This post looks beyond the Points & Cash Reward nights to examine how Priority Club Reward Nights have increased by as much as 63% in the past six months using $7 per 1,000 points as the fair exchange rate for points. 

Priority Club Points & Cash Rewards

Points & Cash Rewards were added in 2009 as a Priority Club Rewards redemption option. The basic idea is a hotel like a Crowne Plaza at 25,000 points per night can be booked for fewer points by paying a cash supplement to buy 5,000 points for $40 or 10,000 points for $70 at the time of booking.

Points & Cash Rewards allow a member to conserve points in his/her account while buying points at a rate less than the lowest normal purchase price of $11.50 per 1,000 points.

Priority Club Rewards “Points & Cash” is an option for obtaining a Reward Night. You may choose to redeem Priority Club points for a Reward Night in three ways: using your existing points for all required points for the desired Reward Night; using your existing points and 5,000 points purchased for US $40 to total the required points; or using your existing points and 10,000 points purchased for US $70 to total the required points. The total purchase on any single day may not exceed $280 US.

Priority Club Rewards Membership Terms

There is no limit to the number of Points & Cash reservations a person can make in one year, although there is a limit of $280 in points that can be purchased for Points & Cash Rewards in a single day. This means you can only book a maximum four reward nights using the 10,000 points for $70 per night option or 7 nights using the 5,000 points for $40 option.

Of course, you can always buy more Points & Cash nights the next day.

Holiday Inn Express Van Nuys, California is 15,000 points for a standard reward night. Points & Cash reward nights are 5,000 points + $70. You can save 10,000 points in your account buying 10,000 points at time of booking for $70. The AAA rate is $142 after tax. 5,000 points saves $72 which is a good redemption value.

However, Points & Cash reward nights do not earn points for your stay. That may be a significant factor to consider if there are good Priority Club promotions.

2009/2010 rate for Points & Cash Rewards

• Buy 5,000 points for $30
• Buy 10,000 points for $60

In November 2010 the rate increased to $40 to buy 5,000 points. The price to buy 10,000 points remained unchanged at $60 until May 2012 when the rate went to $70.

2011 rate for Points & Cash Rewards

• Buy 5,000 points for $40
• Buy 10,000 points for $60

May 2012 rate for Points & Cash Rewards

• Buy 5,000 points for $40
• Buy 10,000 points for $70

Priority Club Points & Cash rewards have always been a sort of hit or miss value depending on the published rates of the hotel.

I stayed at the Crowne Plaza – The Hamilton in Washington D.C. last year for 15,000 points + $60 when the hotel rate was about $300 after tax. That was a great deal. I could have redeemed 25,000 points and got a redemption value of $12 in hotel savings for every 1,000 points I spent. The Points & Cash reward improved my redemption value by letting me spend only 15,000 points + $60 and saving $240. My redemption value improved to $240/15,000 for $16 per 1,000 points. And it only cost me $6 per 1,000 points to buy the 10,000 points for my reward night. This example is still a great deal even at the current price of $70 to buy 10,000 points.

[A side note for all you “Advanced Redeemers” who might point out that paying for a room night also earns points and the actual redemption value is actually less than I have shown. That is true, but more complicated.

My argument is that figuring the points you could earn is not a necessary factor to consider in most redemptions. At some time you need to spend points to get any value from loyalty points. Not all of us have the cash to pay for every room night instead of using points, so there is no need to consider points you would earn paying a $300 room rate when that is not even an option for your budget.]

Points & Cash are not always a good deal though when the redemption rate is less than $70 per 10,000 points.

For example, assume a Holiday Inn hotel is $135 per night or 25,000 points. After tax the room is $150. This is a redemption value of $6 saved per 1,000 points spent for a 25,000 points reward night.

Paying $70 to buy 10,000 points means you only need to spend 15,000 points, but now the 15,000 points is only saving $80 compared to paying $150 for the room night.

$80/15,000 points is  a redemption value of $5.33 per 1,000 points. Paying $7 per 1,000 points and redeeming you points for $5.33 means you are buying points at a higher rate than you are redeeming. Plus Points & Cash rewards do not earn points or promotion credit so you are getting even less value from your points.

Priority Club’s Points & Cash Loophole

An aspect of Points & Cash that is sometimes referred to as the “travel hack” is the ability to book a Points & Cash reward, buy points at $70 for 10,000 points, and then keep the points if you cancel the Points & Cash reservation.

Essentially a Priority Club member can buy points for $70 per 10,000 points without needing to stay in hotels to earn points. I do not advocate overusing this method, but it works as a way to get more Priority Club points. This loophole does not seem to be affected by the increase in cost to $70 per 10,000 points for Points & Cash Reward nights.

The reason why most bloggers have valued Priority Club points at $6 per 1,000 points is due to the ability to buy points at that rate.

Is $7 per 1,000 points the new Priority Club normal value?

The recent change now pushes up the cost to $7 per 1,000 points.

So does that mean the value of Priority Club points has gone up to $7 per 1,000 points from $6 per 1,000 points?

I don’t think so in most cases. I actually thought $6 per 1,000 points was a reasonable valuation for Priority Club points, yet even that value was hard to find at many hotels compared to the standard reward rate; especially since Priority Club added higher reward tiers for most brands in January 2012.

For example, many Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels are 25,000 points per night. That meant the hotel needed to have a rate of $150 after tax to get $6 per 1,000 points redemption value using the Points & Cash purchase rate for buying points.

Now that same hotel would have to be $175 after tax to get a $7 per 1,000 points redemption value using the Points & Cash loophole.

The combination of adding higher reward night tiers in January 2012 and increasing the rate to buy points using Points & Cash Rewards to $70 for 10,000 points in May 2012 means hundreds of hotels cost significantly more per reward night than they did six months ago. 2012 has seen a significant points devaluation for Priority Club.

Here are tables to show what I mean when it comes to redeeming Priority Club points for hotel nights.

December 2011 Priority Club reward night values

In 2011 when the hotel rate after tax exceeded the amount shown in the $6/1,000 points table, then a person could buy Priority Club points through the Points & Cash loophole and save money on the cost of the hotel night.

Still there were plenty of hotels in the 4,500 IHG hotel chain where room rates were lower than the rate shown in the $6 table. I frequently found Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels cost 25,000 points when rates were well below $150 after tax. The Points & Cash loophole had little value for hotel rate savings at many hotels even when it cost $60 to buy 10,000 points.

May 2012 Priority Club Reward Night Values ($7/1,000 points)

Crowne Plaza Hotels up 63% in reward points cost.

Six months ago all Crowne Plaza hotels worldwide were 25,000 points per night. Any Crowne Plaza that cost more than $150 after tax per room night could be obtained for $150 buying points through the Points & Cash loophole.

Now all the Crowne Plaza hotels that went up to 35,000 points per night in January 2012 will cost $245 to buy through the Points & Cash loophole.

That is an increase of $95 per night or 63% more in points cost than six months ago.

That is a significant devaluation in the Priority Club Rewards program for 2012.

InterContinental Hotels up 46% in reward points cost.

An InterContinental that was 40,000 points in 2011 could be booked for $240 per night through the Points & Cash loophole for buying points.

In May 2012 the cost of an InterContinental Hotel at 50,000 points will be equivalent to a $350 room night. That is $110 more per night to buy points or a 46% increase for the cost of a reward night using the Points & Cash loophole. That is a significant devaluation in the Priority Club Rewards program for 2012.

Bottom line: Priority Club has left the Points & Cash loophole open to buy points for $70 per 10,000 points. This may be a cheap avenue to more points for some members.

But I don’t think that the value of Priority Club points has increased to $7 per 1,000 points.

The opportunity to save cash on hotel room nights buying points through the Points & Cash loophole has diminished. The points redemption deals with Priority Club Rewards have lessened in the past six months.

These changes definitely devalue the Priority Club program on the points redemption side.

At least Priority Club still offers great points earning potential by allowing stackable bonus offers on hotel stays and PointBreaks are still the hotel loyalty industry’s best bargain at 5,000 points per night.

Friday, March 30 I published a way to buy 60,000 points and Priority Club Platinum status for $460. On Monday, April 9 you can buy 75,000 points and Priority Club Platinum status for about $451 through the Daily Getaways offers. Priority Club points purchased through the Daily Getaways offers are elite qualifying points. You can buy just 60,000 points and lower the cost of Platinum status to $361 if you want to take a gamble there will be availability to buy from two different Priority Club offers during the Daily Getaway sale.

It is possible to buy 500,000 points for $3,000 through the Monday April 9 Daily Getaways, but perhaps an unlikely probability that you can be fast enough to buy the maximum set of points from each of the four offers before they sell out.

Although Priority Club points in the past two years did not sell out as quickly as other hotel loyalty points that do not have backdoor options for cheap points purchases. I explained the Points & Cash procedure for buying 10,000 points for $60 in the March 30 post. Daily Getaways is a good opportunity to acquire a large number of Priority Club points, up to 500,000 points, at relatively low cost ($60 per 10,000 points) in perhaps a more acceptable method than booking and cancelling Priority Club Points & Cash reward stays to build your account balance.

