In 2004 I was an unemployed public school teacher in California, fed up with my inability to find a job as the recession was taking hold in California, and thinking I would write a book on using frequent flyer programs to travel the world inexpensively.

I had United Airlines Mileage Plus 1K status and an opportunity to pick up 85,000 redeemable miles and 17,000 EQM from a single $550 ticket to Bangkok, Thailand when Mileage Plus gave 4x miles to members who signed up before the promotion was corrected based on their promotion wording screwup for a 3x miles offer.

Today I came across some diary entries from that Bangkok trip while trying to find my Excel tables on hotel-points-to-miles exchange rates. Yesterday I watched a couple of stories on PBS News Hour and BBC World News on the current flooding in Bangkok. Here is a Huffington Post piece from last week on the Thailand flooding.

Bangkok Diary February 2004

At breakfast in the Westin Grande Sukhumvit lounge I listened to a couple of American doctors discussing how they were going to speak frankly about sexual transmission of AIDS to the Thai government officials they were meeting at a conference in Bangkok.  They decided on a strategy of directness with an attempt to not be insulting.

The newspaper articles I read this week said a move has been on since 2001 to scale back the sex trade in Thailand and beginning March 1, 2004 there will be greater restrictions on the legal hours of nightclubs and bars.  Apparently the entertainment areas used to run all night long.

There was also a move to set a 10 PM curfew for children under the age of 18, unless accompanied by their parents, to try and reduce the child prostitution and immoral influence of night culture on teenagers.  Both these impending laws are receiving some protest by the affected groups.  Teenagers complain of the difficulty for legitimate activities as social birthdays, night classes, and sports often occur after the hour of 10pm and their parents are frequently too busy to accompany them.

There was a news story about female workers in textile trades making 400 to 1,000 Baht ($10-25) a month for 70 hour work weeks in sewing sweatshops with limited toilet privileges. Too many people are waiting to take their jobs, so they have no option to complain.

There were a couple of articles about Mimi Driver visiting workers this past week while touring Bangkok on her way to Cambodia.  The Royal Family of Sweden and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands also passed through Bangkok recently and visited shelters during their stays with the Thai Royal family.

City Shopping 

I walked down an alley after leaving MBK shopping center which I thought would take me directly over to the parallel street leading to another shopping center where I’d seen an internet cafe.  It started out being a typical small alley with food vendors, stray dogs and cats, and workers pushing carts of goods and foods.

Bangkok alley

There was a local elementary school on my left behind a large metal gate. I could see through the metal gate and inside the large open doors about 100 feet from the alley were 50 children sitting on the classroom floor chanting.  A couple of women were bringing a cart of aromatic hot food through the metal school gate as I passed.

As I walked between high metal walls the alley way narrowed until it was only a paved sidewalk two feet wide, and soon after, the pavement was gone altogether.  There were dozens of dwellings constructed of corrugated aluminum, plywood, and scraps of board pieced together into a mosaic of a dwelling wall.  Inside the dark rooms I saw toddlers playing on the floors, women sewing shirts, men fixing motorbikes, children and families preparing meals and doing dishes.

There was no electricity and as I walked deeper into this maze of slum dwellings the alley was just wide enough for one person to move by at a time without stepping off into the mud.

There were several men digging a ditch and laying pipe along one portion of the alley.  They had no motorized machinery.  They used hand spades to cut a trench about 30 feet along.  One of the workers looked to be a boy, 12 or so. They were up to their knees in water and I watched them for a minute.  One of the men smiled and motioned to me to join them in digging.  I laughed and told them the work looked too hard for me.  I doubt anyone understood me.

There was another group of men nearby sitting in the shade, talking and playing cards.  I was at the point where I thought I should be coming out to the major road I was heading toward, but the straight narrow alley had closed in completely and I had to make a right turn along the path.  Haphazard structures closed in around me as I continued along the alley.

I had a choice to either turn around or venture on.

This urban slum in the middle of one of Bangkok’s most upscale shopping districts attracted me. Most of the people I passed smiled at me, and there were hundreds of them looking out from their little, dark rooms. I had that feeling of being in a place that could be dangerous, yet at the same time feeling these people were not going to bother me as I passed by their homes.

I ventured on.

There was a small clearing in the jumble of shacks with a playground placed in the shade of two large trees.  Several kids were swinging on the swingset and just being kids laughing and smiling in play.

A tiny old woman sat in a little metal chair watching the children play.  This slum appeared to me as a commonplace community for Bangkok alleys with little stores and food stalls interspersed between the shacks.

At one location I could see over the wall separating the slum from luxury hotels.   I snapped a photograph of a set of newly made garments hanging on a line between these two slum houses next to the high metal wall separating the slum from modern Bangkok’s luxury condo skyscrapers on the next block.

Two chickens pecking at grains in the mud were milling around the front of one shack and walking around dirty dishes in soapy water tubs on the ground.  Apparently nobody had been in this neighborhood to kill the food source. Millions of chickens have been killed in Bangkok in the past few months to combat avian flu virus and there are not supposed to be any live chickens in the city.

So, if I come down with avian flu virus I can blame it on my wanderlust.

Buddhist monks pray for 26 million slaughtered chickens in Thailand Feb 2004.

The mid-day heat made me thirsty and I was exasperated with the maze of paths through the housing area.  I just couldn’t find my way out of the slum. I wandered for about 35 minutes between the dark homes, unable to get directional help from any of the local people.  If they spoke English there might be upward mobility out of this place.  English language development seems to be the primary educational focus for the urban population in Thailand. Tourism is the avenue so many of the Thai people use to gain better economic standing.

I was at a crossroads, or more accurately a crosspaths where there were three routes I could take.  The housing was two floors high and the path so narrow that I couldn’t see over the buildings to get a bearing of my location.  The paths I had taken weren’t straight lines so basically I was wandering through a maze and constantly turning between the houses, workshops, and food stalls/markets.

