Hotel News Now published a story on “10 hotel booking trends” from a presentation at the inaugural Hotel Data Conference by Brian Ferguson, Expedia VP of Lodging Demand and Analysis. Hotel News Now is the newsletter publication of Smith Travel Research, a leader in hotel rate data and research for the hotel industry.

The consumer trend of the past year has been a swing in hotel bookings made through online third-party hotel reservation sites like Expedia, Travelocity, and Orbitz. The viewpoint of Expedia, expressed by Ferguson, is the increased volume in bookings does not directly increase profits for third party online travel agencies due to the lower revenue generated as a portion of lower room rates across all hotel market segments.

What I want to share is the “10 Booking Trends” discussed by Expedia’s Lodging Demand and Analysis VP. I am just a hotel consumer who tries to figure out how to get great value from hotel rates. Reading what the industry experts have to say helps me focus my Loyalty Traveler work on a targeted audience who will benefit from my reporting on hotel rate trends as a frequent guest.

1.       Expedia VP Ferguson: Exchange rates are shifting travel patterns.

Hotel rates in UK have dropped primarily due to the better exchange rate for Americans. Combine the exchange rate with promotions and the UK is a bargain.

Loyalty Traveler: I totally agree, but the window appears to be closing on the exchange rate issue. Winter 2009 offered some of the best deals in years for UK and Europe due to the combination of a much better exchange rate for the US Dollar and hotel loyalty program promotions. The dollar has been losing ground as the stock market goes up. Anyone thinking Wall Street inflation?

2 nights for the price of 1 has been an ongoing deal for the past couple of years to entice travelers to the major chain hotels in Europe and Asia.

2.       Expedia VP Ferguson: Consumers are looking for a deal. Bookings made with promotions are increasing as a share of total hotel reservations.

Loyalty Traveler: I’ll take some credit for this one. I take the time to analyze hotel promotions for readers. Loyalty Traveler rarely books a room without a promotion offer. “Hotel value for the frequent guest” is the Loyalty Traveler motto. 10,000+ unique visitors a month are reading Loyalty Traveler to learn more about hotel loyalty program promotions.

3.       Expedia VP Ferguson: Promotions matter more than ever.

 

Loyalty Traveler: I get a chuckle out of all the news articles showing how to get better value from your spending in all segments of consumer purchases from groceries to hair cuts to travel.

I had an oil change yesterday for 25% off. The coupon took two minutes to locate on the internet. All the other people at Jiffy Lube paid full price.

Friends have commented I am a cheap ass when I pull out a 2-for-1 dining coupon. I rarely eat out for more than half-price.

 

I frequently stay in hotels for less than half-price. Promotions matter if you want more money for life’s other necessities and pleasures.

 

4.       Expedia VP Ferguson: Promotions are getting more creative. It used to be about cutting rates and now hotels add free nights and value-added incentives.

 

Loyalty Traveler: Promotions are more creative and take more time to analyze for this Loyalty Traveler. I’m looking for the deal whether it is a bargain rate now (free parking, free breakfast) or will result in a bargain hotel rate in the future (free hotel night).

 

5.       Expedia VP Ferguson: Customers who book online are trading up. Four and five star hotels are getting more affordable.

Loyalty Traveler: I have stayed in some of San Francisco’s finest hotels this year and only once paid over $125. And I received a $500 per night suite for that stay. 2009 is a leisure traveler’s hotel dream.

6.       Expedia VP Ferguson: There are massive swings in online market share.

Loyalty Traveler: No real comment to make here. I haven’t tried the phone call reservation this year. I’ve read articles on Hotel Chatter and Budget Travel about people getting a much better deal through the phone. I’ve been an online customer for 10 years and my experience has rarely been to find a better deal over the phone. I do recall my mother getting good phone rates when my mom and the hotel reservationist could not locate the online promotion I was telling her to book.

7.       Expedia VP Ferguson: Booking compression. People are waiting closer to stay date to book.

Loyalty Traveler: I reported in several posts that my rate analysis of San Francisco hotels revealed the lowest rates typically are found between 7 and 14 days before the stay date. Smart shoppers wait (or at least go with a rate allowing cancellation in case a better rate appears).

8.       Expedia VP Ferguson: Leisure rates went down first and are going down more.

Loyalty Traveler: My hotel rate focus is geared for the leisure traveler. I don’t stay in San Francisco on paid rates when a convention is in town and the hotels go up to $300+ per night. The same hotel room is around $100 per night, a 50% decrease from average leisure rates a year ago, during weeks when business travel is light. And getting an upgrade is much easier when there are not corporate executives buying up the suites.

9.       Expedia VP Ferguson: Increased use of rate fences in packages.

Loyalty Traveler: I am not a marketing person and I need to study this concept since I have been seeing it more frequently lately. Basically it seems the concept is to hide the room rate in a package of bundled services such as airfare, rental car, or hotel amenities like champagne and spa treatments.

I generally find these to be a poor value for a hotel when the components are broken down. Packages are convenient and there are some great deals if you need the car or the airfare. I think this is generally a better strategy for reducing high-cost airfare rather than getting a better value on a hotel room.

10.   Expedia VP Ferguson: Opaque channels are growing faster than non-opaque channels.

Loyalty Traveler: Opaque channels are hotel reservation sites like Priceline and Hotwire where you get a really low rate for an unspecified hotel. Opaque channels are the way to go when hotels are priced at high nightly rates. I opt for Priceline when the alternative is a $200+ night room.

My basic loyalty traveler argument is over the course of the year when traveling and staying 20 to 50 nights in hotels, the hotel loyalty program strategy can be used as effectively as Priceline to pay for rooms when they are relatively low priced and redeem points for high priced rooms.

I have saved a couple thousand dollars in past years using Priceline for trips when the chain hotels were high priced.

2009 has seen incredible promotions from hotel loyalty programs. My Starwood Hotels stays in May averaged less than $60 per room night at upscale hotels, frequently in suites, while allowing me to book $500 per night rooms with the free nights I earned.

Try doing that with Priceline.

 

 

Popularity of Chain-Affiliated Hotels Waning?

A national travel survey 2009 National Travel Monitor by Ypartnership/Yankelovich states travelers have increased preference for independent hotels by 6% over the past year. The chain-affiliated hotels do not need to fret too much as 4 out of 5 leisure travelers still prefer brand name hotels, but the survey indicates a growing preference for the individual character and pricing of independent hotels.

 

Leisure travelers also state a growing preference for limited-service hotels, i.e. hotels without restaurants, over full-service hotels since the 2008 survey conducted by this group. Room rates play a large role in the growing popularity of the limited-service hotel. Also, the perception of better value is a leisure traveler concern.

 

Still the leisure traveler preference for full-service hotels has only dropped from 66% in 2008 to 60% in 2009 while limited-service hotels have grown in popularity from 34% in 2008 to 40% in 2009.

 

As Loyalty Traveler I find the interesting data point in this survey to be a preference for chain-affiliated hotels at 80%, yet brand name is cited as a “very influential” factor in choosing a hotel for just 44% of respondents.

 

Does this mean travelers want a chain-affiliated hotel for consistency in lodging, but do not care which brand?

 

This indicates to me that leisure travelers are not taking advantage of the full array of benefits from hotel loyalty programs. Readers of my blog know there is real value in working a loyalty program for complimentary upgrades and free nights. I meet so many people who spend 20 to 30 nights in chain-affiliated hotels every year, but rather than being loyal to one major hotel chain and gaining elite status, the desire to get the lowest rate splits their loyalty among the chains.