Buy cheap Priority Club Rewards points at Daily Getaways April 9, 2012

There are four offers to buy points from Priority Club on the first day of this year’s Daily Getaways beginning at 1:00 pm eastern time April 9.

Presale starts at 12 noon ET. You only need to Like IHG Facebook to gain access to Presale where a specific number of sets of points are available.

4 Priority Club points offers. You may buy up to 5 sets from each offer. 

• Priority Club 10,000 points (generic offer) = $67.
• 650 sets and 130 presale sets.
• Priority Club 25,000 points (Holiday Inn offer)= $167.
• 420 sets and 90 presale sets.
• Priority Club 25,000 points (Crowne Plaza offer)= $167.
• 125 sets and 25 presale sets.
• Priority Club 40,000 points (InterContinental offer)= $267.
• 300 sets and 75 presale sets.

This Daily Getaways offer is advertised as “Stay 1 night at a Crowne Plaza for $167.” The sale is for 25,000 points and these points can be used for any Priority Club reward you choose. The points are valid for reward nights at 4,500+ hotels in all IHG brands: InterContinental Hotels, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Hotel Indigo, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites. Priority Club and other hotel loyalty programs selling points use the Daily Getaways to promote their hotel brands within the loyalty program

Presale Registration through Facebook Likes

A new feature of the Daily Getaways sales for 2012 is the opportunity to register for a Presale by liking the Facebook pages of participating vendors. This is really easy since the link is right on the sale page. The Presale offers begin at noon eastern time zone for one hour before the regular sale. There are a specific number of packages offered in the presale hour and the regular sale.

Priority Club Points Offer #1 – 10,000 points for $67 (AmEx = $60.30)

650 sets of points. 130 sets of points available during pre-sale.

Buy 10,000 points for $67 or AmEx $60.30. The price for all Daily Getaways offers is 10% less if payment is made with an American Express card.

You can buy up to 5 sets of points for 50,000 points with this offer.

Priority Club Holiday Inn Offer #2 – 25,000 points for $167 (AmEx = $150.30)

420 sets of points. 90 sets of points available during pre-sale.

The Holiday Inn sale has more sets of points so this is the best link if you want to buy a large quantity of points. You can buy 25, 50, 75, 100 or 125,000 points through this single offer. The Crowne Plaza deal below is the same offer and price, but fewer items for sale so your chances are better to try this link first, unless you want more than 125,000 points, in which case, you should try the offers with fewer items first and then come to this sale.

Priority Club Crowne Plaza Offer #3 – 25,000 points for $167 (AmEx = $150.30)

120 sets of points. 25 sets of points available during pre-sale.

This Crowne Plaza page sale has the fewest items for sale. Start here and buy fast if you want to maximize purchases and try to buy more points from the other offers. Remember you can use the points for any IHG brand hotel and there is no requirement to Crowne Plaza your hotel stay.

Priority Club InterContinental Hotels Offer #4 – 40,000 points for $267 (AmEx = $240.30)

300 sets of points. 75 sets of points available during pre-sale.

This is a good offer if you want a quick 80,000 points and Priority Club Platinum elite without messing around in two Daily Getaways Priority Club sales. This is also the offer if you want to buy big at $1,200 and go for 200,000 points in a single purchase.

200,000 points is a nice safe deposit box of points for hotel stays. I generally recommend you have a plan in place when buying points. But since IHG Priority Club just increased the points needed for hundreds of hotels in January 2012, you can be fairly confident the points won’t devalue much this year. There are several hotels around the globe where 200,000 points will save far more than $1,200 on a 4 or 5 night stay.

Priority Club also regularly offers discount hotel reward nights at 50% and more off with PointBreaks, Last Minute Reward Nights, and the one day sales they tested in the past couple of months.

Here is the calendar that currently displays the first two weeks of Daily Getaways offers. I’ll blog about many of these offers over the next six weeks.

Strategies for the Daily Getaways sales:

The aspect of these sales I did not see mentioned in most of the blog posts this morning is how few people can take advantage of these deals. If there was a one item limit per person, then about 1,800 different people could buy some Priority Club points at a discount through the Daily Getaways.

The actual rules allow a single person to buy 5 sets of points from each of the four offers. Everyone trying to maximize these offers could result in fewer than 400 travelers buying these cheap points.

My point is you need a plan and be quick on the mouse when the sale starts if you want to get the best deals.

Last year when Hyatt points were on sale for $250 ($225AmEx) for 24,000 points, the sale was locked up within seconds and the points sold out within a minute. It then became a matter of reclicking and a few people got into the sale over the next few minutes while for most buyers the Hyatt Daily Getaways were over by 1:01pm.

Daily Getaways Strategy

1. My experience from the past two years suggests once you click on the Daily Getaway offer to purchase an item and you actually get into the purchase webpage, then you are locked in with the option to buy up to the maximum number of items for sale with the offer. Usually once you access the purchase page, then you can relax and breathe as you make your purchase, unless you are speed buying and planning to try and buy from more than one offer.

It appeared to me the past two years that getting access to the purchase page is the primary challenge, but once you are in, then at least one set of points is reserved for you while you enter your credit card payment information.

2. There are a limited number of points sets available and a maximum quantity limit for each offer. The number of items plays a strategic role for the buyer. If you want to maximize points purchases then try for the items with fewer sets for sale first and then go to the items with more sets. Some of these sales are gone within the first minute and you may find it difficult to buy the maximum number of items before they sell out.

3. Some offers suggest points are for a specific hotel brand like Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn or InterContinental Hotels. These are brand marketing efforts only and when you buy Priority Club points you are free to use the points for any hotel brand reward stay on points or other purpose you choose.

4. Daily Getaways prices are 10% less when payment uses American Express card, the travel sale co-sponsor.

Related Post:

Why are Daily Getaways Dealing Travel April 9-May 11? (April 2, 2012)

[April 2, 2012 Update: Daily Getaways is a travel sale offering the opportunity to buy up to 500,000 Priority Club points on Monday April 9.  This sale allows you to get 75,000 points for $461 and Priority Club Platinum status. My April 2 post in the link discusses strategies for buying points through the Daily Getaways flash sale.]

Earning 60,000 points in a calendar year means IHG Priority Club Platinum Status for the rest of 2012 and 2013. Priority Club Special offer: up to 50% Bonus*
Purchase points between March 30 and April 30, 2012 and earn up to 50% more points!
Buy 1,000 – 19,000 points: get a 20% Bonus
Buy 20,000 – 29,000 points: get a 30% Bonus
Buy 30,000 – 39,000 points: get a 40% Bonus
Buy 40,000 – 50,000 points: get a 50% Bonus

Priority Club has a variable purchase rate that decreases at higher points levels. The normal cost to buy points:

• 1,000 – 10,000 points = $13.50 per 1,000 points.
• 11,000 – 25,000 points = $12.50 per 1,000 points.
• 26,000 – 50,000 points = $11.50 per 1,000 points.

The lower purchase rate at 26,000 points means you can buy 33,800 points for $299 with the 30% bonus compared to paying $312.50 for 32,500 points when buying 25,000 points at $12.50 per 1,000 during this sale.

Buying at the Sweet Spots

Here are a few changeover spots on the Priority Club purchase chart where it is better to pay for an extra 1,000 points to get a better deal.

• $135.00 = 12,000 points for a 10,000 points purchase.
• $137.50 = 13,200 points for an 11,000 points purchase.

The rate drops from $13.50 to $12.50 per 1,000 points at 11,000 so it is better to buy 11,000 points than 10,000.

• $237.50 = 22,800 points for a 19,000 points purchase.
• $250 = 26,000 points for a 20,000 points purchase.

The bonus points increases from 20% to 30% at 20,000 points so it is better to buy 20,000 points with this sale rather than 19,000 points. You get 3,200 additional points for $12.50.

• $312.50 = 32,500 points for a 25,000 points purchase.
• $299 = 33,800 points for a 26,000 points purchase.

The purchase rate drops from $12.50 per 1,000 points to $11.50 per 1,000 points at 26,000 points. You can actually buy 33,800 points for less than buying 32,500 points with this sale.

• $333.50 = 37,700 points for a 29,000 points purchase.
• $345 = 42,000 points for a 30,000 points purchase.

The bonus points increases from 30% to 40% at 30,000 points so it is better to buy 30,000 points with this sale rather than 29,000 points. You get an extra 4,300 points for an additional $11.50.

• $448.50 = 54,600 points for a 39,000 points purchase.
• $460 = 60,000 points for a 40,000 points purchase.

The bonus points increases from 40% to 50% at 40,000 points so it is better to buy 40,000 points with this sale rather than 39,000 points. You get an extra 5,400 points for an additional $11.50.