A group of young guys on a second floor porch were looking down at me.  I asked in English which way I needed to go to get to the street.  One of them motioned to turn left and within a couple of minutes I found myself exiting out of the housing slums and into an open construction site.  There was the shopping mall I had been looking for just a couple of hundred yards away.

Hand laborers were carting concrete blocks and sand in bags and loading dump trucks.  There were several large construction cranes and heavy earth moving equipment doing the groundwork for another shopping mall or condo complex or office building or luxury hotel.

The realization that the slum community I had been immersed in for the previous hour had a limited life kind of saddened me.  The people will be relocated as their slum dwellings are razed to allow modern development.

The slums literally abut the deluxe shopping center of designer label stores like Burberry and Gucci.  There were a half dozen young women with their babies and toddlers on the smooth tiled walkways leading into one side of the shopping center.  Children ran around barefoot on the polished stone in the sun and shade while mothers toiled with sewing or handicrafts or just sat sleeping in the shade of the shopping center steps.

Where ya’ from dude?

When touring around San Francisco and Yosemite this past month, I heard many foreign languages besides Spanish. Where are all these people from?

Here are some statistics on overseas visitors I picked up at press conferences last week. The first set of data is from a California Travel & Tourism Fact Sheet and the New York data is from a NYC & Company “History of International Travel & Markets” page on International Visitors to NYC.

California Travel & Tourism Commission Facts

California had 13.6 million international visitors in 2010; a 9% increase over 2009.

Asia is driving growth in international arrivals with China, India and South Korea leading the way for overseas visitors.

California overseas visitors in 2010.

1. U.K. = 683,000 visitors spending $688 million.
2. Japan = 545,000 visitors spending $597 million.
3. Australia = 502,000 visitors spending $568 million.
4. China = 399,000 visitors spending $648 million.
5. South Korea = 390,000 visitors spending $460 million.
6. Germany = 388,000 visitors spending $387 million.
7. France = 382,000 visitors spending $354 million.
8. India = 184,000 visitors spending $303 million.
9. Scandinavia = 177,000 visitors spending $335 million.
10. Italy = 163,000 visitors spending $244 million.
11. Brazil = 113,000 visitors spending $147 million.

According to a B&B hostess I stayed with in Ireland back in the 1990s, her anecdotal experience indicated Australians were the most frugal travelers. This California data indicates it is the French holding back their spending. My uninformed explanation is the French probably don’t buy cases of Napa Valley wine to take back home. Then again, maybe the Australians just hang out in California longer.

New York City Overseas Visitors in 2010

1. U.K. = 1,095,000 visitors.
2. Germany = 588,000 visitors.
3. France = 548,000 visitors.
4. Italy = 431,000 visitors.
5. Australia = 419,000 visitors.
6. Scandinavia (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden) = 400,000 visitors.
7. Spain = 357,000 visitors.
8. Middle East region (excluding Israel) = 355,000 visitors.
9. Eastern Europe (excluding Russia) = 353,000 visitors.
10. Brazil = 332,000 visitors.
11. BeNeLux (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg) = 306,000 visitors.
12. Ireland = 268,000 visitors.
13. Japan = 216,000 visitors.
14. South Korea = 203,000 visitors.
15. China = 183,000 visitors.
16. Argentina = 175,000 visitors.
17. Israel = 169,000 visitors.
18. India = 147,000 visitors.
19. Russia = 94,000 visitors.

Sources: Office of Travel & Tourism Industries, Tourism Economics, NYC & Company.

International tourism is up in California and New York City and so are hotel rates in these globally popular locations.

Here are some thoughts on maintaining hotel loyalty elite status while traveling in cities of rising rates. STR, the hotel data company for North America, reported average daily rates last week in the U.S. were $154.50 for upper-upscale hotel market segment with occupancy at 78.0%. The luxury hotel market segment had average daily rates of $260.71 with occupancy at a high 77.3%. 

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

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

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

Maintaining hotel elite status in a city of rising rates

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Conventions and Events are a Leisure Traveler budget buster 

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

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

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

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

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

“Welcome to Loyalty Traveler.” 

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

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

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

U.S. Travel Association, the same folks who brought us the Discover America Daily Getaways for discount hotel loyalty points and car rentals last month, organizes the annual International Pow Wow. The 43^rd International Pow Wow is currently being held in San Francisco from May 21-25, 2011. The convention objective is to market the U.S. as a travel destination for international visitors.

This is the marketplace showcase for international tourism to the U.S. generating $3.5 billion in sales. Over 5,500 delegates from 70 countries meet with U.S. travel suppliers during several days of greetings, meetings and parties. All the major hotel chains have representatives here.

Best Western booth at International Pow Wow 2011 San Francisco

Several hundred regional and state tourism boards make contact with travel buyer representatives who sell U.S. travel packages in countries across the globe.

California Central Coast Tourism Council booth at International Pow Wow 2011

Travel journalists play a significant role in this convention. Over 400 international travel writers are here in San Francisco for the Pow Wow. The objective for bringing international journalists to San Francisco for Pow Wow is to provide U.S. regional tourism information and story ideas for influential writers and media in the travel world. Journalists create the stories informing travelers about U.S. tourism destinations and generate desire among international tourists to visit the U.S.

There was a two hour window for meeting journalists and only 20 tables of more than 200 were occupied by US travel writers.

Wowed by International Pow Wow

San Francisco as the host city has opened wide the Golden Gate City for delegates.

Sunday morning was a media reception at the Ferry Building plying journalists with coffee, alcohol and food at 9am. Most people were drinking from the wine selections of local vineyards, but yours truly is a beer connoisseur and I took advantage of the local microbrew selection including Thirsty Bear Brewery and 21st Amendment brewery imperial stout.

The day was not all dining and drinks, although the majority of my day was consumption oriented. There were many options for press tours to various parts of San Francisco such as historical tours, a movie location tour to see some of the settings for films shot in the city, a music history tour to reminisce about Haight Ashbury in the 60s and the punk venues of the late 70s, early 80s. 