 

The result of scattered hotel loyalty is small amounts of points in a variety of hotel programs and no elite status. The trade-off of several  hundred dollars saved over the course of the year is often at the expense of a couple of thousand dollars in potential benefits missed due to no hotel loyalty elite status.

 

A $200 savings for a 5-night vacation at a Marriott resort may be a savings for one trip, but it is not the best value if the traveler could have had a $200 per night complimentary upgrade at the Hilton resort across town based on Hilton Diamond elite status.

 

Many leisure travelers have enough hotel activity during the year to reach a high elite status, particularly with Starwood Preferred Guest or Hyatt Gold Passport (hey, Hyatt is giving away top elite status for free right now with complimentary upgrade certificates).

 

Year after year, I watch fellow travelers going after the best rates without consideration of the potential added value they would receive if they just focused on a single major hotel chain. And they spend thousands of dollars on hotels over the course of the year and could easily put out a few hundred dollars more to maintain high elite status.

 

I’ve had friends come and see my hotel room and they wonder why I didn’t tell them about the great hotel deal. “I would have stayed here for that price!”

 

Complimentary room upgrades don’t come with two or three hotel stays a year with a major hotel chain. Demonstrating loyalty means a commitment to spend thousands of dollars over the course of 15 to 30 hotel stays during the calendar year. In my case I feel the loyalty is returned by the benefits I receive from the hotel loyalty program.

 

Complimentary upgrades are based on showing hotel loyalty to the affiliated hotel chain. It is a win-win relationship. The hotel chain has my loyalty and I frequently receive value-added benefits for my hotel spending.

 

Room rate, location, and value are cited as the most important factors by leisure travelers when booking a hotel room.

 

Room rate is quite important for most travelers. The basic practice of setting room rates based on the hotel’s market segment competition means most major brand upper upscale hotels in the same area will have a similar price. The room rate variations are typically due to events and functions that will push rates higher for one hotel over another. With no special events creating higher hotel demand, then room rates are typically within a 10% range above or below an average of the hotels in a particular market segment in a specific location.

 

When location is most important and room rates among chains within a specific location tend to balance out, then value is left as the primary variable. Hotel frequent guest programs provide the added value in complimentary breakfasts, room upgrades, and future hotel room rebates in the form of points and free nights.

 

Frequent guest elite status in a major hotel chain’s loyalty program improves the value variable. Rather than downgrading your hotel market segment, try upgrading your hotel loyalty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SPG Promotion Progress: Paid $685 and received estimated $2,760-$3,960 in hotel and airline travel value.

Kelley observed the hallways at the century old Westin St. Francis and The Palace Hotel in San Francisco have wide hallways on the room floors. Modern hotels tend to squeeze more room space on floors with narrow halls.

 

 

Ten years ago when I first started reading FlyerTalk I wondered about all these traveler stories on great loyalty promotion offers and elite status benefits. The deals sounded too good to be true.

I came into travel loyalty programs as a relatively low wage person seeking a way to travel comfortably at an affordable price for someone with limited vacation money. I learned that spending time planning travel could reduce the cost of travel by 50% or more while going upscale. In other words, I learned to travel in upper upscale style for the price of Priceline rooms.

Even after learning many strategies over the years with FlyerTalk, I needed to ante up thousands of dollars to test the loyalty program waters when it came to the high value promotions.

In 2003 I planned a trip to Australia and Starwood Preferred Guest ran an Asia/Pacific hotels promotion for 50,000 Starpoints for any SPG member who stayed in 5 of the 6 Starwood brands: Westin, Sheraton, W Hotels, Luxury Collection, Four Points, and St. Regis.

Australia had all these brands except for St. Regis (China). At the time I was a Hilton HHonors Diamond elite. I applied for a Starwood Preferred Guest elite status match and I was given complimentary SPG Platinum elite membership normally requiring 25 stays or 50 nights in a calendar year. I have been SPG Platinum since 2003.

My first qualifying hotel night for the 50,000 points bonus was at the Luxury Collection Sheraton Southgate in Melbourne, Australia. Reviews on FlyerTalk were not kind to this hotel.

I received a three room corner suite. I wouldn’t normally call a bathroom a room in a suite, but when it has a walk-through shower for two leading to a Jacuzzi tub large enough for a small party, the bathroom qualifies its status as a room. Kelley was blown away by the size of the room.

The second night at the hotel was under Kelley’s name and we had to move to a standard room. Kelley was only SPG Gold elite.

Four out of five of our stays in Australia followed the pattern of a lovely preferred view room or suite for my reservation night as a Platinum elite, followed by a move to a smaller room, or the less desirable view for Kelley’s reservation as SPG Gold elite. Four Points Sydney was the exception to the rule by keeping us in the same hotel suite for two nights.

Starwood Preferred Guest Elite Status and BRG claims

The current free nights promotion is a great deal for any SPG member. The deal is awesome for this SPG Platinum elite.

And if you are not SPG elite, then there is no better year to go for 25 stays. The ability to earn a free night at nearly any Starwood Hotel worldwide is an incredible offer.  

Request a status match to SPG elite if you have status with another hotel loyalty program.

Potential Best Rate Guarantee (BRG) claims are all over the place with lower online travel agency competitor rates on sites like Orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity, and Hotels.com.  I have submitted over a dozen claims in the past month and many more I passed over since I have scheduling issues due to Kelley’s cancer treatments keeping me from taking advantage of many Starwood Hotel deals I have found. The online travel agencies are blasting the web with hotel rate discounts and undercutting Starwood Hotel’s own sites.

There are 7 Starwood Hotels in the city of San Francisco and 3 Starwood Hotels at San Francisco airport. In the past three weeks I have submitted BRG claims for 8 of these 10 hotels.

I don’t even bother with the St. Regis San Francisco since its rates are over $300 per night. I plan to use some of my free nights there.

And I haven’t noticed a BRG rate for the W San Francisco yet, but with rates as low as $150 per night, the W is already showing rates as low as I have seen in the past six years.

I keep finding multiple properties for the same night. I have thought about applying BRG claims under Kelley’s account, but that takes me back to the issue of elite status.

I booked a BRG claim for the Westin Market a couple of weeks ago. My lowest category room reservation for a traditional room on Floors 4-7 was upgraded to a full suite on the 33^rd floor. I received a $400 value complimentary suite upgrade on a $110 BRG rate. ( I underestimated the upgrade value in the table below.)

Kelley currently has no elite status with SPG. Submitting a BRG claim under Kelley’s name will get the same rate as I would receive, but we are unlikely to get the same type of room. Kelley would likely be booked in a room on Floors 4-7 at the Westin Market Street. Kelley would likely receive the booked room for a double bed in a room with no view at the Westin St. Francis rather than the Junior Suite room I received with Union Square view room.

Elite status makes a big difference in the hotel experience. So if you currently do not have status this is the time to go for it.

My ‘go for elite’ advice: Hammer out 25 stays at the lowest rates you can find during this Starwood promotional period through July 31. In many locations this can be achieved for about $2,500 for 25 stays. Earn platinum elite status by July and then use your free weekends for resort stays in August and September after you have attained Platinum elite. Your $400 per night free room may well be upgraded to an $800 per night free room.

