Everyone has heard of Hollywood. But where do you go in Hollywood to see stars and stuff?

Last April I attended a party at H&H, Hollywood and Highland Center while attending the U.S. Travel International PowWow. I loaded on a bus in downtown Los Angeles, the area of historic downtown with City Hall, the convention center and LA Live Entertainment Center for a crosstown traffic trip to see stars and bars in Hollywood.

Arriving at Hollywood & Highland Center I walked off the bus onto a red carpet. H&H was home of the 2012 Academy Awards. There was a small crowd of 30 to 50 gawkers across the street, behind a police barricade, snapping photos of the U.S. Travel PowWow tourism delegates.

The biggest stars I saw that night in front of Hollywood & Highland were already flattened on the ground before the party got started. Read More…

Passports with Purpose (PwP) is an organization founded by four Seattle travel bloggers in 2008 to engage the travel blogger community in fundraising and finance international humanitarian projects. This is totally grassroots organizing among travel bloggers for social good through focused direct action projects like building a school in Cambodia (2009), building houses for villagers in India (2010), and building two libraries in Zambia (2011).

The 2012 project goal is to finance water wells in Haiti through Water.org. Here is the PwP press release describing this year’s efforts.

Passports with Purpose slide presentation at TBEX 2011 Vancouver, Canada.

How Travel Bloggers Participate in PwP

Basically you find a sponsor like a luggage company, camera store, tent manufacturer, backpack maker, a hotel destination or airline to donate an item to be raffled as a PwP prize. A step-by-step guide for travel blogger participation is on the PwP site.

Travel bloggers post on their own websites November 27, 2012 about Passports with Purpose and describe their raffle prize.

The fundraiser begins November 27, 2012 at 11:59pm EST and continues through December 11, 2012 11:59pm EST.

People from around the world donate $10 per raffle ticket and enter for each specific prize they want to win. Last year there were over 100 prizes in the raffle. From a fundraising total of $7,400 in 2008, PwP raised $90,000 in 2011 to fund two library construction projects in Zambia.

The goal this year is to raise $100,000 to build wells in Haiti through the organization Water.org.

Loyalty Traveler and Hyatt Gold Passport as my sponsor

I became involved with Passports with Purpose in 2009 and I have worked three years with Hyatt Gold Passport loyalty program as my sponsor. Our relationship started via Twitter in November 2009 with a simple tweet from Loyalty Traveler asking for a PwP sponsor. Hyatt Hotels responded within hours with a prize donation of 50,000 points. I was ready as a travel blogger for the 2009 PwP project to raise funds for a school in Cambodia.

Cambodia and schools were two topics of particular interest that helped me first notice Passports with Purpose. I have worked in public schools for over 20 years; ten years as an elementary classroom teacher and the past ten years mostly as a volunteer.

Cambodia is a country I have never visited. My interest in Cambodia dates back to my graduate work project on international child labor issues at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in the early 1990s. One aspect of my research studies focused on sex tourism and the prevalence of child prostitution in Cambodia. I found the research disturbing as I studied the impact of sex tourism on developing nations like Cambodia and the Philippines where many young girls were spending their childhood in brothels rather than schools.

Helping PwP with Hyatt Gold Passport as my sponsor seemed like a good use of my travel blog to help children in tough economic conditions find better opportunities through education. I know my small contribution to the effort has made a real difference for real people I probably will never meet.

Last year Hyatt Gold Passport boosted their PwP prize to 110,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points, sufficient for 5 free hotel nights at the top-tier Hyatt Hotel properties worldwide or as many as 22 free nights for category 1 Hyatt Gold Passport hotels.

The chance to win 110,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points for a $10 donation to Passports with Purpose is enticing to travelers.

Whether you find a sponsor for a prize valued at $100 or $2,000 is not really the significant issue. There is no disclosure by PwP to the amount of tickets applied to any individual prize. The only disclosures on the PwP website are updates throughout the two weeks on the total funds raised through the raffle prize donations.

So it does not matter whether you procure a prize for a $200 backpack or a $2,000 business class ticket to USA-Europe. All prizes contribute to the good cause of helping people in Haiti have access to clean and safe water.

Got a travel blog?

You can use your travel blog to help build water wells in Haiti.

Please join us for the 2012 Passports with Purpose fundraiser.

Passports with Purpose was founded in 2008 as a project coordinated by four Seattle area travel bloggers Debbie Dubrow, Pam Mandel, Beth Whitman and Michelle Duffy. Meg Paynor serves as PwP’s public relations representative.

I just checked my American Airlines AAdvantage account to see how many miles I have for a flight award.

To my surprise I saw this on my account page:

Surely Gold is not too exciting for on-the-go frequent flyers, but AAdvantage Gold elite is a significant milestone for this loyalty traveler.

The Loyalty Traveler Saga

I quit my job as a frequent flyer analyst for a publishing company in March 2007. That was my fifth job in four years following my decision to leave elementary school classroom teaching as a profession. I was promoted once, laid off twice and quit jobs twice due to low pay (motivated me to launch Loyalty Traveler) and top-down aggravation and oversight (motivated me to go back to Loyalty Traveler self-employment).

I had status through butt-in-seat miles with all three alliances OneWorld, SkyTeam and Star Alliance in 2007. I vacationed in Singapore, Amsterdam, Alaska, Dresden, Prague, Buenos Aires, Argentina and Colonia, Uruguay in 2006-2007. I bought a marble penguin in Chile that sits on my fireplace mantel. I stayed in Atlanta, D.C. and New York (actually Newark, New Jersey for lower priced hotels) several times while I made a couple of trips to South America on Delta $500 business class mistake fares.

I started Loyalty Traveler blog in 2007. Loyalty Traveler as a business started in 2006, but within three months I was hired to write frequent flyer books. I used to be quite proficient at ITA and ExpertFlyer and finding loads of cheap airline fares to travel the world on mileage runs and mini-vacations. The experience of seeing how continual changes in frequent flyer programs  outdated books I was writing within weeks led me to move into blogging.

So why no elite airline status in 5 years?

No income for the first year of Loyalty Traveler from mid-2007 to mid-2008. Then projects started rolling in again. My travel started up again in late 2008.

Then 2009 rolled around. The economy went to shit. And so did our household in January 2009.

My wife went in for a routine medical exam to discover she had rectal cancer.

One day everything was falling into place and the next day everything fell apart again.

The doctor told her she could not work for 9 months and she would have immediate surgery followed by six months of regular chemotherapy with six weeks of radiation treatment.

We lost most of our income for the year. We spent our money on gas and prescription medicines, food and hotel rooms to take advantage of the most incredible hotel deals of the decade and give Kelley a break from staring at the walls of the living room and bedroom at home for weeks on end.

My days were filled with driving 150 miles roundtrip to take Kelley to the hospital in San Jose and during summer 2009 we drove 180 miles daily for a 15-minute hospital radiation treatment in Santa Clara. Kelley rested when she could and I did everything else. I look back over those months on Loyalty Traveler blog now and see I was posting fewer than half the days of the month.

Kelley finished her treatments in late September 2009. We have our fingers crossed she is cancer free when her three year check-up comes in the next couple of weeks.

2010 and 2011 I primarily drove around the western states in my car for travel. My car is a business deduction. Air travel is also a business deduction, but one that takes more out-of-pocket spending.

And Loyalty Traveler grew in readership over the years.

Hotel companies started contacting me for meetings and events and projects.

2012 is my Golden Year

Earning American AAdvantage Gold Elite in 2012 for miles flown holds a special significance for me. I might even reach Platinum elite with the remaining trips I have planned for 2012. I also have flown United, US Airways and Spirit this year.

Perhaps I will even go back to writing about frequent flyer programs on Loyalty Traveler.

A person commented to me at TBEX Girona, Spain that she was surprised to read that I had not been to Europe in five years.

Another travel blogger wrote the other day that most travel bloggers do not travel all that much. I do not travel as much as I would like, but I still have 50 nights or more in hotels each year.

The meaning of travel is relative to each person’s travel experience.

For some people travel means leaving the country and being on the road or in the air for months at a time or even all the time. For some people travel means being in a hostel or a tent or a luxury resort or in the homes of friends and family for holidays.

I decided thirty years ago, after backpacking on the road for months in the northeast U.S and across Canada, that I wanted a true companion to share the travel adventures with me. My wife Kelley has been with me for 30 years. We live about 500 yards from where we first met in Monterey in college.

People who meet me often ask, “Do you travel all the time?”

I tell them I like to travel away from home about every six weeks.

Frequent travelers wonder why I don’t travel more. My response is typically something like:

I live in Monterey, California. I like to travel, but I have no desire to travel all the time to other places. Monterey is a fine place to be. And my home in Monterey is filled with cats and my wife who all love me and miss my companionship when I am away.

And now the frequent flyer elite status is a Loyalty Traveler milestone.

Being American Airlines AAdvantage Gold feels good.

Hyatt Gold Passport has provided me 5,000 points for a sweepstakes on Loyalty Traveler blog. 5,000 Gold Passport points are sufficient for a free night at these Category 1 Hotels.

This sweepstakes giveaway is in conjunction with the current Gold Passport Possibilities promotion offering Gold Passport members 5,000 points for every three nights stayed through November 15, 2011. Hopefully the Loyalty Traveler sweepstakes winner will be able to use the 5,000 points bump to book an even more spectacular getaway with Hyatt Hotels.

One of the best features of Hyatt Gold Passport Possibilities promotion compared to the competition this round is the inclusion of all Hyatt brand hotels worldwide for earning 5,000 bonus points evey three nights, up to 30,000 bonus points.