I lived through much of that history as a local regularly visiting my grandparents who lived in San Francisco from the 1920s. I was an active spectator from Monterey in the punk music scene of the late 70s, so I wanted to try something I had never done – Bike the Golden Gate Bridge.

Three outfits provide bike rentals and guided tours of San Francisco. Bike and Roll, Blazing Saddles and Bay City Bike guided small groups of delegates on a seven mile ride to the Golden Gate Bridge. The wind was fierce and the path crowded on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

Bike the Bridge Tour

Alcatraz Islandwas reserved exclusively for Pow Wow delegates Sunday afternoon. That might seem unusual except for the fact that the National Parks Service is a major sponsor of the International Pow Wow. I was there in December and I needed to check into the InterContinental San Francisco, so I passed on that excursion.

Sunday night the Pier 39 entertainment and dining complex in the Fisherman’s Wharf area of San Francisco was open exclusively for the Pow Wow guests. Every restaurant on Pier 39 provided complimentary buffet selections and drinks. Live music was playing in multiple places with everything from string quartet to steel drum to a cappella quartet and the Cal Berkeley Marching Band. Doors were open from the merry-go-round to the Aquarium of the Bay.

Neptune’s Palace Seafood Restaurant and Hard Rock Cafe held my attention much of the evening as I met delegates from Chile, Australia, Germany, Nicaragua, Honduras, Kuwait, China and the U.S.

Hard Rock Cafe San Francisco at Pier 39

Monday morning the formal industry contacts began and I met with representatives from Hilton, Hyatt, Kimpton, Marriott, Starwood, Best Western and tourism boards around the country in a whirlwind travel industry equivalent of speed dating. With over 1,000 U.S. tourism representatives in attendance, the International Pow Wow allows three days for meeting delegates at booths and nights for making informal contacts.

Yesterday afternoon I spent time with other travel bloggers including Jennifer Miner of The Vacation Gals and Chris Gray Faust of Chris Around the World blogs.

Time to get back to the meetings. Today I will be tweeting more about the International Pow Wow. Follow Loyalty Traveler and search #ipw11 for more information.

Maldives Wedding Bell Blues, Ireland’s (formerly the Hilton) Limerick Hotel Brothel Bust and St. Regis Mexico City $20 Mistake Rate

Maldives Wedding Bell Blues

This story just makes me sad. Anyone who has traveled to a region where the people speak a language you don’t understand has likely had the feeling of being the fool. This unfortunate Swiss couple renewed their wedding vows with a local ceremony at the high-priced Vilu Reef Beach & Spa Resort, Maldives.

The wedding ceremony You Tube video with English subtitles has gone viral as the officiant of the ceremony mocks and insults the wedding couple in the local dialect Dhivehi. The amazing part to me is the number of other local people listening to the ceremony who stand by saying nothing.

The video is 9 minutes and includes subtitles in English for offensive language by the officiant. Without subtitles you would not have a clue that anything is out of the ordinary. The story even made it to Huffington Post yesterday.

I imagine the officiant of the ceremony will spend time in jail. There could be a backlash effect for Maldives tourism. The President of the country even addressed the issue of the YouTube video in his weekly radio address.

The Vilu Reef Maldives Resort itself receives great reviews on TripAdvisor and these are reviews posted before the story broke. Rates currently posted for 2011 start at US$230 per night for a Garden Villa and $950 per night for the Presidential Water Suite accommodating four people.

Hotel in Limerick Brothel Bust (IrishCentral.com October 23, 2010 story)

The IrishCentral.com story from October 23, 2010 states this incident happened at the Hilton Limerick, however, this property went independent as the Strand Hotel Limerick in September 2008 and has actually not been associated with Hilton Hotels in over two years.

Delving into this story a little deeper I find the actual brothel event occurred in July 2008. So why is there a confusing IrishCentral.com story with 16 comments from the past week?

Bad reporting.

The truly fascinating discovery I made with this brothel story is a paper discussing the rationale for why the Strand Hotel Limerick decided Hilton branding was not in its best interest in the decision to go as a hotel independent in Limerick, Ireland. Local branding seemed more relevant to this hotel than global name recognition. The removal of the Hilton brand occurred just two months after this brothel story broke in July 2008.

Strand Hotel Limerick website.

St. Regis Mexico City $20 Mistake Rate

October 22 at 4:22 PST (California Time), there was a post on FlyerTalk for $20 per night room rates at the St. Regis Mexico City. Dates throughout 2011 were available at the $20 room rate.

This hotel normally publishes rates in the $300 to $400 per night range.

In less than two hours this deal was gone and the rate mistake was fixed. Who knows how many hundreds of nights were booked?

The $20 rate switched to minimum rates around $379 per night.

The St. Regis responded to the lucky $20 guests with an email later that day. The hotel agreed to honor one night at $20 (+19% tax), but additional nights would be $189 per night plus 19% tax. Potential guests were given until October 27 to accept or reject the offer.

Starwood Lurker even clarified the issue with a statement that the St. Regis would honor the first night at $20 and additional nights at $189 in the Grand Deluxe room category  originally booked with breakfast included at the hotel restaurant.

Quite a reasonable outcome. I missed this deal by about 30 minutes.

I read the news today in the Irish Times, oh boy.

15,000 hotel rooms in Ireland need to close.

The Irish Hotels Federation report says 15,000 hotel rooms need “orderly elimination” and closures should begin before summer 2010 tourist season. Apparently, Ireland went on a hotel room building binge in the past ten years due to government tax incentives. Nearly 27,000 new rooms were built in the past decade doubling the hotel rooms in the country.

I spent the summers of 1997 and 1998 traveling around Ireland staying in B&Bs. There are thousands of B&B rooms around the country. The experience of staying in a family’s home is the kind of vacation that brings a tourist up close and personal to an Irish family. I liked the experience, but the intimacy of being with a family was also a catalyst for getting involved with hotel loyalty programs. I enjoy the anonymity and privacy of being a hotel guest.

