Links to my Loyalty Traveler posts provide more detail and promotion analysis for each offer.

Most hotel loyalty promotions are two to four months in duration.

The easiest way to quickly see a list of all hotel loyalty promotions discussed on Loyalty Traveler is to check my Loyalty Traveler Facebook page. All Loyalty Traveler post links feed into Twitter and all my tweets feed into Loyalty Traveler Facebook.

Summer 2012 hotel loyalty promotions

Le Club Accor - this Europe-based program officially changed its name from A|Club to Le Club Accor on March 28, 2012. Accor Hotels offers a variety of global regional bonusesand rate discounts. The program tends to have regionalized rate and bonus points promotions.

Until May 31, 2012 earn 1,000 miles per stay with Delta or Aeroplan.

Best Western Rewards – April 15 – June 3, 2012

Earn a $50 Best Western Travel Card after 3 stays. Elite members earn 1,000 bonus points for each stay, up to 3,000 bonus points.

Best Western FMJUMP12 promotion registration required.

• Best Western Jump Start to Summer Promotion 2012 FAQ.
• Best Western Jump Start to Summer Promotion 2012 T&C.
• Loyalty traveler post April 4, 2012.

Facebook Fans: Best Western runs weekly promotions on its Facebook page. Any Best Western frequent guest should check out Best Western Facebook.

Choice Privileges 

May 17 – August 15, 2012. Choice’s new offer is 2 stays for 8,000 points or a $50 gift card. Choice Privileges Summer Promotion registration link. There is no limit to the number of times this bonus can be earned. The value of this offer is dependent on where you can redeem points. This March 26, 2012 Loyalty Traveler post shows the value of 8,000 Choice privileges points in Paris can be quite the hotel savings.

Club Carlson

***** Club Carlson – Radisson Big Night Giveaway May 15-July 15, 2012. Club Carlson repeats the late-2011 promotion letting the first 100,000 members to register earn 50,000 bonus points after staying one night at a Radisson worldwide.

***** Club Carlson – Country Inns & Suites Big Night Giveaway May 15-July 15, 2012.First 35,000 members to register beginning May 15 earn 44,000 points after staying one night in a Country Inn & Suites.

***** Club Carlson – Park Inn Big Night Giveaway May 22-July 22, 2012.First 20,000 members to register beginning May 15 earn 44,000 points after staying one night in a Park Inn.

[Registration Links Note:the details for these three Club Carlson promotion will be available May 15. Registration for Radisson and Country Inn at 1am Tuesday May 15 eastern; 10pm Monday May 14 pacific time zones. Park Inn registration begins May 22.]

RadissonBigNightGiveaway.com

SOGOCountry.com

ParkInnOnePlusOne.com

Loyalty Traveler posts:

May 10 – Radisson, Country Inn and Park Inn brand promotions May to July.

May 8 –  Club Carlson Big Night Giveaway Summer Travel Promotions

Hilton HHonors

*** Hilton HHonors – April 1 – June 30, 2012 – Double Points or Double Miles. Registration required. Loyalty traveler post March 21, 2012.

Hyatt Gold Passport

**** Hyatt 3rd Night Free Rate is a rate discount for bookings through November 30, 2012 for stays by December 30, 2012. Rate includes breakfast for two and 2pm late checkout. My Loyalty Traveler rate analysis March 21showed this is a good value and usually lower than AAA rates.

Gold Passport Diamond Challenge- Most beneficial perhaps is to tie this offer into a Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond Challenge for 12 nights in 60 days (normally 25 stays or 50 nights in calendar year). As Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond for 2012 you also will receive 4 confirmed suite upgrades. Start the Gold Passport Diamond Challenge first and then get the credit card once you have Diamond status to get confirmed suite upgrades for your credit card free nights. FlyerTalk discussion threadon Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond challenge.

*** Hyatt bonus miles May 1 – August 31, 2012,

24,500 airline miles with 11 stays with choice of 11 airline partners.

• 500 miles is normal earning rate for first stay.
• 2,000 total miles (4x) for hotel stays 2 to 4.
• 2,500 total miles (5x) for hotel stays 5 to 11.
• Loyalty Traveler post May 1, 2012

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) Priority Club Rewards

*** IHG Priority Club 1,000 bonus points or 200 bonus miles per night May 14-Sep 3. Maximum 20,000 bonus points or 4,000 bonus miles after 20 nights. Loyalty Traveler post May 14.