• $575 = 75,000 points for a 50,000 points purchase.
• Overall rate = $7.67 per 1,000 points.

IHG Priority Club Platinum Status for $460 through December 2013.

There is always the Points & Cash trick for buying points at $60 per 10,000 points by booking a Points & Cash Reward stay, buying points and cancelling the stay. The points go into your account. But Points & Cash purchased points do not count as points for Priority Club elite status.

The advantage of buying points through this bonus points sale is these points purchases count as qualifying points for elite status. Priority Club members earn Gold elite after earning 20,000 points or Platinum elite after earning 60,000 points in a calendar year.

$460 to buy 40,000 points with this special offer will result in 60,000 points posting to your Priority Club account and you will attain Priority Club Platinum status for the remainder of 2012 and all 2013.

And besides the 50% bonus points on IHG stays as a Platinum member, you can get status matches to other hotel loyalty programs like Club Carlson and Best Western.

Links:

Priority Club Buy Points

Priority Club Elite Status Benefits

Update: Priority Club Points & Cash loophole.

So many of the comments to this post mention the Points & Cash trick to buy 10,000 points for $60. Here is how that works for those of you not familiar with the Priority Club Points & Cash Rewards process.

Priority Club members have the option when booking a standard reward to buy 5,000 points for $40 or 10,000 points for $60 towards the reward night cost. This is allowed if you are short points (you only need 15,000 points in your account to buy a 25,000 points reward night) or even if you have loads of points in your account.

Holiday Inn Express Hollywood Walk of Fame (Standard Reward Night = 25,000 points)

May 14-17, 2012 lowest published rate = $193.99 for prepaid, advance purchase rate. This hotel has a 3-night rate after tax of $672.59.

Or I can spend 75,000 points for 3 nights. Redemption value = $8.96 per 1,000 points.

Or I can spend 45,000 points + $180 for this hotel stay. Redemption value = $672 – $180 = $492.

$492 cash saved on room rate / 45,000 points = $10.94 per 1,000 points redemption value.

Another advantage of booking a reward night is many hotels offer higher category rooms for the same reward price. The $193 room was a standard room on a prepaid nonrefundable rate. I can book a King Bed Executive Suite using a Points & Cash reward for 45,000 points + $180 per night that would have cost $826 using the Best Flexible Rate that has the same cancellation terms as the Points & Cash reward.

The redemption value for my 45,000 points is now $826 – $180 = $646 / 45,000 = $14.35 per 1,000 points.

That is a high redemption value for Priority Club points.

 [Click on image to full size in separate window.]

This reservation can be cancelled up to 6pm on the day of arrival for this Points & Cash reward.

The Points & Cash trick comes into play when I cancel the reservation. I paid $180 for 30,000 points and that purchase is nonrefundable. 45,000 points were taken from my account to complete the 75,000 points reward transaction for this stay at the HI Express Hollywood.

After cancelling the stay I get to keep the 30,000 points and I effectively paid $60 per 10,000 points. I get back the 45,000 points from my account and my account balance goes from 73,724 to 103,724 points.

The Points & Cash trick allows me to buy 30,000 points for $180.

You need at least 5,000 Priority Club points in your account to book a 15,000 points Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn Express hotel buying 10,000 points for $60.

I don’t play this game, but it works for buying points at $60 per 10,000 points.

There is a limit of $240 in Points & Cash points purchases per day.

Priority Club Terms & Conditions

Priority Club Rewards “Points & Cash” is an option for obtaining a Reward Night. You may choose to redeem Priority Club points for a Reward Night in three ways: using your existing points for all required points for the desired Reward Night; using your existing points and 5,000 points purchased for US $40 to total the required points; or using your existing points and 10,000 points purchased for US $60 to total the required points. The total purchase on any single day may not exceed $240 US. Points & Cash Reward Nights may only be redeemed online at www.priorityclub.com. Point purchase amounts are subject to change by PCR. You must use a valid credit card for points purchase. Upon completion of the points purchase, you agree that the total dollar amount will be immediately charged to the credit card you specified. The cost for the points purchased is non-refundable. If the Reward Night is cancelled in accordance with these Terms & Conditions and with each hotel’s cancellation policy, the purchased Priority Club points will be re-deposited into your Priority Club Rewards account. Cash components of this award that are paid in currencies other than U.S. dollars will be adjusted by Priority Club Rewards, as needed, to reflect the USD equivalent of the non-USD payment at that time. All other Reward Night terms and conditions apply.

There are loads of Priority Club reward rooms available right now in London for Priority Club points. I found reward rooms for the opening ceremonies at Holiday Inn Kensington Forum for three nights Friday-Saturday-Sunday July 27-30 at the Points & Cash reward rate of 15,000 points + $60 per night for a room with a published rate at 305GBP or US$485 per night.

I found reward availability at multiple hotels in London for hotel stays throughout the Olympics dates.

25,000 points or 460GBP per night. Better yet is 15,000 points + $60 per night. That is a $670 value for 15,000 points. Buy points at $6 per 1,000 points from Priority Club and redeem for $45 per 1,000 points in hotel rate savings.

The image below shows Holiday Inn London Kensington Forum available for a 3-night points reward on the weekend with the London Olympics 2012 opening ceremonies  Friday, July 27, 2012.

Act Fast!

Hotel rewards using points for the London Olympics 2012 have been a rare find. I checked Hilton HHonors today and there was one hotel with Premium Room Reward availability at 195,000 points per night. Starwood Preferred Guest has reward night availability at Sheraton Heathrow Airport for 10,000 points per night on some dates. The availability of reward nights at a variety of IHG hotels in London is a real bargain during the Olympic Games from Friday, July 27 through Sunday, August 12.

Rates at most brand name hotels are over US$500 per night.

Priority Club members can buy 50,000 points in a calendar year at the rate of $11.50/1,000 points or $575 per 50,000 points. Priority Club members may also gift a member 50,000 points in a year. This means a couple can purchase 200,000 Priority Club points in all buying 50,000 points maximum purchase for yourself and as a gift to your partner. Your partner does the same. For $2,300 you can buy 200,000 points.

Typically buying points might not be a good deal, but when hotel nights are US$500 or 15,000 points and $60 for each night in London during the Olympics, then you are paying $232.50 for a room night buying points and redeeming for a Priority Club Points & Cash reward.

A hotel reward night is 15,000 points + $60 for several IHG hotels in London during the Olympics. These reward nights might be around all  week or may not last the day before reward night availability is gone.

And remember hotels like Hotel Indigo London Paddington can be booked for the old 25,000 points rate through March 18, 2012 by calling Priority Club customer service.

Here is a sample of IHG hotels in London with reward night availability for 8 nights from July 27-August 4, 2012.

Comparing hotel rewards is one of the most technical aspects of hotel loyalty programs. The rate of earning points is different in each hotel loyalty program with Hilton members earning as many as 15 points per dollar for hotel spend while Marriott and IHG Priority Club earn as few as 5 points per dollar for certain hotel brands. Promotions offering bonus points also affect the rate of earning points in each program.

And even if the hotel loyalty member earns 10 points per dollar in each program, then is a 25,000 point hotel reward comparable in each program? How does one compare a Marriott Rewards category 5 reward night (25,000 points), Priority Club Crowne Plaza reward night (25,000 points) and a Hilton HHonors category 3 reward night (25,000 points)?

The logical way to compare hotel rewards across programs is to compare the published rate for the hotel night to the reward night cost in points. The problem is the reward cost is a fixed cost while the room rate fluctuates and might be $150 tonight and $250 tomorrow night for the same 25,000 points free night. The other variable is a 25,000 points hotel reward might save $100 at one Marriott Rewards category 5 hotel and save $250 at a different Marriott hotel.

The bottom line is hotel reward redemption value is dynamic and fluctuates depending on date and hotel. The best a member can do is try to use points in a way that maximizes their redemption value.

I have tackled this issue before and found Marriott Rewards to be the highest value points compared to the other two programs. This means 25,000 Marriott Rewards points tended to save more money than 25,000 points in Priority Club or Hilton HHonors. But I did not do many of these analyses in 2011.

Standard Hotel Rewards

IHG Priority Club

Priority Club changed its reward structure this week for the first time in several years. New tiers were added to each of the seven IHG hotel brands. Priority Club is different than other hotel loyalty programs by setting reward levels based on brand rather than categories where hotels in every brand are distributed based on average daily rate, reward demand and hotel occupancy. A Courtyard by Marriott property in New York City will be in a higher category reward level and cost more points than a Courtyard in Greenville, South Carolina. Priority Club had the problem that a Crowne Plaza in New York City with an average daily rate close to $300 was the same 25,000 points reward cost as the Crowne Plaza in Greenville, South Carolina with a much lower average room rate.

Rather than switching to hotel reward categories similar to other hotel loyalty programs where hotels are placed in categories typically based on average daily rates, Priority Club chose to add new tiers to each of the hotel brand rewards.

Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express formerly had three tiers for reward nights at 10,000 points, 15,000 points and 25,000 points. A new fourth tier was added at 20,000 points to fill in the gap. Regrettably, Priority Club chose to be intransparent regarding the new hotel reward tiers. They will not publish the changes of 2,000 or so hotels in new reward tiers as of this week, even though they state that you can request the lower tier reward level for bookings through March 18, 2012. You have to call Priority Club to find out if the hotel you are booking required fewer points prior to January 18 changes.

Each of the other five IHG brands added new higher reward tiers with Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites adding a tier at 5,000 more points and InterContinental Hotels, Crowne Plaza and Hotel Indigo adding a new tier at 10,000 more points. Hotels in the new higher tiers are 25% to 40% more points.

Priority Club has three reward types providing discounts to the standard reward rates shown in the table: PointBreaks, Points & Cash, Last Minute Reward Nights.

Priority Club PointBreaks

Undoubtedly the lowest cost hotel reward nights of any hotel loyalty program are Priority Club PointBreaks for 5,000 points per night. Even if you do not currently have any Priority Club points, members can purchase up to 50,000 points in a rolling 12-month period. The cost is $67.50 to buy 5,000 points and the rate drops to $11.50 per 1,000 points with a 20,000 points purchase reducing the cost of a PointBreaks reward night to $57.50.

Priority Club PointBreaks typically are a list of about 100 hotels among the 4,500 IHG hotels globally. PointBreaks hotels only offer these low reward rates for about two months from the time the list is published. PointBreaks hotels drop off the list once the capacity controlled rooms are booked. PointBreaks are a great value, but limited to those who are in the right places at the right time to take advantage of these bargain reward nights.

The current PointBreaks list was posted around November 22 and is valid for hotel stays through January 31, 2012. A new PointBreaks list will likely post sometime during the next four days.

Priority Club Points & Cash Rewards

One of the best features of Priority Club Rewards is the availability of Points & Cash Reward Nights as a potential discount on standard reward nights. Points & Cash Rewards allow the Priority Club member to buy 5,000 or 10,000 points at the time of booking a reward night.

• 5,000 points = $40 or
• 10,000 points = $60.

A Crowne Plaza Points & Cash hotel reward night at 25,000 points standard reward level can be purchased for:

• 15,000 points + $60 or
• 20,000 points + $40.

Points & Cash Rewards saves points in your account balance while allowing the member to buy points at the discount rate of $6.00/1,000 points when buying 10,000 points for a reward. This is nearly 50% off the standard purchase rate ($11.50 to $13.50 per 1,000 points) and the 50,000 points annual purchase limit for Priority Club points does not apply to points bought for Points & Cash rewards. A member is limited to buying $240 in Points & Cash Reward points per day (40,000 points when buying 10,000 points on 4 reward stays).

Cheap Trick Cancellation

Points & Cash Reward stays require the member to buy 5,000 or 10,000 points during the reward stay booking process. When I book a Points & Cash Reward stay at a Crowne Plaza for a 25,000 points reward, my $60 buys 10,000 points instantly and only 15,000 points are removed from my account balance.

If I subsequently cancel the reward reservation, the entire 25,000 points are deposited back into my account. Basically, the cheap trick is a member can book a Points & Cash reward stays as a way to buy Priority Club points for $6 per 1,000 points. But you do not want to abuse this cheap trick or you may find your account flagged. Priority Club certainly knows members use this workaround to buy cheaper points, but no attempt has been made to change the rules in the past two years since Points & Cash Rewards were added to Priority Club. The primary changes to occur are the cost for 5,000 points increased from $30 to $40 and there is a $240 per day limit in purchase points through Points & Cash rewards.

One other thing to know about Points & Cash Rewards is the points purchased for these rewards are the only Priority Club points I know about that do not count as elite qualification points. All other points earned from hotel stays, partner activities and other promotion bonuses count for elite status with Gold elite at 20,000 points in a calendar year or Platinum elite for 60,000 points in a calendar year. Elite qualification on points is quite easy with Priority Club which is one reason why there are limited defined benefits with Priority Club elite status compared to Hilton and Marriott.

Priority Club Last Minute Reward Nights

This 50% points discount reward has turned out to be probably the most useless hotel reward option in hotel loyalty programs since they debuted in May 2011. Hotels participating in Last Minute Reward Nights are only valid for stays during the first full weekend of the month for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. There is supposed to be an email sent out on Monday before the Friday weekend, but I have never seen a Last Minute Reward Nights email.

Here is a Loyalty Traveler post with the January 2012 Last Minute Reward Nights list of 50% off InterContinental Hotels.  Normally I try to list all the hotels available each month. I wrote about Last Minute Reward hotels on Wednesday, January 4 when I first saw the list. These rewards were only available for the nights of Friday, January 6 to Sunday, January 8. That was a great deal if you happened to be in Frankfurt and got the InterContinental for 15,000 points. It will be 40,000 points per night after March 18. Seriously, how many people took advantage of InterContinental Moorea in the deep South Pacific at 50% off with just three days notice?

Bottom line: Jackpot if you are somewhere with a 50% off Last Minute Reward hotel available.  I have not used this Last Minute Reward yet due to limited locations. The January 2012 list was my best opportunity with two San Francisco Holiday Inn hotels available, but it was just too gorgeous to leave Monterey that weekend for city life.

Marriott Rewards

Marriott Rewards unquestionably had the best hotel rewards value until the program went to a 5th night free reward table in 2009. Prior to the changes hotel rewards were lower in cost for each additional night stayed. The discount was as high as 40% off reward nights for 7-night hotel stays. The trade-off for an across the board increase in all extended stay rewards other than 5 night stays was balanced by Marriott’s new “No Blackouts” policy for rewards.

Since 2009 Marriott spun off Ritz Carlton Rewards and tiered the hotel brand into five levels of hotel rewards from 30,000 points to 70,000 points per night with the 5th night free option.

Marriott Rewards competitive advantage over Hilton HHonors is a higher distribution of hotels in the Marriott Rewards lower hotel categories 1-4 in its eight category hotel reward structure.

Marriott Rewards hotel reward levels

• Category 1 = 7,500 points
• Category 2 = 10,000 points
• Category 3 = 15,000 points
• Category 4 = 20,000 points
• Category 5 = 25,000 points
• Category 6 = 30,000 points
• Category 7 = 35,000 points
• Category 8 = 40,000 points
• Ritz-Carlton Tier 1 = 30,000 points
• Ritz-Carlton Tier 2 = 40,000 points
• Ritz-Carlton Tier 3 = 50,000 points
• Ritz-Carlton Tier 4 = 60,000 points
• Ritz-Carlton Tier 5 = 70,000 points

All Marriott and Ritz-Carlton Standard and PointSavers Reward stays offer the fifth night free. Stay 5 nights and pay the points for four nights. Fifth night free stays may be combined.  A ten night stay gets two free nights. There are no discounts for extended stays of other lengths. A 9-night stay only gets one free night.

Marriott Rewards PointSavers

PointSavers are discount rewards reducing the hotel reward night cost at the participating hotel by one category level.

For example, a Category-6 PointSavers hotel reward is 25,000 points per night. PointSavers for Category-1 hotels are a 20% discount at 6,000 points.

The Marriott Rewards PointSavers list was updated in the past month with dozens of hotels offering PointSavers rates with dates primarily in January through March 2012.

Ritz-Carlton PointSavers offer 10,000 points per night savings. Since 2009 I have seen few PointSavers at Ritz-Carlton hotels posted on the website. Members are directed to phone reservations to request PointSavers.

Marriott Travel Packages (Hotel + Air)

These are high-priced, high-value rewards starting at 200,000 points that offer a 7-night hotel stay available at any hotel category level and from 35,000 miles, up to 120,000 miles. The cost of these rewards ranges from 200,000 to 540,000 points. I will discuss Marriott Travel Package rewards further when comparing points-to-miles exchanges in these hotel loyalty programs in a future post.

Hilton HHonors Rewards

Hilton HHonors restructured its reward chart at the beginning of 2010 when it added Category 7 hotel rewards at 50,000 points, eliminated Opportunity Hotels, and shifted the cost of Category 1 and category 2 hotels down. Bottom line is more than 80% of the hotels worldwide increased in cost for a reward night.

Hilton HHonors Standard Reward Levels

• Category 1 = 7,500 points
• Category 2 = 12,500 points
• Category 3 = 25,000 points
• Category 4 = 30,000 points
• Category 5 = 35,000 points
• Category 6 = 40,000 points
• Category 7 = 50,000 points
• Waldorf Astoria Hotels = 50,000 to 80,000 points

One of the tasks I see I need to update is a hotel rewards distribution comparison for Hilton and Marriott to backup my claim that Marriott has more hotels in the lower categories. I did not do this analysis in 2011, so here is a comparison from tables I created two years ago.  Once the 2012 hotel category shifts are published I will update the distribution of hotels in each reward category for Hilton and Marriott with 2011 and 2012 data.

