18
Apr
Starwood Preferred Guest has a Starpoints sale at 25% off when you buy 13,000 to 20,000 points by April 30, 2013. Normally Starpoints are $35 per 1,000 points.
Periodically SPG offers Starpoints at 20% discount for $28 per 1,000 points. This sale reduces the cost of points to $26.25 per 1,000 points.
Members can only purchase 20,000 points in a calendar year. You must have had an active account for a minimum 14 days to purchase points.
20,000 points is $525.
Buying Hyatt Gold Passport points normally costs $24 per 1,000 points. Hyatt is running a one week only bonus points offer from January 31 through February 6, 2013 for a 10% to 30% bonus on points purchases.
Hyatt Gold Passport members can purchase a maximum 40,000 points per year. This limited time offer makes possible the purchase of 52,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points for $960.
But is Hyatt’s 30% bonus points a good deal?
Promotion Basics:
Choice Privileges has an offer available right now that allows members to buy and redeem points for hotel nights in Paris, London and many other high priced locations for as little as $80 per night.
Choice Privileges offers 10% bonus points on points purchases through December 31, 2012. The regular price for 1,000 points is $11. This offer gives 1,100 points for $11.
Choice Privileges limits points purchases to 20,000 points per calendar year. This means a member can buy 22,000 points now for $220 and up to another 20,000 points in January 2013 for $220.
Note: Choice Privileges does not allow points transfers to other members, even a spouse.
You may not combine your points with points belonging to anyone else, including your spouse.
Choice Privileges Rules & Regulations: Other Terms and Conditions Rule #3.
The main point to know about Choice Privileges is reward reservations can only be made for hotels outside the USA within 60 days of your stay, unless you are an elite Platinum (75 days) or Diamond (100 days) member.
Choice Privileges reward nights range from 6,000 to 30,000 points for the vast majority of the 6,000+ hotels worldwide.
Another feature of Choice Privileges are the reward night rates change seasonally. Reward nights at hotels in the USA do not vary nearly as much as the reward nights for international hotels. Many hotels in Europe that cost 20,000 to 25,000 points per night in summer drop to just 8,000 points per night in the low season.
Choice Privileges Reward Search for London, England November 26, 2012.
Choice Privileges Reward Night search for London, GB returns eight hotels within London proper at just 8,000 points per night. There are several more hotels in the suburbs at 8,000 points per night.
Rate comparison for London using points and paying cash.
Quality Crown Hotel Hyde Park = 159GBP = USD $252 per night.
You can buy 8,000 points for $88 through Choice Privileges and with the 10% bonus you will receive 8,800 points. This hotel example reduces the rate from $252 down to $88 for a one-night stay and you will have 800 points remaining in your account.
That is one hotel bargain for London.
Booking a 4-night stay in Paris for $330.
A couple can each buy 16,500 points now for $165 and make separate 2-night reservations. Then notify the hotel in advance that you are a couple with two separate reservations and ask for the same room so you do not need to change rooms after two nights.
Paris, France offers several hotels at 8,000 points per night in November 2012. For November 26 there were 14 hotels available within Paris for 8,000 points per night. Of these 14 hotels, there were 10 hotels available for a 4-night stay Nov 26-30.
Comfort Hotel Royal Aboukir Paris 2 = 151 EUR or USD$193 per night.
Or 8,000 points per night which you can buy for $88.
Note: The current list of hotels at 8,000 points expire November 30, 2012. These same hotels are currently showing 16,000 to 25,000 points for December and January reward nights.
The new list of hotels at 8,000 points have not yet been loaded. This means hotels will show their full points rate for December and January reward reservations, however, I expect the hotel reward rates for December and January to be adjusted in the next couple of weeks.
You might want to wait until December and verify the hotels with reward nights at 8,000 points before you buy Choice Privileges points if Paris and London are in your plans for December 2012 to February 2013.
Exchanges for Choice Privileges points
You can also get Choice Privileges points from exchanges with American Express Membership Rewards, Amtrak Guest Rewards and Diners Club Rewards.