Fáilte, tabhair cuairt ar Dhún na nGall

The item that touched me from the Irish Times article was reading the Ostan na Rosann Hotel closed this week and put 30 people out of work in Dungloe, Ireland. Kelley and I were at that hotel in July 1997. This is Enya and Clannad country on the northwestern coast of Ireland in County Donegal.

Please Note;

The Ostan na Rosann Hotel and Leisure centre is closed for the Winter.

I don’t recall if I was reading Let’s Go Ireland, Lonely Planet, or some early Ireland internet travel website in 1997 when the advice came that if a tourist wanted to see what was left of the real Ireland, then go where the fewest tourists visit and spend time in County Donegal, the northern most county of Ireland and mostly separated from the rest of Ireland by the Northern Ireland border.

We had been in Ireland about a week when we arrived in Dungloe. If you have a travel story to tell my wife Kelley about riding a bus through Central America or Southeast Asia with the locals, Kelley will reciprocate with a story of riding a Lough Swilly bus from Letterkenny to Dungloe with the locals.

During the days in Dungloe I hiked for miles around “The Rosses” in the early morning summer light. Alone, but never lonely walking in sunshine and showers, clouds constantly moving overhead and  changing the color shades of green and blue visible on the landscape and lakes. The smell of burning peat coming from the occasional farmhouse took me back to an earlier time; the gigantic wind turbines near Mt. Errigal a few miles away notwithstanding.  Walking in County Donegal was a step back to a pastoral time with just me, the sheep, and an occasional dog using the paths. I had it in my head to walk the entire coastline of Ireland over successive summers. That is an idea I might come back to one day.

Sheep in fields, County Donegal, Ireland

On the morning walk back through Dungloe I would stop at the bakery around 8:30 or 9am for sandwich breads. The baker questioned me every morning on why I was up so early while on vacation. He was one of the few people working this early in the morning. The streets remained fairly quiet each day until around 11am.

The west coast of County Donegal was a place where magic things happen, or speaking in more grounded terms “rather improbable coincidences” occur. (I just realized Clannad is playing on the TV music station as I am writing this. Coincidence of course.)

Dolmen in County Donegal provided shelter in a torrential rainstorm

One day while in Dungloe I talked Kelley into walking several miles to the Burtonport ferry for a ride over to Arranmore Island. We spent the afternoon visiting small pubs on the island, talking with a soccer star who looked like a gorgeous young Roger Daltrey, and receiving sage advice from an elderly publican on why “too much choice in America” is not necessarily a good thing.

Back on the mainland we stopped in a Burtonport pub and joined a crowd of Irish pub drinkers cheer on England for a couple of hours in a rugby battle with South Africa on the pub’s TV.  Irish criticism of England, which we commonly heard in the summer of 1997, seemed to be placed on the backburner when it came to sports and the Irish didn’t have a team in the match.

Turned out I had read the bus schedule incorrectly and the bus ride back to Dungloe I promised Kelley did not happen. We had to walk the miles back to Dungloe after the rugby game ended. In the middle of the fields there suddenly appeared a young Scotsman from Glasgow. He talked incessantly on the walk to town and we understood less than half of what he said. He had one difficult accent to comprehend. In a truly rural camaraderie gesture he offered an invitation for me to join him and his buds for drinking. He said they never had much money to drink, but a good punch-up made for great evening entertainment after the money was gone. I don’t know if he was serious or not, but a good punch-up was something I worked to avoid during our Irish pub crawls.

We ran into him again a week later at a crowded festival in Donegal town and we were able to spend time with him and three generations of his family in a crowded pub.  No punch-ups at the end of the evening. Those are the kind of travel memories that remain with you years later.

Magic in the beauty of stones

Christopher Elliott wrote a recent article, The Disappearing Vacation, where he coins 2009 the year of the ‘naycation’, as in No Vacation for 2009. 

The numbers are looking bleak, particularly on the luxury front of air travel.

Premium air travel fell 11.5% worldwide in November 2008 compared to November 2007, according to a New York Times article yesterday, January 20, 2009.  The greatest decline is in long-haul travel.  Those $15,000 to $20,000 ticket prices finally seem to be an inhibitor to flying up front for the moneyed corporate masses.  (I refer to corporate masses from my experience of having traveled on dozens of premium flights and never having talked to someone seated next to me in the premium cabin who paid for their own flight.  Corporate travel or frequent flyer award travel is common.)

Trans-Pacific premium travel suffered nearly an 18% drop in November 2008.  This might be a good time to try and score a First Class award ticket on a trans-Pacific route.

Trans-Atlantic premium flight travel to Europe dropped 9% in November over the year before. 

And the airline industry forecast is for the travel market to decline further before an improvement is seen.

On the hotel front, luxury hotel travel has dropped 24% from a year ago in recent industry tracking data.

Chris Elliott commented in his ‘Disappearing Vacation’ piece “No two ways about it, staying close to home and exploring the local attractions can be dull. (Unless you live in a place where people like to vacation.)”

Lone Cypress, Pebble Beach 1-18-09

Pebble Beach, Western Edge of California, Eastern Edge of the Pacific

I do have the good fortune to live in a place where a staycation is still a great time.  When traveling and asked where I am from, I regularly describe where I live, Monterey/Pacific Grove/Pebble Beach/Carmel, collectively known as the Monterey Peninsula, as the place in California where Californians vacation.   

We spent the day basking in the sun and whale watching at Pebble Beach this past weekend.  The best whale watching from the shoreline I have seen in my life has occurred the past two weeks.  The Monterey Peninsula has had the longest winter heatwave in almost 50 years.  The temperature in Monterey has exceeded 70 degrees for the past 9 days and on Monday, January 19 the temperature peaked out at 80. The last time the Peninsula saw this kind of winter extended warm temperatures was January 1962.