**** IHG Priority Club 2012 Quarter 2 Stay promotions – Priority Club members may register for one of the quarterly stay promotions running April 1-June 30, 2012. You can only register for one offer, so pick the target you are most likely to reach. Loyalty Traveler post March 16, 2012.

• Stay 3 nights = 5,000 bonus points.
• Stay 7 nights = 10,000 bonus points.
• Stay 15 nights = 15,000 bonus points.

***** IHG Priority Club PointBreaks hotel rewards to May 31. These are hotels for 5,000 points. Priority Club points are only $30 through Daily Getaways sale April 9. Priority Club also has discount rates for buying points through April 30. Loyalty Traveler post March 30.

Marriott Rewards

***** Marriott Rewards – Summer Bonus 2012: June 1 – August 31, 2012. Earn one free night certificate at a category 1-4 hotel every two stays; maximum 3 free nights.  Free night certificate is valid for 12 months from issuance. Some members may have been targeted with a different bonus points offer. Loyalty Traveler post May 7, 2012.

Note to Marriott Rewards members: You must have your Marriott Rewards account earning preference set to miles in order to see Marriott Rewards miles promotions.

Starwood Preferred Guest

*** SPG Nice Choice (May 1 – Sep 30)

You choose the 3 month period you want and the offer you want from double points, triple points, free nights, discount rewards and more.

Loyalty Traveler post – SPG Nice Choice May 1, 2012.

*** Sheraton Club Lounge bookings earn 1,000 bonus points when paid with any American Express card for stays February 21 to May 31, 2012. LT post February 24, 2012.

Wyndham Rewards

*** March 29-July 8, 2012 – Double Points or double miles for first four stays and movie tickets. This offer is for members in US, Canada and Mexico. Loyalty Traveler post April 1, 2012.

**** March 29-July 8, 2012 – Wyndham Rewards 10,000 points every 2 stays, up to 30,000 bonus points after 6 stays. This is a better promotion offer for members who do not reside in US, Canada and Mexico. Loyalty Traveler post April 3, 2012.

5-Star Promotion Scale

Loyalty Traveler ranks the consumer value of some hotel loyalty promotions on a Five–Star Scale.

Five ***** = one of the best hotel loyalty promotions of the year.

Four ****= high value rebate on the cost of hotel stays.

Three ***= good value hotel loyalty promotion or rate offer

Two **= a bonus value if you play, but not necessarily worth going out of your way.

One *= There is limited or no value. You are likely paying more than the bonus value.

Rate discounts and loyalty program bonuses are two types of hotel chain incentives to consider when booking travel.

Rankings are subjective and subject to change. Your specific travel pattern may result in some promotions ranking more favorably for you.

When assigning a rank I take into consideration the following factors and probably more:

• The opportunity for significantly high-value return on hotel spend in terms of future hotel rebate in free nights and discounted hotel nights.
• Past loyalty program offers and rates for the specific hotel chain and loyalty program.

Loyalty Traveler Update Note: the expanded promotions page April 2012 update will be updated later this week. Today I am busy with Amgen Tour of California professional cycling race Stage 2: San Francisco – Santa Cruz (Aptos).

Readers: Please leave a comment with any promotion links you think should be in the expanded hotel loyalty promotions guide for May to Summer 2012.

“I am a Golden God” – Robert Plant 1975 looking down from the Continental Hyatt balcony to a large billboard on Sunset Boulevard advertising the album Physical Graffiti. This wall hanging on the second floor of Andaz West Hollywood is a limited edition of 5 at 44” x 57” selling for $7,000. Starting price is $300 for a smaller 13” x 19” copy.

Photographer Peter Simon captured this photo of Robert Plant in 1975 on the balcony of the Hyatt Sunset Boulevard, affectionately nicknamed “Riot House” in honor of the hotel’s reputation for rock band parties.

left to right: Jerry Garcia, Jimi Hendrix, Pete Townshend – The Who, Janis Joplin, George Harrison – The Beatles.

The Rolling Stones Keith Richards dropped a TV out of room 1015. John Bonham of Led Zeppelin is reported to have driven his birthday present motorcycle through the hallways when Led Zeppelin had rented out multiple floors of the hotel for their entourage. Here is a great first-hand account from a photographer who was at the Riot House in 1973 with Led Zeppelin.

