This piece focuses on room rate and reward rate survey for over 60 hotels along the I-15 and I-70 route from Las Vegas to Colorado. Most hotel reward analyses and surveys I have done focus on one city. In Utah there are so few hotels that this survey covers all the major brand hotels along the Interstate in five locations.

I will be traveling east and south of the Utah interstate I-15/I-70 route to Colorado as I travel to Utah’s National Parks over the next week. Hotels in the parks region will be covered in different posts as I travel.

This piece is a comparative look at seven major hotel chains with particular emphasis on Best Western, Choice and Wyndham brands which are the majority of hotel properties in southern Utah.

• Best Western Rewards
• Choice Privileges
• Club Carlson
• Hilton HHonors
• IHG Rewards Club
• Marriott Rewards
• Wyndham Rewards

Utah is not like Disneyland.

Read More…

Autograph Collection is Marriott’s brand for independent and boutique hotels who pay to be part of Marriott’s branding and marketing system. Three new members in the UK are now part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection with two hotels open in London and a third hotel in Edinburgh, Scotland  scheduled for June 2013 entry into Autograph Collection and Marriott’s reservations system.

• St. Ermin’s Hotel,  Westminster, London. Category 8 hotel at 40,000 points. June 2013 rates  196 GBP.
• Threadneedles, City of London Category 8 hotel at 40,000 points. July 2013 rates 302 GBP.
• Glasshouse Hotel, Edinburgh, Scotland.

St. Ermin’s Hotel in London is a historic Victorian building.

Read More…

Marriott Rewards has nearly the same MegaBonus promotion offer that ends tomorrow starting up again in two weeks for one free night after two stays from May 15 to September 2, 2013.

Marriott Rewards Unexpected Bonus promotion registration is required by July 31, 2013.

I called the summer promotion MegaBonus in the title, even though Marriott is calling the next promotion “Unexpected Bonus”. There is really nothing unexpected about this offer compared to all the other recurring free night offers from Marriott Rewards over the past few years.

My California Adventure Marriott road trip this past week apparently placed me in the upper tier of the free night offer since my offer is for one free category 1-5 reward certificate every two stays with a maximum two free nights.

This is the first time in years that my offer was not for a Category 1-4 free night certificate.

Keep in mind that over 50% of the current 700+ category 4 hotels are moving up to category 5 on May 16, 2013.

My Marriott Unexpected Bonus offer.

Marriott Rewards has targeted offers for this promotion. Here are five other different bonus offers mentioned in this FlyerTalk thread.

35,000 bonus points: Earn 25,000 points after 15 nights and another 10,000 bonus points after 20 nights May 15-Sep 2, 2013.

35,000 bonus points: Earn 25,000 points after 15 nights and another 2,000 points per night for up to 10 additional nights.

45,000 bonus points: Earn 35,000 points after 20 nights and another 10,000 bonus points after 25 nights May 15-Sep 2, 2013.

55,000 bonus points: Earn 35,000 points after 20 nights and another 2,000 points per night for up to 10 additional nights.

Up to 3 Free nights at Category 1-4 hotels: Earn one free night certificate for a category 1 to 4 hotel after every two stays. Maximum of 3 free nights.

Up to 2 Free nights at Category 1-5 hotels: Earn one free night certificate for a category 1 to 5 hotel after every two stays. Maximum of 2 free nights.

You can log into Marriott Rewards and find your target offer at Promotion Central. Many members report luck in changing their target offer to one of the others, although changing a Category 1-4 target offer to cat 1-5 offer may prove more problematic.

Marriott is celebrating 1,000,000 Facebook fans with a #MyMarriottMillion contest rewarding five members with 200,000 points.

To enter the contest simply submit a photo by April 29, 2013 of your favorite travel moment.

And then start campaigning for votes!

1. Send us a pic of your favorite travel moment to Facebook, Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #MyMarriottMillion for a chance win 1 of 5 incredible prizes.

2. Remember that time you told your friend “You owe me?” Time to cash in on that. Tell them to “vote” for your entry. The top 5 photos with the most votes will be dubbed the winners.

3. Get pumped and get posting!

Submission period ends April 29, 2013. Must be 21+.

Marriott Facebook

Prizes:

How will it work? Simply send us a photo of your favorite travel moment and your peers will vote on their favorites. Five (5) lucky winners will receive 200,000 Marriott Rewards points each PLUS a Goodie bag filled with our favorite new gadgets of 2013 that will help you to travel at your best. Pretty awesome!

One extremely lucky grand prize winner will receive all this PLUS a trip for 2 to Austin, Texas for SXSW 2014 staying with us at our Austin Marriott South location for 6 nights.

Goodie bag includes a FitBit® Flex, a myCharge™ portable charger, a TrakDot™, a MiFi Constant Wireless Access device, a $350 Sponsor-specified gift card for MiFi Constant Wireless Access and a Sponsor-specified mini tablet.

Good luck in the contest.

An interesting graphic I came across shows the number of hotels in the U.S. by the seven largest U.S. hotel chains.

U.S. Hotels domestic supply among major U.S. Hotel Chains

• Hilton Worldwide: 3,382 hotels; 506,455 rooms.
• Marriott International: 3,110 hotels; 501,070 rooms.
• Wyndham Worldwide: 5,815 hotels; 451,755 rooms.
• Choice International: 5,081 hotels; 385,827 rooms.
• Starwood Hotels & Resorts: 495 hotels; 152,693 rooms.
• Hyatt Hotels Corporation: 354 hotels; 91,590 rooms. 
• Carlson Rezidor Hotels: 549 hotels; 59,742 rooms.