The table shows that fewer than 15% of Marriott brand hotel rewards were more than 20,000 points in 2010 compared to nearly 60% of Hilton brand hotels being more than 30,000 points in 2010. Hilton HHonors charges far more on average for hotel rewards, even considering Hilton Points & Points earners earn 15 points per dollar compared to 10 points per dollar for Marriott stays. The extra points needed for Hilton hotel rewards negates the extra points earned from Hilton hotel stays. In Hilton’s favor is the easier route to HHonors Diamond elite and 50% bonus points compared to Marriott Rewards Platinum elite for 50% bonus points.

HHonors Extended Stay Discounts

The competitive advantage for Hilton HHonors is the best discount for extended stays using points at hotels in Category 3 to Category 7. HHonors provides a discount on reward stays four nights or longer for members with at least HHonors Silver elite status (4 stays or 10 nights in a calendar year or HHonors credit card member).

HHonors VIP Elite Extended Stay Reward Discounts

• 4-night VIP Reward = 15% discount off standard reward rate.
• 5-night VIP Reward = 20% discount off standard reward rate. This matches the Marriott Rewards 5th Night free discount. Five nights at a category-4 hotel normally 30,000 points per night is 120,000 points.
• 6-night or longer = 25% discount off standard reward rate. This exceeds the discount offered by any other hotel loyalty program. A category 7 hotel reward for six nights at 50,000 points per night is only 225,000 points rather than 300,000 points.
• Amazingly, Hilton HHonors VIP reward chart has not been updated to separate the category 3 rewards from category 4. Category 3 hotels receive the same 15% to 25% discount shown below for other category hotels, but the HHonors reward chart does not display the discount rates for Category 3 hotels. FlyerTalk member Beltway created the table below showing the discount rate for VIP Rewards.

The chart shown above is from Post #3 on this FlyerTalk thread providing a comprehensive list of Hilton HHonors rewards.

AXON 4-Night Rewards

AXON rewards are available to HHonors American Express cardmembers for a discount on 4-night stays that is even greater than the VIP 15% reward discount.

• Category 6: 125,000 points  (VIP Reward = 136,000 points)
• Category 7: 145,000 points  (VIP Reward = 170,000 points)

Points & Money Rewards

• Category 1: not applicable
• Category 2: 6,250 points + US$30
• Category 3: 12,250 points + US$40
• Category 4: 15,000 points + US$50
• Category 5: 17,500 points + US$60
• Category 6: 20,000 points + US$70
• Category 7: 25,000 points + US$85
• Waldorf-Astoria: 30,000 points + US$100
• The data shown here was removed from the Hilton website soon after I published the table in my analysis of Points & Money Rewards on Loyalty Traveler in October 2011. These amounts are currently the amounts still used for Points & Money Rewards, however, Hilton has left open the possibility to change these levels at anytime with this wording in the Hilton HHonors FAQ.

What are Points & Money Rewards™?
If you don’t have enough Hilton HHonors™ points to book a room using Standard Room Rewards, or simply if you prefer to use fewer points, you can combine points with money to book a standard room. This is a great option if you need just a few hundred more points to achieve a reward stay. Availability of Points & Money Rewards varies by participating hotels and stay dates at the time of booking. The number of points required to redeem Points & Money Rewards varies by room, hotel, and booking date.

 

In 2011 Hilton HHonors introduced Points & Money Rewards offering hotel rewards for 50% points and a cash supplement. This new reward option replaces PointStretcher Rewards that have been eliminated for 2012. PointStretcher Rewards offered a 40% discount off standard reward points at select hotels on select dates. Points & Money offer a greater points discount, but also require cash.

I think Points & Money will be a better program feature as long as this reward choice is commonly available at hotels in many places. There were few hotels and very restricted date availability for PointStretcher Rewards over the past several years. Paying a cash supplement and 50% points is a good hotel reward option for HHonors members. The Points & Money Rewards option is still too new and too scarce to determine if this is a better replacement to PointStretchers.

HHonors Premium Room Rewards will be discussed in a separate post on suite upgrades.

The follow-up post to this “Hotel Rewards Comparison” will be to show a couple of locations and compare the reward cost in Hilton HHonors, IHG Priority Club and Marriott Rewards hotel stay rewards and calculate the point value in each program based on the room rates for hotels in the same location and similar market segment.

Loyalty Traveler series: Comparison of Hilton HHonors, Marriott Rewards and IHG Priority Club hotel loyalty programs

1. Hilton, Marriott and IHG Hotel Brand Market Segments(Jan 15, 2012) – this post lists the different hotel brands, number of hotels in the brand, percentage of hotels in each brand and brand’s hotel market segment.

2. Hilton, IHG Marriott: Earning Base Points and Miles(Jan 17, 2012).

3. Making Elite with Marriott, IHG, Hilton(Jan 18, 2012) – Discussion of elite qualification requirements, elite status challenges and status matches.

4. Hotel Rewards Comparison: IHG, Marriott and Hilton (Jan 21, 2012)

As a leisure traveler over the past decade, I have felt that an adequate annual budget for maintaining top elite status while primarily staying in upper-upscale market segment hotels takes between $3,000 to $4,000 a year. I’ve spent more and I have spent less, but $3,000 is typically around the minimum spend I can expect when planning to earn top elite like SPG Platinum, Hyatt Diamond, Hilton Diamond or Carlson Concierge elite. 

Marriott will likely take more than $3,000 for Gold elite at 50 nights and much more for Platinum at 75 nights, although elite rollover nights can reduce the annual spend somewhat. Priority Club qualification on points should take far less than $3,000 to earn 60,000 points for Platinum. I requalified for 2012 Priority Club Platinum elite status yesterday after less than $500 in hotel stays in 2011.

My Priority Club account has earned 117,330 points in 2011 and Platinum elite membership is earned with 60,000 points in a calendar year. I have earned Platinum elite status through December 31, 2012 after just 5 paid hotel nights in 2011. 

Maintaining hotel elite status in a city of rising rates

Upper-upscale market segment hotels like full service Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt and Starwood properties will frequently have rates in the range of $150 to $200 per night. 

The highest rates might be during midweek nights like in downtown San Francisco where business travelers and convention goers fill hotels on high rates. The highest hotel rates may be weekend nights like in my hometown of Monterey where many Californians come to vacation on weekends. 

$150 to $200 per night hotels on a $3,000 to $4,000 budget gets you 15 to 26 nights a year in hotels. It is tough to earn top-level elite status with fewer than 30 nights a year in hotels unless you only do one-night stays. 

Most hotel loyalty programs qualify members for elite status by either nights or hotel stays. Carlson, Hilton, Hyatt and Starwood require fewer stays than nights for elite qualification. 

Top-Tier Elite Qualification Published Requirements (in a calendar year)

• Marriott Rewards Platinum = 75 Nights
• Club Carlson Concierge Elite = 30 Stays or 75 Nights
• Hilton HHonors Diamond = 28 Stays or 60 Nights or 100,000 base points ($10,000 hotel spend)
• Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond = 25 stays or 50 nights
• Starwood Preferred Guest = 25 stays or 50 nights 
• InterContinental Royal Ambassador has unpublished qualification terms which are generally reported to be around 50 to 60 nights in IHG brand hotels with stays in at least 3 different InterContinental Hotels in a 12-month period of Ambassador paid membership.

I have met many business travelers who spend 40 to 50 nights a year in hotels and never have attained top elite status. Most business travelers average two or three night stays. If you spend 60 nights a year in hotels with 20 hotel stays and 42 nights Hilton and 18 nights in Marriott, then your HHonors Gold and Marriott Silver elite receives minor attention compared to what you would likely experience as HHonors Diamond. 

The leisure traveler spending $3K to $4K can have four or five extended stay vacations a year staying in nice upper-upscale hotels at $150 to $200 per night. Most of my friends fall in this category of travelers who pay high rates in desirable places and never qualify for more than low-level elite hotel loyalty membership.

My objective throughout the year is finding upper-upscale hotels where my average daily paid rate is well below the average $155 per night for a U.S. upper upscale hotel. I regularly find upper upscale hotels in the $100 range during slow business and low occupancy periods. This allows me to stay 30 to 40 paid nights and the ability to maintain top-elite status with good elite benefits and hotel selection whether that loyalty program is Hilton, Hyatt, SPG or another hotel loyalty program.

Typically I spend about 80% of my paid hotel nights in upper-upscale hotels and around 20% in midscale brands like Four Points, Hyatt Place, Holiday Inn Express and Hampton Inn/Hilton Garden Inn.

Conventions and Events are a Leisure Traveler budget buster 

Conferences like the International Pow Wow in San Francisco this past week tend to push the daily hotel rates up to $250 to $300 per night for upper-upscale hotel brands like Hilton, Hyatt Regency, Marriott, and Westin. These high rates force the leisure traveler down to 10 to 16 nights a year if staying within a $3,000 to $4,000 budget. You are severely limited on your ability to earn hotel elite status while staying in the upper-upscale hotel market segment and paying high rates. 