SPG and HHonors current promotions exclude many of the hotels in the San Francisco Bay Area region where I live. The Hyatt promotion for 5,000 bonus points every three nights  is applicable for all Hyatt brand hotels worldwide. Bonus points are additional to the regular 5 points per US$1 earned on Hyatt stays.

There are around 456 Hyatt brand hotels worldwide in Park Hyatt, Andaz, Hyatt Regency, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Place and Hyatt Summerfield Suites to be renamed Hyatt House in the near future.

Loyalty Traveler’s Hyatt Gold Passport Sweepstakes Entry

1. Leave a comment on this Loyalty Traveler post stating which Hyatt Hotel you would most like to visit before 12 noon California time Sunday, October 16, 2011.

2. You need to comment using an email address where I can reach you to coordinate with Hyatt Gold Passport to deposit the points in your account if you win the 5,000 points.

3. Please only enter the sweepstakes one time during the 123 hours of the sweepstakes to give everyone a fair opportunity of winning.

4. Winner will be chosen randomly using random.org and posted on Loyalty Traveler blog by Monday, October 17.

5. Good Luck. I will forward the winner’s email address to my Hyatt Gold Passport contact and they will coordinate the 5,000 points prize deposit into your Gold Passport account.

 

How to Participate in the Hyatt Gold Passport Possibilities Promotion

To earn Hyatt Gold Passport bonus points, travelers must:

• Be a Hyatt Gold Passport member;
• Register for the promotion online at www.goldpassport.com/possibilities;
• Stay three eligible nights to earn 5,000 Hyatt Gold Passport bonus points through November 15, 2011;
• Provide their Hyatt Gold Passport membership number at the time of reservation and check-in, and;
• New members who enroll in Hyatt Gold Passport through November 15, 2011 will automatically be registered for the promotion.

Members can earn a maximum of 30,000 bonus points during this promotion. For full details, including terms and conditions, visit www.goldpassport.com/possibilities. Travelers interested in becoming a Hyatt Gold Passport member can enroll online at http://www.goldpassport.com/, by phone (1-800-51-HYATT), or at the time of check-in at any Hyatt hotel or resort worldwide.

 

Loyalty Traveler Disclosure: I am not receiving any Hyatt Gold Passport points for myself by running this promotion. This is solely a giveaway for Loyalty Traveler readers.

If readers feel inclined to help out Loyalty Traveler, then you can always follow me on Twitter and/or “Like” me on Loyalty Traveler’s Facebook page, although Facebook Ric Garrido has my Twitter and blog posts feed so it is actually more useful for readers.

 

Related Loyalty Traveler post August 29, 2011: Hyatt 5,000 points every 3 Nights Sep 15-Nov 15

IHG, Hilton and Marriott will likely dominate the US landscape for upscale and upper midscale hotel lodging development over the next decade. This is one of the pieces of information reported from the 2011 STR Hotel Data Conference in Nashville this month.

U.S. Hotel Pipeline

The hotel industry calls new hotels in development and construction the “hotel pipeline”. The hotel pipeline is currently led by three hotel chains:

• Hilton Worldwide
• InterContinental Hotels Group
• Marriott International

These three hotel chains represent 13 of the top 15 hotel brands in the pipeline for new hotels coming to hotel loyalty members in these programs.

Which brands are building new hotels?is the Hotel News Now article showing the current U.S. Hotel Pipeline top 15 brands.

The data from the HNN article was used here to create the graphic below showing the top growing brands in the U.S. I added hotel chain, size and market segment data to the HNN pipeline data.

 

Tough economic times have given large hotel chains the ability to grow even larger as banks look to name brands as better investments than independent hotel projects.

What does this mean for the loyalty traveler?

The growth of IHG, Hilton and Marriott will outpace Starwood and Hyatt in the coming years. These three hotel chains are each racing to 5,000 hotels globally. Choice and Wyndham are already over 5,000 hotels with their midscale and economy chain brands.

The complaint that Starwood (1,050 hotels) and Hyatt (450 hotels), as the two smaller upscale and upper-upscale hotel chains with major hotel loyalty programs, do not have sufficient geographical coverage for frequent guests will likely continue to be debated as the super hotel brands of IHG, Hilton and Marriott continue to experience rapid growth. Another decade might see five or six hotel loyalty programs in the 10,000 hotels club for loyalty travelers around the world.

The good news for frequent guests in the short term is I think SPG and Hyatt Gold Passport will maintain high value promotions to be competitive in the upscale and upper-upscale hotel market segment.

SPG obviously targets its loyalty efforts around its American Express credit card but then throws out a great promotion like the recent “Three stays earn a free resort night”.

Hyatt Gold Passport is currently in a transitional phase as it recently repositioned its credit card with a membership anniversary free night offer and additional benefits for top level Diamond elites and benefits that attempt to match or exceed Starwood Preferred Guest.

Road trips across the western states this summer revealed to me Marriott’s Fairfield Inn brand has grown significantly in recent years. There were new build Fairfield Inn properties in many of the roadside towns I visited.

Hampton Inn and Holiday Inn Express open new hotels around the U.S. every week.

La Quinta is a brand that I have never frequented, but I sure saw plenty of these hotels around the western U.S. La Quinta Inns & Suites are 800 hotels in a midscale brand almost twice as large as the Hyatt chain in the U.S. There are more La Quinta Hotels in the U.S. than Starwood Hotels.

STR Hotel Data Conference

STR is Smith Travel Research out of Hendersonville, Tennessee.  Hotel News Now provides digital news from STR and the hotel industry. There were several good reports from the Hotel Data Conference published on HNN and the rest of this Loyalty Traveler post shares some of the interesting information to me along with my commentary.

Hotel brands vs. independent hotels - Hotel News Now

• 1990 = U.S. hotels 57% branded. Branded means hotels like Hilton Garden Inn and Marriott Courtyard where the hotel is affiliated with a major hotel brand (and typically a hotel loyalty program with benefits).
• 2011 = 70% branded hotels in U.S.
• Independent boutique hotels tend to be higher priced than chain boutique hotels, but the prevalence of independent boutique hotels in Manhattan may skew the data. Boutique hotels are undergoing soft branding with new affiliations of independent hotels with major brands like Marriott’s Autograph Collection, IHG InterContinental Alliance Resorts, Choice Hotels Ascend Collection and Starwood Luxury Collection.
• Resort Hotels in chains tend to be higher priced than independent resorts. Loyalty points redemption is the consumer advantage here for high priced resorts.

Online Travel Agencies (like Expedia, Orbitz) cost U.S. hotels $2.5 billion in 2010 - Hotel News Now

• $2.5 billion is based on the number of U.S. hotel rooms sold on OTAs in 2010 and assumes the additional revenue that would have been generated by hotels if these rooms had been sold through direct hotel channels. This study looked at nearly 25,000 hotels in nearly 100 brands.
• 10% of hotel rooms in U.S. booked through OTAs.
• 17% of hotel rooms booked online directly with hotel brand’s websites. For example a Hilton brand hotel booked through one of Hilton’s websites.
• 13.7% of hotel rooms booked via telephone and central reservations system of hotel brand.
• 7.9% booked through GDS (travel agent systems).
• The article doesn’t state where the other 50% of room bookings come from.

One of the more significant findings for the consumer is data indicating that increasing market share taken by OTAs reduces the room rate for hotels. OTAs have increased their market share from 1.34% of total hotel industry revenue in 2001 to 7.35% in 2010.

Four outside influences impacting the hotel industry – Hotel News Now

1. Airplanes are 22% more full today than five years ago and operating near capacity in U.S.  Business travel recovered, but leisure travel has not. Air travelers are also to a large degree hotel guests. Airlines pulled airplanes out of service while hotel rooms still being added to system.
2. Hotel guest satisfaction is down in 2011 according to JD Power North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study released last month. Guest satisfaction scores are higher when guests have breakfast at the hotel. (My wife kept talking about how great the Holiday Inn Express breakfast was after two stays last month. I found it amusing since she has not stayed in the HIX brand frequently enough to grow tired of the same food at 2,000 different hotels.) The survey indicates guests recognize the rise in hotel rates over the past year. And they also recognize the decline in staffing level since 2008 and absence of room renovation and material replacement. The decline in staff has seemed more of an issue to me in 2011 as hotels are more crowded. Overall I think room quality and hotel improvements are being addressed from what I have seen in my stays in 2011, except for a small number of hotels I visited. San Francisco is one of the strongest markets in the U.S. and I feel 2011 rates priced me right out of the city again like it was back in 2008 before the economic meltdown took hotel rates cascading down like Yosemite Falls  (San Francisco 2011 rates commonly over $200 for hotels that were under $140 much of 2009-10). The DOW has dropped more than 500 points while I am writing this morning and that is down 15%  in two weeks. San Francisco might be affordable again by November!
3. Business travel has come back and the hotel industry will follow. Funny how two weeks can change the global outlook as the world stock markets have shed hundreds of billions in U.S dollar value today, and trillions of investment worth in the past two weeks since this presentation at the Hotel Data Conference. Will the double dip recession take hold before the close of the year and lead to business travel decline again?
4. Online booking effect should grow by 10% year-to-year. Business travel has picked up, but travelers are still waiting and booking rooms at short notice. My Loyalty Traveler research over the past couple of years showed that rates San Francisco typically dropped with the lowest rates offered 3 to 14 days before arrival. I’ve noticed a different pattern in 2011 with rates lower at two weeks, but typically higher within one week of arrival. Another development is there have been more hotels available for last minute booking through offers like Starwood Starpicks, IHG Last Minute Rewards and Marriott weekend discount rates (available by email subscription).