Duffy – David Bowie Aladdin Sane Album Cover (1975)

A 40” x 40” signed copy will set you back $5,250. Or as low as $570 for an unsigned 15” x 15”.

David Bowie is one of my great influences. My FlyerTalk handle “satori” originated from the David Bowie song “Memory of a Free Festival” (1969). The stereo sound effect is pretty cool in the original version.

Oh, to capture just one drop of all the ecstasy that swept that afternoon
To paint that love
upon a white balloon
And fly it from
the toppest top of all the tops
That man has pushed beyond his brain
Satori must be something
just the same

- David Bowie “Memory of a Free Festival”

It took several years after I bought the Space Oddity album in 1972 before I was able to find the word “satori” in a dictionary.

Riot Hyatt coffeeshop was a hotel hangout for rock dj and “Mayor of Sunset Strip” Rodney Bingenheimer of KROQ Los Angeles. There is a documentary movie about Rodney Bingenheimer which illustrates the “impermanence of life and the bittersweet transience of things.” It is somewhat of a sad movie to watch Rodney, an L.A. legendary figure from the 1970s rock scene, as a caricature of a faded Hollywood rock star.

The balconies of the historic Continental Hyatt were replaced with picture windows and word art in the Andaz West Hollywood.

Los Angeles view from Andaz West Hollywood.

Tease me with albums and there is no record player in the room? Can I borrow an i-pod?

The front album cover is the hotel guide and room service menus. The back two albums are actually Robert Plant and Duran Duran album covers.

You don’t have to be an Ambassador here to enjoy Andaz free mini-bar.

Everything but the alcohol is complimentary as a hotel guest.

RH Bar

No worries if you drink alcohol and it isn’t free in the room since the Andaz RH bar is the place to be for Hollywood nightlife. But you got to pay for drinks. So here is my tip.

Caro plays music Sunday nights 8-10pm at the Andaz bar. There are happy hour drinks and appetizers and discount parking.

I don’t have pictures of the RH bar since it was filled with guests. I try hard not to photograph people in hotels. I like my privacy too.

The cool thing is Caro was the bartender when I was at the RH bar. I thought about asking Caro for a photograph of her at the bar, but I didn’t. Hopefully, I’ll go back on a Sunday and hear Caro sing. She received high praise for her singing from the hotel staff.

My worn out rock ‘n roll ears prefer the acoustic sounds now.

RH restaurant lets you see the food you will be eating. One of the restaurant’s features is glass door refrigerators revealing all the fruits, vegetables and stuffings to guests.

The entry lobby on the ground floor has the bar and restaurant and some seating. The second floor is a place to chill where most of the rock art is located.

There are many artistic creations adorning the hotel.

Dog art.

Light ornament art.

Word art.

Guitar art.

Wall art.

Live art.

Did I mention the rooftop pool?

Andaz West Hollywood is a place of legend.

I should mention that I was told the Andaz West Hollywood hotel is not really a party hotel these days.

Not that partying has left Sunset Boulevard. I spent some time at the Mondrian Hotel across the street and the staff there told me they regularly have parties happening at their hotel. I guess you can still party like it’s 1975 at the Mondrian and come back to the Andaz for a little sleep.

Andaz full suite room.

Andaz West Hollywood is a Hyatt Gold Passport Category 4 hotel for 15,000 points per night.

There are severely limited quantities of Hyatt points in three of the four sales for various amounts of points from 24,000 to 69,000 point sets. You can buy a maximum of one set of points from each sale for a total four sets of points for a potential 159,000 Hyatt Gold passport points.

This is one of the best values of the five weeks of Daily Getaways sales. Last year these points were basically gone in seconds.  You can be pretty assured to find a large number of Hyatt Hotels where you can potentially save $20 in hotel rate for every 1,000 points you buy here for $10.

Offer #1

24,000 Hyatt Gold Passport Points (100 available, 20 presale)

• $234 with American Express payment ($9.75 per 1,000 points)
• $260 without American Express ($10.83 per 1,000 points)
• Maximum purchase quantity = 1 set of points.

Offer #2

30,000 Hyatt Gold Passport Points (35 available, No presale)

• $297 with American Express payment ($9.90 per 1,000 points)
• $330 without American Express ($11.00 per 1,000 points)
• Maximum purchase quantity = 1 set of points.

Offer #3

36,000 Hyatt Gold Passport Points (15 available, No presale)

• $373.50 with American Express payment ($9.90 per 1,000 points)
• $415 without American Express ($10.38 per 1,000 points)
• Maximum purchase quantity = 1 set of points.