SPG Promotion Progress: Paid $685 and received estimated $2,760-$3,960 in hotel and airline travel value.

Paid $595 for 6 hotel stays + $90 taxes = $685

Received $1,055 in room value through complimentary upgrades based on SPG Platinum elite status.

Earned $430 value in Starpoints based on purchase price of $35/1,000 points.

Earned 3 free weekend nights from Stay Two, Earn One Free Night promotion. ($1,200-$2,400 value?)

Earned 6,000 Northwest Airline miles from combinable airline miles + free nights promotion. ($75 value)

Hotel	SPG Category	Rate/ Type/ room category	Category room received	Upgrade Value	Bonus Points
Four Points SFO	Cat 2	$79/BRG/traditional	$119 Penthouse Bi-level  Suite	$40 upgrade	2,000 BRG points + 250 Platinum amenity
Westin Market Street	Cat 4	$110/ BRG / traditional	$250 33rd floor full  suite	$140 upgrade	2,000 BRG points + 500 Platinum amenity
Westin St. Francis	Cat 4	$107 AAA traditional	$250 Historic wing Junior Suite partial Union Square view	$150 upgrade	500 Platinum amenity
Luxury Collection The Palace	Cat 5	$134 AAA  traditional	$172 Junior Suite	$40 upgrade	500 Platinum amenity
Four Points SFO	Cat 2	$76 BRG  traditional	$119  Penthouse Bi-level  Suite	$43 upgrade	2,000 BRG points + 250 Platinum amenity
Sheraton Gateway SFO	Cat 2	$89  BRG  traditional	$145 Club Floor	$56 upgrade	2,000 BRG points + 500 Platinum amenity ; Club lounge access; complimentary breakfast; free appetizer; $6 parking
My Starwood Hotel promotion summary for completed stays:		$595 paid rates (+$90 taxes)   San Francisco has >15% room tax.	$1,055 value of rooms I stayed in, if booked at lowest rates at the time I made my reservation.	$470 complimentary value-added upgrades	10,500 bonus points in BRG claims and Platinum elite amenity points; plus 1,785 regular points earned ($595x 3 points/$1)   $430 value

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The best redemption value for Hilton HHonors points is generally a high category hotel on a HHonors VIP Reward of six or more nights. 

Hilton Auckland, New Zealand

What do you do when after a year of traveling you have 100,000 points and you want a vacation in three months at a Category 6 hotel or Waldorf=Astoria low season hotel stay for 6 nights, but you need 75,000 more points for the hotel stay reward?

HHonors allows a member to purchase points, up to 40,000 points in a calendar year at a rate as low as $10 per 1,000 points.  The points should be in your account and available for redemption in less than an hour. 

Still, after a $400 internet purchase of your maximum annual buying limit of 40,000 points at HHonors, you are 35,000 points short of the 175,000 points needed for a six-night Category 6 GLONP2 HHonors VIP reward.

What does a determined traveler do to get 35,000 points at minimal expense? 

HHonors Points Transfers

Hilton HHonors allows members to transfer or receive an unlimited number of points between member accounts.  The fee to transfer points is only 25% of the fee to buy points. 

10,000 points can be transferred from one account to another for a $25 fee.  35,000 points can be transferred from one member’s account to another member’s account for $87.50.

“Hilton HHonors® points can be transferred to another HHonors member in increments of 10,000 points, at a cost of $.0025 USD per point, or $25.00 USD per 10,000 points. There is no limit to the number of HHonors points a member can transfer or receive. Fees are based on the number of points a member transfers out of his or her account. After transferring 200,000 points in a calendar year, any subsequent transfers that calendar year are complimentary.”

 

http://hhonors1.hilton.com/en_US/hh/terms.do#hilton_hhonors_point_transfer_and_registry_program

 

Your potential ability to tap this option is proportional to your network of friends and family who have HHonors points and who are willing to transfer them. 

Recap:  Goal is 175,000 points

                You have 100,000 points in your account from hotel stays and credit card activity.

                You purchased 40,000 points for $400.

                You need 35,000 more points which is an $87.50 transfer fee.

                You need to find someone willing to transfer HHonors points to your account.

Welcome to FlyerTalk’s Coupon Connection Trading Network

The next piece of advice is the grey area of traveler strategies Loyalty Traveler generally does not touch upon in blog posts, but today I will discuss what routinely happens in the world of frequent flyer and hotel loyalty programs.

Travelers often find a great deal is just out of reach of your miles or points balance. 

Remember the corollary:

“Miles and Points have no real value, only potential value, until they are redeemed.” 

FlyerTalk has the Coupon Connection forum where members make exchanges of frequent flyer miles and hotel points through mutual agreement of terms.  There has been much discussion on FlyerTalk and elsewhere over the years of whether bartering these airline miles and hotel points is a violation of frequent flyer and hotel loyalty program terms and conditions.   All I can say is trades happen all the time and generally the only problems encountered are when a traveler sells miles to a broker. 

I have been contacted many times over the years by companies wanting to buy my frequent flyer miles. These kinds of companies are sometimes listed in the classified section of USA Today and major papers with pitches like – Sell Your Miles for Cash. 

Basically they pay you to redeem your miles for an award ticket for someone else.  I have been offered $2,000 for 100,000 miles, and I presume, the company can sell the award ticket for $3,000 to $5,000 and make a profit.  I have never sold my miles, but I sure was tempted a few years ago when I was unemployed and sitting on more than one million frequent flyer miles. 

I like travel too much to sell my hard-earned miles or points.

Now – present day – a million people have lost jobs in the past six months, and many big-time road and air warriors currently find themselves miles-and-points rich and cash poor.  This is the time for some mutually beneficial trading.

The Value of a Point

Coupon Connection may be an avenue to find people with points, but why would anyone just give points to you, even if you offer to pay the transfer fee?  For the timid traveler who wants to avoid trading with someone for HHonors points there are other methods to quick HHonors points.

HHonors Partners for Miles to Points Exchanges

Hilton HHonors allows some airline frequent flyer miles to be exchanged for HHonors points.

5,000 airline frequent flyer miles can be exchanged for 10,000 HHonors points from these programs:

·         American Airlines ($25 fee)

·         Amtrak

·         Hawaiian Airlines

·         Icelandair

·         Mexicana

·         Virgin Atlantic has a lower exchange rate of 5,000 miles = 5,000 points.

I have to wonder how many thousands of flyers are sitting on 5,000 Icelandair miles that will likely go unused after that one trip to Europe on Icelandair.

Purchasing 35,000 points would cost $350 if you were allowed to purchase unlimited HHonors points.  A good value would be to get 35,000 points for $350 with a transfer.  After deducting $87.50 for the transfer fee, the member needing points still has $262.50 in trade value to offer someone else for their points. 

I’ll leave it up to the reader to fill in the details of what is a fair trade for 35,000 points.

American Express Membership Rewards

Another route to HHonors points is making a credit card exchange of Membership Rewards points to HHonors points.  The exchange rate is:

                1,000 Membership Rewards = 1,300 points

This is not a particularly favorable exchange considering HHonors sells 1,300 points for $13, whereas, an airline sells 1,000 miles for $25 to $35 and 1,000 Membership Rewards points can be exchanged for 1,000 miles in many programs. 

A better option is to exchange American Express Membership Rewards points to one of the HHonors miles-to-points partner airlines.  Hawaiian, Mexicana, and Virgin Atlantic are Membership Rewards points-to-miles exchange partners.