American Express
Amtrak Guest Rewards
Diners Club
About Choice Hotels
Choice Hotels are the second largest hotel chain worldwide with over 6,000 properties in 11 hotel brands.
More than 90% of Choice Hotels properties are located in the USA and Canada.
Clarion, Comfort Inn and Quality Inn are the primary three brands found in several international locations in France, Germany, UK, Italy, Brazil, Australia and Italy. There are several other countries with a few hotels. Sleep Inn is found in some Latin America countries.
Ric Garrido, writer and owner of Loyalty Traveler, shares news and views on hotels, hotel loyalty programs and vacation destinations for frequent guests. You can follow Loyalty Traveler on Twitter and Facebook and RSS feed.
Starwood Preferred Guest has a 20% discount on the price for buying points from October 15 to November 30, 2012. The discount price is $28 per 1,000 points, reduced from the regular $35 rate.
Considering Cash & Points award nights will frequently give a redemption value in excess of $50 per 1,000 points, the option to buy Starpoints at a discount rate is one to consider.
There is a SPG limit at 20,000 Starpoints in a calendar year for buying or receiving points in a member’s account. Starpoint purchases can be made by members whose accounts have been active for a minimum of 14 days.
The key term here is calendar year. This means you can buy up to 20,000 points at $560 now and buy up to 20,000 more points as soon as January 2013 at the $35 per 1,000 points rate.
The SPG discount rate is a sale that happens at least once every year. In fact, the last 20% discount offer for buying Starpoints just ended six weeks ago.
Advantage of SPG Award Travel Read More…
Club Carlson Gold Points promotion madness: Earn Gold Points, Buy Gold Points and Redeem Gold Points.
Act Now!
I don’t want to overhype Club Carlson.
But why not?
My brain is reeling from the iterations of ways to play several offers from Club Carlson.
Even though I have been around Club Carlson and Carlson Hotels managers this past month, there was no leak of two back-to-back program offers and enhancements unveiled this past weekend.
1. Club Carlson members can buy up to 40,000 points in a calendar year at $7.00/1,000 points. You can also gift someone up to 40,000 points in a calendar year. The maximum limit is 40,000 points per account through purchased points, so you can’t buy 40,000 points and also receive 40,000 points in your account. The term “calendar year” means you can buy 40,000 points in December 2011 and another 40,000 points in January 2012 for your own member account.
2. Earn 9,000 points for every Club Carlson hotel award stay redeemed from December 1, 2011 through January 31, 2012. Points & Cash stays are not eligible for this points rebate offer. You must register for the award stay rebate promotion. This can be earned five times for up to 45,000 points rebate.
3. Earn 50,000 points for a single Radisson stay in the U.S., Canada or Caribbean by December 30, 2011 by registering for RadissonBigNightGiveaway.
Basically you can pay for one hotel night at a Radisson and earn 50,000 points. Rates were as low as $49.50 for December weekends with yesterday’s cyberMonday special offer at Radisson Sacramento, California.
You can buy 40,000 points in December 2011 for $280. You can redeem points for one night stays and get 9,000 points back for each award stay up to five times. With 50,000 gold points from the Radisson offer and the ability to buy 40,000 points in December and 40,000 points in January, you can accrue the points to book five single night award stays and get a maximum rebate of 45,000 points for five award stays in December 2011 and January 2012.
Buying Club Carlson points when the cost is less than the room rate is a Club Carlson member opportunity. Here is a table showing the cost to buy points for different Club Carlson hotel award categories.
You can buy 40,000 points for yourself for $280 and buy 40,000 points for another person, say your spouse or adult child for $280. The other person can book a hotel award stay in your name. Essentially you can play around with 80,000 purchased points a calendar year in addition to other points you may earn from hotel stays. You and a spouse/partner can buy 160,000 points over the next two months and plan for big savings on hotels stays.
