Making the travel industry news this week is a warning letter from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to 22 hotel operators

that their online reservation sites may violate the law by providing a deceptively low estimate of what consumers can expect to pay for their hotel rooms.

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2012/11/hotelresort.shtm

Resort fees are an additional service charge covering a variety of property specific amenities and benefits for items like pool access, pool towels, wired in-room internet and property wifi, parking, bottled water, newspaper, fitness room access and more.  Read More…

Sometimes paying a bonus points rate is a good strategy for earning cheap Priority Club points. Bonus points package rates come in various sizes from 1,000 points to 5,000 points at many IHG properties. Limited time 10,000 bonus points rates are offered at a few hotels. At times these rates allow members to buy 10,000 points for under $50.

The advantage of paying a points package rate is bonus points qualify for elite status and 60,000 Priority Club points earned in a year confers Platinum elite for the next calendar year with 50% elite bonus points on all hotel stays as a Platinum elite.

Montelucia Resort & Spa, InterContinental Alliance Resort 10,000 bonus points rate for 2-night stays through January 31, 2013.

This package rate caught my attention.

Briefly.

Any deal that earns 10,000 points for $70 or less on a paid room rate is a cheap way to earn Priority Club points.

Montelucia Resort Rate Analysis on 2-night stay

Friday Jan 25-Sunday Jan 27, 2013

• $714.22 Montelucia 10K PCR rate at $295 King Bedroom Resort View
• $657.76 Advance Purchase, nonrefundable at $270/night.
• $596.80 AAA rate at $243/night.

$117.42 additional cost over the AAA rate to book the 10,000 bonus points rate is a poor value rate.

The rates for this InterContinental Alliance Resort is not a cost effective strategy for Priority Club Rewards points.

Venetian Las Vegas and 4,000 Bonus Points for 2-night stays through Jan 6, 2013

The Venetian and The Palazzo are two InterContinental Alliance Resorts in Las Vegas. The Venetian has a 4,000 bonus points rate for 2-night stays through January 6, 2013.

December 4-6, 2012

• AAA = $179/night.
• Best Available = $179/night.
• 4,000 bonus points = $179 per night. (Rate drops to $149 some dates in December).

For this hotel the 4,000 bonus points rate is no higher than any other available rate. This is a good rate deal for this specific hotel.

Update 8:30am Nov 30: Within an hour of posting this article I noticed an email from The Venetian/The Palazzo Grazie loyalty program showing rates at $129 for much of December 2012 for dates when the IHG website shows $149 per night. Is this a Best Rate Guarantee opportunity for a free night?

Must book this special offer rate by Dec 6.

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.

The Venetian and The Palazzo Las Vegas are celebrating one year as the charter members of the InterContinental Alliance Resorts with a May 8 one-day redemption sale today-only for reward nights at  25,000 points per night for stays from June 10 to August 16, 2012. This special offer ends at midnight eastern or about 9pm Pacific time May 8.  Update May 8: The countdown clock for this offer is not working correctly. An hour after I posted this the clock still reads 13 hours, 44 minutes remaining for the sale.

• Only Sunday-Thursday nights June 10-June 30.
• Any night of week July 1-August 16. Read More…

Discounted suites for The Palazzo and The Venetian in Las Vegas are the offers on Discover America Daily Getaways at 12 noon ET (New York time), Monday May 9. There are four offers with 14 items in each offer. These four offers are actually one Siena suite at the Palazzo and one Piazza Suite at the Venetian. Each hotel offers 14 items for weekday bookings and 14 items for weekend bookings of suites.

These rates are likely a savings of $300 to $600 for the two night suite package.

The Palazzo Siena Suite, 1,280 square feet with semi-formal dining area. Siena Suite description.

• Two consecutive nights, Sunday through Thursday, $450 ($405 with American Express payment).
• Two consecutive nights, Friday or Saturday arrival, $595 ($535.50 with American Express payment).
• Valid for stays through May 31, 2012.
• Sample rate for comparison = $509 on Friday June 10 and Saturday June 11 = $1,140.16 for two night stay in Palazzo Siena Suite.
• Discover America sale saves $605 on this two night stay.
• Oyster.com photos of Palazzo Siena Suite.

