May 2012 promotions from Top Ten hotel loyalty programs:

Links to my Loyalty Traveler posts provide more detail and promotion analysis for each offer.

Most hotel loyalty promotions are two to four months in duration.

The easiest way to quickly see a list of all hotel loyalty promotions discussed on Loyalty Traveler is to check my Loyalty Traveler Facebook page. All Loyalty Traveler post links feed into Twitter and all my tweets feed into Loyalty Traveler Facebook.

Summer 2012 hotel loyalty promotions Read More…

I redeemed Wyndham Rewards points I bought at 2011 Daily Getaways last week for the conference I am attending in L.A.

Sure, I would rather be at the Westin Bonaventure or JW Marriott LA for the U.S. Travel Association International PowWow 2012 conference, but my hotel stay only cost me $227 for four nights in hotels using Wyndham Rewards points I bought last year rather than the $1,000+ needed for the negotiated conference hotel rates.

And Wyndham Rewards points can also be transferred into airline frequent flyer miles. Wyndham Rewards has the best hotel points to airline miles exchange rate of any hotel loyalty program (1,000 points = 400 miles), unless you have six figure balances to exchange Marriott Rewards or Club Carlson points at slightly better rates.

Two times in the past year I used Wyndham Rewards points on road trips to book a Wyndham brand hotel while sitting in the lobby of the hotel and then walked over to the desk and picked up my room key.

My point being that Wyndham Rewards points are easy to redeem. With over 7,000 hotels globally, mostly in the USA, there is usually a Wyndham brand property around wherever you go in the 50 states and many other places. There are so many Wyndham hotel brands (14).

Wyndham Hotel Brands

Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, TRYP by Wyndham^®, Wingate by Wyndham^®, Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham^®, Dream, Night, Ramada^®, Days Inn^®, Super 8^®, Baymont Inn & Suites^®, Microtel Inns & Suites^®, Howard Johnson^®, Travelodge^®, and Knights Inn^®.

Wyndham Rewards Points Daily Getaways Deal

Monday April 23, 2012

• Pre-Sale 12 noon Eastern
• Main Sale 1 pm Eastern

16,000 Wyndham Rewards points (Super 8 page)

• 750 sets available.
• 150 sets available during pre-sale.
• cost without Amex card = $55 ($3.44 per 1,000 points)
• cost with Amex card = $49.50 ($3.10 per 1,000 points)
• maximum quantity per purchase = 2

28,000 Wyndham Rewards points (Days Inn page)

• 350 available
• 75 available during pre-sale
• cost without Amex card = $76 ($2.71 per 1,000 points)
• cost with Amex card = $68.40 ($2.44 per 1,000 points)
• maximum quantity per purchase = 1

32,000 Wyndham Rewards points (Ramada page)

• 350 available
• 70 available during pre-sale
• cost without Amex card = $110 ($3.44 per 1,000 points)
• cost with Amex card = $99 ($3.10 per 1,000 points)
• maximum quantity per purchase = 1

50,000 Wyndham Rewards points (Wyndham page)

• 300 available
• 60 available during pre-sale
• cost without Amex card = $143 ($2.86 per 1,000 points)
• cost with Amex card = $128.70 ($2.58 per 1,000 points)
• maximum quantity per purchase = 1

48,000 Wyndham Rewards points (Wingate page)

• 250 available
• 50 available during pre-sale
• cost without Amex card = $165 ($3.44 per 1,000 points)
• cost with Amex card: $148.50 ($3.10 per 1,000 points)
• maximum quantity per purchase = 1

As with all the hotel points offers on Daily Getaways, the sale promotes a specific hotel brand, however, you are buying Wyndham Rewards points and the use of these points is not tied to any specific hotel brand. The page says “1 Night at Super 8 for $55”, but you are buying 16,000 Wyndham Rewards points that can be used for hotel stays at any Wyndham brand or redeemed for airline miles and other things through Wyndham Rewards.

Wyndham Rewards promotion for members who do not reside in US, Canada or Mexico offers 10,000 bonus points for every two stays from March 29 through July 12. This offer is valid for 6 stays and a maximum 30,000 bonus points. Booking period is March 29-July 8 and stay must be completed by July 12, 2012 to qualify for this offer.