 

Adding Google Hotel Finder to the mix – Hotel News Now

I admit that I never checked out Google Hotel Finder before today.

I like it.

The site allows the user to set an area on a map to search hotels. Results display hotels and the hotel room rate compared to the average rate for that property with a percentage above or below average.

The complaint from the hotel industry is the rates shown on Google Hotel Finder do not necessarily represent the rates on the hotel brand’s website.

Loyalty Traveler points out frequently that rates shown on OTAs are the Best Available flexible rate or Advance Purchase rates, but OTAs do not show AAA discount rates, senior rates, corporate rates and some special brand website online discounts.

This means the rate shown on Google Hotel Finder might be higher than what you can find on the hotel brand’s website. The fact that the rate might be higher is a common issue for all branded hotels so this is not too much of a concern.  Google Hotel maps indicates where the good deals might be and then the consumer can check the hotel brand website for even better discounts.

I’ll try to write up a more comprehensive review of Google Hotel Finder next week.

 

 

 

 

 

HELP SHEET #8 – updated July 7, 2011

This Loyalty Traveler post is the 8th update for 2011 hotel loyalty promotions  and includes about 25 new promotion offers since the June 7 list. Offers marked with an asterisk (*) were added since the last update June 7.

Accor Hotels -  A-Club

Hotel Brands: Sofitel, Pullman, M Gallery, Novotel, Mercure, Ibis, Adagio, All Seasons, Thalassa Spa.

* Motel 6 is the primary Accor Hotels brand in USA, however, extremely limited A-Club hotel loyalty program participation. A|Club repeats last year’s promotion allowing redemption of A|Club vouchers for stays at North America Motel 6 hotels from June 1-October 31. LT post June 29.

Accor Hotels is the largest chain of hotel brands globally outside of the USA.

Accor 10^th Anniversary World Tour Giveaway – One monthly trip consisting of Round the World flights and hotel stays in 10 cities over 30 to 40 days. Ten prizes each month for a hotel stay. (11 prizes each month from March through December 2011). LT post March 30. 

Accor A|Club Global Promotion Offers List – link (This link allows searches by continent region)

Accor Hotels A|Club bonus offers

Best Western Hotels – Best Western Rewards 

Hotel Brand Tiers: Best Western, Best Western Plus, Best Western Premier  

5-Key promotion – Best Western free night after three stays from June 19 to August 14, 2011. Limit one free night during promotion. Loyalty Traveler post June 4.

Best Western International Offers webpage link. The link provides a variety of promotions internationally for Best Western hotels.

Best Western Rewards Elite Status Match Offer (February 19, 2010) This offer is ongoing and still available. Best Western is a particularly useful loyalty program when traveling outside the USA. Best Western and Accor A-Club have more hotels outside the USA than all the other major hotel programs combined including Hilton, Hyatt, IHG, Marriott and Starwood.

Program Change for Elites: Elite members earn 250 bonus points for stays in US/Canada or a welcome snack. (Aug 3, 2010)

Best Western Brand Tiers Change – Best Western has designated about 25% of the chain’s higher quality hotels in the 4,000+ hotel chain as Best Western Plus (about 800 hotels) and Best Western Premier (about 100 hotels, mostly outside U.S.).

 

Carlson Hotels – Club Carlson (formerly Goldpoints Plus loyalty program)

Hotel Brands: Radisson Blu, Radisson, Country Inn & Suites, Park Inn, Park Plaza 

* Club Carlson does not currently have a major bonus points promotion since the free night after two stays promotion ended June 15. There appear to be some good discount rates (35% off two day Radisson stays – book by July 12) and Park Inn 20% off two or three night weekend stays in North America through August 31.

There are also some good values with Club Carlson double points rates where members earn 40 points/$1 for room rate. This is an extra 2,500 points on a $125 room rate that may only be $10 more than otherwise lowest rates.

These Loyalty Traveler posts describe changes with Club Carlson launch March 31, 2011: 

 Club Carlson Hotel Category Reassignment Analysis – Overview and Category 1 Hotels (April 7) – This post has links to posts for each Club Carlson Hotel Reward category with tables showing the new Club Carlson reward category and the former Goldpoints Plus reward category.

Club Carlson Loyalty program Launches March 31 – Replaces goldpoints plus (Feb 14)

Club Carlson Reward Category Changes March 31, 2011 (Feb 18)

Club Carlson Hotel Reward Category Analysis (Feb 28) This post shows the number of hotels in each category and changes from 2010 level for different global regions.

Club Med resort credit for goldpoints. $100, $250 and $500 credit.  (March 10).

Club Carlson online booking bonus – Club Carlson general members earn 1,000 bonus points for online booking. Silver and Gold elite members earn 2,000 bonus points for online booking. Concierge elite members earn 3,000 points. Club Carlson Benefits table link.

Choice Hotels – Choice Privileges

Hotel Brands: Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality, Sleep Inn, Clarion, Cambria Suites, MainStay Suites, Suburban, EconoLodge, Rodeway Inn, Ascend Collection.

Hotel Reward Partners: Preferred Hotels Group, Barcelo Resorts 

Stay two times for 8,000 points May 19-August 11. This promotion awards members with 8,000 total points after two stays. Four brands require a two-night stay for this promotion ay Rodaeway Inn, EconoLodge, MainStay Suites and Suburban Suites. This offer is a variable bonus offer since two $60 stays that normally earn 1,200 points ($120 x 10 points/$1) receives 6,800 bonus points for 8,000 total points, yet two $300 hotel stays that earn 6,000 base points will result in 2,000 bonus points for 8,000 total points. This offer is best bonus on low cost hotel stays. Loyalty Traveler post May 16, 2011.

Choice Privileges reward night cost analysis. Using a spreadsheet of 2010 reward cost, I calculated the percentage of hotels in various reward levels worldwide from 6,000 points to 40,000 points. This is the only breakdown of hotel reward tiers I have ever seen for Choice Hotels. Loyalty Traveler post May 1, 2011.

Choice Privileges Program Changes for Elite Members effective January 1, 2011:

Program enhancements for elites. 

• Platinum elite qualification = 20 nights in a calendar year (formerly 25 nights).
• Diamond elite bonus increased to 50% base points (formerly 40%).

Reward night booking window extended for Choice Privileges elite members:

• Gold = 50 days (formerly 40 days)
• Platinum = 75 days (formerly 60 days)
• Diamond = 100 days (formerly 90 days) 

Nordic Choice Club hotel loyalty program covers 140 Choice hotels in Scandinavia and Baltic regions of Europe. Choice Privileges members currently do not earn points for hotel stays in Scandinavia, although hotel stays are available for points. Nordic Choice Club offers points and benefits for hotels in this region. Choice Privileges members planning frequent travel in Scandinavia may want to compare the benefits of Nordic Choice Club to Choice Privileges.    (LT post Sep 9, 2010)

 

Drury Hotels – Gold Key Club

* 1,000 bonus points for enrollment in Drury Gold Key Club.

 

Expedia Rewards –

Double Rewards points for Expedia Vacation Package paid with MasterCard through August 31. Registration required. 

Expedia’s new loyalty program earns points for air, hotel and travel package bookings. This is a gamechanger for online travel agencies. Booking airfare through Expedia is a no brainer method for earning additional travel rebates since frequent flyer benefits are unaffected. Hotels are a different matter though since no hotel loyalty points with programs like SPG, Marriott, Hilton and others are earned for Expedia bookings.

Main Expedia Rewards benefits are the ability to earn points when booking travel for other people like family members and friends. And Expedia vacation packages often allow a hotel night to be added for the same price as airfare alone; particularly when traveling to Las Vegas. Loyalty Traveler Analysis March 28.

 

Fairmont Hotels and Fairmont President’s Club

Tip: Sign up for Fairmont President’s Club to receive monthly special discount rates for Fairmont Hotels. 

Four Seasons Hotels

Four Seasons Special Offers website link

 

Global Hotel Alliance – GHA Discovery – Hotel loyalty program alliance for 12 independent hotel brands including Omni Hotels, Pan Pacific, Kempinski, First Hotels, Mirvac, Anantara Resorts, Tivoli Hotels, The Doyle Collection, Marco Polo Hotels, Park Royal, The Leela Palaces, Shaza Hotels.

Overview of GHA Discovery, elite membership benefits and local experiences, Loyalty Traveler post January 30.

 

Hilton Hotels – Hilton HHonors

10 Hotel Brands: Hilton, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Hampton Inn, Hilton Garden Inn, Homewood Suites, Conrad, Waldorf-Astoria Collection, Hampton Inn, and Home2Suites. 

* Double HHonors Points or Double Miles for stays worldwide from July 1-September 30, 2011. List of about 250 excluded hotels, mostly in U.S.. Promotion registration required. Loyalty traveler post June 24.

* HHonors Gold VIP elite after 4 stays or 9 nights in 90 days at U.S. hotels with Hilton HHonors MVP. Promotion registration required.

* Free HHonors Gold VIP elite  to August 31, 2011 for U.S. resident Visa Signature cardmembers. Complete three stays by August 31 to extend Gold VIP status through March 2013. Existing Gold and Diamond members receive 5,000 bonus points. Loyalty Traveler post June 10.

Great Getaway Hilton Summer Sale with discounts from 15% to 40%. Book May 13 to August 31 for hotel stays May 27 to Sep 5. Prepaid rates and must book 14 days in advance. Loyalty Traveler post May 19.

