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)

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games just returned back to hoteliers 20% of its reserved room inventory blocked for the games opening July 27, 2012. Out of curiosity I checked Priority Club for reward room availability.

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.

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.

Read More…

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.

Read More…

This is the first full weekend of February and that means 50% off Priority Club Last Minute Reward Nights for Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights at 120 select hotels globally. 91 hotels in the USA this week including the InterContinental San Francisco for 20,000 points per night.

Read More…

My favorite European hotel promotion for the past several years has been the IHG “2 nights for the price of 1” for hotel discounts in the UK and Europe. This offer brings the rate of many hotels in central London to around $100 per night.

The main thing to know with these discount rates is they are prepaid, nonrefundable hotel room reservations.  The terms also state no Priority Club points are earned. This offer is not good for hotel promotions and points, but at these room rate discounts the points may not really matter. Just be aware that you forfeit the entire prepaid amount if you need to cancel your reservation.

The “2-for-1” and “3-for-2” rates are special offers available through this UK link and discounts are based on the Best Flexible Rate. The default page is set to search “IHG Weekend Breaks” in the UK for 35% off Best Flexible Rate.

Use the bullet menu on the right to change rate from 35% off weekend rates to the “2-for-1” or “3-for-2” rates.

Read More…

The fifth post in my Loyalty Traveler series comparing the large hotel loyalty programs of Hilton HHonors, IHG Priority Club and Marriott Rewards is a case study of hotel rates and reward redemption opportunities in Paris, France for a stay in March 2012.

Prior posts have discussed the earning rate for hotel points with stays in each of the hotel brands (links to other posts in this series are at end of this post). The rate points are earned is only one factor for earning loyalty points. Limited time promotions for earning bonus points and bonus points for partner activities are other factors on the earning side of the equation.

The cost of hotel rewards in each of the three hotel loyalty programs must be compared to the rate of earning to determine if any program has a competitive advantage in one way or another for Hilton HHonors, Marriott Rewards and IHG Priority Club.

Paris, France Hotel Reward Search for March 16-20, 2012

Assume the dates are set in stone for a four night Paris trip. Here are the options in the big chains of Hilton, IHG and Marriott where you can burn your points.

Read More…

The new list of Priority Club PointBreaks Reward hotels posted today. These are hotels available for 5,000 points per night. Hotels are available until the allocated reward nights are booked and then the hotel drops off the list.

Priority Club members can buy points for $11.50 to $13.50 per 1,000 points. 5,000 points is $67.50 and the rate drops to $57.50 per PointBreaks night if you buy 26,000 or more points at a time. Members can buy up to 50,000 points in a calendar year.

Hopefully you already have points in your account. The availability of the Holiday Inn Express in Fortuna, California has me thinking about a coastal road trip north into Humboldt County this winter.

The selection is primarily in the USA this round with few hotels elsewhere in the world.

InterContinental Tahiti at 5,000 points per night is a deal if you can find a reservation and swing the airfare. Hint: Look in Asia.

Read More…

The fourth article in this series comparing the “MegaChain” hotel loyalty programs of Hilton HHonors, IHG Priority Club and Marriott Rewards is a look at the hotel reward options for each hotel chain. Reward nights using points are one of the two primary incentives of being a hotel loyalty program member. The other incentive is additional complimentary hotel stay benefits received during hotel stays like free internet, complimentary room upgrades, hotel executive lounge access and free breakfast.

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.

Read More…

IHG Priority Club added new reward tiers to its points redemption chart on January 18, 2012. Annoying from the consumer point of view is Priority Club’s decision to withhold publishing a list of some 2,000 hotel reward cost changes with the new tier adoption. I have made an initial analysis of changes to 168 InterContinental Hotels worldwide based on the work posted on a UK website by CaoChong with the former tier level of InterContinental Hotels and the work posted on LoyaltyLobby.com yesterday regarding the changes to reward tiers. I encourage you to check out the InterContinental Hotels data tables on LoyaltyLobby.com to see the data displayed in a different graphic form than provided in my post.

Here are observations I made concerning the changes to InterContinental Hotel reward tiers.

InterContinental Hotels in the USA (25 hotels in 50 states and Puerto Rico).

• None of the 8 InterContinental Hotels formerly at 30,000 points increased tier. They are still 30,000 points. Atlanta Buckhead is the only hotel in the USA to decrease from 40,000 to 30,000 points tier.
• In contrast, 7 of 17 hotels in USA and Puerto Rico increased from 40,000 points to 50,000 points. This means 41% of the hotels in the USA that were 40,000 points per night increase 25% in reward night cost. Austin, Boston, Chicago, New York (2 hotels), Scottsdale, Arizona and San Juan Puerto Rico are now in top tier.
• In total 1 of 25 (4%) InterContinental Hotels in the USA decreased by 25% and 7 of 25 (28%) InterContinental Hotels increased 25% in reward cost for US properties.

Read More…

PriorityClubRepresentative posted the official link for the Priority Club Double Points or Double Miles promotion from January 23-April 30, 2012. The promotion code 6673 is a different code than originally published in my January 13 Loyalty Traveler post.  I registered last week using the 2837 code and the new promotion registration page comes back with the message I am already registered for the offer.

The other piece of official news from the FlyerTalk thread is PriorityClubRepresentative states the X stays, for Y points promotion is stackable with this double points or double miles promotion.

Priority Club Double Points or Double Miles (Code 6673 registration page)

• Begins with second eligible IHG brand stay at any Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, InterContinental Hotels and Hotel Indigo, except for Candlewood Suites and Staybridge Suites earn double points or double miles beginning with first stay.
• No retroactive credit for hotel stays prior to promotion registration date.
• Promotion earns 20 points per dollar at Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, InterContinental Hotels and Hotel Indigo.
• InterContinental Hotels will change earning rate during this promotion when IC hotels in North America, Caribbean and Latin America (about 50 hotels) begin earning 10 points per dollar on February 15, 2012. All other InterContinental Hotels worldwide (about 120 hotels) will maintain earning rate of 2,000 points per stay regardless of hotel spend. Double points will be either 4,000 points per stay or 20 points per dollar depending on date of stay and location.
• Staybridge and Candlewood brands earn 10 points per dollar with double points.
• Link to standard earn rates for IHG brands.

Earning Double Miles with Priority Club

Priority Club has over 40 airline partners for earning miles. There are many earning structures depending on airline and hotel brand. The miles earning rates are shown here.

The US-based airlines of Alaska, American, Delta, United and US Airways earn miles at these rates:

• 2 miles per $1 spend at Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Hotel Indigo and beginning February 15, 2012 at InterContinental Hotels in North America, Caribbean and Latin America. Double miles = 4 miles/$1.
• 1 mile per $1 spend at Candlewood Suites and Staybridge Suites. Double miles = 2 miles/$1.
• 500 miles per stay at InterContinental Hotels. Double miles = 1,000 miles/stay for all InterContinental Hotels worldwide prior to February 15, 2012. InterContinental Hotels in North America, Caribbean and Central America change to 2 miles/$1 February 15, 2012. There will be no change in miles earning rate for InterContinental Hotels in other regions.

Priority Club Double Points is stackable with quarterly stay bonus points offer.

*** InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club Rewards – Priority Club members may register for one of the quarterly stay promotions running January 1-March 31, 2012. You can only register for one offer so pick the target you are most likely to reach. Stay 3 nights = 5,000 bonus points. Stay 7 nights = 10,000 bonus points. Stay 15 nights = 15,000 bonus points.