Promotion registration required. Register at wyndhamrewards.com/cinema, wyndhamrewards.com/suitcase or wyndhamrewards.de/suitcase OR phone 00-800 367-87477

This offer is valid for Wyndham brand hotel stays worldwide, except Travelodge in Canada and Super 8 in China do not participate in Wyndham Rewards.

“Participating Hotel Brands” are:

• Ramada®,
• Days Inn®,
• Baymont Inn & Suites®,
• Hawthorn Suites®,
• Howard Johnson®,
• Dream®,
• Night®,
• Knights Inn®,
• Microtel®,
• Travelodge® (U.S. hotels only),
• Wingate® by Wyndham branded hotels and
• Super8
• Wyndham Hotels and Resorts® properties located in Europe, North America, Latin America, the Caribbean and China also participate in this promotion. (LT note: This knocks out about six hotels in Australia, India, Libya, and Qatar.)

No free movie for you

The US, Canada, Mexico promotion version is double points or miles and includes free movie tickets. The terms of the international promotion state members can exchange points for movie tickets which is not a good deal compared to the value of Wyndham Rewards points.

I think this offer by Wyndham Rewards is better than the double points promotion for US members. This is a good offer for international visitors to the US who desire lower priced midscale and economy lodging. This is the best bonus currently being offered by the midscale chains.

30,000 Wyndham Rewards points can be two hotel nights at most Wyndham brands or one night at a Wyndham Hotel in a place like New York or London. There are also Ramada Hotels in many international city centers.

30,000 points exchange into 12,000 miles with the following airlines:

• Aeromexico
• Air Berlin
• Aeroplan
• Air China
• American Airlines
• China Eastern
• Czech Airlines
• Delta Airlines
• Hainan Airlines
• Frontier Airlines
• US Airways
• United Airlines
• Amtrak Guest Rewards

Wyndham Rewards members in the US, Canada and Mexico can register to earn Double Points or Double Miles and movie tickets for stays from March 29 through July 8, 2012.

Double points or miles begins with first stay and applies for up to four hotel stays during promotion period.

Movie Tickets.

A certificate for two movie tickets is earned after the 2nd and 4th stays. The tickets are a promotion for The Avengers movie (opening May 4 and the comic book version, not the British intelligence service version that still needs to be done decently after the Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman debacle). Terms read like other movie choices are an option. The value of the movie certificate for two is US$24 or 24CAD or $288 Mexican Pesos. Hollywood Movie Money certificate is valid for 30 days after completing online code activation process.

Members also receive a comic book after the second stay.

Wyndham Rewards promotion registration is required.

To qualify for the “Double starting with 1st stay” component and earn double Wyndham Rewards® points, airline miles or rail points, the member must:

• register at wyndhamrewards.com/movie or 1-866-996-7937,
• book a stay on wyndhamrewards.com, daysinn.com, ramada.com, wyndham.com, wingatehotels.com, hawthorn.com, super8.com, baymontinns.com, microtelinn.com, hojo.com, travelodge.com, knightsinn.com, dreamintl.com, or nighthotelny.com, at a qualifying rate with arrival dates from March 29 to July 8, 2012 and
• complete the stay by July 12, 2012.
• Registered members can receive double points or miles for four (4) separate qualified stays within the Promotion Period (for the first, second, third and fourth qualified stays) with a maximum of 3 rooms per stay.
• Members should allow six to eight weeks after completion of registration and stay for the bonus points, airline miles or rail points to be credited to their account.
• Airline mile bonus valid at US airline carriers, Air Canada and AeroMexico only.

Loyalty Traveler Analysis

Choose double points over double miles.

Wyndham Rewards has 14 hotel brands and all brands earn 10 points/$1, except Hawthorn Suites stays earn 5 points/$1.

Double points means $400 in hotel spend earns 8,000 points. Most Wyndham Rewards brands earn 2 miles per $1. Double miles is 4 miles per $1.

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts and Hawthorn Suites earn 500 miles per stay. Double miles is 1,000 miles per stay at these brands.

Wyndham Rewards points-to-miles exchange rate with 8,000 points = 3,200 miles in most programs is near the top of hotel loyalty programs.

$400 in hotel spend with double miles earns 1,600 miles, whereas, earning double points is 8,000 points that can be converted into 3,200 miles.