HHonors Point Stretcher Rewards posted for hotels through November 2011. Point Stretchers require 40% fewer points than standard HHonors rewards. Use the drop-down menu to see participating hotels in different Hilton brands. The Point Stretcher hotel awards were updated in early June.

HHonors Points & Money – Loyalty Traveler reward analysis indicates these are good value. Loyalty Traveler post May 9.

Home2Suites opens first hotel of Hilton’s new extended stay brand in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Unfortunately this new hotel brand becomes the first HHonors brand with a lower earn rate for points and miles. Loyalty Traveler post March 21.

HHonors Comprehensive Reward Charts – Members have difficulty locating the various reward charts on the Hilton HHonors sites, particularly VIP Rewards and Waldorf-Astoria rates. This Loyalty Traveler post places all the HHonors reward charts in one post. (LT post Sep 13, 2010)

Cheaper Hilton Reward nights using Priority Club points – this Loyalty Traveler analysis developed from the Priority Club Anywhere Challenge. Hotels Anywhere allows Priority Club members to spend points for hotels in other chains. My study shows there are numerous Hilton Hotels requiring fewer Priority Club points than Hilton HHonors charges its members in HHonors points for the same reward. (LT post Sep 17)

HHonors Program change: Gold and Diamond members receive complimentary internet at all Hilton Worldwide hotels beginning September 1, 2010. (Hilton – Aug 2 press release)

 

Hotels.com Welcome Rewards

Earn a free night for every 10 nights.

* Double points (up to 4 bonus points) through July 31 for new Welcome Rewards members.

Hyatt Hotels – Hyatt Gold Passport

Hotel Brands:  Park Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Vacation Club, Hyatt Resorts, Andaz, Hyatt Summerfield Suites

* 2,500 Aeroplan miles per Hyatt stay July 1-September 30. Maximum bonus is 25,000 miles after 10 stays.

* Welcome credit and 2,500 bonus points for stays paid with American Express at 75 international hotels. Loyalty Traveler post July 2. 3-key promotion.

Earn 19,000 Southwest points after 5 Hyatt stays June 1-August 31. Loyalty traveler post June 5.

Program Change – Hyatt Property Specific Bonuses: Jeff Zidell Hyatt VP, told me on March 8 the ‘property level bonus’ program is being evaluated and reinvented. We will probably only see regional hotel bonus offers until July. Specific property level bonuses that typically offered 1,000 to 2,000 points in G1, G2, and G3 offers may be gone for good. We’ll see.

 

InterContinental Hotels Group – Priority Club

Hotel Brands: InterContinental Hotels, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites, Candlewood Suites, Hotel Indigo 

* Limited Time Rate Discount Europe – Up to 35% off for weekend stays in Europe through August 31. These rates are prepaid and nonrefundable with no changes allowed. T&C also state no points.

* Limited Time Rate Discount Europe – 2 nights for the Price of 1 – LT Note: Promotion page states this offer expired June 30, 2011, but I still found available 2-for-1 rates for August dates on July 7. This is a recurring rate promotion for several years and offers one of the greatest discounts on hotel rooms in Europe; particularly London. LT 5-key rate offer.

* Pack Your Points Tweetstakes July 1-July 31. Retweet @IHG_Deals daily message for entry. One entry per day. Prizes are 15,000 or 30,000 points for daily winners chosen in August. LT post July 4.

* IHG Priority Club Last Minute Reward Nights are posted the week before the first weekend of the month. Hotels are only posted for a few days and must be booked by Thursday prior to the Friday through Sunday dates. LT post June 30.

$75 MasterCard Gift Card for 2-night weekend stay worldwide at any IHG hotel May 19-August 31, 2011. Limit of four cards per member. Only for U.S. residents. Loyalty Traveler post May 18. 4-key offer.

IHG Double Points or Double Miles (May 16 – August 15, 2011) – 2-key offer. LT post April 21.

InterContinental Hotels in Europe 5^th Night Free rate July 14 – Sep 11, 2011. These rates are about 20% off Best Flexible Rate and equivalent to Advance Purchase rate. Loyalty Traveler post March 16.

Priority Club PointBreaks through July 30, 2011 are probably the best hotel loyalty program reward night value available at 5,000 points for a free night. Many of the hotels are discounted 80% from their normal 25,000 points for a reward night. The current list had 133 hotels on May 9 and only 27 hotels on July 6. Look for a new list of hotels posting in July.  Loyalty Traveler post May 9. (5-key offer.)

Complimentary InterContinental Ambassador membership ($200 value) after three stays at InterContinental Hotels by July 31, 2011. My Loyalty Traveler post argues for spending 32,000 points or $200 for Ambassador membership and earning benefits on three stays.

IHG Priority Club relaunch previews new reward option for Last Minute Hotel Nights at 50% points of standard reward night. Other changes are primarily cosmetic with new mobile apps, card redesign and website changes. Loyalty traveler post March 29.

IHG Priority Club partnership with Las Vegas Resorts – The Venetian and The Palazzo become InterContinental Alliance hotel partners as of April 1, 2011. Priority Club points can be earned and burned (40,000 points per night) for hotel stays and InterContinental Ambassador benefits apply. Earn 6,000 bonus points for a three night stay booked by June 30 (Loyalty Traveler April 11 post).

InterContinental Ambassador Accelerator - 20,000 points after 15 nights at InterContinental Hotels. Registration required.

Priority Club Any Hotel Anywhere American Express gift cards.

      New Price for Any Hotel, Anywhere Cards  Loyalty Traveler post Jan 25.

• $100 = 33,000 points (formerly 29,000)
• $125 = 39,000 points (formerly 34,000)
• $150 = 45,000 points (formerly 39,000)
• $200 = 60,000 points (formerly 49,000)
• $250 = 72,000 points (formerly 59,000)

3-key offer IHG Sweetheart Deal – $100 Visa card rebate for a three-day or longer stay at any IHG hotel worldwide within 90 days of 2011 wedding in U.S. or Canada. (LT Jan 11)

Points & Cash Program Change:  Priority Club Points & Cash Reward nights increased the cost of 5,000 Priority Club points to $40 from $30. The cost to buy 10,000 points remains unchanged at $60. Loyalty Traveler post (Nov 19)

Cheaper Hilton Reward nights using Priority Club points – Hotels Anywhere allows Priority Club members to spend points for hotels in other chains. My study shows there are numerous Hilton Hotels requiring fewer Priority Club points than Hilton HHonors charges its members in HHonors points. (LT post Sep 17)

IHG Friend & Family Hotel Rates (Steve Sickel). Steve Sickel is senior Vice President Relationship Marketing for InterContinental Hotels Group. During the hotel recession of 2009 he offered this link to FlyerTalk members for booking discount friends and family rates. This link is still active. And we are all friends of Steve’s. Here is a FlyerTalk thread discussing this rate deal. The link in Steve Sickel’s name leads to the offer page for a voucher to complete. Some guests mention the hotel wants the completed voucher at check-in. These rates do not qualify for points or stay credit. One of the best features of this offer is the ability to book high category rooms at steep discount.

Program Change: Ambassador Annual Membership Fee Increased from $150 to $200 as of July 1, 2010. You can also buy Ambassador membership for 32,000 Priority Club Rewards points (formerly 24,000). Renewal fee is still $100.

Priority Club Points Exchange Value and Points.com – Loyalty traveler research (Jan 20) into the exchange value of Priority Club points into airline miles through Points.com

 

Kimpton Hotels – InTouch

* Kimpton “Summer Like a Local Rate” offer gives a $25 nightly dining credit for a rate $10 over BAR May 26-September 5.

Loyalty Traveler posted an outline of Kimpton’s InTouch program showing how 21 stays in 2011 can potentially earn 7 free nights at any Kimpton Hotel. (LT post Jan 11)

 

La Quinta Hotels – La Quinta Returns

Hotel chain and hotel loyalty program overview by Loyalty Traveler,  April 12.

* New La Quinta Returns members earn Gold elite after two nights within 60 days of enrollment. Two nights may be one stay. Gold elite promotion offer for new enrollments through August 31, but keep in mind these offers are sometimes withdrawn early.

 

Leading Hotels of the World (LHW) – Leaders Club Rewards 

Leaders Club Rewards program changes: Membership fees for Leaders Club Rewards dropped to $100 annual for Access level. Access membership includes complimentary breakfast for two each day of stay and free internet. Unlimited membership is $1,200 annually. Loyalty traveler post Feb 3.

Earn a free night after every 5 stays with stays in at least two LHW properties by December 31, 2011.

LHW Hotel Special Offers link

 

Marriott Hotels – Marriott Rewards

Hotel Brands: Marriott, JW Marriott, Renaissance, Ritz-Carlton, Residence Inn, Courtyard, Fairfield Inn, TownePlace Suites, SpringHill Suites, Edition, Autograph Collection, Marriott Vacation Club, AC Hotels. 

Marriott Rewards Earn one free night at a category 1 to 4 hotel reward after two hotel stays June 1-August 31. Registration deadline for this promotion was June 30, 2011. This offer may be earned two times during promotion. Active Marriott Rewards members may have a points offer based on 15 to 25 nights. Loyalty Traveler post May 16.

Marriott Rewards 4x miles for hotels stays June 1-August 31. Earn 8 miles per $1 or 4 miles per $1 with 13 participating airlines depending on Marriott hotel brand. Loyalty Traveler post May 27.

Program Change: All Marriott Rewards members receive complimentary internet at Asia-Pacific region hotels. Loyalty Traveler post May 2, 2011.

