Here is a spreadsheet with the ten largest hotel loyalty programs worldwide and all their airline partners for earning miles and points-to-miles transfers.

Hilton HHonors is far and away the biggest program for airline partnerships. That can be a major factor for a frequent guest earning miles from hotel stays in a frequent flyer program where there might be few opportunities to earn miles other than flying.

• Hilton HHonors = 57 airline partners
• IHG Priority Club = 43 airline partners
• Marriott Rewards = 36 airline partners
• Hyatt Gold Passport = 35 airline partners
• Starwood Preferred Guest = 34 airline partners

There are 8 airlines that only partner with one of these ten programs.

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I will follow up this post with comments and details on airline miles differences in earning rates between different programs.

This seemed like a useful table to create as I work on my series of hotel points-to-miles exchange rates across loyalty programs for a selection of major airlines.

Loyalty Traveler – Airline Tables for Hotel Points-to-Miles Exchange Rates

United Mileage Plus hotel points-to-miles rates favor Marriott, Club Carlson, Wyndham(Feb 8, 2012)

Delta SkyMiles hotel points-to-miles rates in 9 hotel programs(Feb 7, 2012)

AAdvantage Miles for Hotel Elites with Credit Cards: SPG, Club Carlson, Wyndham and HHonors lead the pack(Feb 6, 2012)

American Airlines Points-to-Miles Exchange Rates Compared for 9 Hotel Programs (Feb 5, 2012)

Delta is the second airline in my series of points-to-miles exchange rate tables for members earning frequent flyer miles from hotel stays. Delta Airlines Skymiles members will earn miles fastest from hotel stays with Wyndham Rewards, Marriott Rewards and Club Carlson as a basic hotel program member. Throw in elite status and a credit card and SPG matches and exceeds Wyndham Rewards for earning miles. 

Delta Skymiles members have an advantage over members of the other major U.S. airlines in that eight of nine major hotel loyalty programs allow points-to-miles transfers at each program’s best exchange rate.

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Club Carlson, SPG, Wyndham and Hilton are the best hotel chains for earning American Airlines AAdvantage miles from hotel stays. SPG is the best earning for the top elite, well-traveled Super 75 Platinum. Still, even if your lifestyle is only Super 8, Wyndham Rewards will get you there on an AA or partner airline flight by earning miles nearly at the same rate of hotel spend as SPG.

My Loyalty traveler series on hotel points-to-miles exchange rates for frequent flyer miles continues with a look at 9 major hotel loyalty programs and points-to-miles exchange rates. These tables look at the miles earned at set levels of hotel spend. Top-tier elite hotel status and the best earning hotel cobranded credit card for hotel stay payment are additional factors in the miles calculations.

Table 1: Comparing Points-to-Miles Exchange Rates in 9 major hotel loyalty programs for American Airlines AAdvantage miles.

This table shows the actual exchange rate based on hotel spend for hotel stays. Credit cards and elite status are not considered.

Table 2: Top-tier elite membership factor when comparing Points-to-Miles Exchange Rates in 9 major hotel loyalty programs for American Airlines AAdvantage miles.

This table shows how top-tier elite membership earning rate alters the total number of points earned at each level of hotel spend.

Table 3: Co-Branded Hotel Credit Card with hotel loyalty top-tier elite membership when comparing Points-to-Miles Exchange Rates in 9 major hotel loyalty programs for American Airlines AAdvantage miles.

This table shows the influence of top tier elite and credit card spend.

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Hyatt Gold Passport promotion registration is open for the 16 nights earn 44,000 points promotion running February 1 to April 30, 2012.

Registration is required by March 31.

Hyatt nights completed during the promotion period and prior to registration count as long as member registers by March 31.

Don’t delay. Sign up now!

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Hyatt Gold Passport informally announced its next loyalty promotion to the attendees of the Oneworld MegaDo in Dallas, Texas last night according to several attendees like ThePointsGuy. The promotion earns bonus points at 4-night increments, up to 16 nights. The nights do not need to be consecutive.

There is even a 25% bonus for stays paid with the Hyatt Visa credit card members. [update: Jan27, 4:00pm Pacific - Gold Passport Concierge posted on FlyerTalk that all Hyatt Visa card members earn bonus. There is no need to pay for the hotel stays with the Hyatt Visa.]

Register by March 31 for Hyatt Promotion.

• after 4 nights = 4,000 bonus points (1,000 more points if Hyatt Visa payment).
• after 8 nights = 8,000 more bonus points for 12,000 points total (2,000 more bonus points with Hyatt Visa).
• after 12 nights = 12,000 more bonus points for 24,000 points total (3,000 more bonus points with Hyatt Visa).
• after 16 nights = 20,000 more bonus points for 44,000 points total (5,000 more bonus points with Hyatt Visa).

This promotion offers the potential of earning 44,000 bonus points after 16 nights or 55,000 bonus points for Hyatt Visa card members.

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Hyatt Gold Passport offers 10% to 30% bonus points on points purchases from January 18 through March 15, 2012. The normal purchase rate of $24 per 1,000 points is charged, but the bonus points reduce the net cost. There is a calendar year limit of 40,000 points as the maximum purchase, yet this offer allows members to buy as many as 52,000 points for 2012.

• 1,000 – 9,000 points = 10% bonus points; reducing rate from $24/1,000 points to $21.82 per 1,000 points.
• 10,000 to 29,000 points = 20% bonus points; reducing rate to $20 per 1,000 points.
• 30,000 to 40,000 points = 30% bonus points; reducing rate to $18.46 per 1,000 points.
• Points must be purchased in increments of 1,000 points.
• Maximum annual purchase for Hyatt Gold Passport points is normally 40,000 points and this sale offer allows members to buy up to 52,000 points in 2012.