I plan for hotel travel 12 months a year with a goal of maintaining top elite status in at least one program (currently I’m top-elite in four hotel programs). I seldom book a hotel more than one week in advance, but when I see good value hotel deals, like my W Silicon Valley $64 Best Rate Guarantee nights this weekend that I found a few weeks back, I jump on them to earn loyalty points and elite credit stays. 

Then, when I really need a hotel in a specific place like downtown San Francisco last week, I am able to spend points for nice upper-upscale hotel rooms with elite benefits like free internet or free breakfast and free room upgrades. Rates were over $200 and $300 at hotels around Moscone Center during International Pow Wow 2011 travel convention. Rates are about the same next month in downtown Vancouver for the Travel Blog Exchange 2011 conference.  My points earned steadily over the past year allow me to stay in upper upscale hotels in the center of the action at a fraction of the published paid rates by using points awards. 

The fact that most other guests at these hotels are paying $200 to $300 per night does not impact me. I spent $120 and 60,000 Priority Club points to stay two nights at the InterContinental San Francisco and saved nearly $500 on the published lowest rate. I stayed at the Starwood Luxury Collection Palace Hotel on a Cash & Points award and paid $103 (after tax) and 4,800 points to save over $200 on the lowest published rate. My SPG Platinum elite status also waived the $20 daily internet fee at the Palace Hotel. I booked both of these hotels within 24 hours of arrival during one of the year’s biggest conventions in San Francisco.

So if you are one of those high-paying guests during hotel convention times, or even worse, you are staying at the airport and spending two hours a day commuting to and from the city center from your budget hotel…

“Welcome to Loyalty Traveler.” 

This is where you will find tips on getting hotel value for the frequent guest. 

You do not have to book far in advance to get the best hotel rates. You just need to plan far in advance so you have plenty of points and hopefully elite status, rather than plenty of cash to cover your hotel needs when staying in a city of high-rise and high rate hotels.

Article Correction May 31: This post originally listed occupancy for upper-upscale hotel segment incorrectly at 68% rather than 78.0%.  The upper-midscale hotel segment was 68% occupancy.

The Palazzo Resort Las Vegas, an InterContinental Alliance Resort

I booked a room for Friday night, April 22, 2011 at The Palazzo using a Priority Club Points & Cash reward night at 30,000 points + $60 cash. The room rates for that date were $199 for a King Luxury Suite or $229 for a Bella Suite with two Queen beds. Priority Club let me book either room type with an award. The paid rates were $30 more for a View room in these two hotel categories.

My sister pointed out that most Las Vegas strip hotels charge more for two beds than for one King bed. I had never noticed this before since I am 99% a King.

This is part one of a two part post on The Palazzo Las Vegas Resort.

• Part One: The Palazzo Luxury and Bella Suites
• Part Two: The Palazzo Resort Recreation and Entertainment

Hallway from Palazzo Casino to Palazzo Shops

 

The Palazzo Resort Basic Room Type – Luxury or Bella Suite

Check-in at The Palazzo:

Actual check-in time was listed as 3:00pm on my reservation. I arrived at the hotel around 2:00pm.

The parking garage has one set of elevators that take you directly to the lobby area with hotel registration desks. Another set of elevators from the garage take you close to the hotel room floor entrance and its sets of room floor elevators. The hotel rooms are located on the opposite side of the casino from the Palazzo front entrance and registration desks.

The Palazzo Las Vegas lobby

There is a dedicated check-in desk for Priority Club Elite members.

The Palazzo Priority Club elite member desk

My check-in agent was charmingly friendly and seemed genuine in her conversational interest while setting up the hotel stay. She welcomed me as a Priority Club Platinum elite and said I was receiving an upgrade to a view room on the 32^nd floor. There are three sets of room elevators for floors up to 23, 23-36 and 37-50.

Late check-out at 1 pm rather than the normal time of 11am was offered as a complimentary benefit.

Royal Ambassadors have their own separate registration lounge room at The Palazzo.

The Palazzo Royal Ambassador hotel registration lounge

I received a Bella View suite on Floor 32 with my Priority Club Points & Cash room. The room rate for this last minute reward night was $290 for room with tax. My 30,000 Priority Club points were worth $230 or $7.67 per 1,000 points. That is why buying points at $6 per 1,000 is a good idea when you get the chance with Points & Cash rewards.

$7.67 per 1,000 points is actually a low redemption value for my Priority Club reward stays where I generally spend points for $10+ per 1,000 points. The primary reason I went with points was to avoid spending $230 more for the hotel night. I burned points to save the cash for other hotel stays I need to make in May 2011 that will earn back far more than 30,000 Priority Club points.

P for Palazzo in marble

Check-in Amenities:

There is a mandatory Palazzo Resort fee of $17.00 + 12% tax = $19.04 per day. This fee includes free wi-fi and access to Canyon Ranch Spa fitness rooms. There is even a rock-climbing wall in the spa. This is also a location where breakfast can be purchased at a café far less crowded than the pool area or casino locations.

There was a set of coupons provided at check-in which appeared to be geared for Priority Club members. My sister who booked a rate not using Priority Club had different coupons for her stay.

The Palazzo discount coupons provided with my Priority Club reward night stay had the following offers:

• Canyon Ranch Spa $35 off any 50 minute or longer Massage or Facial.
• Morels French Steakhouse & Bistro – 20% off breakfast or brunch.
• Zine Noodles DimSum – Asian cuisine – $30 off $60 purchase.
• LAVO Nightclub – complimentary line pass and admission.
• Piano Bar two for one drinks.

The Palazzo Las Vegas lobby ceiling

Prestige at The Palazzo

Prestige at The Palazzo is a nightly paid upgrade for an additional $100 that includes:

• Private champagne check-in starting at noon (normal check-in time is 3pm).
• Deluxe continental breakfast from 7am – 10am.
• Coffee and tea on 23^rd floor from 10am – 4pm.
• Hot and cold hors d’oeuvres from 5pm – 7pm.
• Complimentary cocktail reception from 5pm – 8pm in the 23^rd floor lounge.
• Desserts from 7pm – 9pm.
• Plasma TV screens throughout the 23^rd floor lounge.
• Complimentary wi-fi on 23^rd floor.
• DVD library for suite.
• Personal concierge service 7am – 9pm.

Basically Prestige is an extra $93 after tax over the otherwise mandatory resort fee of $17 + tax. For two people this could be a decent value for the additional food and drinks.

Complimentary continental breakfast in the Floor 23 lounge is perhaps a $25 per day value. The Grand Lux in the Palazzo casino has many more food selections with a buffet breakfast at $15.95 per person. This is a relatively good deal at Grand Lux dining room for a Las Vegas Strip resort breakfast.

Drinks are $6 beer and $12 cocktails in most places around the Palazzo Resort, so 3 hours of free drinks could be a significant value depending on your intake. Evening appetizers and dessert are probably another $25 to $30 value.

Prestige at the Palazzo for $100 + $12 tax = $112 per day is a reasonable price for 23^rd floor lounge access if you are staying as a couple and will be hanging around the hotel for the free food and drinks. Most of the other amenities like wi-fi and fitness room access are provided with the regular daily resort fee.

The View

The room view overlooked the pools, but from the 32^nd floor the pools are rather far away.

The Palazzo Las Vegas - pool view from Floor 32

Straight ahead window view was Treasure Island and that hotel had an 8:30 pm pirate ship battle and performance. Again, this was far away for seeing the people performing in the show so our visual attention focused on the overall light effect, fireballs and sinking ship. Hundreds of people were gathered on the sidewalks watching the show outside Treasure Island.

The Palazzo Las Vegas view of Treasure Island

The lights at night stretching across the valley are pretty to watch.

The Palazzo Las Vegas view

The Room:

The entry-rate standard room category at The Palazzo is either a Luxury Suite (King bed) or Bella Suite (two Queen Beds). My family had one of each room type for this stay and both rooms were identical with the exception of the beds. These are large rooms at 720 square feet. Most commonly a luxury class hotel room is about 500 to 600 sq. ft. at the entry level room category.

The Palazzo Las Vegas Bella Suite

The Bella Suite has two Queen beds. Good quality pillows and linens make these comfortable beds.

Each bed has a seat at the foot of the bed. There was seating for at least ten people in the room.

The Palazzo Las Vegas bed seat.

The bed section of the suite has a wall-mounted 42-inch TV.

The Sitting Room

The couch is extra large and contains a pull-out bed.

The Palazzo Las Vegas large couch and desk

The Palazzo Las Vegas Bella Suite TV

The TV in the sitting room seemed slightly smaller, perhaps 37-inch. This piece of furniture also had stocked electronic mini-bar and room safe.  A small round table with three chairs in front of the window provided a place to eat or sit. Two stairs between beds and sitting room could be an issue for some guests.  