Cypress Point, westernmost point of Pebble Beach, looking south to Point Sur

I rag on the exclusivity of Pebble Beach, but I have to admit the scenery is damn beautiful and the whalewatching from Cypress Point was the best location on the Peninsula I have been in the past two weeks for close views of whales from the shore. Some whales were within 1/2 mile of land. 

The $9.25 entrance fee to the 5,300 acre privately owned and gated community on the western edge of the Monterey Peninsula keeps me from visiting the area as frequently as I would like.  Bicycles may enter Pebble Beach without charge for the cycling alternative.  I need to get a bike.

Pebble Beach will have the ATT Pro-Am golf tournament in two weeks.  The hotels need the revenue.  Pebble Beach, feeling the pinch of luxury travel cuts, has shed employees, shut down restaurants on Sundays, and offered discounts on room and golf/spa packages for their three hotel properties: Pebble Beach Lodge, Spanish Bay, and Casa Palmeiro.

The Lodge at Pebble Beach, view from near 18th green of Pebble Beach Golf Links

Still, Pebble Beach Corporation has posted rate increases for April 2009.  An ocean view room at the Pebble Beach Lodge will increase more than 4% from $925 to $965 per night.

The Lodge at Pebble Beach, Oceanview rooms

The rooms above look over the 18th green of Pebble Beach Golf Links and Carmel Beach is in the distance.

Pebble Beach Golf Links, 18th green, a view from oceanview rooms at The Lodge

Is $965 for a night at a California coastal resort feasible in this economy? 

Time will tell if this luxury retreat on the Monterey Peninsula will continue to see a retreat in luxury for 2009.

Loyalty Traveler tip: The $9.25 car admission fee to Pebble Beach will be deducted from your restaurant or bar bill if you visit one of the Pebble Beach restaurants, bars, and cafes.  A bottle of Stella Artois will run $7.25 at Traps in Spanish Bay Inn and appetizers are $10-$20; Peppoli restaurant entrees are $30 to $50.  The Lodge has similar prices.

Spanish Bay Inn, bagpiper at sunset

I actually published a post here on Loyalty Traveler Wednesday with lots of photos of Berlin from a walk across the city I made in July 2000.  The formatting was all messed up and I just couldn’t get it to work again so I deleted the post.

I am more of an impressionist in my travel places thoughts.  The photos were old, from a cheap camera, and the film went undeveloped for seven years.  The Berlin blog post did not seem appropriate for this Loyalty Traveler blog (although I did stay at the Westin Dresden in 2000 using Starpoints).

Today I placed my first blog post on “Ric’s Other Space” at this location. 

Check it out if you want to see some photos of Berlin and a disjointed narrative on travel in Germany.

Going Green, Berlin, Germany  July 2000

SIN is Singapore, Changi Airport.

Loyalty Travelers based in the United States learn that Singapore is the farthest destination in flight miles a person can easily fly to from the USA on a variety of carriers and have an easy and affordable experience.

Singapore generally requires a US-Japan-Singapore routing and this is an 8,444 mile flight distance from San Francisco-Tokyo-Singapore (SFO-NRT-SIN).
New-York City-Los Angeles-Tokyo-Singapore (JFK/LGA/EWR-LAX-NRT-SIN) is an astounding 11,250 miles one-way. Mileage runners even figure out ways of adding additional flight segments to these basic routings for 1,500 or more flight miles.

The rationale for making a “mileage run” long distance itinerary is apparent when considering the miles earned in the frequent flyer member’s account and the elite qualifying flight miles credit. After attaining 50,000-flight mile elite status, a flyer earns a 100% flight mile bonus on qualifying economy fares with any one of the major airlines Alaska, American, Continental, Delta, Northwest, United, or US Airways. The perks of complimentary flight upgrades, international lounge access, and other benefits await the elite flyer.

It is always good to know the rules for miles earned for your ticketed fares. The booking class of your ticket determines upgrade eligibility, miles earned, and eligibility for frequent flyer elite status qualifying miles (or points).

April 2008 Mileage Run Sample:
I’ll use United Mileage Plus as the carrier for this example, although a nearly identical calculation will apply for flyers in the other major airline loyalty programs of Alaska, American, Northwest, Delta, Continental, or US Airways.

Feb 28, 2008 a New York, (JFK)-Singapore (SIN) ticket, prices today at under $1,100 for all United Airlines itineraries. (Prices fluctuate and may occasionally drop below $1,000 from eastern US or below $800 from western US departure cities).

Tip: Quick mileage calculations between airports is available from the website: Great Circle Mapper, http://gc.kls2.com

The first choice of the lowest-priced itineraries offered by United.com is JFK-NRT-SIN routing in economy class “S” booking code. “S” booking code is ineligible for Mileage Plus cabin upgrades with miles or elite certificates since it is an all international flights itinerary.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

United Airlines Flight #837 (1-stop, plane change)
Depart New York, JFK 7:09
Arrive Tokyo, Japan, NRT 14:10 (next day, Thursday)
Elite Qualifying Flight Miles and Award Miles Earned: 6,745 miles

Thursday, April 3, 2008

United Airlines Flight #803
Depart Tokyo, NRT 17:50
Arrive Singapore, SIN 23:55
Elite Qualifying Flight Miles and Award Miles Earned: 3,324 miles

Thursday, April 10, 2008

United Airlines Flight #804
Depart Singapore, SIN 7:15
Arrive Tokyo, NRT 15:15
Elite Qualifying Flight Miles and Award Miles Earned: 3,324 miles

United Airlines Flight # 852 (1-stop, plane change)
Depart Tokyo, NRT 18:00
Arrive New York, JFK 22:33
Elite Qualifying Flight Miles and Award Miles Earned: 6,745 miles

Summary: JFK-SIN, United Airlines, “S” booking class,
$1,069.24 and earns 20,146 Elite Qualifying Flight Miles and
20,146 frequent flyer Award Miles (+ elite and/or promotional bonuses)

Although the screen states the flight is a one-stop, the ticket buyer must click the Plane Change links on the United reservations screen to see where the plane stops. A change of aircraft is required in San Francisco.