4 Stays limit – the common problem of midscale loyalty offers.

The main problem with the midscale chain loyalty promotions like Wyndham Rewards, Best Western Rewards and Choice Privileges is the low earning limit placed on promotions. These brands tend to have a limit that is reached quickly after 2 to 6 hotel stays during a promotion.

The difference with Wyndham Rewards is the ability to earn a bonus on more than one room per stay. The offers are not generally good enough to go out and book unnecessary extra rooms, but if your situation requires two or three rooms, then you can earn double points on up to 12 room nights in four stays.

Non-participating properties

Travelodge in Canada does not participate in Wyndham Rewards and neither does Super 8 in China. All other 7,000 or so Wyndham brand hotels worldwide are participating properties.

International Wyndham Rewards promotion is better.

A better promotion is available to Wyndham Rewards members who are not residents of US, Canada or Mexico. I’ll discuss that offer for 10,000 points every two stays in a separate post.

Hotels for Heroes is a program launching this year to allow Americans of frequent guest programs to donate their hotel points to assist the families of wounded veterans who need lodging while staying near the hospital. Marriott International, Wyndham Hotels Group and AmericInn Hotels & Suites are the initial three hotel companies to sign on as participants.

Hotels for Heroes was created with legislation introduced by Maryland Congressionman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger and Senator Ben Cardin (both D-MD) in November 2011 and passed with bipartisan support in the “National Defense Authorization Act” December 2011.

“Hotels for Heroes” will be an expansion of the national “Hero Miles” program that provides free round-trip airfare to wounded warriors recovering at military or VA medical centers as well as to friends and family visiting them. Flights under the “Hero Miles” program, which was created by Congressman Ruppersberger in 2003, are made possible through frequent flyer mile donations made by individual airline passengers. The “Hero Miles” program is administered by the Fisher House, a non-profit organization that opens its homes to military families visiting their injured loved ones at hospitals across the country. Fisher House recently announced its 25,000th ticket issued through the program.

http://dutch.house.gov/2011/12/hotels-for-heroes-program-passes-congress.shtml

Hotels for Heroes launched this week with the announcement that Marriott, Wyndham and AmericInn have signed on to the program. Other hotel loyalty programs are asked to join the effort and agree to participate by Memorial Day when organizers hope to be ready to accept donations of hotel points.

The Fisher House Foundation which runs Hero Miles will also oversee the Hotels for Heroes program.

Best Western, Choice, Hyatt, La Quinta, Starwood, Carlson, Hilton and IHG… I hope that most or all of these hotel chains sign on to the program in the next two months.

I feel compelled to issue a reality check based on the overwhelming pitch by bloggers for Starwood Preferred Guest being the primary program to consider when transferring hotel points for the US Airways points-to-miles 50% bonus from March 11-31, 2012.

Several travel blogs over the past 24 hours have discussed the US Airways hotel points transfer bonus promotion and most of the commentary suggests no other hotel program is worth considering besides SPG to get the best miles value from your hotel points. Read More…

Do a Marriott Courtyard and a Hilton Garden Inn have about the same room rate on average? How do Hyatt Place and Starwood Hotels aloft brands stack up in room rates?

STR and STR Global package hotel industry data. I like to read HotelNewsNow.com to see hotel industry trends and average room rates, although to get detailed information about hotel brands and places requires paying for information. I stick with the free stuff.

One of the valuable STR resources for me is the chain scale hotel list that categorizes hundreds of USA and global hotel brands on a scale of six market segments from economy to luxury. Hotel brands are placed on the scale solely using average daily rate as the factor. Note: the average daily rate data was added March 7 based on Smith Travel Research data for January 2012.

• Luxury = $262 ADR
• Upper Upscale = $148 ADR
• Upscale = $112 ADR
• Upper Midscale = $94 ADR
• Midscale = $73 ADR
• Economy = $50 ADR

Any specific hotel may have a large rate differential from another hotel in that brand, but the average rate says something about the brand overall across the hotel chain and across the USA and globe.

STR and STR Global have moved some hotel brands to a higher chain scale based on 2011 average daily rates.

• Best Western Premier moved from upper-midscale to upscale. Best Western launched a rebranding campaign in 2011 to distinguish the better hotels in the 4,000+ global chain.

All the other chains operate several different hotel brands across different market segments and Best Western finally got into the game with three tiers of Best Western, (3,000 or so hotels), Best Western Plus (1,000+ hotels) and Best Western Premier (over 100 hotels). The numbers given here are just rough estimates based on past data I have seen.