The Palazzo Las Vegas Bella Suite curtains

The Bathroom

The bathroom is a large space at 130 square feet with separate shower and bathtub, dual sinks, a separate toilet room and stand alone vanity table.

The Palazzo Las Vegas bathroom vanity table in Bella Suite

Separate shower and tub.

Dual sinks and just outside this picture on the right is a wall mounted TV.

Separate toilet room.

My overall impression is the size of the room at The Palazzo makes this hotel a great choice if you want room to move about in your room at a price that is likely cheaper than upgrading to a room this size at most of the other Las Vegas Strip hotels.

Part Two at The Palazzo Las Vegas has photos of  the seven or so pools and Canyon Ranch Spa.

This is a good YouTube video posted by SuperCabbie1 showing the standard Palazzo luxury suite with a King bed. There is an extra chair that is not present in Bella Suites with two Queen Beds. The room location in the video is the non-view room that looks southeast to the Venetian and lots of low roof tops over the casino and spa and parking garages behind the Las Vegas Strip resorts.

• 10,000 points for $67 ($60.30 if payment is American Express), 650 sets for sale. Maximum purchase is 5 sets per member.
• 25,000 points for $167 ($150.30 if payment is American Express), 120 sets for sale. Maximum purchase is 5 sets per member.
• 25,000 points for $167 ($150.30 if payment is American Express), 420 sets for sale. Maximum purchase is 5 sets per member. (There are two separate sales for sets of 25,000 points).
• 40,000 points = $267 ($240.30 if payment is American Express), 300 sets for sale. Maximum purchase is 5 sets per member.

There are two good reasons for making a Priority Club points purchase today.

1. Purchased points from this sale count for elite status. Priority Club requires 20,000 points earned in a calendar year for Gold elite or 60,000 points for Platinum elite. These points purchases from DiscoverAmerica count for elite qualification, whereas points purchased through Points & Cash rewards do not count for elite qualification. You can buy your way to Platinum elite for $361 with the purchase of 60,000 points today.
2. If you do not have any Priority Club points, then a purchase today puts you in play for taking advantage of Points & Cash reward nights where the price of a reward is discounted by 10,000 points for $60. All hotels are available for Points & Cash rewards. Crowne Plaza hotels cost 25,000 points per night. Points & Cash takes 15,000 points + $60. Purchasing points for $60 per 10,000 points through this DiscoverAmerica sale drops the price of a Crowne Plaza hotel to $150 to pay with points. Any Crowne Plaza hotel night more than $150 will be cheaper to pay with points.

InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club Rewards hotel brand reward nights:

InterContinental Hotels = 40,000 points (high tier) or 30,000 points per night (low tier). There are slightly more hotels at the 30,000 points level.

Crowne Plaza and Hotel Indigo= 25,000 points per night.

Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express = 10,000 points or 15,000 points or 25,000 points. Most hotels are in the 15,000 points tier. About 200 of 3,000 hotels globally are in the 10,000 points tier.

Staybridge Suites = 20,000 points per night.

Candlewood Suites = 15,000 points per night.

Holiday Inn Club Vacations = 27,500 per night.

Another way to buy Priority Club points at a discount

Buying Priority Club points at $60 is a fair market value, but not necessarily a deep discount. Priority Club members can actually buy 10,000 points for $60 through Points & Cash reward nights by making a booking for a hotel, buying 10,000 points and later canceling the booking before the stay.

The way Points & Cash rewards are structured requires the member to buy either 5,000 or 10,000 points prior to booking the reward night. 5,000 points cost $40 or 10,000 points cost $60. The points purchased are added to your Priority Club account instantly. The points purchase is nonrefundable so if you end up canceling the reward night the points remain in your account.

There really seems to be no limit to making points purchases through this method. The primary reason the DiscoverAmerica.com sale is better is points purchased through the sale count for elite qualification. But that is irrelevant if you already have Priority Club Platinum elite status and plan to requalify in 2011 anyway.

DiscoverAmerica.com Daily Getaways has travel sales every weekday through May 13. Here is the calendar for upcoming sales.

Priority Club Rewards Spring Break promotion web link. Rate Code = ISGSB

The Spring Break promotion page lists these destinations:

• San Diego, California (22 hotels)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
• Miami, Florida (27 hotels)
• Orlando, Florida (28 hotels)
• Panama City, Florida
• Honolulu, Hawaii
• South Padre Island, Texas
• San Jose, Costa Rica
• Cancun, Mexico
• Los Cabos, Mexico

Terms and Conditions

• Requires stay of two or more consecutive nights.
• Cancellation policies are liberal, generally day before arrival with no penalty.
• Rates are higher than advance purchase and Best Flexible; generally $10 to $30 per night more.
• 7,500 points per stay.
• Available for stays through May 15, 2011

Loyalty Traveler Analysis:

Panama City, Florida Holiday Inn Select

Wed Mar 16 – Fri Mar 18, 2011 (2 double beds)

Spring Break Rate $119/night = $253.48 (after tax)

• Cancel up to 6pm Mar 16 with no penalty. 

Best Flexible Rate $109/night = $232.18 (after tax)

• Cancel up to 6pm Mar 16 with no penalty. 

Discount Rate $95.99/night = $204.46 after tax

• Cancellation will be charged first night rate.  

Advance Purchase $92.99/night = $198.06 after tax.

• Cancellation forfeits entire prepaid room deposit.  

AAA rate $92.99/night = $198.06

• Cancel up to 6pm Mar 16 with no penalty. 

This Spring Break offer for 7,500 bonus points will cost $55 more than the AAA rate for a two-night stay at the Panama City Holiday Inn Select with the same cancellation policies.

You can save $55 now and simply buy 10,000 points for $60 when you book your next reward stay.  

7,500 bonus points is only a good deal if you would otherwise book the Best Flexible Rate and you do not qualify for AAA rate and you need bonus points now.

I do not recommend this Spring Break promotional offer for most guests since the rates are higher.

Keep in mind that when you redeem points for a free hotel stay, there is usually the option of Points & Cash whereby you can pay $60 and reduce the reward cost by 10,000 points for your hotel stay.

The ability to buy 10,000 points for $60 makes paying more than $45 extra to earn 7,500 Priority Club points not such a good deal.

The primary advantage to paying a higher rate to earn Priority Club bonus points is the fact that these bonus points count for elite qualification. Priority Club Gold elite is reached by earning 20,000 points in a calendar year and Platinum elite takes 60,000 points. If you need points for elite status then paying $45 for 7,500 points is a fair exchange.

But, if you already have Priority Club elite status and you do not need points to earn elite status, then save your money. This deal is really only a good deal if you do not have many Priority Club points and you need more points for a planned redemption.  

For example if you only have 10,000 Priority Club points, then you can’t afford a free Crowne Plaza reward night for 25,000 points, even with the option to buy 10,000 points.

Account Balance = 8,788 points. Book the Spring Break package for $253.48 and you earn $119 x 2 nights x 10 points/$1 = 2,380 points + 7,500 Spring Break bonus. Earning 9,880 points now opens up the possibility of booking a Crowne Plaza 25,000 points hotel reward night with 18,668 points.

You can book a Crowne Plaza using Points & Cash with 15,000 points + $60 to purchase the remaining 10,000 points.

The majority of IHG hotels cost 15,000 points for a free night at a Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn Express (popular locations require 25,000 points, but the vast majority of hotels in the chain are 15,000 points per reward night).

A person with no Priority Club points can book the Spring Break 7,500 bonus points offer and have enough points after the stay to book a Points & Cash night at any of nearly 2,000 Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels for 5,000 points + $60.

Holiday Inn Orlando Convention Center (Wed March 2- Friday March 4, 2011)

Spring Break Rate = $79/night = $182.76 after tax

Advance Purchase = $56/night = $131.00 after tax

AAA rate = $63/night = $146.76 after tax

7,500 bonus points for $36 over the AAA rate is a good deal and the cost is only $15 over the prepaid, nonrefundable rate. Of course, the prepaid rate is a better deal if the nonrefundable conditions are acceptable for your risk tolerance.

A shift of one week in hotel stay dates results in 32,000 points savings on a normally 80,000 points two-night reward stay. Even a three night Point Stretcher stay requires just 72,000 points for the HHonors hotel category 6 Conrad Brussels.

I burned over 2 million Hilton HHonors points in the past 12 years. More than 90% of those reward nights were reduced points rewards – either Point Stretcher nights or HHonors VIP discounted 6-night rewards. Singapore, Germany, Spain, Ireland, and Belgium are a few of the locations I stayed on Point Stretcher nights. These discounts allowed me to stay about 50 more nights at Hilton properties than if I had redeemed using standard rewards like 40,000 points for the HHonors category 6 Conrad Brussels.

Discount Hotel Rewards

Several hotel programs offer discount hotel reward nights. Marriott Rewards calls them PointSavers, Hilton HHonors trademarked Point Stretcher and Priority Club has PointBreaks.