AC Hotels is Marriott’s newest hotel brand. AC Hotels are a Madrid-based hotel chain now partnered with Marriott and brings 90 new upscale hotels in Spain, Italy and Portugal into the Marriott Rewards system. This brand is projected to expand in Europe and Latin America. Loyalty Traveler post March 27.

Marriott Rewards Hotel Category Assignment Changes for 2011 (Loyalty Traveler March 2)

Marriott Rewards PointSavers –PointSavers reduce the points cost of a free night by one hotel category. For example, category 5 hotel requires only 20,000 points per night. 5^th night free applies to PointSavers rate. http://www.marriott.com/rewards/marriottRewardsPointSavers.mi

Marriott Points Redemption Strategy using $1,000 in Marriott Cheques. This post explains how Marriott elite members may buy $1,000 Marriott Cheques for 135,000 points. You can then pay for hotel stays and earn points and elite credit on paid stays you actually purchased indirectly with points. Loyalty Traveler post Jan 27.

Marriott Rewards Elite Rollover Nights extended for 2011. This is the third year Marriott Rewards offers elite rollover nights for elite qualifying nights over your earned elite membership. For example: Silver elite requires 10 nights in calendar year and Gold elite takes 50 nights. Stay 25 nights in 2011 and the 15 nights above Silver elite rollover to 2012 membership year. You will have earned Silver elite for 2013 from your 15 extra nights in 2011 rolled over to 2012. Confused? Don’t worry. This is a great benefit for elite members. (Loyalty Traveler 5-key offer. LT post Dec 23.)

Program change – Free internet worldwide for Gold and Platinum Marriott Rewards members beginning January 2011. This expands the complimentary internet benefit offered to elites for hotel stays in the Americas since May 2010.

 

Omni Hotels – Omni Select Guest

Member benefits include complimentary in-room Wi-Fi, shoe shine and morning beverage delivery.

Earn a free night after every 10 nights or earn 500 miles per hotel stay.

 

Preferred Hotels Group – I Prefer

I Prefer and Preferred Hotels Group special offers page.

 

Red Lion Hotels – 44 hotels in western U.S.

* Red Lion Double Points and Free Breakfast promotion code = RLDOUBLE (through Dec 31, 2011)

 

Ritz-Carlton Rewards

* Ritz-Carlton Rewards Visa – 50,000 points enrollment offer and Gold elite first year. Maintain Gold elite with $10,000 annual spending. Three confirmed Club level upgrades per year and other benefits. Loyalty Traveler post June 13.

Ritz-Carlton Rewards loyalty program launching Sep 15 (LT post Sep 14)

Reward Changes in new Ritz-Carlton Reward Tiers (LT post Sep 15)

Ritz-Carlton rewards Hotel + Air Packages Analysis (LT post Sep 16)

 

Starwood Hotels – Starwood Preferred Guest

Starwood Hotels brands: Sheraton, Westin, W Hotels, Le Meridien, Luxury Collection, St. Regis, Four Points, element, aloft. 

* $40 gas card for two-night or longer stays at Four Points, Aloft or Element hotels in North America through September 15. Must book hotel stay by July 31 using rate code SSBGAS. LT post July 6.

* Four Points $25,000 contest for best story submitted on Four Points Facebook page between June 15 and August 10. Contest open to US  and Canada (except Quebec). Also weekly prizes for two-night stay and $50 in beer credit. Contest Rules.

* 3x points for Starwood Hotels in Japan for stays and dining June 1-August 31. LT post June 26.

Starwood Preferred Guest – Stay 3 and get a free Starwood Resort hotel night from May 1-July 31, 2011. Note: Promotion registration ended June 30, 2011, so too late if you are not already registered. Free nights are good for over 200 Starwood Resorts including several category 6 and one category 7 resort. Free nights are valid until December 21.  LT post April 15. (5-key promotion)

FourSquare 250 bonus points for mobile check-in at Starwood Hotels May 1-July 31, 2011. Loyalty Traveler post May 12. Note: Most of these bonuses have quickly posted for me. I need to follow up on a couple of missing bonuses.

Starwood Preferred Guest Hotel Category reward assignment changes for 2011 took effect on March 1. My LT post (Feb 22) has a list ordered by city, state and country for changes.

Starwood Hotels data on number of hotels in each brand and average rates by brand and global region. Loyalty traveler post Feb 4.

Starwood hotels Website Enhancement – Website now allows comparison of four different rate types side-by-side for hotels in one location including promotion rates, AAA, breakfast rates, senior, government and reward nights. There are monthly calendars to locate days when Cash & Points nights are available at a specific hotel Loyalty Traveler post Nov 23, 2010. 

SPG Peak Season Rates Return for 2011. Category 5, 6 and 7 hotels relaunch peak season dates and a calendar of dates and participating hotels is posted here. Book by January 9 to lock in lower rates for your hotel stays. Loyalty traveler post Dec 6. 

Starwood Hotels Policy Change: Sheraton Hotel Club Lounges will be open 7 days a week in 2011.

Starwood Preferred Guest – American Express credit card changes effective October 14, 2010. The annual fee is increasing to $65 from $45 for renewals beginning Oct 14. Benefit changes include 5 elite nights and 2 elite stays credit each year. This will have no effect for members who qualify on stays. The SPG50 certificate will be discontinued in favor of a 3^rd night free offer at Sheraton Hotels. Loyalty traveler post (August 24); Sheraton 3^rd Night Free Analysis (Nov 12)

3-key or sometimes a 5-key promotion SPG link: Pay Your Birthyear Rate -This promotion has been extended through 2011. Rates can be an incredible 5-key savings or no savings depending on the hotel and your birthyear.   LT post 4/28/2009

3-key or sometimes a 5-key discount rates Starwood Hotel Rate Discount Codes for Multiple Night Stays.

These offers are for rate discounts on stays of 2 to 6 nights. Third night free tends to be one of the best discount rates. Important to check other rates (AAA, Senior, Special Offers) as these discounts are generally based on the Best Available Rate (BAR) and may not be the lowest overall rate for some hotels. 

Starpoints Airline Direct Deposit is Better for United, Continental, and Singapore miles (March 25, 2010)

 

Stash Hotel Rewards

Stash Hotel Rewards New Member Enrollment 1,000 bonus points link.

Stash Rewards is a one year old loyalty program for over 100 independent upscale hotels in the U.S. Loyalty Traveler post Jan 19. Loyalty Traveler has found the hotel partners with Stash Rewards in Monterey, Napa and Washington D.C. are great choices for hotel travelers. Stash Rewards offers points for many high quality independent hotels that previously had no loyalty program affiliation.

Stash Hotel Specials for Bonus Points and Low Redemption Rate Hotels

 

Voila Hotel Rewards

Loyalty Traveler profiled Voila Hotels program in light of the recent signing of two New York former Starwood W Hotels as the initial hotel members in the USA for this international loyalty program for 250 independent hotels.

* 2,500 Voila bonus points per stay through August 31 and entry into 500,000 points sweepstakes.

* Double elite credit for Voila member hotel stays through July 31. Registration required.

Wyndham Worldwide -  Wyndham Rewards

Wyndham Brands: Wyndham, Wingate, Hawthorn Suites, Ramada, Days Inn, Super 8, Howard Johnson, Travelodge, Baymont Suites, Microtel, Knights Inn, Tryp.

1,000 bonus points per Wyndham stay from June 1 –September 5, 2011. Loyalty Traveler post June 2.

* European residents only – 15,000 bonus points for two hotel stays worldwide by September 30 at most Wyndham brands. Stays must be booked by August 31. Bonus may be earned four times for 60,000 points. Loyalty Traveler post July 6.

 

Loyalty Traveler Research Articles

* Room77.com hotel room views compared to my photos. Loyalty Traveler website analysis June 22.

Comparing the value of hotel program points - compares Hyatt, Priority Club and Hilton programs, then discusses how I am planning summer travel using free night promotions. (May 2, 2011)

Hotel Loyalty Credit Cards and the Value of Hotel Points

Loyalty Traveler Analysis of Hotel Rewards Credit Cards (March 19, 2011)

Elite Status Benefits with Hotel Loyalty Credit Cards (March 21, 2011)

Hotel Credit Cards Comparison by Value of Points (September 2, 2010) 

Hotel Credit Card Comparison using NerdWallet.com Value of Points (Sep 5, 2010) 

Loyalty Traveler’s Three Rules for the Value of Hotel Points (Sep 7, 2010)

 

Hotel Points to Airline Miles Conversion Tables

Hotel Points-to-Miles Conversion Tables for 9 hotel programs and 7 U.S. airlines (March 30, 2010)

Hotel Market Segments and Hotel Brand Profiles based on JD Power 2010 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study

Overview JD Power 2010 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Study (Aug 10)

Loyalty Traveler comments on JD Power Luxury Segment and luxury hotel brands  (Aug 11, 2010)

Loyalty Traveler comments on JD Power Upscale Segment Hotel Brands (Aug 11)

Loyalty Traveler Comments on JD Power 2010 Midscale Full Service Brand Ratings (Aug 13, 2010)

Loyalty Traveler comments on JD Power 2010 Midscale Limited Service Brands (August 15, 2010)

Loyalty Traveler comments on JD Power 2010 Economy/Budget Hotel Brand Ratings (August 16, 2010)

Comments on JD Power 2010 Extended Stay Hotel Satisfaction Index (Aug 17)

 

Hotel Rates Survey for USA States, Cities, and Average Hotel Rates Worldwide

Hotels.com 2010 – Full Year 2010 – Global Hotel Price Index – This is a great resource for finding where hotel rates are high and low around the world. There are tables of USA average hotel rates by state and major cities.

