I love perks. Of course, who doesn’t? I collect them as much as possible—from airlines, hotels, car rental agencies, and anyone else who will pass them out. Not only are they a nice little reward for all the time and money I spend on their services, they make travel that much nicer. Since I travel so much, I am constantly striving to make every trip as easy and streamlined as possible, and am always on the lookout for perks to make that happen. Here are a few of my favorites.

Executive lounges in hotels. I have enjoyed the lounges on executive floors in Hilton and Marriott hotels, and think they are well worth the higher room cost. I usually make the extra cost back by enjoying the breakfast offerings. It is also very nice to have a hotel employee nearby, dedicated to helping business travelers. My best experience with a hotel lounge was the Edsa Shangri-La Garden Wing in Manila. Not only was there a fantastic breakfast and happy hour spread, guests in the Garden Wing had expedited check in and check out, a back door entrance, and fast and easy money exchange. I will always, always stay there when traveling to Manila in the future. (I’ve also noticed on Executive floors the toiletries are often upgraded, which I love.)

Priority security line at airports. Going through the priority security line by having a first class ticket or having elite status with an airline loyalty program is the biggest time saver. I have seen airports (I’m thinking specifically of Chicago Midway, although this has happened all over the place) where the  normal security line is backed up all the way to the entrance, and there are fewer than five people in the priority line. If I ever lost status this is the perk I would miss the most, even over boarding first.

First class upgrades. The other great thing about elite status with an airline is getting upgraded to first class on a regular basis. The extra room alone makes it wonderful, but of course the extra attention and free drinks don’t hurt!

No check in when renting cars. Many car rental companies don’t make their frequent renters check in, therefore avoiding long lines. This is a huge time saver, allowing me to simply walk from the airport gate to my car, and go.

Points. Of course, points. Who would pass up free stays in hotels, free flights, and free car rentals? I make sure I am registered for the loyalty program for all airlines, hotels, and car rental agencies I use. I also keep an eye out for double points or other promotions, to make sure I maximize my points.

Readers, what perks make travel easier for you? What are your favorite travel perks?

Southwest is running a promo right now where you can get an extra 4,000 Rapids Rewards points on roundtrip Business Select flights. Depending on how much your ticket costs, you could get almost enough for a free flight from one trip! You can earn 2,000 bonus points for one way Business Select flights.

I know not all of us have the ability to choose Business Select fares when choosing our flights (myself included), but if you get the opportunity to fly Biz Select, this is a great promotion. Often you will have the opportunity to upgrade your ticket when you check in, and if it’s not a huge amount it may be worth it to pay out of pocket. For example, two weeks ago I flew to San Jose. Because I bought my ticket at the very last minute (literally about three hours before my flight left thanks to the tornadoes in DFW), it was an “Anytime Fare.” I ended up upgrading to Biz Select for $22. Now, unfortunately this was before this promotion started (dangit!), but I think it would have been well worth the $22 for the extra 2000 points I would have gotten. I just did it for the better placement in the boarding line.

Don’t forget, you have to register for this promo. It seems to be another promotion that everyone should sign up for, even if they don’t know for sure they’ll be able to use it. Because it won’t hurt, and you may get a ton of extra points! Promo runs from now until May 29.

Hooray promotions! Readers, have you heard of any other great opportunities for extra points lately?

In a couple weeks, I will be headed to a very long conference. I’ll be staying at an Embassy Suites, which I’m pretty excited about, since they offer free breakfast and happy hours, lots of space, etc. However, this will be a bit of a new experience for me as I will be at this hotel for over a week. I don’t think I have ever stayed in a hotel that long without being on vacation. Since I’m doing lots of work (and not much vacationing), I want to try and get as many points as I possibly can while I’m there. I went searching on the Hilton HHonors website, and found out that they are doing a double points promotion for the second quarter. Exactly what I was hoping for!!

If you sign up for the “Double Your HHonors” promotion, you can choose to earn Double Points or Double Miles when you stay at any participating hotel and resort in the Hilton Worldwide portfolio by June 30, 2012. You have to make sure and register first!! I chose the Double Points option, and this trip will earn me around 40,000 points.  Nice! If you’re an HHonors member, I would recommend signing up for the promotion, even if you’re not sure if you’ll be staying at a Hilton during the time period. It doesn’t hurt anything, so why not?