This is a good opportunity to load up on Hyatt Gold Passport points if you have specific plans for using the points in 2012. I could show you loads of hotels where this is a great deal compared to the published rate, but suffice to say this can be a route to discounted hotel rooms. DealsWeLike blog showed a couple of examples where buying points saves major cash outlay at a couple of resort hotels.

Assume you purchase 52,000 points for $960. Here is the table to showing room rate to reward rate equivalent after buying points at $18.46 per 1,000 points.

Hyatt Gold Passport Reward Nights  (Hyatt link to free night rewards)

• Category 1 hotels at 5,000 points = $92.30
• Category 2 hotels at 8,000 points = $147.68
• Category 3 hotels at 12,000 points = $221.52
• Category 4 hotels at 15,000 points = $276.90
• Category 5 hotels at 18,000 points = $332.28
• Category 6 hotels at 22,000 points = $406.12

This table shows the cost or reward nights at each hotel reward level when buying points with the 30% bonus. If the published rate after tax is more than the rate shown here, then the points option is cheaper. Keep in mind though that a Hyatt reward stay does not earn points or elite credit and for Diamond members, confirmed suite upgrades are not applicable to reward stays.

Buy and Transfer Points for Bigger Hotel Rewards is the column I wrote for InsideFlyer January 2012 issue showing the rules for buying and transferring points across the major hotel loyalty programs. The piece shares some strategies and opportunities available to members who may want to buy points for a hotel reward as a cheaper alternative to the published room rates.

One of the features of Hyatt Gold Passport is the free transfer of points between any two members to reach the level needed for a reward stay redemption. This gives a couple the opportunity to purchase and combine 104,000 points with this current Hyatt Gold Passport promotion.

You may only have as few as 6,000 points in your account today and tomorrow you could have 110,000 points after combining points with another member (spouse, parent, traveling companion). Five nights at a Category 6 Hyatt Hotel for $1,920 in points purchases can potentially be a huge discount at some Hyatt Resorts and aspirational properties.

Last week the winner of 110,000 points prize donated by Hyatt Gold Passport for the Passports with Purpose raffle was selected. Hyatt Gold Passport sponsored Loyalty Traveler for the PwP fundraiser to raise $80,000 for building libraries in Zambia.

Passports with Purpose 2011 Statistics

• Fundraising Goal was $80,000. Actual funds raised = $89,699.
• 137 bloggers signed up for 2011 PwP.
• Nearly 1,000 donors contributed 54% of the total $89,699 for chances to win 89 prizes.

Here is a message from Pam, Debbie, Michelle, Beth and Meg:

We raised a grand total of $89699.00 for Room to Read. That’s $9699 over our initial goal of 80k. We are continually honored and totally blown away by your support and participation in this initiative. We are so proud to work with you on PwP and more than that, we love it. We freaking love it. We love that it takes everything we do — traveling, telling stories, blogging, social media, making connections around the world — and creates something that makes the world a better place. Those libraries in Zambia, they’re yours and they are a lasting gift to those who will learn to read and write and share their own stories and make their own connections.

Hyatt Gold Passport 110,000 Points prize winner.

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My hotel stay mistakes are relatively infrequent in recent years. The dumbest mistake I ever made was on our 1989 honeymoon in London and thinking a hotel mini-bar was free. Somehow free booze on the Pan Am flight translated in my jet-lagged head to free booze in our London St. James Court hotel room. We drank over 100£ of mini-booze for a major buzz before I finally asked a housekeeper if there was a charge for drinking all those little bottles of alcohol.

Possibly an equally big mistake occurred this week when I was pitched a Hyatt Vacation Club timeshare presentation on Christmas Day after checking in at the Hyatt Carmel Highlands Inn.  There was a call to our room about an hour after arrival and my wife was told that I had a coupon waiting for me in the lobby. There was no mention of Hyatt Vacation Club in the phone call, but I knew that is where the desk for HVC is located when Kelley told me where to go for the coupon.

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Hyatt Gold Passport launches a new program benefit today with member options to redeem points for dining and spa credit and earn points for spend even when not a registered guest at the hotel.

Earning points for dining at a Hyatt Hotel restaurant when not staying at the hotel as a guest is a welcome benefit that matches Starwood Preferred Guest. I take visitors to the Hyatt Carmel Highlands Inn throughout the year as a beautiful setting for socializing and drinks. Unfortunately I now have a good reason for paying the whole tab to earn points.

Redeeming Points

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Last year I made a trip to southern California and stayed at three Hyatt Hotels in Santa Barbara, Westlake Village and Irvine. Recently Brian Kelly, The Points Guy, posted about his Thanksgiving stay at Hyatt Santa Barbara. Reading his review reminded me I never actually wrote a post about my Hotel Mar Monte stay Thanksgiving week 2010. The hotel is now called Hyatt Santa Barbara.

Highway 1 runs by my house in Monterey and becomes the Big Sur coast road just about five miles south once past Carmel. Highway 1 Big Sur driving can be 100 miles of highway bliss or hell, mostly depending on the weather. Read More…

Hyatt Stay Certificates and Weekend Certificates are potentially a huge rate savings at some hotels. These fixed-cost certificates cover room and tax. No elite qualification or points credit are earned on certificate stays.

Hyatt Stay Certificate Levels and Price Chart - Dec 13, 2011.

A property like my local Hyatt Carmel Highlands is available at the $249 per night Elite level certificate. These are capacity controlled certificates so you will need to check for room availability using the certificate. I can tell you though that Carmel Highlands Inn is rarely below $249 after tax and any night when you can redeem a $249 Elite certificate is probably going to save $100 or more per night. Read More…