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

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

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

Three Keys = good value hotel loyalty promotion or rate offer

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

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

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

Rankings are subjective and subject to change. Your specific travel pattern may result in some promotions ranking more favorably for you. When assigning a key rank I take into consideration the following factors and probably more: 

• The opportunity for significantly high-value return on hotel spend in terms of future hotel rebate in free nights and discounted hotel nights. 
• Current loyalty program promotions and offers from other hotel chains.
• Past loyalty program offers and rates for the specific hotel chain and loyalty program.
• Current economic conditions in the hotel location and travel industry.

Hotel room views are the primary purpose of Room77.com.

Room77 tagline reads “Your key to a great room” and their website tag is “Find your perfect room.”

The ability to preview the room view for specific rooms at a hotel offers a guest the ability to choose a better hotel room view for your stay, if the hotel will let you have that specific room. The weakness of the site to me at the present time is the lack of photographic images of rooms. Room77 images are computer generated images that lack some details. Also the angle shown is only the room view when looking directly straight out one window. Room windows often have many different views from multiple windows in the room.  

The ability for our eyes to look right or left or up and down can make a significant difference in room view.

A convenient thing for me was seeing the Room77.com homepage featured 20 hotels. Turns out that I have room photos from eight of these 20 hotels from stays and visits in the past year. It could have even been nine hotels, but I couldn’t talk my way into seeing a room at the Grand Hyatt Seattle two weeks ago.  

I picked three hotels featured on the homepage of Room77 where I have room photos to provide a comparison to Room77.com website views from these or similarly located hotel rooms.

The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas

 

This is Room77.com view from 4578 suite at The Cosmopolitan:

Room77.com room view for The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas Room 4578

 

 

The hotel floor room map is a useful feature for seeing corner rooms, room category, and quickly locating views from different sides of the building.

Here is my Loyalty traveler photograph of The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas – Room 5878 in December 2010:

This kind of blew my mind to see that I have almost the same photo angle. There is a lot of detail in the Room77 computer generated image.

Room 5878 and 4578 are wraparound terrace rooms with a corner building balcony that also faces east to Planet Hollywood. The Room77.com view from Room 4579 shows another angle of the 4578 wraparound terrace view.

The angle seems slightly high on the Room77 image since I supposedly was on a higher floor at the Cosmopolitan.

Room77.com images for The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas look pretty close to my photos. Despite these being digital images the detail is right on for these rooms.

But here is an angle completely missing from Room77.com images:

This angle is taken from the balcony looking diagonally across the Las Vegas Strip.

Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers

On my first trip to Chicago I spent the first night in the Sheraton Chicago room 2703 with a view of the river and the Trump Tower.

Here is the Room77.com view for Sheraton Chicago Room 2703.

My photo shows a similar view when looking out from the bed. I don’t have much detail in my photo since I was photographing the bed and not the view. Room 2703 had two windows and I did not photograph the view looking directly out the center of the window. There were better views from different angles.

Room77 would probably have discouraged me from wanting this room. Sure I had the view shown in Room77, but obviously there was also much more view in that room. The main issue I see with Room77 for room views is the static angle directly out the center window. Many rooms have multiple viewpoints.

The view from a high rise hotel usually has a view down.

I noticed Room77.com has a “Hotel Verified” checkbox on the site.

 

Vancouver Hyatt Regency Room 3301

Room 3301 at the Vancouver Hyatt Regency is a top-floor corner Executive Suite with a balcony over Burrard Street.

Room77.com view from Vancouver Hyatt Regency Room 3301:

This room view is fairly accurate when looking out the sitting room window.

Once again I have a near identical photo. Vancouver is a booming city. Pick out the details that have changed since the Room77 image was created. I think the Room77 image looks like a higher angle.

But my camera eye immediately went to this view when I stood at the window of room 3301.

My eye gravitated to the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver.

This is a room at the Vancouver Hyatt Regency with great views in the city. I reminded myself of an axiom Kelley and I have lived by for most of our lives, “Live in a room with the view of the finest looking things around.”

Thoughts on Room77.com

Room77 offers its site take on each hotel. The hotel marketing description focuses primarily on the positive sides of a hotel and stays fairly safe from critical judgment. There are good basic tips on hotel room selection like get on a high floor and avoid connecting rooms.

This is a site that could really benefit from crowdsourcing photo donations for room views. I gathered from the Travel Blog Exchange 2011  conference (#TBEX on Twitter) in Vancouver last week that Room77 is attempting crowdsourcing room photos.

As a hotel junkie I like the concept. I have to wonder though if room views are enough for a site. This seems more like an application to a bigger database like TripAdvisor.com hotel reviews. Where I see real value for the frequent guest is combining  room view data with actual room furnishings and amenities data.

Seeing the room view is one nice feature, but I also want to know if the room has a couch, the bathroom size, TV size, refrigerator available and empty or electronic mini-bar. Finding out all these details is time consuming for the guest.

Room77.com partially tackles one aspect of the room – the view. Room view is an important aspect for me as a traveler, but one viewpoint is insufficient data to capture the view from room windows as I have possibly illustrated in this post.

As a quantitative exercise I imagined 500,000 rooms being photographed (the number of rooms listed on Room77 in 24 cities) while paying someone $10 to photograph a room.

The cost to buy photos is $5 million to get a photo library of one half-million rooms; $50 million to get a library of five million hotel rooms globally.

I think it would be cool if there was a database that all hotels fed into to show the room views from each room location at several angles and show the room furnishings. Room view is possibly my top primary desire when traveling. Room furnishings are nearly as important too.

Apparently Room77 picked up $10.5 million in funding this month.

Room77.com looks like an (ad)venture start-up to follow as it develops a useful hotel room view database for travelers.

Consumer advocate Christopher Elliott provides words for thought on the question of whether a consumer should participate in loyalty buying programs. His May 26 article, “Should you participate in a consumer loyalty program? 7 things to consider“ lists seven things expert advice says you should consider when looking at loyalty programs. I find all of the advice pretty good and worth consideration, and since I am in the business of promoting hotel loyalty programs I feel I should respond to his article.

Like Christopher Elliott, I try to look at the big picture of being a consumer who wants fulfilling leisure time and/or a tolerable business life involving travel on hotels and planes. Without going broke!

Frequent traveler marketing targets the more affluent and all travel consumers are bombarded by the travel and financial industries “dream” advertising. The goal of marketing is to create buyers and there are plenty of us buying our dream vacation.

Christopher Elliott’s main argument is frequent flier and frequent guest programs are better for the company than the consumer. He points out that loyalty programs result in destructive consumer behavior in “a pointless effort to gain coveted elite status.”

Chris asked loyalty program experts for consumer advice before you jump into loyalty programs.

Priority Club 2011 Platinum card.

 

 

Expert advice on what you should know before jumping into the loyalty game

1.       Do the math

2.       Make sure it is the right company for you.

3.       Don’t let it control you.

4.       Make sure the program is listening to you.

5.       Don’t do it if it complicates your life.

6.       Read the privacy policy.

7.       If you are an infrequent customer, just say no.

 

Do the Math. – Loyalty Traveler response.

I have. Hotel loyalty programs work for my business and family travel situation.

Camping, couch-surfing, timeshare rental, or Priceline.com might be better for your situation.

As Loyalty Traveler I have published hundreds of articles over the past three years showing consumer math on a variety of hotel promotions and hotel loyalty program benefits in more than a dozen global hotel loyalty programs. I find plenty of situations where the loyalty math is rather rewarding.

I also have experienced the benefits of no tier, low tier, midtier and high tier in several major hotel loyalty programs to offer some anecdotal evidence as a frequent guest for elite status benefits and value.

Make sure it is the right company for you. – Loyalty Traveler response.

Comparison of different hotel loyalty programs is one of the best features of Loyalty Traveler. There are plenty of experts in Hilton HHonors and Marriott Rewards or any single hotel loyalty program. I try and show how programs stack up against each other in various aspects.

For my travel I find IHG, Hyatt and Starwood work better for me than Hilton or Marriott, but that certainly does not mean that these other two hotel loyalty programs are inferior. A change in travel pattern can result in a change in loyalty preference for the best fit.

Starwood is a great program for me with my proximity to San Francisco where there are numerous properties in the downtown area. Hilton was best for me when I had millions of frequent flyer miles I could transfer into HHonors hotel points. Best Western was the best choice one year when I frequently traveled to small town colleges across the USA. This year I am finding Wyndham, Choice and Best Western work well for my road travels around the western U.S.

Don’t let it control you. – Loyalty Traveler response.

I agree with the argument that loyalty programs can result in destructive consumer behavior in an effort to gain elite status. I had that experience with frequent flier programs. I am a former frequent flier addict.

My epiphany happened when flying over the Andes in June 2007 in Business Class on Air France from Buenos Aires to Santiago. The Delta Airlines roundtrip business class ticket from Buenos Aires to New York JFK cost under $600. The economy class Delta ticket from Washington, D.C. to Buenos Aires to start the Delta business class flight trip cost about $600. The 25,000 United miles I burned to get an economy class award ticket from California to Washington, D.C. probably cost about $600 to earn on some earlier United Airlines mileage run that put me closer to 1K elite status with Mileage Plus (and probably took me to Europe or Asia for a few days).