Readers, are there any deals or promotions you’re excited about right now?

I have been flying American for years. The flights are convenient, the points program has been decent, and my company prefers them. In years past, I would get upgraded more often than not, have direct flights, could easily fly standby, and redeem points for vacations on a regular basis. But for the past six to eight months, I feel like things have changed. They got rid of the direct flight to San Jose, upgrades are rare, and reward tickets are more expensive. Worst of all, all flights are overbooked and I can never get on an earlier flight using standby. In fact, last Friday I was flying home from Raleigh through Chicago. There was a ground delay in Chicago, and I was going to miss my connection home. Not only could they not get me on any other flight out of Raleigh (including two to Dallas that would have been quicker anyway), all of the Saturday direct flights were overbooked, so I had to make a connection in Dallas. Which meant I didn’t get home until 5pm on Saturday.

After all of this, and with the bankruptcy drama in the back of my mind, I am considering a switch. My understanding is that other airlines will often do status matches. What airline do you fly, and why do you like them? Or, conversely, who have you flown and hated? Who has the best rewards program? Do you get a lot of upgrades? Or can you fly standby?

I recently heard about a promotion Hyatt is doing this spring. It’s already underway, but goes until the end of April. It’s a pretty good deal, and an even better deal if you have a Hyatt credit card. I don’t typically stay at Hyatt properties, but this makes me want to rethink that… Just thought some of you may be interested!

Details:

• Dates: February 1 – April 30, 2012
• What: Earn up to two free nights at any Hyatt (or up to eight free nights at select hotels), anywhere in the world during the course of the promotion. Guest will have the opportunity to earn thousands of points after every four eligible nights, with the number of points increasing after every additional four nights.

o   Bonus: Hyatt Gold Passport members with a valid Hyatt Credit Card can earn a 25 percent bonus during the promotion period.

A breakdown of point allocation is below:

To be eligible, travelers must:

• Be a Hyatt Gold Passport member
• Register for the upcoming promotion from February 1 through March 31, 2012 by visiting hyatt.com
• Stay at least four eligible nights through April 30, 2012
• Provide their Hyatt Gold Passport membership number at the time of reservation and check-in
• New members who enroll in Hyatt Gold Passport through March 30, 2012 will automatically be registered for the promotion
• Participating members with the Hyatt Credit Card can earn an additional 25 percent bonus during the promotion period, for a cumulative total of 55,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points.

Full details are now available on the promotion site, here: www.goldpassport.com/possibilities and details on the Hyatt Credit Card promotion are located here: www.goldpassport.com/hyattcardpromotion.

I am not a points blogger. This makes me a little different from a lot of the blogs on Boarding Area, but I just don’t have any experience with it. Honestly, it’s never been a huge interest of mine, as I’ve been very focused on helping people travel for work with the minimum of stress. And it’s been about as much as I can handle to be on the road all the time and blogging regularly. And the points scene can be so intimidating! If you go on to FlyerTalk or other frequent flier message boards, there’s a lot of discussion of churning credit cards, intricate mileage runs, and advanced reward booking techniques. Where is a beginner to start?

Recently, however, I’ve begun to realize that with a few relatively small changes and some strategic planning, I can accrue points and status far beyond what I currently have. This realization coincided with my trip to Blog World this past weekend, of which I think a lot of points newbies would be super jealous. I was surrounded by many great points and miles bloggers, who were happy to share their knowledge with me, and who were also incredibly patient with my rookie questions. With them, I’ve developed a plan to maximize my miles, and I only have to go out of my way a little bit.

The plan:

1)      Apply for a couple of key credit cards when the bonus is right. Pay attention to which ones give 2x or 3x points for gas and groceries, and use accordingly. I plan to get the AmEx Platinum, which has a great bonus and gets you into lots of the airline clubs.

2)      For trips with two or more nights, consider changing hotels to maximize stays during promotions.

3)      When it makes sense, look for flights with two legs instead of direct flights. (If I had done this during 2011, I would have had Executive Platinum in six months. Sigh.)

4)      If it’s available, and it won’t make me lose my mind, let them bump me.

I will be expanding on this plan in upcoming posts. Just know that you can get a lot more points with only a little more effort, and you’ll be that much closer to elite status or a free vacation!

Building slightly off of last Friday’s post about miles and points…..