Transferring Membership Rewards points to Hawaiian Airlines is your best choice due to the fact it is a US based company and gives a better exchange rate than Virgin Atlantic. 

Feb 13 Update:  There is limited usefulness to this strategy since Mexican and Hawaiian both limit mileage transfers out to miles earned from flying.  WebFlyer has a mileage calculator with options for maximizing transfers from one program to another.  I suggest checking it out for creative ways of exchanging miles and points between programs.

http://www.webflyer.com/programs/mileage_converter/index.php

Mexicana Airlines has restrictions on transferring miles out of Mexicana Airlines.  I have had over 100,000 miles in Mexicana Airlines for over five years and I can’t transfer them to HHonors due to earning them from a promotional bonus.  This condition may not apply for Membership Rewards exchanges, but I wouldn’t risk hassling with Mexicana Airlines when you have Hawaiian as an alternative.

                1,000 membership Rewards = 1,000 Hawaiian Airlines miles = 2,000 HHonors points

Miles must be earned from flight activity to be eligible for transfers from Hawaiian miles to HHonors.

Starwood Preferred Guest as a route to HHonors points

Another option is to transfer 20,000 Starpoints to an airline for 25,000 miles.  American Airlines is a SPG airline partner. 

                20,000 Starpoints = 25,000 AAdvantage miles = 50,000 HHonors points

Diners Club Rewards as a route to HHonors points

Icelandair and Amtrak are  Diners Club Rewards exchange partners. 

                1,000 Diners Club Rewards points = 1,000 Icelandair miles = 2,000 HHonors points

Club Rewards points can be transferred directly to HHonors, but at a lower rate:

Direct transfer of Club Rewards points to HHonors:

 1,250 Diners Club Rewards points = 2,000 HHonors points

To recap ways to accrue HHonors points:

1.       Purchase HHonors Points at rate of $100/10,000 points

a.       (40,000 point limit in a calendar year)

2.       Transfer HHonors points

(transfer fee is $25 per 10,000 points)

3.       Exchange airline miles directly for HHonors points:

5,000 airline miles = 10,000 HHonors points.

4.       Exchange Starwood Preferred Guest points to airline miles and then to HHonors points.

20,000 Starpoints can be exchanged 25,000 American AAdvantage miles and then into 50,000 HHonors points.

5.       Exchange American Express Membership Rewards points to airline miles and then to HHonors points. 

5,000 MR points = 5,000 Virgin Flying Club miles = 5,000 HHonors points

6.       Exchange Diners Club Rewards points to airline miles and then to HHonors points

5,000 Club Rewards points = 5,000 Icelandair miles = 10,000 HHonors points

A direct transfer from Diners Club to HHonors results in 20% fewer points:

5,000 Club Rewards points = 8,000 HHonors points. 

A Hilton Garden Inn email advertisement caught my attention this morning and almost entirely wasted an hour of my time.

 Hilton Advance Purchase Rates – Key words are “Up To”, not 25% Off

 

 

 

I focused on “25% Off” and started writing about this offer.  The highlighted words of this offer should be “Up To” since I did not find anything close to a discount deal for hotels I checked. 

Although there is little of merit in the Advance Purchase Rates as far as saving you real money at most hotels, I will get a diatribe against nonrefundable rates out of the time I invested looking into this email advertisement from Hilton Garden Inn.

The Terms and Conditions footnote font is so small that I struggle to read it with my glasses on.

 

*Subject to limited availability at participating hotels. Non-refundable, full advance payment required for Advance Purchase Rate. Other restrictions apply. Best available rate is a specific rate type that varies depending on time of purchase, is unrestricted, non-qualified and excludes discount or negotiated rates not available to the general public, including, but not limited to: membership, corporate, government, promotional, group, packages, unpublished or rates only available on auction websites.

 

Asterisked Footnote (in a font size I can read.)

 

*Subject to limited availability at participating hotels. Non-refundable, full advance payment required for Advance Purchase Rate. Other restrictions apply. Best available rate is a specific rate type that varies depending on time of purchase, is unrestricted, non-qualified and excludes discount or negotiated rates not available to the general public, including, but not limited to: membership, corporate, government, promotional, group, packages, unpublished or rates only available on auction websites. 

From the full promotional rate ‘Terms and Conditions’ in the ‘Up To 25% Off’ ad comes this clause:

Reservation cannot be modified: Price quoted applies to exact date(s)/nights/stay booked. Modifications to your reservation (including but not limited to name changes, date changes, etc.) are not permitted.

 

Loyalty Traveler anecdotal tip: 

Best Available Rate, often printed as BAR in hotel industry articles, is not the same as the lowest rate.  In fact the BAR rate is generally not the lowest available rate on any given day for any given hotel. The BAR room rate generally can be cancelled without penalty.  My anecdotal observation from several years of hotel room rate searches is the Advance Purchase rate is the lowest rate only about 1/3 of the time for upscale hotels. The lowest rate for a hotel room is generally a Group rate (AAA or senior rate), a nonrefundable rate, or a hotel special offer that saves 10% to 25% on the Best Available Rate. 

 

AAA automobile club membership rates are the lowest hotel rate about a third of the time in my hotel searches for USA major chain hotels like Marriott, Hilton, and Sheraton .  

 

Advance Purchase, nonrefundable rates are slightly lower than the AAA rate about a third of the time.  Sometimes the nonrefundable rate will be significantly lower than any other rate. Then, you need to take a personal risk assessment of spending your cash on the spot for a future hotel stay reservation that will not be refunded if you must cancel.

 

AAA discount rates at hotels generally allow the room to be cancelled without penalty using terms close to the BAR cancellation terms.  Most hotels tend to allow cancellation of a reservation without a penalty up to one or two days before arrival, and some hotels even allow cancellation up to 6:00pm hotel time on day of arrival without penalty.  Vacation resort hotels tend to have most restrictive rules for cancellation.

 

The remaining third of the time the lowest rate is the BAR rate or a special offer rate found through the hotel’s own website rather than the corporate booking site.  For example, check the San Francisco Hilton Hotel website for special offers that are not displayed on the Hilton Hotels corporate website or HHonors reservations.

 

Hilton Garden Inn Advance Reservation Rate Search Results

The Advance Purchase rate of $188.00 is only a 10% discount on the $209 Best Available Rate (BAR) for the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Lauderdale Airport. The AAA rate only costs a dime ($0.10) more than the nonrefundable rate and allows cancellation at any time up to day of arrival without a hotel charge. 

 

 

Hilton Garden Inn Fort Lauderdale Airport Room Rates - February 6, 2009

 

Hilton Garden Inn Fort Lauderdale Airport Advance Purchase rate terms:

Guarantee Policy:
Full payment in advance is required for this reservation. Your credit card will be charged 208.68 USD immediately.

 

Cancellation Policy:
If you cancel for any reason, attempt to modify this reservation, or do not arrive on your specified check-in date, your payment is non-refundable.

 

AAA rate Cancellation policy for Hilton Garden Inn Fort Lauderdale Airport:

If you wish to cancel, please do so by 4pm, hotel local time, on the day of arrival to avoid cancellation penalties. 

 

I personally avoid nonrefundable rates whenever possible.  I would have wasted thousands of dollars over the years if I went the nonrefundable rate to save $5 or $10 per night.  I generally only book nonrefundable hotel room rates a day or two before arrival when the probability of making the hotel stay is extremely high.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am on a lonely road and I am traveling,

traveling, traveling, traveling,

Looking for something, what can it be?