The New York to Tokyo routing requires a plane change in San Francisco, yet the two separate flights are given a single flight number. United Mileage Plus calculates the ticket as a non-stop flight for frequent flyer flight miles earned. This ticket will earn 20,146 flight miles for $1,069.24.

An alternative routing for the New York, JFK to Singapore “S” booking class ticket provides the frequent flyer with 22,363 award miles for $1,087.24, and also adds Hong Kong airport to the itinerary.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

United Airlines Flight #877
Depart: New York, JFK 8:00
Arrive: Los Angeles, LAX 11:14
Elite Qualifying Flight Miles and Award Miles Earned: 2,475 miles

United Airlines Flight #867
Depart: Los Angeles, LAX 12:56
Arrive: Hong Kong, HKG 18:45 (Thursday, next day)
Elite Qualifying Flight Miles and Award Miles Earned: 7,246 miles

Thursday, April 3, 2008

United Airlines Flight #895
Depart: Hong Kong, HKG 20:00
Arrive: Singapore, SIN 23:35
Elite Qualifying Flight Miles and Award Miles Earned: 1,603 miles

Thursday, April 10, 2008

United Airlines Flight # 804
Depart: Singapore, SIN 07:15
Arrive: Tokyo, Japan 15:15
Elite Qualifying Flight Miles and Award Miles Earned: 3,328 miles

United Airlines Flight # 838
Depart: Tokyo, Japan 16:05
Arrive: San Francisco, SFO 09:10 (Thursday, same day)
Elite Qualifying Flight Miles and Award Miles Earned: 5,124 miles

United Airlines Flight # 010
Depart: San Francisco, SFO 11:20
Arrive: New York, JFK 20:03
Elite Qualifying Flight Miles and Award Miles Earned: 2,586 miles

Summary: JFK-SIN, United Airlines, “S” booking class,
$1,087.24 and earns 22,363 Elite Qualifying Flight Miles and
22,363 frequent flyer Award Miles (+ elite and/or promotional bonuses)

Perhaps the greatest benefit is the ability to upgrade the transcontinental USA flights in “S” booking class since these are now domestic flights. Although the other itinerary also has two transcontinental domestic flight segments, these flights are under a single international United flight number and thus international upgrade rules apply.

A United ticket from New York, JFK to Singapore has itinerary choices that make a huge difference in loyalty program benefits for a small difference in cash. $18.00 is a small price to pay for 2,217 extra flight miles towards elite status and mileage upgrade credit, in addition to the extra frequent flier miles for awards and the potential for a transcontinental domestic upgrade.

Elite Frequent Flier Bonus Miles

A Premier Executive, 50,000-mile status member with a 100% flight miles bonus will earn 22,363 elite bonus miles on the Hong Kong routing.

$1,087.24 fare / 44,726 Mileage Plus miles = $24.31/1,000 miles earned.

Travel earns miles at a lower rate than buying miles through the airlines or credit cards.

**************
The Quest for Frequent Flier Elite Status

Two trips between New York and Singapore a year on United can easily earn 45,000 elite qualifying miles and earn 90,000 frequent flyer miles. These earned miles are redeemable for a Business Class Star Alliance award from the USA to Europe (80,000 miles) or South America (80,000 miles) or North or South Asia (90,000 miles). And a frequent flyer would only need one additional 5,000 mile trip, like New York City – San Francisco (JFK-SFO), to earn 50,000-mile elite status within the calendar year with United Mileage Plus.

United Airline Mileage Plus Business Class Star Alliance Awards:

80,000 miles Business Class award, US/Canada-Europe using United Airlines or any of these 11 Star Alliance partner airlines which currently operate flights between North America and Europe: Air Canada, Air New Zealand, Austrian Airlines, bmi, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, SAS, Singapore Airlines, Swiss, TAP Portugal, US Airways.

90,000 miles Business Class award, US/Canada-Asia using United Airlines or any of these partner airlines which currently operate flights between North America and Asia: Air Canada, Air China, All Nippon Airways, Asiana Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways.

The Laguna Resort and Spa, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia
Starwood Luxury Collection Hotel (12/2003)

March Madness Triple Pointer

Another Easter vacation break is coming up in March. When a spouse works in public schools in the USA, Easter week vacation is a given.

The combination of points and miles I currently have at my disposal had me looking at flights to Japan. I have transited through Tokyo more than a dozen times, however, I have never flown on a ticket allowing a free stopover. I am quite familiar with the Narita (NRT) airport.

Mexicana miles are my connection to Japan. Back in 2002, Kelley and I earned about 60,000 miles in our Mexicana Airlines accounts when the airline was a Star Alliance member. There was a 5th Anniversary of the Star Alliance promotion for 55,555 miles earned if a frequent flier flew 5 Star Alliance member airlines. I purchased 5 tickets from Lufthansa, United, Air Canada, British Midland, and Austrian Airlines. Each ticket consisted of four flight segments. For example: Lufthansa went Amsterdam-Frankfurt-Munich outbound and Munich-Frankfurt-Amsterdam on the return flights. We flew 20 flight segments and submitted one boarding pass from each ticket to four different airlines. We received the 55,555 mile bonus with Lufthansa Miles&More, Air Canada Aeroplan, ANA Mileage Plan, and Mexicana Frecuenta. Since 2002, I have added to the accounts through other activities and both Frecuenta accounts now have 100,000 miles.

Mexicana airline partner awards still include several of the Star Alliance airlines. A feature of Mexicana Frecuenta is the ability to purchase large amounts of miles. The price at $22/1,000 miles makes this a lower cost alternative than many other airlines. Japan Airlines is the newest airline partner of Mexicana. The low cost of miles and high value award tables seem to have prompted an awards table makeover for Mexicana Airline Partner tickets using miles.