Source: STR 12-31-2012 year end data.

I’m not sure why Best Western is missing from the list?

• Best Western International: 2,165 hotels (North America); 178,518 rooms (North America). Source: Best Western. What is impressive about Best Western is 1,312 hotels in Europe.

IHG is a UK based company, although, the majority of properties are located in the USA.

• InterContinental Hotels Group: 3,555 hotels; 449,617 rooms (North and South America and Caribbean). Source: IHG Fact Sheets. IHG has 628 hotels in Europe.

Starwood and Carlson have the highest proportion of hotels outside the USA among these chains. There are roughly 500 to 600 hotels outside the USA for Hilton, Marriott, Starwood and Carlson-Rezidor. 

The high number of hotels outside the USA is one of the features I most enjoy about Best Western Rewards. The Best Western chain can put you in many places the other hotel chains can’t. And for free with points stays.

And when you are in the U.S.A. there are nearly 25,000 hotels in just the top nine chains with global points-based hotel loyalty programs.

Marriott’s Renaissance Blackstone Chicago has a 96-hour tax return sale for $96 rates through the remainder of 2013. The sale ends at 12 midnight Thursday, April 18 (CDT).

http://www.marriott.com/search/default.mi

I checked dates for May and November to find scattered availability.

Enter code L9Z in the “Corporate/promotional code” box.

The rate of $96 is a prepaid, nonrefundable rate.

Regular rates were $200 to $300+ for dates I checked with the $96 rate special offer.

Renaissance Blackstone Chicago $96 Tax Return Sale for prepaid, nonrefundable bookings by Thursday, April 18 for stays through December 2013. Limited availability.

Effective immediately, Marriott Rewards members who designate Avios as their earning preference will receive:

Two (2) Avios per US$1 spent at:

• Marriott Hotels & Resorts®
• JW Marriott®
• Renaissance® Hotels
• Marriott Vacation Club®
• Autograph Collection® Hotels
• EDITION® (room rate only)
• The Ritz-Carlton® (room rate only)
• Gaylord Hotels® (room rate only)

Or one (1) Avios per US$1 spent (room rate only) at:

• AC Hotels by MarriottSM
• Courtyard by Marriott®
• Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott®
• SpringHill Suites by Marriott®
• Residence Inn by Marriott®
• TownePlace Suites by Marriott®
• Marriott Executive Apartments®

In addition, Marriott Rewards members can convert their Marriott Rewards points into Avios at the following exchange rates:

Marriott Rewards points convert to Avios points at exchange rates:

10,000 MR points = 2,000 Avios points
20,000 MR points = 5,000 Avios points
30,000 MR points = 10,000 Avios points
70,000 MR points = 25,000 Avios points
125,000 MR points = 50,000 Avios points

Marriott has 77 hotels in Spain, mostly the AC Hotels by Marriott brand.

Marriott International April 10, 2013 news release.

Marriott Rewards Airline partners:

1. Aeroflot
2. AeroMexico
3. Air Berlin
4. Air Canada (Aeroplan)
5. Air China
6. Air France/KLM
7. Alaska Airlines
8. Alitalia
9. ANA
10. Asiana
11. Avianca-TACA
12. Avios British Airways
13. Cathay Pacific
14. China Eastern
15. China Southern
16. Delta
17. Emirates
18. Frontier
19. Gol/Varig
20. Hawaiian
21. Iberia Plus Avios
22. Japan Airlines
23. Jet Airways
24. JetBlue
25. Kingfisher Airlines
26. LAN
27. Lufthansa Miles & More
28. Qantas
29. Qatar
30. Singapore Airlines
31. Southwest
32. TAP Portugal
33. United Airlines
34. US Airways
35. Virgin America
36. Virgin Atlantic

Related post:

Table of 69 airline partners for the Top 10 global hotel loyalty programs (Aug 22, 2012)

The effect of Marriott Rewards category changes  is clearly seen for a selection of San Francisco hotels. The value of Marriott Rewards points is dropping around the Bay Area on May 16, 2013 when the majority of hotels rise by one category level.

Hotel reward category reassignment for 2013 is a nearly across the board increase; 5,000 points per reward night at 16 of 21 hotels closest to San Francisco. A number of category 4 hotels currently at 20,000 points per night or 80,000 points for 5 nights are rising to category 5; a 25% increase in reward stay cost.  Read More…

April 2013 is a time of reassessment for many hotel loyalty program members. The sudden and dramatic changes to the structure of hotel rewards across five of the top ten global hotel loyalty programs in the first quarter of 2013 was an incredible amount of information to digest.

The changes in the opening months of 2013 comprise the biggest overall change in the hotel loyalty program industry over the past decade.  Read More…

Marriott has bonus points to give away for anyone interested in submitting a baseball-theme story of 50 to 1,000 words for their Marriott Rewards Insiders 42 Contest and Sweepstakes between March 18 – April 14, 2013.

Sweepstakes portion is 45 sets of movie tickets.

42 Contest

Submit a baseball-themed story of 50 words to 1,000 words around one of four topics and be entered for a chance to win.

Eligibility is limited to U.S. legal residents of 50 states and D.C., 18 years of age and Marriott Rewards member.

Grand prize = 60,000 Marriott Rewards points and two tickets to a 2013 professional game of the winner’s choice.

First Prize = 20,000 points and two professional baseball game tickets.

Ten Finalists = 7,000 points.

Free 1,000 points? Read More…