    

    All I Want –  Joni Mitchell

 

Mt. Shasta, California view from I-5 near Dunsmuir

 

I heard a blogger panelist at BlogWorld08 in Las Vegas tell bloggers never to apologize for not blogging.  I’m not apologizing – just writing.

 

I was on the Family and Friends plan this past week over the Thanksgiving holidays.  I have hotel reviews, stories, and photos from Las Vegas for Loyalty Traveler December blog posts.  There are still several pieces of the Vancouver, Washington, Oregon, and California trip I want to finish writing and posting to this blog. 

I drove around the western states for most of November.  It has been 12 years since I did serious road travel.  My realization this past month is writing as a road warrior is much more difficult than writing when flying the friendly skies.  Piloting and navigating a car takes a lot more physical and mental energy than being a high flyer drifting between airports penning thoughts.

Most of my November days were used seeing hotels (about 25 hotels or so), staying in hotels (11 stays), and driving between hotels (3,500 miles).  Gas dropped from $2.94 to $1.81 over a three week period of driving around California and the west.  Hotel prices also dropped by 35% in many locations from the time I started looking in mid-October/early-November to when I was booking rooms during November.  Airfares for domestic December holiday travel are some of the lowest fares I recall seeing in the past 7 years.

The new Starwood Luxury Collection hotel, the Nines Portland, Oregon has dropped rates as low as $149 for Christmas week.  This is 40% less than lowest rates were 30 days ago.  Recently opened hotels like the InterContinental Monterey are currently offering abnormally low rates like $117 per night (AAA rate) for an upscale hotel in a resort destination.

I was checking Denver hotel rates for stays around Christmas week and the Hyatt Regency and Grand Hyatt in downtown Denver are only $70 a night.  I am astonished and thankful.  Hyatt Gold Passport Faster Free Nights makes hotel rates this low essentially freebies.  A Hyatt Gold Passport member can stay upscale in downtown Denver at economy hotel room rates and redeem luxury hotel nights in a place like Scottsdale’s Hyatt Gainey Ranch Resort or a Park Hyatt for free during winter 2009.

I think we have about two to three weeks before the 2009 hotel promotions appear on the web to try and stimulate the hotel economy.  Hotels are mirroring the national economy in needing a jump-start to keep rooms occupied in 2009. 

Hotel industry news throughout November has repeatedly shown occupancy declines, luxury and upscale hotel market room rate cuts, and average room rate declines across the USA, although Texas hotel rates are rising at the moment. Forecasts offer an even bleaker 2009 hotel industry scenario.  Projects like the St. Regis Las Vegas and new Starwood hotels in Macau are postponed indefinitely.   

Much of the hotel industry occupancy projections in 2008 and into 2009 were based on increased international visitors to the USA.  The dollar was weak and the British pound and Euro were strong and made the USA a bargain destination.  Many international currencies have lost 20% to 30% of their value against the dollar since September and the likelihood of large increases in the numbers of international visitors to the USA has diminished.  The Mexican peso and Canadian dollar have plummeted against the US Dollar taking away the financial incentive and the financial resources for USA travel from our top two sources of international visitors. 

Time-Rich, Job Poor?  Go Travel!

Work interferes with seeing the world.  This is a great time to travel and see the world.

There are travel deals all around.  Last week, Holland America offered an inside cabin for $1,025 per person on a 16-day San Diego to Fort Lauderdale cruise via the Panama Canal.  A 16-day cruise for $2,050 all-in, including the fuel surcharges for sailing next week December 7.  $125 per day for a room, entertainment and recreational activities, and all the food you can eat is a great deal. 

 

Hotel Loyalty Program Elite Status

Lots of people don’t focus on hotel loyalty or elite membership.  There are traveler types who will go to a place that is trendy while it is becoming “the trendiest place to be”.   Lodging options from the top resort on the island or the coast, the city apartment in the local neighborhood, the newest happening hotel, or couch swapping are the stories we often read in travel magazines and I hear from my relatives and friends.  

Lodging experiences are great, but I also need high value.  Finding good value experiences is fundamental to my time-rich, job-poor lifestyle as a hotel travel analyst.

A hotel loyalty program focus for elite status is important to me when traveling.  Unfortunately, my hotel loyalty program focus often comes to the exclusion of other interesting and wonderful lodging options. 

Basically the question of whether elite status will be a high value proposition for your travel lifestyle comes down to a numbers game:

• How many hotel nights do you actually need in a year?,

• How much can you afford to spend?, 

• How much do you value paying more to get better lodging?

2009 Hotel Loyalty Program Advice (from this elite Loyalty Traveler)

1.      Estimate Your Hotel Nights for 2009 travel for vacations, visiting family and friends (and really ask yourself do you want to sleep in the children’s bedroom again?), and other leisure days away from home.

 

 

2.      Estimate Your Hotel Nights for 2009 Business. 

a.      Do you have control over choosing the hotel brand where you stay?

 

b.      If not, do you know cities for travel and which hotel brands you will be staying for business

 

c.       If not, then business travel may only be useful for a couple of stays and you will need to focus on discretionary travel if you want elite membership privileges.

 

3.      Add total nights for leisure and business travel

a.      If less than 15 nights in a calendar year – you may not want to concentrate on any single hotel loyalty program. 

Go for the best deals you can find and sign up for hotel loyalty program promotions when they fit your travel plans or fit your travel plans to take advantage of some of the high value promotions.  There are promotions every year allowing a frequent guest to earn $1,000+ in future hotel value when spending an equivalent or lesser amount on hotel stays to fulfill the promotion terms – if you plan for that outcome. 

b.      15 to 30 nights in hotels in a calendar year and you may be a candidate for high elite membership if you focus your hotel stays within a single hotel loyalty program and take advantage of promotional bonuses for even more added value.  Reading Loyalty Traveler is a great way to learn how to reach high elite membership with relatively economical spending.

 

c.      30 nights or more in a calendar year and you may save money by always finding the best deals, however, by concentrating on a single hotel loyalty program and elite status, you should be able to improve your lodging and hotel benefits to receive much higher value for your money by focusing on high elite membership.

 

d.      50 nights or more in a calendar year and you are wasting money or getting less lodging than you could for your money if you don’t receive high elite membership recognition in terms of upgrades and benefits with the majority of your hotel stays.

 

In 2008, Hyatt Hotels Gold Passport and Starwood Hotels Preferred Guest (SPG) ran promotions for earning Double Stay credit for elite membership qualification.  These two hotel loyalty programs both have the same threshold of 25 hotel stays or 50 hotel nights during a calendar year for top-tier elite status: Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond and Starwood Preferred Guest Platinum.

 

A hotel stay is one or more consecutive nights at one hotel, regardless if different reservation numbers. A hotel night is any eligible, paid night at a hotel member in the loyalty program during the calendar year.

 

Guests paying for a 3-night weekend stay at the Hyatt Regency Monterey receive one (1) stay credit and three (3) night credits towards the 25-stay or 50-night Diamond elite membership qualification threshold. 

Guests staying Friday night at the Hyatt Regency Monterey, followed by Saturday night at the Hyatt Carmel Highlands, followed by Sunday night back at the Hyatt Regency Monterey receive three (3) stay credits and three (3) night credits towards the 25-stay or 50-night Diamond elite membership qualification threshold.