As little as two years ago I could have traveled in First Class from the USA to nearly any country in the world for 100,000 Mexicana miles. Now I have the option of LOT Polish Business Class from New York to Warsaw for 80,000 miles; American Airlines USA–Europe for 90,000 miles, or the high value ticket routing of Tokyo-Sydney or Tokyo-London in First Class for 100,000 miles.

A Japan Airlines First Class award ticket using my Mexicana miles is what prompted me to look at the fares between California and Tokyo. And what I found prompted me to sign up for the American Airlines Platinum Challenge.

$753 all-in fare, Monterey – Tokyo, March travel, “W” booking class.

There is high value in one ticket bought and flown and American Airlines 50,000 mile Platinum status after the trip through February 2009.

Starwood Hotels Le Meridien Free Nights Promotion

This promotion is the biggest opportunity with Starwood Preferred Guest since 2003 when the Asia/Pacific Stay 5 earned a 50,000 points bonus. Another reason I was looking at a Japan Airlines award is the opportunity of a First Class Japan Airlines award to Bali, Indonesia. The interesting feature of Bali is the ability to hotel hop around the island while quickly qualifying for two promotions at low nightly rates.

The two Hyatt hotels, the Grand Hyatt Bali at Nusa Dua and the Bali Hyatt, and Starwood’s Le Meridien Nirwana Golf and Spa Resort, Bali all have rates below $150.
Le Meridien Nirwana has rates as low as $95 for most nights in March. The Bali Hyatt was as low as $100 for most nights. There is a 21% tax and service fee.
Egypt has dirt cheap Le Meridien rates, Germany has European comforts at Le Meridien hotels in several cities in relaticely close proximity, and Bali has beach resort living.

Do the math: Le Meridien promotion awards 4 free nights at Le Meridien hotels for 7 Le Meridien stays by March 31, 2008. Starting at Le Meridien Bali and alternating nightly with Bali Hyatt means Day 1, 3, 5, 7 are at Le Meridien and days 2, 4, 6 at the Hyatt. 7 nights x $125 night = $875 for a week in Bali. Tokyo has two Le Meridien hotels and the rates are as low as $160/night all-in for some nights in March. Add $500 for 3 nights in Tokyo.

$1,400 for 10 hotel nights would earn Hyatt Platinum status (and free Clear Airport membership) and 4 free nights at a Le Meridien hotel to be used by March 31, 2009. Le Meridien Bora Bora is an eligible redemption hotel and this property will be reclassified as a Category 7 hotel next week for a nightly redemption rate of 30,000 points in low season and 35,000 points for high season.

The Hyatt lover loyalist could just bounce between the Hyatt hotels and quickly add up the Hyatt elite qualification stays with “Stays Count Double”. A two week Bali vacation could send you home with Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond elite status for under $2,000. The Stays Count Double promotion lasts through March 31, 2008.

The Loyalty Traveler Triple Pointer is American Airlines to Tokyo ($753 cost) and Platinum elite status through a challenge. Le Meridien Pacific Tokyo and Le Meridien Grand Pacific Tokyo and Le Meridien Bali for 7 stays and 4 free nights to come ($850 cost; future value about $2,000). 3 nights at the Bali Hyatt and Hyatt Gold Passport Platinum status with Stays Count Double promotion ($350 cost). $2,000 cost, plus a whole lot of added value for the Loyalty Traveler.
Loyalty Traveler sees the possibilities.

And if you don’t have the miles for First Class to Bali, United members can fly between Tokyo and DPS, Bali airport for 40,000 United Mileage Plus miles. From the USA, Bali is a 60,000 mile economy award flight. Another option is 20,000 miles on United from Tokyo to Bangkok or Singapore, and then a second 20,000 mile award from that location to Bali. This earns an additional city for no additional miles.

The Conde Nast Traveler Gold List describes itself as the “Best Places to Stay in the World, selected by readers of Conde Nast Traveler.”

Loyalty Traveler has examined a subgroup from this list to determine the hotels which also are part of major hotel loyalty programs. These hotels have the attribute of being available using hotel points.

Europe

Hilton Gold List Hotels with links to CN Traveler ratings and description.
Reserve Hotels listed in the print magazine do not appear to be online.

Mount Juliet Conrad, County Kilkenny, Ireland
HHonors Category 6
Free night = 40,000 points/night or 175,000 points/6-nights

Rome Cavalieri Hilton, Rome, Italy 

HHonors Category 6
Free night = 40,000 points/night or 175,000 points/6-nights

Conrad Brussels, Belgium (Reserve List)
HHonors Category 5
Free night = 35,000 points/night or 150,000 points/6-nights

Conrad Istanbul, Turkey (Reserve List)
HHonors Category 4
Free night = 30,000 points/night or 150,000 points/6-nights
PointStretcher Awards for 18,000 points/night may be available
PointStretcher Dates Jan 1-12; Feb 10-17; Mar 9-16

Hilton Budapest, Hungary (Reserve List)
HHonors Category 5
Free night = 35,000 points/night or 150,000 points/6-nights
My wife commented recently that our stay at the Budapest Hilton was the best hotel room we ever had. That is a big claim. We stayed in the King Duna Suite on a PointStretcher award.