Spending $1,020 $1,120 for 160,000 points might not seem sensible until you realize that you can get up to 90,000 more points for free through award stay rebates if you travel with a plan.
Why you should consider buying 40,000 points in December 2011.
Club Carlson announced a promotion last weekend that each award stay worldwide from December 1 through January 31, 2012 earns 9,000 points. This is a 9,000 points rebate on every hotel award stay.
From the table above you see a category 1 hotel only requires 9,000 Club Carlson points per night. Essentially you can redeem points for a free category 1 hotel night and get those points back after a few weeks. The only drawback is there are relatively few category-1 hotels after the hotel category shifts earlier this year. Currently there are 48 out of some 1,100 Carlson Hotels in Club Carlson category-1.
Loyalty Traveler Analysis
The two-night two person (or family) getaway strategy
There are numerous possibilities to consider. One hotel award night at a Category-2 hotel will cost 15,000 points. If you go with someone else you can book separate awards and each get a 9,000 point rebate on a 15,000 points expenditure.
Net result: Two night hotel stay for $210 in purchased points (Each person spends $105 per room night to buy 15,000 points x $7/1,000 points).
You spend $105 for 15,000 points, redeem for a free Category-2 hotel award night and get 9,000 points back. Your hotel night ultimately cost $42 for the 6,000 spent points.
You and second guest both receive 9,000 points back since you both booked an award night and you can stay in the same hotel for two nights.
This is a strategy for Club Carlson members with no points currently. You can always wait for the 50,000 point Radisson bonus and then do this strategy without buying points, but we don’t know when the 50,000 points will post. Buying points allows you to take advantage of the rebate offer right away.
Living it up in Lubbock
If you want to live it up at the Country Inn & Suites in Waco or the Radisson Lubbock Texas this deal can work out into some cheap hotel stays. Here is just one example to illustrate how good a deal these offers can be if you live or travel somewhere with a good Club Carlson hotel deal.
Buy 9,000 Club Carlson points for $63.
Redeem 9,000 points at Radisson Lubbock for an award night on Friday, December 16 for a free $199 night.
Buy 9,000 points for $63 and earn 9,000 points rebate on Radisson Lubbock $199 room.
Of course the Radisson Lubbock may not be your destination. This offer works well in many places.
Apparently Club Carlson is on a strategy to inundate the US and a large part of the rest of the world too with back to back, and in many ways combinable promotions and opportunities. And this is a good strategy for Club Carlson in my opinion as someone who likes to earn free hotel nights while traveling. Hyatt Gold Passport turned itself into a major player prior to the launch of its credit card. One thing I did learn from a presentation during my Chicago press trip to the Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel is Club Carlson will launch a co-branded credit card in 2012.
Hyatt Gold Passport points purchased between August 18 and September 30 receive 20% bonus points reducing the price to $20 per 1,000 points. This sale allows members to buy up to 48,000 Gold Passport points. This post shows several examples where buying points at $20/1,000 points can save hundreds of dollars on a two-night stay.
Hyatt Gold Passport normally allows members to buy up to 40,000 points in a calendar year at $24 per 1,000 points.
While this price is not necessarily low enough to warrant jumping all in (DiscoverAmerica.com offered Hyatt points for about $10 per 1,000 points last April 15 – LT post), the $20 per 1,000 points price to buy points might save you money at some Hyatt hotels.
Loyalty Traveler Analysis
The way I tend to analyze whether buying points is a good deal in general to hold for future redemption nights is to select a random date and check hotel rates at various locations.
Monday to Wednesday October 17-19, 2011.
Hyatt Regency Suites Atlanta Northwest, Marietta, Georgia – Hyatt Gold Passport Category 1 Hotel – Monday to Wednesday October 17-19, 2011.
Hyatt Regency Toronto Hyatt Gold Passport Category 2 Hotel (Monday to Wednesday October 17-19, 2011)
Hyatt Regency Miami, Tuesday January 17-Thursday January 19, 2012 – Hyatt Gold Passport Category 3 Hotel
Hyatt Escala Lodge, Park City Utah Friday Jan 13-Sunday Jan 15, 2012 – Hyatt Gold Passport Category 4 Hotel.