 

“Hotel hopping” is a good way to quickly increase your stays and see a variety of hotels.  Of course, changing hotels mid-day is time-consuming and may not always be a viable option on your vacation or business trip.  Personally, I try to make frequent hotel stays when I am not taking a vacation.  Redeeming points for a multi-night vacation stay is the benefit from all the hotel hops planned to earn lots of points for a nice long stay at a vacation hotel.

A guest with no elite membership will receive mid-tier Hyatt Platinum elite membership after 5 stays or 15 nights at Hyatt brand hotels and Starwood Preferred Guest mid-tier Gold membership after 10 stays or 25 nights at Starwood brand hotels.

The high value benefits come with top elite status (Hyatt Diamond or SPG Platinum).  For most travelers not regularly spending 50-plus nights in hotels every year, reaching the top-elite threshold takes a plan.

Reaching top elite Gold Passport Diamond or SPG Platinum required only 13 hotel stays in 2008 for both Hyatt and Starwood during their open enrollment promotions available to all members.  Hyatt’s Double stays was January-March 2008 and Starwood’s is October 1-December 31, but members had to register for Double Stays by November 15, 2008.

My Pacific Northwest trip included six (6) Starwood Hotel stays and I am registered for the Starwood Double Stays promotion through the end of this year.  I earned Hyatt Diamond membership in March during Hyatt Gold Passport’s “Stays Count Double” promotion.  My general rule of thumb is top elite status will provide $100+ in additional benefits for every full service hotel stay.

During the Pacific Northwest trip I received additional benefits at all six hotels as recognition of Starwood Platinum status.

I learned Starwood’s two newest hotel brands, aloft and Element, the new extended stay hotel brand, do not have to offer suite upgrades to SPG platinum elites as a condition of their loyalty program participation agreement.  This was reported in an aloft hotel suite thread on FlyerTalk by Starwood Lurker, Starwood Hotels’ representative on FlyerTalk. My two stays at aloft hotels earned 250 points each as a Platinum member amenity.  There were no other special benefits at the aloft Portland.

The Nines Portland provided complimentary lounge access, a privilege that comes with a $200+ price tag to purchase with your reservation at the hotel.  I did not receive a room upgrade.

Sheraton Wall Centre, Vancouver upgraded my room to a full suite, provided complimentary wireless internet access, lounge access with breakfast and an evening social (alcohol not complimentary), and all-day access to sodas and juice.

Westin Bayshore, Vancouver upgraded my room to a full suite.

The Westin Grand, Vancouver is an all-suites hotel.  I did not see any additional benefits for the Westin Grand aside from the 500 Starpoints Platinum amenity gift.

Added value from Platinum elite membership for six hotel stays included two room upgrades to a suite ($200 value); two hotels with lounge access and complimentary food and drinks ($150 value), and 2,500 bonus Starpoints for Platinum Welcome amenity gifts ($87 value), in addition to the 800 elite bonus points on top of base points ($28 value).

Added value due to platinum elite status with Starwood Preferred Guest = $465 for six stays.

·          

The hotel industry forecast is looking rather gloomy in most of the industry research articles I’ve read since returning home.  Expect 2009 to be loaded with loyalty program incentives and some great discounts.  I think Hyatt and Starwood will continue Double Stays for fast-track elite qualification in early 2009. 

Hotel Points Exchange Analysis – Starwood Preferred Guest

One of the benefits of SPG membership is the ability to transfer SPG hotel points, Starpoints, into a variety of airline frequent flier miles.  The ability to transfer Starpoints into airline miles and the multitude of partner awards available through airlines offers lots of little known value opportunities.

Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus and Starwood Preferred Guest Partnership

Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus is a frequent flier program that is not particularly well known in the USA.  Thai Airways is a Star Alliance member and airline partner with United Airlines and US Airways.  Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) is a popular hotel frequent guest loyalty program in the USA.  Thai Airways is an airline exchange partner with SPG on a 1:1 rate meaning 20,000 Starpoints can be exchanged into 20,000 Thai Airways miles and SPG throws in an extra 25% bonus on 20,000 Starpoints transfers for a total 25,000 Thai Royal Orchid Plus miles.

Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus frequent flier program offers hotel awards for air miles redemption.  There are two kinds of hotel awards:  Asia Pacific and International Hotel Awards. 

Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus Asia Pacific Hotel Awards

1 night = 12,000 miles

2 consecutive nights = 22,000 miles

3 consecutive nights = 32,000 miles.

There are over 100 hotels in Thailand and the Asia Pacific region available for these awards.  Click here for a list of participating hotels.

Inside the Numbers for Thai AIrways Asia Pacific Hotel Awards:

Sheraton Noosa Beach, Queensland, Australia is a basic beach resort hotel in an exceptional beach location.  My wife and I loved this place when we vacationed there in 2003.  The beautiful beach across from the hotel was a great place to swim even in the middle of Australia winter.  And I have never been to another beach where so many children were learning to surf.

Child surfers, Noosa Beach, Queensland, Australia

In 2003, during our stay, the Sheraton Noosa was designated SPG Category 3 meaning a free night was 7,000 points.  Currently, the Sheraton Noosa is a Category 5 hotel in 2008 meaning a free night is 12,000 points in low season; 16,000 points in peak season for a free night.

Sheraton Noosa river view room, Queensland, Australia

Two nights at the Sheraton Noosa will cost 24,000 Starpoints through SPG award redemption. 

Two nights at the Sheraton Noosa will cost 22,000 miles through Thai Airways. 

Exchange rate favors 20,000 Starpoints exchanged into 25,000 Royal Orchid Plus miles and the SPG/Royal Orchid member will save 4,000 Starpoints by booking the Sheraton Noosa with Thai Airway miles and still have 3,000 Thai Airways miles left over.

A 3-night stay at Sheraton Noosa will be 36,000 Starpoints through the Starwood Preferred Guest regular award redemption process. 

Prawns were $1USD each in the Noosa fish market.  A cheap seafood feast.  Seafood was inexpensive in Australia and outrageously expensive in New Zealand.

As an alternative, the SPG member could exchange 27,000 Starpoints for 32,000 Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus miles and redeem the miles for a 3-night stay at Sheraton Noosa and save 9,000 Starpoints.  (Remember 20,000 Starpoints = 25,000 Thai miles + 7,000 Starpoints = 7,000 Thai miles; 27,000 Starpoints exchanges into 32,000 Thai Airways miles).

 Sheraton Noosa, pool view room, Queensland, Australia

Rasa Sentosa Resort, Singapore is located at the Sentosa beach and resort recreational area of Singapore.   A sample date I checked showed hotel rates around $200USD per night.

Sentosa Island Resort, Singapore

December 7-10, 2008

Rasa Sentosa = $280 SGD/night (+ 17.7% tax) ($191USD +17.7%)

Sheraton Towers, SPG Category 4 = $320 SGD/night or 10,000 points/night (no SPG Cash & Points option shown for this date).

St. Regis, Singapore, SPG Category 6 = $480 SGD/night or 25,000 points/night (no SPG Cash & Points option shown for this date).

Starwood had two Le Meridien properties in Singapore and both have rebranded in past two years.

Sheraton Towers lobby, Singapore

Sheraton Towers is a great business hotel near Orchard Road shopping district in Singapore, however the Rasa Sentosa is a beach resort hotel.

3 nights = 30,000 points or about $780 cash for Sheraton Towers.