I was buying tickets to earn elite status to earn double redeemable miles to burn miles on award tickets to fly to the originating airport for a series of flights primarily for the purpose of earning more miles and elite status with a second airline. Buenos Aires just happened to be a great city with an incredibly low fare and the entire trip was built around earning elite status rather than spending time in Buenos Aires. Not that there is anything wrong with earning cheap elite, but ultimately I found myself not flying at all in the great recession year of 2008 and all my frequent flyer elite cards meant nothing as my status went unused and expired.  

On the other hand, buying 1.0 liter bottles of Stella Artois from the Buenos Aires corner market for the equivalent of US $1 is an indelible memory. Oh, and the Presidential Suite at the Sheraton Libertador on a Cash & Points Starwood award stay was pretty cool too.

Elite status is certainly not pointless if you have a plan and the ability to reap the benefits of elite.  My number #1 tip for hotel loyalty programs is earn elite status and anyone who has flown on an airline lately besides Southwest knows there is real economic value in elite status with baggage fee waivers.

But when you find yourself burning systemwide upgrades on a no-stay $1,000 mileage run to Asia or Australia primarily to earn the miles for elite status to earn more systemwide upgrades, then you might be overdoing it if you can’t find time to hang out for a few days in your foreign ticket destination.

The Quiet Man anecdote or I left my heart in County Donegal

My wife and I spent two summers in Irish B&Bs (B&Bs were US$50 to $60 vs. $100-$175 average hotel rate in 97/98). We noticed the prevalent travel pattern of Americans was to drive in at 9 to 10pm, have breakfast in the first hour of the morning and drive away again by 9am. Kelley and I didn’t rent a car and averaged 3 nights at a dozen or more B&Bs. There was a definite hypermobility travel pattern Americans exhibited that other nationalities did not show as a group.

Make sure the program is listening to you. – Loyalty Traveler response.

I don’t really get the Mark Johnson Loyalty 360 statement “I think consumers want and need to have programs that encourage participation and create engagement that leads to loyalty.”

That is marketing speak to me.  I think a hotel loyalty program is listening to me when I get a response to my questions about the rules of the program or the hotel program shows a proactive attitude for program changes disclosure.

Big negatives for me with hotel loyalty programs are:

• HHonors erasing account balances for account inactivity after 12 months. Most programs have terms stating account points will be deleted if there is no account activity after 12 or 18 months, but Hilton HHonors seems to be the main program that actually deletes points from member’s accounts. I think it is more like 24 months of inactivity before points are actually deleted.
• Changes to reward night cost without giving members full disclosure of pending changes with an opportunity to redeem points at the lower level before reward increases occur. Marriott Rewards, Hilton HHonors, and Club Carlson all have made changes to their reward charts in the past two years without publishing  a complete list of hotels changing hotel category level before the reward levels for free nights increased.  

Hyatt Gold Passport introduced a new high category reward level last year with category 6 hotel rewards at 22,000 points, but also published all hotel reward category changes and gave members specific dates for making and adjusting hotel reservations under the most advantageous category cost.

 

Don’t do it if it complicates your life. – Loyalty Traveler response 

Another Loyalty Traveler personal anecdote.

Work: I did mileage runs for 9 years. Several of those years were while working as a public school teacher. Flying weekends to Europe to earn 12,500 elite status miles and 25,000 redeemable frequent flyer miles takes a toll, even in business or first class. Flying mileage runs between Thanksgiving and Christmas during the most hectic time of the school calendar affected my work in the classroom. Ask any teacher if they kick back for the weekends in early December.  I never even considered a late-August, early-September trip when teaching school.   

Relationships. I am married. Kelley did not particularly like my flying off to Singapore for three to seven days or spending the weekend in Paris or Amsterdam. She liked the business class upgrades and First Class award flights. I have great memories like walking inside Notre Dame cathedral and the fireworks in Singapore, but these are not shared memories; which we have thousands of in our years together. 

Loyalty program addiction can complicate your life. 

The beauty of hotel loyalty programs is you can have a shared experience in a hotel room with someone else for no additional cost. The airline seats for your flight to Australia will cost twice as much for the same shared experience.

 

Read the privacy policy. – Loyalty Traveler response. 

Does anyone have electronic privacy in America?  

My primary complaint is the way companies use Facebook and Twitter to access anyone you know. All those Facebook sweepstakes provide hotel companies with files of marketing data. It is not that I am friendless in real life, well damn near, but I don’t accept my actual friends on Facebook because I don’t want every loyalty company to have that much personal information about me and my friends. I didn’t mind the days when I gave up my personal identity to anyone offering me a good deal, but these days you have to give up your entire social network to marketers.

San Francisco Loveolution Parade

 

If you’re an infrequent customer, just say no. – Loyalty Traveler response. 

My general advice is don’t bother with trying to earn elite status in a hotel loyalty program if you are staying less than 20 hotel nights in a year.  Go for the best hotel loyalty promotions like free night offers and use Priceline, vacation packages, auction sites and any deal you can find.

The loyalty elite game is truly the most beneficial for frequent travelers who can leverage good value deals with reasonable hotel rates and airline fares and who stay frequently enough to reap good value rewards. 

My parents are on a Priority Club high after just redeeming a free night earned last fall. They asked me about Priority Club’s current promotion and I told them to look at Marriott (2 stays for 1 free night at category 1 to category 4 hotel), Best Western (3 stays for 1 free night) and Starwood stays (3 stays for 1 free night).  

For my parents I will probably figure out how to get them 8 paid nights for $700 and 3 free nights. Their trips usually work out for nicer hotels at better value when I plan their hotel stays. 

The logic of paying $100 per night for two hotel nights at Marriott brand hotels and getting a free night for a future stay at a $200 per night Marriott hotel does not resonate for some travelers when looking at the alternative of two $60 hotel nights. 

Points, miles and free nights only have value at the moment they are redeemed and used.  Spending $120 now instead of $200 is probably the better choice if you are not sure you can use a free hotel night or whether you will get back that $80 premium to earn the free night with Marriott. 

It shocks me to think how many free hotel nights and airline miles I earned that went unused over the past 25 years. 

Conclusion 

Christopher Elliott concludes he is not too keen on loyalty programs. He thinks the intent is to turn you into a compulsive shopper.

I confess. Hotel loyalty programs have turned me into a compulsive hotel rate shopper, but it is not blind loyalty. I have approached this purchase point through experience and considerable analysis.

 My true addiction is travel and I have compulsively traveled and shopped travel since I was a teenager.

1977 phone call -

“Mom, I am in Arizona and I am going to Florida. No, I am not hitchhiking. I bought a $50 Greyhound ticket. Yes, all the way from California to Florida and I will call Aunt Betty in Tampa.”

I have couch-surfed with family and friends, I have camped for weeks at a time and I have tried B&Bs, timeshare and house rentals.

Hotels give me freedom to travel and get a self-contained room in a comfortable establishment with well-defined quality standards for different market segments from the economy brands to the luxury brands.

I like the comfort and privacy of hotels among the various accommodation options I have experienced. 

I am keen on hotel loyalty programs. With hundreds of hotel nights over the past decade, I think hotel loyalty programs have made me the most comfortable traveler I’ve been in 51 years of travel. And the price fits my budget.

Hilton HHonors has something to say to its loyalty members. The HHonors hotel loyalty program wants to de-emphasize points and focus on travel experiences as it markets ten different hotel brands with a more singular global identity in a new $25 million global PR campaign.

I respect the concept of creating a unifying Hilton identity for ten different hotel brands. The hotel loyalty program should function as a brand-unifying force in my opinion.  Too many travelers do not know which hotel brands are associated with which global hotel chain. There are about 75 hotel brands in the top 10 hotel chains.

However, stating HHonors new identity is “going beyond rewards” sends an opaque message to this loyalty traveler.

Hilton HHonors as the 11^th brand – What a Concept!

Hilton’s press release yesterday regarding the launch of this $25 million campaign for a new HHonors rebranding initiative is as vague as the details were regarding HHonors hotel category assignment changes in late 2009.

Rather than focusing solely on the destination or earning points, Hilton HHonors is focusing on the unforgettable experiences people have while traveling, allowing Hilton Worldwide’s hotels to serve both as the backdrop and the conduit to genuine human moments.

In my opinion, Hilton Worldwide hotels or any other hotel’s raison d’etre is to serve as the backdrop and conduit to traveler experiences. HHonors from the business side is just the marketing platform for the objective of making a brand loyal consumer. From the consumer side HHonors provides the consumer with competitive value through brand loyalty to reject alternative hotel choices when traveling. Outside of the hotel my experiences will be quite similar whether I am staying at the Hilton or the Marriott across the street or the Starwood property around the corner.

My primary reason for loyalty to Hilton in the 1990s was the ability to position myself in the center of a city for sightseeing and business at a relatively comparable rate to Priceline with a lot more hotel stay benefits as a HHonors Diamond member. The loyalty program was my only reason for choosing Hilton due to the benefit of airline miles-to-HHonors-points exchanges. I could focus my travel spend on airlines and exchange miles for points and get free hotel room nights.  Prior to that point I rarely stayed in city centers due to the high cost of hotels and I wasted many vacation hours commuting from cheaper hotel locations to the sightseeing destinations I had traveled to visit.

I have many beautiful HHonors memories like walking out of the Conrad Centennial Singapore back in 2002 for an incredible evening at the Merlion dedication festival while standing in a crowd of locals estimated at more than 100,000 for an extraordinary fireworks display with dragon boats in the harbor and performance artists scaling skyscrapers illuminated in blue light.

I probably shared that experience on FlyerTalk back in 2002. But that was an experience that the hotel location and my luck of travel dates made possible rather than the hotel. I was using points for a free hotel stay.