Hyatt Hotels available with Gold Passport Points

Park Hyatt, Milan, Italy
Gold Passport Category 5
Free night =18,000 points

Park Hyatt, Zurich, Switzerland
Gold Passport Category 5
Free night =18,000 points

Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome, Paris, France (Reserve List)
Gold Passport Category 5
Free night =18,000 points

InterContinental Hotels Group

InterContinental Carlton, Cannes, France
Priority Club Rewards Free Night = 40,000 points

Ceylan InterContinental, Istanbul, Turkey
Priority Club Rewards Free Night = 40,000 points

InterContinental Amstel, Amsterdam, Netherlands (Reserve List)
Priority Club Rewards Free Night = 40,000 points

Marriott Corporation Brands

JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel, Bucharest, Romania
Marriott Rewards Category 4
Free night = 20,000 points/night to 105,000 points/7-night stay

JW Marriott Tiberio Palace, Capri, Italy
Marriott Rewards Category 7
Free night = 35,000 points/night to 150,000 points/7-night stay

Marriott Berlin, Germany
Marriott Rewards Category 5
Free night = 25,000 points/night to 115,000 points/7-night stay

Renaissance Chancery Court, London, UK
Marriott Rewards Category 7
Free night = 35,000 points/night to 150,000 points/7-night stay

Ritz-Carlton Berlin, Germany
Marriott Rewards Tier 1 Partner Hotel Award
Free Nights = 45,000 points/night to 175,000 points/7-night stay (25,000 points/night)

Ritz-Carlton Hotel Arts, Barcelona, Spain
Marriott Rewards Tier 2 Partner Hotel Award
Free Nights = 70,000 points/night to 250,000 points/7-night stay (35,714 points/night)

Starwood Hotels Brands

Le Meridien Beach Plaza, Monte Carlo, Monaco
SPG Category 5
Free Nights = 12,000-16,000 points/night or 48,000 – 64,000/ 5-night stay
Cash & Points Night = $90 + 4,800 points/night

Le Meridien, Vienna, Austria
SPG Category 4
Free Nights = 10,000 points/night or 40,000 points/5-night stay
Cash & Points Night = $60 + 4,000 points

Le Royal Meridien Bristol, Warsaw, Poland
SPG Category 3
Free Nights = 7,000 points/night or 28,000 points/5-night stay
Cash & Points Night = $45 + 2,800 points

Hotel Imperial, The Luxury Collection, Vienna, Austria
SPG Category 6
Free Nights = 20,000-25,000 points/night or 80,000 – 100,000/ 5-night stay
Cash & Points Night = $150 + 8,000 points/night

Hotel Kamp, The Luxury Collection, Helsinki, Finland
SPG Category 5
Free Nights = 12,000-16,000 points/night or 48,000 – 64,000/ 5-night stay
Cash & Points Night = $90 + 4,800 points/night

Hotel Villa Cipriana, The Luxury Collection, Asolo, Italy
SPG Category 4
Free Nights = 10,000 points/night or 40,000 points/5-night stay
Cash & Points Night = $60 + 4,000 points

Hotel Bristol, The Luxury Collection, Vienna, Austria
SPG Category 5
Free Nights = 12,000-16,000 points/night or 48,000 – 64,000/ 5-night stay
Cash & Points Night = $90 + 4,800 points/night

Hotel Alfonso XIII, The Luxury Collection, Seville, Spain
SPG Category 6
Free Nights = 20,000-25,000 points/night or 80,000 – 100,000/ 5-night stay
Cash & Points Night = $150 + 8,000 points/night

Hotel Maria Cristina, The Luxury Collection, San Sebastian, Spain
SPG Category 5
Free Nights = 12,000-16,000 points/night or 48,000 – 64,000/ 5-night stay
Cash & Points Night = $90 + 4,800 points/night

Hotel Grande Bretagne, The Luxury Collection, Athens, Greece
SPG Category 5
Free Nights = 12,000-16,000 points/night or 48,000 – 64,000/ 5-night stay
Cash & Points Night = $90 + 4,800 points/night

Hotel Gritti Palace, The Luxury Collection, Venice, Italy
SPG Category 7
Free Nights = 30,000-35,000 points/night or 120,000 – 140,000/ 5-night stay
Cash & Points Night = Not Available

Hotel Goldener Hirsch, Salzburg, Austria
SPG Category 5
Free Nights = 12,000-16,000 points/night or 48,000 – 64,000/ 5-night stay
Cash & Points Night = $90 + 4,800 points/night

Westin Palace, Madrid, Spain
SPG Category 5
Free Nights = 12,000-16,000 points/night or 48,000 – 64,000/ 5-night stay Cash & Points Night = $90 + 4,800 points/night

Westin Excelsior, Florence, Italy
SPG Category 6
Free Nights = 20,000-25,000 points/night or 80,000 – 100,000/ 5-night stay
Cash & Points Night = $150 + 8,000 points/night

Westin Europe & Regina, Venice, Italy
SPG Category 5
Free Nights = 12,000-16,000 points/night or 48,000 – 64,000/ 5-night stay
Cash & Points Night = $90 + 4,800 points/night

Westin Turnberry Resort, Ayrshire, Scotland, UK
SPG Category 5
Free Nights = 12,000-16,000 points/night or 48,000 – 64,000/ 5-night stay
Cash & Points Night = $90 + 4,800 points/night

The Lanesborough, St. Regis Hotel, London, England, UK
(This Starwood Hotel does not participate in SPG loyalty program).

Blue Palace Resort & Spa, The Luxury Collection, Crete, Greece (Reserve List)
SPG Category 6
Free Nights = 20,000-25,000 points/night or 80,000 – 100,000/ 5-night stay
Cash & Points Night = $150 + 8,000 points/night

Hotel Cala di Volpe, The Luxury Collection, Porto Cervo, Sardinia, Italy (Reserve List)
SPG Category 7
Free Nights = 30,000-35,000 points/night or 120,000 – 140,000/ 5-night stay
Cash & Points Night = Not Available

St. Regis Grand, Rome, Italy (Reserve List)
SPG Category 6
Free Nights = 20,000-25,000 points/night or 80,000 – 100,000/ 5-night stay Cash & Points Night = $150 + 8,000 points/night

Westin Excelsior, Rome, Italy (Reserve List)
SPG Category 6
Free Nights = 20,000-25,000 points/night or 80,000 – 100,000/ 5-night stay
Cash & Points Night = $150 + 8,000 points/night