27,000 Starpoints will exchange for a 3-night stay at Rasa Sentosa and provide a great alternative to travelers wanting a stay at Singapore’s beach resort park rather than in the downtown shopping district.

Singapore’s 17.7% tax and service fee for hotel stays will likely be charged on the Rasa Sentosa stay and add about $100USD to the bill, whereas the SPG award stay for the Sheraton Towers will not incur the high taxes and fees, but that is a tradeoff for the flexibility of being able to use your Starpoints for different hotel brands with the Thai Airways hotel award.

Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus Hotel Awards International Collection

The second type of hotel award available through Thai Royal Orchid Plus is the International Collection hotel award.  The International Collection hotel awards cost more miles per night and there are 3 hotel levels for these awards.  Many of the 35 or so hotels participating in this award option fall in the luxury hotel segment with numerous properties in the Sofitel and Langham Hotel brands.

Level 1 Hotel for 1 Night = 14,000 miles

Level 2 Hotel for 1 Night = 24,000 miles

Level 3 Hotel for 1 Night = 43,000 miles

 

Inside the Numbers:

The Langham Melbourne is a Level 2 International Collection hotel award option costing 24,000 Thai miles per night.  This will require 20,000 Starpoints for 25,000 Thai Royal Orchid Plus miles.

Langham Hotel Melbourne was the Sheraton Towers Southgate when I stayed there in 2003

December 9-11, 2008 for two nights at the Langham Hotel Melbourne, Australia will run $340AUD/night or about $245USD/night.  As an aside note, the Langham Melbourne was the Sheraton Towers Southgate, part of Starwood’s Luxury Collection brand, when I stayed there in 2003.  The full corner suite I received there is still one of the nicest hotel rooms I have ever had.

20,000 Starpoints for a $250 per night room is not a good deal in my opinion.  The Westin Melbourne, a block from the Langham Melbourne Hotel, is a SPG Category 5 hotel costing 12,000 points per night or 16,000 points in peak season.  Using your starpoints for The Langham Melbourne could be an alternative to the Westin Melbourne if for some reason the Westin was unavailable.

Suite at Sheraton Towers Southgate 2003, now The Langham Hotel, Melbourne, Australia

Most of the hotels available as International Collection hotel awards are in the Level 2 category. 

Exchanging 20,000 Starpoints for 25,000 Thai Royal Orchid Plus miles would only be a good exchange if the hotel you want is running rates of $400+ per night. 

 

Changes are Coming to Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus Hotel Awards

Sofitel is the luxury brand of European based Accor hotels.  The Sofitel properties comprise the bulk of the International Collection Hotel awards participating hotels.  Reservations are only being accepted for Sofitel Hotels until May 31, 2009.

Starwood Hotel bookings using Royal Orchid Asia Pacific Hotel Awards are only being accepted through December 31, 2008.

Loyalty traveler suggests taking advantage of these awards now if you plan to be in Asia before the end of 2008.  This hotel award option may not be renewed or be as lucrative in 2009. 

Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus Hotel Award Certificates are valid for one year and can be booked with any hotel in the certificate category you purchase and reservations are relatively easy to make with the hotels.

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Loyalty Traveler Background on Hotel Points Exchange Analysis

I got into loyalty program exchange rate analysis when I realized back in 1999 that I could exchange 20,000 TWA miles earned from flying to London in the summers of 1997 and 1998 into 40,000 Hilton HHonors points.  In 1999 the cost for a 3-night HHonors award stay was 35,000 points for most upscale HHonors hotels. 

I had spent all my money in late 1999 to plan air trips on the OneWorld Alliance airlines to fly five partner airlines and earn a 100,000 mile bonus with British Airways.  I didn’t like the thought of charging another $1,000+ on credit cards for hotels in Europe and Canada. 

I booked free night awards for the Hilton Barcelona and the Rotterdam Hilton in the Netherlands, and I used Starpoints for a great hotel stay at the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre.  I had about $2,000 in free hotel stays while flying to Canada, England, the Netherlands, and Spain to earn what ultimately came up to 320,000 airline miles with American Airlines and British Airways. 

These miles allowed Ms. LT and me to fly British Airways First Class from San Francisco to London.  I remember that First Class first trip fondly.  The flight attendant came over to me late in the evening somewhere near the Arctic Circle and told me I should take a seat on the other side of the plane.  For the next hour I watched the sky, my face pressed against the cold window, witnessing the most incredible display of the aurora borealis that I have ever seen. 

Back when British Airways flew the Concorde airliner a ticket was 125,000 miles.  There was an exchange scheme using Starpoints where people were able to book Concorde flights at incredibly low overall prices.  Here is a 2002 FlyerTalk thread about this Concorde award scheme.  My thought at the time was “I don’t want to cross the Atlantic in 4 hours when I can spend fewer miles and spend 11 hours in First Class on British Airways.”

British Airways 747, First Class seating are front windows of plane below cockpit

Marriott Rewards Advantage is Free Nights Redemption Chart

Marriott Rewards competitive advantage over Hilton HHonors, Hyatt Gold Passport, IHG Priority Club, and Starwood Preferred Guest is their “Free Nights Redemption Chart” which offers a progressively increasing per night discount for multiple night hotel stays using points. The difference with the Marriott Rewards table is the points per night cost decreases for every extra night of a hotel stay using points beginning with 2-night stays.

 Marriott San Francisco 

 

Savings Example Using Marriott Rewards Points for a Multiple Night Stay:

Marriott Rewards Category 5 Hotels cost 25,000 points for one room night using points. 

2-night stay = 46,000 points.   Per night rate drops to 23,000 points for a free night when you book a two-night stay using points.  Spending 46,000 points for two nights is an 8% discount from 50,000 points.

Important Difference of Marriott Rewards — The other major hotel programs do not discount the per night cost for a two-night stay.

A Crowne Plaza stay at 25,000 points  for one night will cost 50,000 points for two nights using hotel points.

A 5-night stay at a Marriott Rewards Category 5 hotel using points costs 95,000 points.  The cost per night on a 5-night Marriott Rewards Category 5 hotel = 19,000 points per free night.  This is a 24% savings on the per night cost for a five night hotel stay.

The higher category Marriott Rewards hotels, Category 5, 6, and 7 hotels, for longer stays of five to seven nights provide a per night discount over 30% and some reward stays approach a 40% discount when using points.  This is one of the highest discounts in the hotel industry for upscale and luxury high-end hotel properties when using hotel points for free stays.

Starwood Preferred Guest has the 5th Night Free Award Stay which gives a 20% discount on the per night rate, but SPG does not have discounted point rates for stays less than five nights using hotel points.

Marriott Rewards Redemption Chart 

source: http://www.marriott.com/rewards/usepoints/hotelrew.mi  

Marriott Rewards – Points per Night for a Multiple Night Stay 

Color codes show the relative per night discounts for longer stays. 

Percentages shown are per night discounts for an award stay based on per night cost for a 1-night award.  The larger percentages indicate more savings in points when booking a multi-night award using Marriott Rewards hotel points.

Marriott Rewards discounts the per night rate by 30% or more for cat 5, 6, and 7 hotels on 6-night and 7-night award reservations.

Marriott Rewards discounts are 20% to 27% on per night rates for Category 5, 6, and 7 hotels when booking 4-night or 5-night award stays using points.

Other Hotel chains are not as generous as Marriott Rewards for shorter hotel stays using points.