Park Hyatt Istanbul Macka Palas, Turkey Monday October 17-Wednesday October 19 – Hyatt Gold Passport Category 5 Hotel.
Park Hyatt Tokyo, Monday October 17-Wednesday October 19 – Hyatt Gold Passport Category 6 Hotel.
These hotel comparison rates for prevailing published rates compared to the cost to buy points required very little effort to find indicating there are dozens of hotels where you have the opportunity to get a Hyatt Hotel for far less money using points purchased during the current sale to pay for stays.
A shout-out to Lucky at One Mile at a Time for posting this Hyatt Buy Points promotion since I had overlooked it until now.
You can buy up to 190,000 Wyndham Rewards points at 12 noon ET Wednesday, May 4 through DiscoverAmerica.com Daily Getaways offers. These are great discounts on Wyndham Rewards points for hotel nights or points-to-miles exchange.
$117 for two nights at a Wyndham Hotel is a deal you’d be hard to match with Priceline or Hotwire hotel buys.
Wyndham Rewards is one of the best hotel loyalty programs for low level points-to-miles exchanges with airlines. Wyndham Rewards has a fixed rate of exchange at 8,000 points = 3,200 miles with most major US airlines.
Buy 48,000 points for $135 (AmEx) or even $150 and convert to 19,200 miles in American, Air Canada Aeroplan, Continental, Delta, Frontier, United and US Airways and a few others.
Hotel Rewards in U.S. for most Wyndham Rewards brands like Ramada, Super 8, Days Inn, Howard Johnson, Travelodge, Knights Inn, Microtel Hawthorn Suites and Baymont are assigned to four tiers.
Wyndham Rewards for one hotel free night at most Wyndham brands:
Wyndham Hotels and Resorts are a separate category of rewards at 15,000 to 45,000 for properties around the world. In the U.S. most Wyndham hotels are in the 15,000 to 25,000 points range.
Wyndham Rewards points on Discover America Daily Getaway Wednesday May 4, 2011
16,000 points = $50 ($45.00 if payment with American Express). 725 sets available. Maximum purchase is two per member.
28,000 points = $69 ($62.10 if payment with American Express). 125 sets available. Maximum purchase is one per member.
32,000 points = $100 ($90.00 if payment with American Express). 400 sets available. Maximum purchase is one per member.
48,000 points = $150 ($135.00 if payment with American Express). 150 sets available. Maximum purchase is one per member.
50,000 points = $130 ($117.00 if payment with American Express). 298 sets available. Maximum purchase is one per member.
Oddly the price is not the same rate for these Wyndham Points packages. 28,000 points and 50,000 points are best buys with a rate around $2.50 for 1,000 points compared to $3.12 per 1,000 for the other three sets.
A member may purchase a maximum of six sets of Wyndham Rewards points from these five offers for a total of 190,000 points for $494.10.
This is really an excellent deal. 190,000 points can be converted to 76,000 airline miles (plus any bonuses like US Airways) or buy a whole lot of hotel nights or even a one week Wyndham Resort beach vacation. This deal certainly beats Starpoints at 20% off or $28 per 1,000 points for someone wanting frequent flyer miles.
Update April 15, 9:10am California time. These Hyatt points were gone in seconds. I failed to get any set of points.
[Original post below.]
My advice is buy 24,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points at $225 with an American Express card or $250 for a different card payment through DiscoverAmerica.com Daily Getaways tomorrow. There is little chance you will not get $250 in redemption value from those points. You might even get $750 in value depending on how you use points.
Sale begins at 12 noon Eastern time, Friday April 15.
There are only 100 points packages for 24,000 points and fewer sets of points at higher price levels.
DiscoverAmerica.com Daily Getaways 2nd Annual Sale
Loyalty Traveler Analysis
What exactly is being sold in the DiscoverAmerica.com Daily Getaways sale?