Hilton HHonors wants to change the way our members view loyalty programs,” said Jeff Diskin, senior vice president, global customer marketing, Hilton Worldwide. “Our goal is to shift the conversation from earning points to creating memories, from being just about functionality to the human, more emotional and experiential side of travel.” Hilton press release Mar 16, 2011.

 

Loyalty Traveler response to the new view of HHonors: 

There are only a few dozen blogs like Loyalty Traveler that focus on the earning points side of travel. Shifting the conversation away from points on social media sites like FlyerTalk.com and MilePoint.com is unlikely to happen.  The raison d’etre for consumer-oriented social media sites like FlyerTalk.com, MilePoint.com and blogs on BoardingArea.com is to share travel tips and experiences. 

The conversation around HHonors in the 12 years I have been a member of FlyerTalk has always had a dimension of humanity, emotion and experiences.  That is a major contribution these sites make for travelers seeking information on hotels. 

TripAdvisor.com is not going away and is actually a vital reference source for consumers. I share some of my hotel experiences, but I do not write about most of my hotel stays.

But Hilton HHonors does not control the message on these social media sites. 

Thousands of travel blogs are published daily with a focus on the human, emotional and experiential side of travel. But these sites have limited brand messaging potential since Hilton HHonors does not control these sites either and a hotel generally receives minimal attention in unsponsored travel destination articles. 

Hilton can always sponsor blog posts through compensated travel experiences for a travel blogger. 

And that reminds me!

I have not responded to a recent email offering Loyalty Traveler two free nights at any Hampton Inn if I write a hotel review.

Unlike TripAdvisor.com, hotel reviews are not my raison d’etre. 

Loyalty Traveler simply provides consumers with information that I think is useful and necessary for the set of travelers who value the functionality of hotel loyalty programs. There are plenty of better writers and photographers who provide experiential stories and imagery of the hotel experience. 

Loyalty Traveler blog will maintain its focus on the functionality of hotel loyalty programs for frequent guests who realize that gaining a better understanding of the economics of hotel travel will lead to more and potentially better hotel travel experiences.

Loyalty Traveler Dreams of the Future in Hotel Loyalty Programs

What I would love to see in hotel loyalty programs is the option to use loyalty points for things like a Jacuzzi tub room or junior suite upgrade or balcony room or limousine pickup from the airport. Those are experiences within the control of a hotel that the hotel loyalty program can provide to loyalty members. 

Imagine if any HHonors member, not just elites, had access to an array of hotel stay benefits using points for upgrades, meals, services, and local experiences.  The HHonors hotel loyalty programs can truly reinvent itself along an experiential model in a guest-focused loyalty program. 

Of course, I would still want to see elite level complimentary benefits, but hotel stay value-added options using points is a concept with great consumer-friendly potential and currently is really underutilized in the hotel industry. Many hotels already have numerous points redemption options, but these types of options are still quite limited as a hotel loyalty program system-wide option.

The challenge of course for this type of system change in hotel loyalty is establishing point values for hotel services and upgrades that are fair value compared to room redemption values. Hotel loyalty programs keep adding low value redemption options if you want a car rental or an airplane ticket or a new camera. 

Greatly expanded points redemption options for hotel stay experiences would provide FlyerTalk, MilePoint and other social media forum members more experiences to share in social media conversation. 

Loyalty Traveler’s viewpoint is consumer motivation for hotel stay purchases is shaped in large part by the perceived value of hotel loyalty program points and stay benefits.

An Alternative Look into the Future (Shock) of a new HHonors Identity 

Our goal is to shift the conversation from earning points to creating memories, from being just about functionality to the human, more emotional and experiential side of travel.” – Jeff Diskin

Motivating consumers to maintain brand loyalty with Hilton Worldwide hotels is the marketing objective of Hilton HHonors. 

There is another future (shock) scenario for HHonors I see as a viable direction for hotel loyalty programs that choose to move beyond points and rewards in the age of social media opportunity. 

Shifting the conversation to the hotel location as an experience in itself and the hotel as a conduit to experiences is probably a viable marketing strategy in the growing world of social media exposure and participation as a  tool for consumer engagement. 

Hilton HHonors claims 27 million members currently and more than 10% membership growth with 2.5 million new members in 2010. 

That is substantial growth in HHonors membership for 2010, the same year the program devalued its points with the addition of a new hotel category and the increase in cost for a free night using points at more than 80% of its 3,600 hotels in 82 countries. 

Loyalty Traveler attributes some of that new member growth in HHonors to consumers looking for better hotel value in 2010. Six months of Hilton HHonors free night promotions in 2010 provided a good monetary rebate on hotel stays.

2011 looks to Loyalty Traveler to be a social media campaign with a new HHonors message – ‘beyond free nights’. 

What if HHonors’ goal truly is to move HHonors away from the functionality of points to the social and experiential side of travel? 

‘Marketing by the Masses’ rather than ‘To the Masses’ 

The concept of crowdsourcing is becoming more prevalent in the hotel industry’s use of social media. This is the marketing revolution of the current age. A membership base of 27 million provides a high potential for crowdsourcing consumer-generated content through creative hotel loyalty marketing. The hotel industry is devoting resources to channel social media in visually and emotionally attractive ways, yet structurally organized and better controlled in a promotional way for the hotel company than sites like FlyerTalk and MilePoint and independent blogs like Loyalty Traveler.

Several promotions over the past year like Cathay Pacific’s 80 days of free flights request user-generated videos and stories. Crowdsourcing is still in its infancy for travel marketing on the web, but I think travelers will see many more contests and sweepstakes and social media pages for submitting user-generated content that the hotel loyalty program can later repackage for its webpage displays of customer experiences. Crowdpower positive messaging of products and brands is a marketer’s dream world. 

The result of crowdsourcing large quantities of visual media and experiential stories is the marketing impact the hotel loyalty program can generate across social media. The hotel loyalty program might be able to grow new membership primarily through social media marketing that spreads across the masses as individuals share their hotel and travel experiences. 

Social media can be employed by Hilton HHonors to facilitate shared travel experiences through a variety of company dominated/controlled social media sites like Hilton and HHonors Facebook pages, Twitter messaging, FourSquare, Gowalla and other geo-location messaging sites and a variety of other social media emerging platforms. 

Social media has far-reaching impact across the masses for the ability to reach millions of new people with the product message. 

For example, company sponsored Facebook and Twitter contests and sweepstakes spread the word about a brand. All the hotel chains have used sweepstakes and giveaways for brand exposure on these popular social media sites in the past year.  The social network means that one person responding to Hilton’s Facebook or Twitter promotions spreads the word to many of that person’s followers. 

Even someone like me who uses Twitter sparingly has over 1,000 followers. My social reach is calculated at somewhere between 15,000 to 30,000 people in my last 50 tweets according to TweetReach.com. A clever social media promotion has the potential to spread brand messaging to millions on the cheap. Just look at Priority Club’s promotional successes over the past year with social media promotions like the Anywhere photo challenge and recent failure with “Win it in a Minute“. 

Priority Club and Marriott Rewards have even developed their own company managed discussion forums for user generated content about their hotel brands. This could be an alternative to FlyerTalk and MilePoint, but the conversations on these company sponsored sites is not nearly as robust and informative as discussion of the same topics on FlyerTalk.com with its 300,000+ members. 

Loyalty points and miles are one way to attract new travelers and retain repeat customers. Social media sharing may quite possibly open the door (literally) to a greatly expanded membership base who will remain engaged with the brand through the social media experience rather than points as the primary motivator of loyalty. Social media experiences may ultimately provide a more loyal community of travelers than hotel points. 

HHonors new identity may strive to take hotel loyalty down a different path – Beyond Points.

As of March 31, 2011 the goldpoints plus hotel loyalty program will be overhauled as Club Carlson. One of the major changes will be restructured hotel reward categories with the points cost decreasing for hotel reward nights in category 1 through 6.

All these changes come with some drawbacks. The tables below show the shift in hotels from the lower categories to higher categories.

The good news is there is not a significant increase in the hotels populating category 5 and 6. The biggest changes impact the US properties currently loaded heavily in category 1 and 2 and soon to be shifting to a large degree to categories 3 and 4.

The Club Carlson hotel category list I received makes this category shift analysis possible, but unfortunately the hotel list of the new category assignments for Club Carlson is only ordered by reward category and broad geographic region of Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific. Starwood Preferred Guest and Marriott Rewards also released their impending hotel reward category changes this past week in a similar consumer-unfriendly format without city, state, country descriptors.

Actually tracking changes for specific hotels requires my searching each hotel individually for city and country location and will require about 30 to 40 hours of work. This is more work than I can commit to the project at this time.

Here is a general overview of the category shift to expect for March 31, 2011. The 2011 numbers shown for Americas/Caribbean is a composite number for all hotels in the U.S., Canada, Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America.

Update April 8: The chart below shows Club Carlson Hotel Category 2 as 16,000 points. This was the information provided by Carlson Hotels to Loyalty Traveler in February 2011. This is not correct.

The actual Category 2 reward night cost was changed to 15,000 points when Club Carlson launched March 31, 2011.

Overwhelming shift we will see with Club Carlson is in U.S. hotels moving out of category 1 and 2. These two lowest hotel reward categories held over 480 hotels and will be dropping to under 150 U.S. hotels with the Club Carlson launch March 31, 2011.

Category 3 and 4 currently hold 131 U.S. hotels and this number will rise to over 400 hotels in the U.S. with the Club Carlson changes.