Hilton HHonors requires a minimum 6-night stay before any discount kicks in on the per night redemption rate using points.  VIP-only awards for 6-night or longer hotel stays are available to Hilton HHonors elite members.  Elite membership is a relatively small hurdle to qualify for Silver elite status and access to VIP-Only Reward stays.  Hilton HHonors Silver VIP requires just four Hilton-family hotel stays per year.

HHonors Category 6 hotel is 40,000 points per night.  A 6-night VIP award for a Category 6 hotel is 175,000 points, a 27% points discount.  Marriott’s comparable 6-night, Category 6 award is only 120,000 points and offers a 33% discount on the per night rate.  Hilton allows the member to earn 15 points per $1 hotel spending with Points&Points earning preference.  These awards will take about the same amount of hotel spending to earn the award.

HHonors Category 6 hotel is 40,000 points per night.  A 4-night award for a HHonors Category 6 hotel is 160,000 points, no discount on the per night points for a four-night HHonors stay.

Marriott Rewards Category 6 hotel for a four-night stay is 95,000 points.

The Marriott Rewards member is likely to earn a four night stay with less overall spending.  Hilton HHonors Diamond elites will have more equally matched earning power due to HHonors 50% elite bonus for Diamonds compared to only a 30% elite bonus for Marriott Rewards Platinum members.

Update Oct. 4, 2008:  HHonors American Express credit card HHonors 4-night AXON award discount.  An astute reader pointed out the option for Hilton HHonors members with a co-branded American Express HHonors credit card to redeem HHonors points for a 4-night AXON award at HHonors Category 5 or Category 6 hotels for 125,000 points. 

I overlooked the AXON hotel stay option in this analysis.  I have a post from May 15, 2008 about the HHonors American Express AXON awards.  The HHonors American Express card, along with SPG AmEx, also came out on top in earning potential in my analysis of hotel co-branded credit cards in this post “Comparison of Hotel Loyalty Program Affinity Credit Cards“.

Gary Leff wrote about the best bonus points offer he has seen from HHonors American Express on his “View from the Wing” blog in this October 4, 2008 post .

 

 

Hyatt Gold Passport

Gold Passport does not offer a discount for multiple night stays using hotel points.

 

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) Priority Club Rewards

Priority Club Rewards does not offer a discount on the per night rate for multiple night stays.

Priority Club offers PointBreaks for select hotels at 5,000 points per night.  This is a great discount, however, like Hilton Point Stretcher and Marriott PointSavers, these special offers are limited to a small subset of participating hotels within the chain.

 

Starwood Preferred Guest

SPG has a 5th Night Free award.  A minimum 5-night stay is required to get a discount on points for a hotel stay.  The 5th Night Free award lets SPG members stay five nights for the price of a four night hotel stay using points.

SPG has Cash & Points awards which can be a substantial discount, but these awards have limited hotel participation and are capacity controlled.

The best value for your Marriott Rewards points is to redeem points for longer stays.  Marriott Rewards is a good program to build up points over time and take a long vacation on points. 

Marriott Rewards has great value for stays between 2 to 4 nights compared to the other major hotel loyalty programs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Leading Hotels of the World $19.28 Promotion post is the most popular post ever on Loyalty Traveler.  Thankfully I hit a chord with readers.

This luxury hotel deal makes me think of a few words of advice about great travel deals.

 

Great deals come along every travel season. 

Don’t blow all your cash to take advantage of a two day trip when three months from now an even better vacation plan comes along. 

 

Purchase good travel value when the opportunity strikes, like a $19.28 luxury hotel room, however, maintain perspective on the overall cost of travel.   If you get a great hotel in Venice and then realize the cost of airfare, the cost of additional nights at the LHW hotel or some other hotel, the cost of several days or a week living, sightseeing, and traveling in Europe is going to break the bank for the next year, then let the deal go.  Remember it is only $38.56 you have at stake if you are lucky enough to secure a two-night reservation at a great LHW luxury hotel.

 

I say this as someone who blew off a Venice $270 flight because the weather was too hot in Italy (summer 2003), skipped a Business Class award flight to Argentina to help my wife edit a graduate school paper, and passed up on $50 pre-paid timeshare luxury villas in Palm Springs and the Caribbean because I couldn’t find good priced flights. 

 

Sometimes life and finances get in the way of a good deal. 

I’ll revise that to say that life and finances usually get in the way of a good deal.

 

I feel like telling a story today.

 

Last month my parents had a garage sale. My mother who has always been a social talker somehow turned her conversation with a neighborly couple my parents did not know into a transfer offer for a one-week timeshare in Vermont for the cost of a name change. 

 

The garage sale neighbors transferred an RCI timeshare to my parents for $50.  They received a great deal on a place that normally goes for $1,000 plus per week.  My mom took time to research the timeshare prior to settling the transfer.  The property looked nice and a bargain even though the reviews were not all raving about the resort.

 

My parents are there now in a two bedroom ski resort condo. 

Mom said the colors of the trees were beautiful right now in northwestern Vermont.

 

The problem for my parents in traveling to Vermont was they had already booked frequent flyer tickets with Delta SkyMiles for a trip to New York.  Talking about her trip to New York is what led to the generous gift offer for the timeshare in Vermont.  My parents were scheduled to fly back the day after the timeshare rental week started.  My mom decided she wanted to pay $50 for the timeshare and vacation in Vermont. 

 

So, I asked her, “Have you checked about trying to change the frequent flyer awards and if you can change the dates and what that will cost?”

 

“No,” she replied,  “Your dad will go pay the neighbor tonight and I will deal with the airline tomorrow.”

and I knew trouble was on the horizon.

 

The next day my mom called and was frustrated that she couldn’t get a date change and the only option was to cancel the awards and pay a $100 miles reinstatement fee for each award ticket and then spend 50,000 miles per ticket for new Delta awards.  She was considering doing that and wiping out her Delta Skymiles account.  I reasoned with her.

 

I looked up the cost to buy two new tickets and they were $400 each to fly to Rochester, New York, fly to Burlington, Vermont, and then return home.   So now it would cost them $800 for new tickets and $200 in fees for reinstatement of her 50,000 Delta miles.  Or she could spend 100,000 miles and $200 for ticket change fees.

 

I worked out some other  itinerary options and mom finally decided they would not use the timeshare. She offered the Vermont timeshare to me.  I could have flown roundtrip between San Francisco and Vermont for $307 for the vacation timeshare week.  

 

A couple of weeks passed and I told her I didn’t think it would work out for me to head to Vermont for a week at the end of September.  In truth, it would have worked for me, but leaving Ms. LT at home working while I vacationed and hiked alone in the Green Mountains did not seem like the wisest choice to make at the time.

 

A few days after turning down the timeshare I learned my mom  purchased new one-way airline tickets from New York to Vermont and Vermont to home for about $325 each and planned to throw away the return trip of the Delta award tickets.

 

So, their great $50 bargain timeshare vacation week ultimately cost them an extra $650 to actually arrange the travel flights to and from Vermont.  Still a good deal, if not a great bargain. 

And I roll my eyes when thinking how she used 50,000 miles for two domestic one-way awards.

 

At least the colors are vibrant for their vacation in the Green (yellow, red, and orange) Mountains of Vermont.

 

 

Ric Garrido, Bay of Islands, New Zealand (2005)

$19.65 for First Class Award ticket LAX-AKL