Starwood Preferred Guest has Cash & Points and a similar reduced points and cash component offer is available for Priority Club at IHG properties and Goldpoints Plus for Carlson Hotels’ Radisson and Country Inn.

There are differences in each of these program’s offers. Here is a summary of how each offer works and what you can reasonably expect to find.

Three categories of hotel reward discounts.

Limited Date Discounts

• IHG PointBreaks = 5,000 points per free reward night. (IHG reward nights are normally 10,000 to 40,000 points per night.)
• Marriott Rewards PointSavers = discount to next lower hotel category reward level; for example, category 5 hotel (25,000 points/night) requires category 4 points (20,000 points/night) for free nights. 5^th night free does apply to PointSavers rate.
• Hilton HHonors Point Stretcher  = Pay 60% of standard reward points per night (40% discount); for example, category 6 hotel at 40,000 points is 24,000 points per night with PointStretchers. HHonors VIP Extended stay discount (4 or more nights) does not apply to Point Stretcher rewards. 

Extended Stay Reward Discounts

• Marriott Rewards =  5^th night free (pay hotel category level points for four nights)
• Starwood Preferred Guest =  5^th night free (pay hotel category level points for four nights)
• HHonors VIP rewards for stays 4 nights (15% discount); 5 nights (20% discount); 6 to 14 nights (25% discount). VIP discount rewards are restricted to HHonors elite members Silver and higher.
• Goldpoints plus = 10% fewer points for additional reward nights after first night.

Cash and Points Rewards

• Starwood Preferred Guest Cash and Points nights require 40% normal points and cash portion ranging from $15 to $150 depending on SPG hotel category level from 1 to 6. Not applicable to SPG category 7 hotels. Cash & Points have the potential for very high savings and points value. There are opportunities to save more than $200 on published room rates and receive a very high redemption value for your points, particularly at the category 4 ($60 + 4,000 points) and category 5 ($90 + 4,800 points) award level.
• SPG Cash & Points awards are capacity controlled.   

SPG Cash & Points chart

• Category 1 = $25 + 1,200 points (only in U.S., Canada, Asia-Pacific)
• Category 2 = $30 + 1,600 points (only in U.S., Canada, Asia-Pacific)
• Category 3 = $45 + 2,800 points
• Category 4 = $60 + 4,000 points
• Category 5 = $90 + 4,800 points
• Category 6 = $150 + 8,000 points
• Category 7 = N/A

Priority Club – Points + Cash is a system for buying points to complete a hotel reward stay booking. Two options: Pay $40 for 5,000 points or $60 for 10,000 points. This option is available even if you have sufficient points for the hotel reward stay. This is a way to buy points at a huge discount and save Priority Club points for more hotel free nights. Buying points directly from Priority Club costs $230 for 20,000 points.

Goldpoints Plus Cash & Points offers the option to pay a cash supplement for reduced points reward nights. Category 1 to 3 hotels require 5,000 points and category 4 to 6 hotels require 10,000 points. Cash portion determined at time of hotel booking.  

Important to Remember: Reward stays, including Cash and Points rewards, do not earn hotel stay credit for annual elite qualification, with the exception of Hilton HHonors and Choice Privileges where reward stays earn elite qualification credit.

IHG PointBreaks

These are the cheapest hotels available in hotel loyalty world at 5,000 Priority Club points per night, but I am wondering if Prioity Club members have seen the best days pass for this incredible reward discount. The last two PointBreaks lists may indicate a new pattern for PointBreaks with mid-month release in December and January for hotel stays through the end of the following month. The list released this week does not include a single InterContinental Hotel which I hope does not become a new trend.

June 7, 2010 – 118 hotels (79 US, 39 international) – stay through August 30, 2010.

August 2, 2010 – 130 hotels (79 US, 51 international) – stay through October 30, 2010.

October 4, 2010 – 126 hotels (77 US, 49 international) – stay through December 30, 2010.

December 13, 2010 – 35 hotels (15 US, 20 international) – stay through January 30, 2011.

January 24, 2011 – 55 hotels (31 US, 24 international) – stay through February 28, 2011.

The deal here is any hotel on the list is available for 5,000 points. All Crowne Plaza hotels have a standard reward cost of 25,000 points per night. A PointBreaks reward night for a hotel like Crowne Plaza Denver International Airport is an 80% discount.

InterContinental Hotels have standard rates at 30,000 points or 40,000 points per night. Landing a PointBreaks vacation at an InterContinental Hotel like IC Budapest (October 2010 PointBreaks hotel) means your 40,000 points can put you in a hotel room for an eight night Pointbreaks vacation rather than just a one night stay using a standard 40,000 points reward.

PointBreaks reward nights were an 87.5% discount at the normally 40,000 points per night InterContinental Budapest luxury hotel for stays October through December 2010.

Marriott Rewards PointSavers (Loyalty Traveler post 1/26 Marriott PointSavers)

Marriott Rewards PointSavers reduce the cost of an award night by one category level. A great feature of these rewards is the 5^th night free is still offered with PointSavers. A category 6 hotel reward is normally 30,000 points per night or five nights for 120,000 points. PointSavers reduce the nightly cost of a category 6 reward down to the rate for a category 5 reward at 25,000 points per night or 100,000 points for five nights.

Biggest savings is 33% and results at Marriott category 3 level where a 15,000 points per night reward is just 10,000 points when paying the category 2 hotel reward rate. Five nights at a category 3 hotel for 40,000 points with a PointSavers reservation will likely have a high redemption value for your points in excess of $10 per 1,000 points (this occurs when the published rate of the hotel is more than $80 per night or $400 for five nights).

Marriott Rewards PointSavers Chart

PointSavers Free Nights

• Category 1 – Standard =  7,500 points; PointSavers = 6,000
• Category 2 – Standard = 10,000 points; PointSavers = 7,500
• Category 3 – Standard = 15,000 points; PointSavers = 10,000
• Category 4 – Standard = 20,000 points; PointSavers = 15,000
• Category 5 – Standard = 25,000 points; PointSavers = 20,000
• Category 6 – Standard = 30,000 points; PointSavers = 25,000
• Category 7 – Standard = 35,000 points; PointSavers = 30,000
• Category 8 – Standard = 40,000 points; PointSavers = 35,000

PointSavers are also available for select Ritz-Carlton Hotels offering 10,000 points per night discount. 

Hilton HHonors Point Stretcher (Loyalty traveler Dec 3 post HHonors Point Stretcher)

Hilton HHonors published a long list of hotels in early December offering Point Stretcher reward dates through May 2011. This is a welcome change for a program feature that languished a couple of years with very weak offerings. The hundreds of hotels on the current Point Stretcher list make Marriott Rewards, at just 25 hotels currently posted as PointSavers, look like the Hilton HHonors of old.

But don’t count on finding a Hilton HHonors Point Stretcher Category 1 Reward anytime soon.

Point Stretcher Free Nights Chart

• Category 1 – Standard =  7,500 points; Point Stretcher = 4,500
• Category 2 – Standard = 12,500 points; Point Stretcher = 7,500
• Category 3 – Standard = 25,000 points; Point Stretcher = 15,000
• Category 4 – Standard = 30,000 points; Point Stretcher = 18,000
• Category 5 – Standard = 35,000 points; Point Stretcher = 21,000
• Category 6 – Standard = 40,000 points; Point Stretcher = 24,000
• Category 7 – Standard = 50,000 points; Point Stretcher = 30,000

Extended Hotel Stay Rewards

Carlson Hotels goldpoints plus (Radisson, Park Inn and Country Inn) discount every reward night after the first night by 10%. This is the best standard discount available for two or three night stays in hotel loyalty world.

Four night stays: Hilton HHonors steps in with a 15% total points discount available as an elite member VIP reward.

Five night stays: Hilton, Marriott and Starwood all discount five night stays by 20%. Hilton restricts all VIP discount rewards to elite members.

Hilton HHonors unquestionably wins the biggest discount contest with 25% off the reward cost for stays of 6 to 14 nights. Marriott Rewards was the best discount until they went to 5^th night free in 2009. That being said, there is still competitiveness for Marriott with Hilton in that the hotel category reward distribution is much more skewed to lower categories for Marriott than Hilton. For example, there are many places where Marriott Rewards category 4 and 5 hotels are the same hotel market segment class as Hilton HHonors category 5, 6 and 7 hotels.

Marriott Rewards category 5 = 25,000 points per night or 7 nights = 150,000 points (5^th night free).

Hilton HHonors category 6 = 40,000 points or 7 nights = 210,000 points (25% discount).

HHonors Points & Points earner at 15 points/$1 compared to Marriott Rewards at 10 points/$1 makes these two rewards nearly comparable in points cost for the respective programs. The promotions make all the difference for the member (or credit card earning).

Hilton, Marriott, SPG and goldpoints have the advantage over all the other hotel loyalty programs offering no discount for extended night hotel stays.

Conclusion: The value of your points increases when you take advantage of discount rewards. There are many hotels offering discount reward rates at any given time.