Offer #4

69,000 Hyatt Gold Passport Points (15 available, No presale)

• $697.50 with American Express payment ($10.11 per 1,000 points)
• $775.00 without American Express ($11.23 per 1,000 points)
• Maximum purchase quantity = 1 set of points.

Analysis

The first offer for 24,000 points has the most available items and is the lowest price per 1,000 points. This is also the only offer with a presale opportunity. Like Facebook Hyatt and check it about an hour before the sale to get the access code for noon presale.

A good strategy is to buy the presale 24,000 points and then you can focus on buying a higher amount of points in primary sale.

Good Luck.

Turns out I already blogged about the Hyatt Hotels Free Time offer back in March. So here is the article again that I posted in March analyzing the Hyatt Hotels Free Time Rate.

Today I am immersing myself in John Steinbeck and Woody Guthrie and even a little Bruce Springsteen thrown into the mix at the 32nd annual Steinbeck Festival at the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, California. I’ll try and toss out some tweets and photos from the event on Twitter @LoyaltyTraveler.

The National Steinbeck Center comped me a festival pass to the event and I am sharing the experience through social media.

By the way there are two Hyatt Hotels in the Monterey/Salinas  area with Hyatt Regency Monterey and Hyatt Highlands Inn in Carmel Highlands.

Repost of Hyatt Hotels Free Time Offer (March 21, 2012)

Hyatt Hotels launched a new rate offer this week called Free Time that gives a free night rebate at checkout. This rate is available for booking from March 20 through November 30, 2012 for stays through December 30, 2012.

Most participating hotels offer the third night free and the rate includes full breakfast for two and some hotels offer 2pm late checkout.

This offer is only for participating hotels in the US, Canada and Caribbean. Hyatt House and Hyatt Place are not participating brands.

The rate code is FRTIME. There is a website Hyatt.com/freetimethat describes the promotion offer and participating hotels.

Not all hotels are participating, but my quick check of six hotels showed the FRTIME rate available for five properties.

Rate Analysis

The pattern I saw for five hotels I checked is the FRTIME nightly rate is $20 more than the Hyatt Daily Rate (BAR). The Hyatt Daily Rate allows refundable cancellation. The FRTIME rate cancellation policy appears to be the same as Hyatt Daily Rate terms. Surprisingly the FRTIME rate is not a prepaid, nonrefundable rate.

Note: Hotels I checked for FRTIME rate allow refundable cancellations. This is not a prepaid, nonrefundable rate which is a common term for third night free rates.

Andaz West Hollywood May 10-13, 2012

• FRTIME Rate = $279/night. 3 night total = $837 – $279 = $598 for 3-night stay.
• Hyatt Daily Rate (BAR) = $259/night. 3 night total = $777.
• AAA rate (10% discount) = $233.10/night. 3 night total = $699.30.

All three rates have same cancellation policy of day before arrival.

FRTIME 3rd night free rate is $100 less than AAA and also includes free breakfast for two daily and 2 pm late checkout.

FRTIME is a significant rate savings for all Gold Passport members and free breakfast for two adults is likely a $200 value for six breakfasts over 3 days. This is a huge breakfast value for members who do not hold Gold Passport Diamond status.

Finding hotels with Free Time Rate Offer

You can try this link: Hyatt.com/freetimeand see if it works yet for a list of participating Hyatt hotels.

Alternatively, search for the hotel you want and look for the special offers tab on the left side of the Hyatt hotel’s homepage. The Free Time offer was listed first for every hotel I checked.

Hyatt FRTIME Free Time Rate Terms:

Offer valid at participating hotels in the U.S., Canada, and Caribbean for minimum 3-night stays beginning on a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday. Stays must be booked between March 20, 2012 and November 30, 2012 and completed between March 20, 2012 and December 30, 2012. Guest must book and stay at least two (2) paid nights to receive one (1) additional free night. Offer also includes free breakfast each morning at participating hotel restaurants for up to two (2) people. Not valid for room service.Offer also includes 2:00 p.m. check-out (local time). See general terms below for additional details.

Advance reservations requesting offer code FRTIME required. Offer varies by property. Contact each property Hyatt.com/freetime for specific terms. For a list of resorts, visit hyattresorts.com. Not valid at Hyatt Place or Hyatt House locations. Specific restrictions may apply at various hotels. Contact each hotel for specific terms and conditions.