Best Western Premier moves to upscale hotels. My stay last year in Napa was a great room in an old motel style building. The room was definitely upscale.

Napa, California Best Western Premier Hotel Ivy

Hotel Ivy Napa, Best Western Premier Hotel.

Hotel Ivy Napa, Best Western Premier.

• Country Inns & Suites moved from midscale to upper-midscale. That is a huge accomplishment for Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group working to become a more recognized name in the chain scale competition.

Upper midscale includes brands like Hampton Inn, Clarion, Best Western Plus, Fairfield Inn, Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express.

Candlewood Suites, La Quinta and Ramada are examples of hotel brands in the midscale segment.

Hyatt Place, Hilton Garden Inn, Courtyard, Residence Inn and Four Points are in the higher upscale segment. The bad news for Club Carlson members is this chain segment change indicates rates are rising at Country Inns.

Loyalty Traveler note: This post originally had seven hotel brand changes based on a HotelNewsNow.com article (media arm of STR and STRGlobal). I received an email on March 7 stating HNN will issue a correction on their article and only Best Western Premier and Country Inns are changing in the hotel chain scale. I deleted references to the other hotel brands originally included in this post.

Wyndham Rewards Gift Me Promotion offers residents of the USA, Canada and Mexico the opportunity to earn over 20,000 bonus points with six hotel stays from November 17 through March 12, 2012. There is another promotion for European Wyndham Rewards members to earn up to 30,000 bonus points after six stays. Both of these promotions were extended to March 12 from their original ending date of February 1. Bookings must be made by March 5 and stays completed by March 12, 2012 for these bonus offers.

The basic offer is 6,500 bonus points after the 2nd, 4th and 6th stays during the promotion period for a potential 19,500 bonus points. There is also the option to earn 1,000 airline miles instead of 6,500 bonus points, however, the excellent exchange rate for Wyndham Rewards points-to-miles means members who desire miles will earn more miles by choosing the points bonus and then converting points to miles at a later date (6,500 points = 2,600 miles in most programs).

There is also an online booking bonus of 1,000 points for your first three bookings after promotion registration. And if you have a Wyndham Rewards VISA card there is an additional 500 points bonus on your first three bookings for a maximum 1,500 bonus points with VISA payment.

Wyndham Rewards Hotel Brands:

• Wyndham Hotels and Resorts®,
• Ramada®,
• Days Inn®,
• Super 8®,
• Wingate by Wyndham®,
• Baymont Inn & Suites®,
• Microtel Inns & Suites®,
• Hawthorn Suites® by Wyndham,
• TRYP by Wyndham™,
  Howard Johnson®,
• Travelodge®
• Knights Inn®

Loyalty Traveler Analysis

Assume you book six one-night hotel stays online and do not pay with Wyndham Rewards Visa during the promotion period. Wyndham has some of the lowest rates around with its economy brand hotel chains. Assume you choose hotels with an average nightly rate of $60. All Wyndham brands earn 10 points per dollar with the exception of Hawthorn Suites at 5 points/$1.

• Stay 1 = 600 points ($60 x 10 points/$1) + 1,000 online booking bonus points = 1,600 points.
• Stay 2 = 600 points ($60 x 10 points/$1) + 1,000 online booking bonus points + 6,500 Gift Me bonus points = 8,100 points.
• Stay 3 = 600 points ($60 x 10 points/$1) + 1,000 online booking bonus points = 1,600 points.
• Stay 4 = 600 points ($60 x 10 points/$1) + 6,500 Gift Me bonus points = 7,100 points.
• Stay 5 = 600 points ($60 x 10 points/$1) = 600 points.
• Stay 6 = 600 points ($60 x 10 points/$1) + 6,500 Gift Me bonus points = 7,100 points.

Total Points earned = 26,100 points for $360.

26,100 points can be converted into 10,000 airline miles or one to four hotel nights depending on where you choose to stay with your Wyndham Rewards points. I rank this offer as a good value 50% rebate potential if you plan your stays to maximize the promotion value of this offer. There are over 7,000 hotels in Wyndham Rewards and many hotels will offer savings over $100 on a 10,000 or 14,000 points reward night.