The Venetian Piazza View Suite, 1,400 square feet with semi-formal dining area. Piazza Suite description.

• Two consecutive nights, Sunday through Thursday, $415 ($373.50 with American Express payment).
• Two consecutive nights, Friday or Saturday arrival, $540 ($486.00 with American Express payment).
• Valid for stays through May 31, 2012.
• Sample rate for comparison = $678 + Tax for $759.36 for 2-night weekday stay Sunday July 3 and Monday July 4, 2011 in Piazza View Suite.
• Discover America sale saves $385 on this suite stay.
• Oyster.com photos of Venetian Piazza Suite. 

Related Posts: Loyalty traveler reviews –

The Palazzo Las Vegas Part 1 – Bella Room Suite (April 27, 2011)

The Palazzo Las Vegas Part 2 – Pools (April 28, 2011)

The Palazzo Resort Las Vegas

The newly branded InterContinental Alliance Resorts in Las Vegas – The Venetian and The Palazzo – have an introductory “6,000 Bonus Point Package” rate offer for hotel stays of three nights or more. Bonus Priority Club points are in addition to the 2,000 points normally earned for InterContinental Hotel stays for 8,000 points total per stay (about a $50 value). InterContinental Ambassador members receive benefits at these properties.

Book your stay by June 30 and receive these additional rate benefits:

• 20% off Breakfast or Brunch provided by Morels
• $30 off a bill of $60 or more provided by Zine
• $35 off 50-min Massage or Facial provided by Canyon Ranch SpaClub
• Complimentary line pass and admission provided by LAVO Nightclub
• 2-for-1 well drinks provided by Salute Lounge

This offer requires first night deposit at time of booking and is fully refundable for cancellations at least 72 hours in advance.

Rates I checked for the 6,000 Bonus Point Package were $10 per night over the Best Flexible Rate.

Tip for finding the lowest hotel rates:  

Travelocity.com has a nice feature for seeing hotel rate information for the next 90 days by using the Flexible Dates feature. Simply look up any date for Las Vegas and click on the rate for the Venetian or the Palazzo. Travelocity has a Flexible Dates tab at the top of the page that shows the hotel rates for 90 days. This is much quicker than random date checks on IHG websites for finding low rate dates over a 3-day period and avoiding high rate dates when planning your trip.

Travelocity.com Flexible Dates calendar for The Palazzo

Another tip for Las Vegas – Travel packages for airline + hotel often drop the hotel rate down to about $100 or less for the first night or two at many of the fine hotels in Las Vegas like Wynn, Encore, Bellagio, Mandarin Oriental, Venetian and Palazzo.

The hotel rate savings might be worth more than the points.

**Be sure to go back to the IHG website to make your hotel booking since Travelocity bookings do not earn Priority Club points.

Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa officially rebranded April 1 from the formerly independent Alila Villas Hadahaa Resort. This is the first Hyatt in the Maldives, a chain of 1,200 coral islands in the Indian Ocean southwest of India. The Hyatt press release states the hotel is located just south of the equator, yet every map I have seen including Hyatt’s own hotel location map shows Huvadhoo Atoll just north of the equator and Hadahaa island at Latitude 0⁰, 30 N.  Atoll is a word derived from the Maldives language according to Webster. Hyatt’s press release reminds me of the 1969 film Krakatoa, East of Java. Krakatoa is actually an island west of Java in the country of Indonesia.

Park Hyatt Maldives rates look to start around $1,000 per night and increase to $1,200+ for a pool villa. 13.5% tax is additional. Dan of Dan’s Deals states Gold Passport Diamond confirmed suite upgrades will not be accepted at the Maldives property.

At 22,000 points for a category 6 reward night this hotel gives great point value. Hyatt points are worth about $50 per 1,000 for this Maldives vacation. Free nights saves money for all the other expenses of a trip to the Maldives which some guests who have actually been there estimate at $400 to $800 per day for meals, drinks and an activity or two.

Las Vegas Resorts The Venetian and The Palazzo officially are now hotel partners of IHG Priority Club in a new type of IHG brand called InterContinental Alliance Resorts. Priority Club members earn 2,000 points per stay and reward nights are 40,000 points per night. InterContinental Ambassador benefits apply to stays.