also showing the Price Match Guarantee sticker below the rate.  Your free night can be for a hotel of up to $400 base rate.  Qualifying hotel night credits expire after 18 months of inactivity.

Theoretically, it is possible to get $400 free hotel night after $400 in spending, although finding a $40 hotel room will be a challenge in most locations.  One advantage of WelcomeRewards by hotels.com over a traditional hotel corporate program is the ability to earn free nights with stays at properties like B&Bs, inns, and independent hotels.

My home base on the Monterey Peninsula is a holiday location with about 160 lodging accommodations within a 6 mile radius consisting of mostly independent small inns, B&Bs, and motels, but also with several independent upscale properties.  This is a location where the Hyatt Monterey and Hilton Garden Inn Monterey may have room rates over $250 per night for a basic room while a nicer room with a unique character is available for $170 per night in Carmel. 

Paying less for a nicer room while earning loyalty credit towards a free night is what Loyalty Traveler is all about.  WelcomeRewards by hotels.com is one of the most interesting hotel loyalty programs to emerge in the past couple of years.

Quite realistically, a traveler can book 10 nights at $60/night and earn a $400 room credit.  This is a 67% value-added hotel strategy.  That is competitive with just about any major hotel loyalty program.  Even if you are spending $120 night or $1,200 to earn a free night, the potential for a $400 rebate is a 30% return on your hotel spending.  As long as the Hotels.com rates are competitive with other websites, then you will come out with a good return on your hotel spending investment.

A recent Compete.com report showed Expedia gets 48% of TripAdvisor hotel review referral bookings among online travel agencies and Hotels.com receives 11%.

Expedia.com has its own loyalty program with ThankYou points earned at the rate of 1 point per $1.  A hotel traveler will need to spend $5,000 on Expedia.com just to get a $50 hotel certificate.  Hotels.com WelcomeRewards program has much higher value earning per $1 spending as a loyalty program for the hotel traveler.

A Cornell Hospitality Report from 2006, An Examination of Internet Intermediaries and Hotel Loyalty Programs: How Will Guests Get their Points? by: Bill Carroll Ph.D. and Judy Siguaw Ph.D.  discussed the idea of online travel agencies setting up their own loyalty programs and predicted this business strategy would not play out. 

WelcomeRewards is the first loyalty program I have seen to emerge from the online travel agencies that holds significant value comparable to the corporate chain frequent guest programs like Marriott Rewards, Hilton HHonors, and Starwood Preferred Guest.  I look forward to seeing how the hotels.com program evolves.

The primary drawback to WelcomeRewards is the hotel traveler will not earn hotel frequent guest credit with hotel loyalty programs like Starwood, Marriott, or Hilton when staying at their hotel brands.  If attaining elite status and room upgrades is important, then you know to book through the corporate-branded hotel websites.  I value room upgrades and better room locations when I visit hotels.  But at times, I just want a room or I want a better deal than I see in the major corporate brands for my hotel stay dates and this is where I see value with WelcomeRewards by hotels.com.

The WelcomeRewards by hotels.com loyalty program will benefit guests with no preferred hotel chain or for travel in places where your preferred hotel chain is not available or too expensive.  The flexibility of choosing any hotel without regard to a specific hotel chain’s brands is preferential for some travelers. 

Case Study of hotels.com rates compared to other online travel agencies:

Hotel rates from online searches conducted July 25, 2008

The Monterey Peninsula is a perfect example where a major corporate hotel frequent guest with a program like Marriott or Starwood may find value in WelcomeRewards by hotels.com.

Come to Monterey as a Starwood Preferred Guest and you will find the 70 mile drive to the San Jose Sheraton a bit out of town as the nearest Starwood property to Monterey/Carmel.  And the major chain hotels located here on the Monterey Peninsula tend to be high priced and near the top end of the room rate range for this location with over 160 lodging options in hotels, B&Bs, and resorts.