Booking window begins at 12:00 a. m. CDT on March 20, 2012 and ends at 11:59 p.m. CST on November 30, 2012. The additional free night must be used on the same stay. Limit one (1) free night per stay. Two or more consecutive nights at same hotel are considered a stay regardless of whether guest checks out. Offer subject to availability. A limited number of rooms are allocated to this offer. No refunds or credit will be issued for unused portions. Offer not valid for groups or convention, award stays, travel agent rates, Hyatt employee rates or stays booked through third parties and may not be combined with other promotions. Additional charges may apply for additional guests or room type upgrades. Blackout periods may apply due to seasonal periods or special events, and normal arrival/departure restrictions apply. Local tax regulations apply.

• Valid only for Friday-Tuesday arrivals at Hyatt French Quarter.
• Valid only for Sunday-Tuesday arrivals at Hyatt Regency Newport.
• Valid only for Saturday-Wednesday arrivals at Hyatt Regency Savannah, Avia Savannah, and Hyatt Santa Barbara.
• Four-day length of stay required for free night at Hyatt Regency Mission Bay from June 15-September 7, 2012.

Hyatt reserves the right to alter or withdraw this offer at any time without notice. Hyatt Hotels & Resorts® encompasses hotels managed, franchised or leased by subsidiaries and affiliates of Hyatt Hotels Corporation. Hyatt®, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts®, Park Hyatt®, Andaz®, Grand Hyatt®, Hyatt Regency®, Hyatt Place®, Hyatt HouseTM, Hyatt Gold Passport®, and related marks are trademarks of Hyatt Corporation. ©2012 Hyatt Corporation. All rights reserved.

• Air China PhoenixMiles
• Air France KLM Flying Blue
• American AAdvantage
• ANA Mileage Club
• British Airways Executive Club
• China Eastern
• Delta Skymiles
• Etihad Guest
• Lufthansa Miles & More
• Qatar Airways Privilege Club
• Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards(29,400 points maximum)
• United MileagePlus

Hyatt Gold Passport normally offers the option of earning 500 miles per stay with most of the 30 airline partners as an alternative to earning Hyatt Gold Passport points. The airline miles bonus promotion  beginning today offers the normal 500 miles for the first stay and for Hyatt stays 2 and 3 there is an additional 1,500 bonus miles per stay. This is 4,500 miles for 3 stays and averages out to 1,500 airline miles per stay. That is about a $20 value per stay rebate with most airline awards and not much of a rebate on $100 to $200 per night hotel spend.

4x and 5x miles

The 2nd and 3rd stays earn 2,000 miles or 4x normal miles.

Stays #4 to #11 earn 2,500 miles per stay or 5x normal miles.

Here is how the Hyatt website table shows the earning rate on the American Airlines promotion page.

The maximum earning is 24,500 miles after 11 Hyatt stays.

6 stays earns 12,000 miles. Perhaps this gets you within reach of a one-way airline reward ticket or a little closer to international premium class.

I value 12,000 miles as roughly $200 in value depending on how you use them. $200 in rebate value for more than $1,000 in hotel spend is relatively low. You had better be getting some nice perks or you might as well go Priceline and Hotwire.

Marriott Rewards offers higher value promotion

Marriott Rewards is offering guests a free category 1 to 4 hotel night certificate for every two paid stays June 1-August 31, 2012 with a maximum three free night certificates. That is 3 free nights after six stays with Marriott or 12,000 airline miles with Hyatt after six stays.

Many guests will get more value out of three hotel nights with Marriott Rewards. I think the Marriott hotel night certificates are easily a $300 rebate value and potentially more than $600 value in three free hotel nights.

Hyatt Gold Passport stays for airline miles might be a $500 value after six stays if the miles help get you on a business class international flight, but more likely $150 to $200 in value for most domestic flight awards.

I think the total earning of 24,500 miles after 11 stays is a poor value rebate for most guests. Assume $1,500 in spend as a low-end spend level for 11 stays and the value of 24,500 miles is maybe $400 in many cases. That is under a 30% rebate for a minimum 11 nights in hotel spend.

I think Hyatt Gold Passport and Starwood Preferred Guest have shown us the hotel recession is over in their eyes and so are the frequent high value offers we saw for the past three years of U.S. summer travel.