Hyatt Gold Passport’s points sale page on DiscoverAmerica.com is confusing with the offer stated as
“2 nights for $250 at Hyatt Hotels.”
The main concern potential buyers have is whether there is a restriction on the use of points to the webpage ad for two nights at Hyatt Gold Passport category-3 hotels.
I purchased a set of 24,000 points for $225 last May through DiscoverAmerica.com Daily Getaways and the webpages looked almost identical and confused many members last year into thinking the points were restricted in use to the hotel category type listed on the page. Some potential buyers last year were concerned and reluctant to purchase these points with the implied restriction.
These sales are for Hyatt Gold Passport points and the points go into your Hyatt Gold Passport account. Assuming the program operates the same as last year, and I have seen nothing indicating a difference this year, then you should be able to redeem your deposited points online or by phone for whatever reward option you choose.
Value of Hyatt Gold Passport Points
First value is American Express rate and shows 10% savings compared to other card payment method.
How the sale works:
The rules allow one member to purchase one set of 24,000 points, one set of 30,000 points, one set of 36,000 points and one set of 69,000 points. Most of these Hyatt points packages will likely be gone in minutes. I’ll leave the buying strategy to the reader, though I seriously doubt one person can get through each item purchase to actually buy all four sets before they are sold out.
On Monday this week Marriott $1,000 TravelCards sold out in the first minute of the sale. There were still $250 Marriott Travelcards at one hour after the sale, but there was a larger quantity of Marriott cards than Hyatt point sets and the discount for Hyatt points is greater.
I think these will be gone in 15 minutes or less.
Loyalty Traveler tip on DailyGetaways sale:
On Monday during the Marriott sale there were items I clicked and the website returned a message of none available, but “try again in a few minutes”. I think this happens when the items are all reserved by someone in the process of buying, however, some of these buyers do not complete the transaction. Some items appear as unavailable and then become available after a few seconds or minutes. Keep trying. The website will post the item is “Sold Out” a few minutes after all the items are sold.
Spending Hyatt Points
Hyatt reward nights go from 5,000 points for category 1 to 22,000 points for category 6 hotels.
Hotels around the U.S. like Hyatt Place Fremont in Silicon Valley are category-1 hotels where room rates can be in the $100 to $150 range many days in mid-week. 30,000 points for $300 can possibly save $600 on hotel room rates at a category-1 hotel like Hyatt Place Fremont (6 nights = 30,000 points or $900 if $150 room rate).
On the other end of the scale are category-6 properties for 22,000 points per night like Park Hyatt Maldives ($600 to $1500/night) or my own locale’s Hyatt Highlands Inn, Carmel Highlands, California ($300 to $650 per night).
$700 for 69,000 points can save over $1,000 on a 3-night hotel stay at some Hyatt category-6 hotels for 66,000 points.
Hyatt Gold Passport introduces New Buy Points Feature
The new Hyatt Gold Passport option to purchase points through Hyatt Gold Passport for $24 per 1,000 points is limited to 40,000 points in a calendar year. This buy points option was introduced this month to Hyatt Gold Passport members.
The value of the DiscoverAmerica.com offer is obviously a big savings at a low cost of $9.38 per 1,000 points compared to the cost to buy points through Hyatt Gold Passport at $24.00 per 1,000 points.
Yesterday there were widespread press reports in the media on this new Hyatt Gold Passport feature. I had been sitting on the story for a week waiting to combine it with this piece for DiscoverAmerica.com Buy Hyatt points post.
The ability to buy 40,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points each calendar year at $24 per 1,000 points is a needed enhancement to the loyalty program. I think $24 per 1,000 points is a good fair market value based on current hotel category assignments and reward night cost for Hyatt Gold Passport hotels.
And I think paying $9.38 per 1,000 points for a Hyatt Gold Passport set of 24,000 points through the DiscoverAmerica.com Daily Getaways sale is a Loyalty Traveler 5-key, one of the best deals of the year opportunity for hotel frequent guests.