By the Numbers:

Room Rates for a Monterey, California Hotel Search on Hotels.com for Tuesday, August 5 to Thursday, August 7, 2008.  Room rates for other leading online websites were checked.

InterContinental – The Clement, Monterey  

Hotels.com $239/night  (Best rate found) 

This upscale oceanfront property is just recently opened near the Monterey Bay Aquarium on Cannery Row and rates are still low and expected to climb about $100/night over the next year.         

Other searches for this hotel:

            Kayak.com= $299 (Orbitz); $324 (IHG)

            Expedia.com $239 (nonrefundable);

            Travelocity.com $324;

            IHG website (AAA rate) $299

            While Expedia has a rate $85 lower than the IHG hotel websites for the same room category, this is not an eligible price rate guarantee claim because the Expedia and hotels.com rates are nonrefundable, and the IHG rate can be cancelled up to 48 hours before arrival.

A Priority Club member should be able to earn 2,000 points for a hotel stay at an InterContinental brand and 2,000 to 8,000 bonus points from current promotions or buying an additional 4,000 points for a $20 higher rate.   Walking away with 10,000 Priority Club points may well be worth the extra $100 rate for some members.  But, hotels.com is a winner here for travelers not invested in Priority Club and seeking a new hotel in a great location at the best available rate.

Marriott Monterey

hotels.com $339/night

Kayak: $339 (Marriott, Orbitz); Expedia $339; Travelocity $339 

(Senior rate $288 on Marriott if you qualify, otherwise I found no other discount rates).  A look at Marriott offers on PointMaven shows I can receive a $25 gift card if I pay with American Express.

Hyatt Highlands Inn, a dreamy location on the cliffs of Carmel Highlands, but at this price???  Rates in the November to April season can drop to near $200/night.

Hotels.com $575/night; Kayak $575 (Hyatt); Expedia $575; Travelocity $575;

Hyatt.com AAA rate $535.50 (lowest rate found)

Clarion Carmel (There are much better options in Carmel for less money) 

            Hotels.com $200;  Kayak $171 (Clarion); Expedia $200; Travelocity $200

Hofsas House Hotel, Carmel (Great location, outdoor pool, several communal decks, rooms are basic.) 

Hotels.com $99  Kayak: $99 (hotelbook); Expedia $99; Travelocity $120

The budget traveler can stay in the Hofsas House with an outdoor pool and large decks with ocean views (beach is about 10 minute walk).  The hotel itself is nothing special, but the location is great and a pool is not that common for this area.  Earn much higher value loyalty credit with hotels.com WelcomeRewards for a stay at this hotel while paying the same price as other booking sites.

Tradewinds Carmel (upscale and independent hotel in great Carmel location)

            Hotels.com $325;  Kayak: (Orbitz) $325; Expedia $325; Travelocity $325;

            Tradewinds hotel website $325

The Tradewinds Carmel is an upscale independent hotel.  This hotel has Asian-design theme rooms, all mod cons and some rooms have one of the finer ocean views available in Carmel from a hotel.  And the price is less than the Marriott in downtown Monterey.

Properties like Hofsas House for the budget minded or the Tradewinds Carmel for the loyalty traveler seeking independence from another big hotel Marriott or ultra-expensive Hyatt is where the WelcomeRewards by hotels.com program shines for the frequent guest. 

WelcomeRewards provides the earning power towards another free hotel night you sometimes need when your primary hotel loyalty program is just not the best choice.  These properties in Carmel are well-situated for budgets of various sizes and the frequent guest will accumulate credit towards the 10 nights for a free night. 

And chances are you can find a free night at the Hyatt Highlands Inn just as the rate hovers around the $399/night mark and get great value out of your hotels.com WelcomeRewards frequent guest program.

The roll-out of the WelcomeRewards by hotels.com is a loyalty program that will very likely cause me to make my first ever booking with this online travel agency.