Time for me to find out what is happening at Marriott Rewards this summer. The batch of offers released this week for Hyatt, Marriott and SPG show Marriott at the best value promotion in my opinion. I’ll certainly be hanging out in Starwood and Hyatt hotels this summer, but I’ll have my eyes looking for some of those good Marriott hotel bargains.

• Le Club Accor
• Club Carlson*
• Hilton HHonors
• Hyatt Gold Passport*
• InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club
• Marriott Rewards*
• Shangri-La Golden Circle
• Starwood Preferred Guest*

* I placed an asterisk next to the four programs I think are the only hotel programs worth using for this bonus offer.

Best exchange rates for hotel points to British Airways Avios points including the 25% bonus:

1. Marriott Rewards (at 125,000 points = 62,500 Avios points)
2. Club Carlson (at 100,000 points = 22,500 Avios Points)
3. SPG (at 20,000 points = 31,250 Avios points)
4. Hyatt Gold Passport (at 50,000 points = 31,250 Avios points)

The exchange rate is lower for each of these programs at other transfer amounts.

Marriott Rewards Hotel + Air Package can improve the exchange rate for Marriott Rewards points to 1 Marriott point = 1.25 Avios points for up to 150,000 Avios points + 7 hotel nights starting at 270,000 Marriott Rewards points.

Transferring Hotel Points between Hotel Loyalty Member Accounts

Combining hotel points from different member accounts is a good strategy for reaching the high balance needed to maximize hotel points to airline miles exchange rates.

Club Carlson members can combine points from different accounts at no charge. Club Carlson has the most lenient points transfer rules between member accounts.

Marriott Rewards allows points to be transferred between the accounts of spouses and domestic partners.

SPG requires members to be in same household to transfer points between member accounts.

Hyatt Gold Passport allows two members to combine points when redeeming points for a hotel award. I don’t think you can combine points from different member accounts to redeem for airline miles. Please leave a comment if you think you can combine points for hotel points to airline miles redemption.

I sat at the table yesterday eating a sandwich and watched Pam Mandel, Beth Whitman and Debbie Dubrow pound out work on computer keyboards and their phones while I watched clouds roll by the hills of a West Seattle vista on a partly sunny day in Seattle.  The PwP organizers were hard at work.

I gathered from the table conversation they were developing some kind of postcard project related to Passports with Purpose, but the project wasn’t clear to me at the time. A few hours later I received an email and all that keyboarding and postcard discussion came into focus.

Postcards for Zambia

Passports with Purpose caught the attention of Expedia.com who are sponsoring the airfare and lodging for the Passports with Purpose co-founders to travel to Zambia in a few weeks to attend a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new libraries built from the 2011 PwP fundraiser.

Passports with Purpose had an ambitious goal of raising $80,000 for the Zambia library project and ended up raising $90,000 with the December 2011 fundraiser.

The Passports with Purpose co-founders have created a postcard social media project as a way to include all the people who contributed to make PwP 2011 a successful fundraiser capable of building libraries in Zambia.

Here is the Passports with Purpose email explaining the postcard project.

Passports with Purpose postcard project.

Follow us to Zambia

We’re thrilled to announce that most of the Passports with Purpose founders crew is headed to Zambia to visit the project you helped build this year! The trip is made possible by Expedia; they’ve generously sponsored our airfare and hotel accommodations. In Zambia, we will see the results of your work, attend a ribbon cutting, and gather stories about the kids who benefit from the 2011 Passports with Purpose initiative.

Join Us

We can’t bring you all along in person, but we hope to carry you with us in another way. We want to collect your postcards and pictures for a photo album that we’ll deliver to the library. It’s a great way to show the kids in Zambia the people from around the world who worked together to make their library a reality! So, if you helped by making a cash donation, providing a prize, or spreading the word on your blog or social media we hope you’ll participate.

• Send us your postcard (or postcard sized pictures). It can be a postcard from your hometown, a trip that meant a lot to you, or a picture of you doing something you love. Don’t forget to write a note on the back!
• We’ll be posting some of our favorites online, so let us know if it’s not ok to share in that way – we promise to respect your wishes.

 

Put your picture or postcard in the mail by May 1 – you can send it to: Passports with Purpose, P.O. Box 16102, Seattle WA 98116. Make sure you allow enough time for it to get to us before May 3rd.

Follow Along

We’ll post pictures and stories about our journey in the usual places, Facebook, our blogs, Twitter. Here’s where to find us.