Redeeming Wyndham Rewards points

Most hotel rewards in Wyndham brands in the US and Canadaare divided into four tiers:

• Tier 1 = 6,000 points
• Tier 2 = 10,000 points
• Tier 3 = 14,000 points
• Tier 4 = 16,000 points

These reward tiers cover most of the hotel brands except Wyndham Hotels and Resorts rewardswhich are as low as 10,000 points per night for Wyndham Oklahoma City up to 45,000 points per night for one of the two Wyndham Hotels in New York City (the other is only 25,000 points). Most Wyndham Hotels in the US are 15,000 or 20,000 points per night.

Here is a spreadsheet with the ten largest hotel loyalty programs worldwide and all their airline partners for earning miles and points-to-miles transfers.

Hilton HHonors is far and away the biggest program for airline partnerships. That can be a major factor for a frequent guest earning miles from hotel stays in a frequent flyer program where there might be few opportunities to earn miles other than flying.

• Hilton HHonors = 57 airline partners
• IHG Priority Club = 43 airline partners
• Marriott Rewards = 36 airline partners
• Hyatt Gold Passport = 35 airline partners
• Starwood Preferred Guest = 34 airline partners

There are 8 airlines that only partner with one of these ten programs.

[click on image to see full-size in new window]

I will follow up this post with comments and details on airline miles differences in earning rates between different programs.

This seemed like a useful table to create as I work on my series of hotel points-to-miles exchange rates across loyalty programs for a selection of major airlines.

Loyalty Traveler – Airline Tables for Hotel Points-to-Miles Exchange Rates

• American Airlines Points-to-Miles Exchange Rates for 9 Hotel Programs. (Feb 5, 2012)
• American Airlines Points-to-Miles Exchange Rates for Elites and Credit Card members. (Feb 6, 2012)
• Delta Skymiles hotel points-to-miles rates in 9 hotel programs. (Feb 7, 2012)
• United Mileage Plus hotel points-to-miles rates favor Marriott, Club Carlson, Wyndham. (Feb 8, 2012)
• Hotel Loyalty Program Airline Partners: 10 programs compared on one spreadsheet. (Feb 9, 2012)
• Why Change hotel points into airline miles? (Feb 9, 2012)
• Hotel points conversion into Southwest Rapid Rewards points favors Marriott, Choice and Hyatt. (Feb 10, 2012)

Delta is the second airline in my series of points-to-miles exchange rate tables for members earning frequent flyer miles from hotel stays. Delta Airlines Skymiles members will earn miles fastest from hotel stays with Wyndham Rewards, Marriott Rewards and Club Carlson as a basic hotel program member. Throw in elite status and a credit card and SPG matches and exceeds Wyndham Rewards for earning miles. 

Delta Skymiles members have an advantage over members of the other major U.S. airlines in that eight of nine major hotel loyalty programs allow points-to-miles transfers at each program’s best exchange rate.

Read More…

Club Carlson, SPG, Wyndham and Hilton are the best hotel chains for earning American Airlines AAdvantage miles from hotel stays. SPG is the best earning for the top elite, well-traveled Super 75 Platinum. Still, even if your lifestyle is only Super 8, Wyndham Rewards will get you there on an AA or partner airline flight by earning miles nearly at the same rate of hotel spend as SPG.

My Loyalty traveler series on hotel points-to-miles exchange rates for frequent flyer miles continues with a look at 9 major hotel loyalty programs and points-to-miles exchange rates. These tables look at the miles earned at set levels of hotel spend. Top-tier elite hotel status and the best earning hotel cobranded credit card for hotel stay payment are additional factors in the miles calculations.

Table 1: Comparing Points-to-Miles Exchange Rates in 9 major hotel loyalty programs for American Airlines AAdvantage miles.

This table shows the actual exchange rate based on hotel spend for hotel stays. Credit cards and elite status are not considered.

Table 2: Top-tier elite membership factor when comparing Points-to-Miles Exchange Rates in 9 major hotel loyalty programs for American Airlines AAdvantage miles.

This table shows how top-tier elite membership earning rate alters the total number of points earned at each level of hotel spend.

Table 3: Co-Branded Hotel Credit Card with hotel loyalty top-tier elite membership when comparing Points-to-Miles Exchange Rates in 9 major hotel loyalty programs for American Airlines AAdvantage miles.

This table shows the influence of top tier elite and credit card spend.

Read More…