Passports with Purpose Official Site

• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/passportswithpurpose
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/PassportPurpose
• Blog: http://www.passportswithpurpose.org/

Debbie Dubrow

• Blog: DeliciousBaby http://www.deliciousbaby.com
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/deliciousbaby
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/familytravel

Beth Whitman

• Blog: Wanderlust and Lipstick http://wanderlustandlipstick.com/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/wanderluster
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/WanderlustandLipstick

Michelle Duffy

• Blog: WanderMom http://www.wandermom.com
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/wandermom
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/wandermom

Pam Mandelwill be holding down the fort here in Seattle. You can follow her at

• Blog: Nerd’s Eye View http://www.nerdseyeview.com/blog/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/nerdseyeview
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/nerdseyeview

The Social Network and Power to Build

Debbie blogged about Visiting the Libraries you built in Zambia yesterday as did Beth Whitman – Zambia Bound – Passports with Purpose and Michelle Duffy – I’m Going to Zambia in May.

This is an inspirational story for those of us who write travel blogs and share tips and advice and experiences.

The power of social media is exemplified through this small grassroots effort organized by four Seattle women travel bloggers. In 2008 Passports with Purpose launched as a way to organize and coordinate the efforts of travel bloggers and travel providers and suppliers to raise money for small scale humanitarian projects that make a difference in people’s lives. 

Spending $10 a ticket during the Passports with Purpose annual fundraiser is a chance to win a cheap travel getaway or travel gear. The combined contributions for $10 tickets from thousands of participants over the past few years, less than the cost of a movie theater ticket in the USA, have resulted in a village in Cambodia having a school and teacher, a village in India having housing and clean water, and thousands of learners in Zambia having access to libraries for books, information and knowledge.

Yesterday I was in the presence of influential travel bloggers who use social media for more than their own benefit. Passports with Purpose demonstrates how a few enthusiastic individuals can have an impact on the daily lives of so many people, so far away, living in conditions so different from our own.

Chances are the place you are from is as unimaginable to a Zambian as Zambia is to most of us.

That provides a great reason to participate in the “Postcards with Purpose” activity organized by the women of Passports with Purpose. Share a picture and note from your life to include in a gift to the new Zambian libraries.

Zambia Quick Facts

I realized yesterday that I never really researched Zambia when I participated in the 2011 Passports with Purpose fundraiser. Wikipedia and CIA: The World Factbook provided some quick data.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Za-map.png

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zambia_(orthographic_projection).svg

• Population about 14 million.
• Median age 16.5 years meaning more than 50% of the country’s population are children by our U.S. definition of an adult being 18 years old.
• 11th fastest growing population globally out of 226 countries.
• Life expectancy = 52 years (#207 out of 221 countries; Afghanistan is only non-African country with lower life expectancy.)
• Education – 7 to 8 years of school is average. Fees inhibit secondary school (high school) attendance.
• Literacy rate estimated in 2003 at about 81% with lower literacy among females (75%) than males (87%).
• English is the official language.
• Zambia was created from Northern Rhodesia in 1964 after nearly a century of British colonialism.
• 44% of the population in Zambia is urban. Urban growth accelerated in the past decade with Lusaka, the largest city, growing 35% to nearly 1.5 million residents in ten years.
• Zambia ranked 197th of 226 countries for per capita GDP at $1,600. For comparison India = $3,700 (162) and Vietnam = $3,300 (167). USA = $48,100 (12)
• 64% of population is below poverty line.
• Labor force is 85% agricultural, 6% industry; 9% services.
• Consumer Price inflation = 8.4% (2011)

Zambia Tourism – Victoria Falls, the world’s largest waterfall, and wildlife safaris are the top tourism draws.

On my home front in Monterey

The ice plant on the Monterey Peninsula is reaching its colorful peak over the next few weeks. I think that might be my picture idea for this project. Here are photos of ice plant flowers in Pacific Grove from May 2010.

I’ll be taking photos with purpose over the next couple of days.

[Disclosure: Expedia sponsored my trip to Seattle with Virgin America economy airfare SFO-SEA and one day Thrifty car rental package to participate in an Expedia/Passports with Purpose project of which I provide no details about in this post. Kind of strange to disclose a sponsored trip without disclosing the purpose of the trip, but all for a good cause in support of PwP.]

Visa Signature – Hyatt Gold Passport 90 Days Trial Platinum link.           Register between March 29 and May 11, 2012.

Visa Signature – Hyatt Promotion FAQ link.

Hyatt Gold Passport Platinum Elite

Hyatt has two elite levels and Platinum is the lower level normally requiring 5 stays or 15 nights at Hyatt brand hotels in a calendar year. This offer requires the member to complete 8 nights within the 90 days to extend benefits to February 2013. That is a lower qualification level than 15 nights, although, the Hyatt Gold Passport member could also complete 5 separate one-night Hyatt stays and qualify for Platinum elite through Feb 2014 by the normal route.

There are close to 500 Hyatt brand hotels globally with Park Hyatt, Andaz, Hyatt Regency, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Resorts, Hyatt House and Hyatt Place. I personally enjoy Hyatt Place as my favorite mid-scale brand due to the large TV, large couch, sink, refrigerator and desk in these cookie cutter style rooms.

Hyatt Place, Dublin, California

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

Currently there are only 13 properties worldwide listed as participating in the spa program and 9 of these Hyatt hotels do not participate in the dining points option. 27 hotels participate in the restaurant points option. 36 hotels in all is fewer than 10% participation.

Link: Earn and Redeem points at participating Hyatt restaurants and spas.

And once again I must point out that Hyatt posted the list of participating hotels by hotel brand rather than by geographical location designated with country and state. This is a common occurrence for many hotel loyalty programs when listing hotels for promotions as participating or non-participating hotels.

Like a Hyatt Gold Passport member is supposed to know where Hyatt at Olive 8 is located? I have been to the Hyatt at Olive 8. I know it is Seattle.

Real travelers want country and city locations. Most travelers have little use for a hotel list organized by brand.

Don’t the people at Hyatt know how useless a list of participating Hyatt hotels is for the average consumer without including any geographic location?

Redeeming Hyatt Gold Passport points for dining and spa credit.

Earning 5 points per dollar (plus elite bonus points if applicable) is a useful benefit. Less useful is the option to redeem points for dining and spa. The redemption rate is a poor redemption value for Hyatt Gold Passport points starting at $10 credit for 2,000 points. The rate improves at 12,000 points for $75 credit and 32,000 points for $250 credit.

The maximum value is $1,000 in credit for 120,000 points. You are unlikely to be a Loyalty Traveler reader if you have 120,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points you are willing to spend for $1,000 in spa and dining credit.

I look at 12,000 points and the value for a category 3 hotel reward night is easily double that $75 dining/spa value for most Hyatt category 3 hotels.

32,000 points is four nights at a category 2 hotel (4 nights x 8,000 points) or two nights at a Category 4 hotel (2 nights x 15,000 points). Hyatt Regency San Francisco is a Category 4 hotel that is $250 per night most Monday to Thursday weeknights of the year.

I need points for rooms and I certainly do not earn points fast enough to spend for poor redemption values on Dining & Spa awards.

The option to earn points is a nice enhancement for dining and spa as a non-guest at Hyatt hotels.

The ability to redeem points for dining and spa is a limited benefit for people who find themselves with more points than they need for hotel reward nights.

I find many Hyatt hotels offer Restaurant.com discounts. I have certificates for the two Hyatt restaurants at Carmel Highlands Inn and the Monterey Hyatt Regency for $25 discounts. I also have them for several other hotel restaurants in the Monterey and San Francisco area. Lower prices and points sounds like a win-win for this consumer. I’ll save my points for room nights.

This Hyatt Gold Passport points benefit for spa spending is a new benefit I will refrain from sharing with my wife. The Hyatt Regency Monterey spa is in our neighborhood. If and when that spa becomes part of this Hyatt Gold Passport points for spa spend as a hotel non-guest, I do not want my wife telling me what a great deal she gets every week earning 1,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points for massages and treatments.

Offer Code = C48MAR

These are advance purchase, prepaid, nonrefundable and no changes. If you can live with those terms, then you might find a good deal. The hotel stay period for reservations is a window from April 4 to July 11, 2012. Some hotels have shorter windows.

Hyatt 48 Hour Sale link.

Reminder: Hyatt Gold Passport Possibilities promotion for bonus points every 4 nights for stays through April 30, 2012 has a registration deadline of March 31, 2012.

Loyalty Traveler Hyatt Possibilities posts:

Loyalty Traveler post January 26, 2012.

Hyatt Gold Passport 16 nights 44,000 points analysis. (Feb 3, 2012)