Due to the nature of my travel, there are not a lot of opportunities for me to volunteer to get bumped off a flight. Lately, a ton of the flights I’ve been on have been oversold, but I don’t volunteer. Usually I have to be somewhere at a certain time, so there’s not a lot of travel flexibility. Last week, though, I got my chance.

I was flying to Nashville, on the next to last flight out. The flight was oversold by several people, and they asked for people willing to take the next flight. I thought, My event isn’t until 11 tomorrow. I could get in a little later. I’ll sit in the airport for a bit and take a travel voucher! So I made my way to the desk to volunteer. The gate agent told me I was second on the list, to not board with my group, and she will let me know if she needs me. While the plane boards, I finish some work for the day, thinking idly about what I want to do with my voucher.

Except when the plane was finished boarding, the gate agent called my name, handed me a boarding pass, and said she didn’t need me after all. I was bummed, but figured I was no worse for the wear. Until I got to the end of the jet bridge and realized that not only was I not getting a voucher, but the overhead bin space was full and I was going to have to check my bag. To end the night, my connecting flight was delayed, and getting my bag took thirty minutes in Nashville. Lame.

Voucher-knowledgeable Readers, is this par for the course? It just seemed as though I was going through a lot of additional aggravation for volunteering to help, which disinclines me to volunteer in the future…. Is it worth it?

Yesterday in Nashville I had a great time chatting with a friend over a fabulous dinner at Ellendale’s (seriously, that place is great, check it out!!). She has been traveling sporadically for work for a while, but the travel has been more often and consistent the last few months. When the check came, she commented that it annoyed her that she didn’t have a corporate card yet like I do. “But it’s better not to have one!” I said, very surprised. “You get more points that way!”

“Points?” she asked.

Oh dear. Now, I am not the points-master at all. There are a zillion blogs on the topic, with some really awesome ones on Boarding Area like Mommy Points, Deals We Like, Loyalty Traveler, and Aadvantage Geek (just to name a very few). But let me tell you, the first thing I did when I was hired for this travel-heavy job was apply for the Citi Aadvantage card. That extra 1-2k points per month can really add up! When my friend told me she has to purchase her airline tickets as well, first I was jealous, and then I said, “Get a miles card NOW! You usually get extra points when you buy airfare with them!”

If you have to have a card to pay for work stuff, you may as well get as much out of it as you can. There are tons of options, like the Citi Aadvantage card I use, the AmEx Platinum that so many of my readers love, and others. Seriously, if you travel for work, please get a card that gives you some sort of rewards. You deserve it!

ETA: Thanks to commenter Hiker T for an excellent point. Make sure if you are considering a rewards card, you find a great signing bonus. Consult any of the blogs I mentioned above for current promos, or if anyone wants to post one here that works too.

For almost five years I have paid for all of my travel expenses (except for flights) with a personal Citi card. Each month or so, I would sit down for a few hours and file my expenses. Yes, it was a pain in the neck. But over five years I’ve probably gotten close to a hundred thousand airline miles. A nice perk!

Recently, however, my company changed over to a corporate card. Supposedly doing expenses will be easier, but we’ll still have to file expense reports. But we won’t get any more miles! I understand why the company is doing this, but I’m pretty unhappy about it. Of course, there is nothing I can do about it. Sigh. It made me curious though. How many companies use corporate cards? Is it just the bigger companies, or smaller ones too? My company has about five thousand employees, so we’re not huge. I guess we are large enough, with a large enough amount of required travel, for this to make a difference.

So, Readers: How do you pay for travel? Any words of wisdom you would like to share?

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My mom asked me this weekend, “Why do you love Hiltons so much? It seems like you are always staying at a Hilton or a Hampton Inn. I like Holiday Inn better!” People like hotels for all kinds of reasons; comfort, location, amenities, food can all play a part.  I have a different reason for staying in Hilton hotels. Sure they are comfortable, their amenities are just fine, and they are located all over the place. But the main reason I stay in Hilton brand hotels are because of the Hilton HHonors program. Not only do they give me a lot of points for staying in their hotels, but I also get those points deposited into my American Aadvantage account. They reward me in both places, which I LOVE.

I used to stay primarily in Marriott properties, which, to be honest, I actually like a little bit better. The Marriott Rewards program would either give me points for them, or points to my Aadvantage account, but not both. And in fact, Marriott doesn’t even allow that anymore–you only get Marriott points. Lame.

Hilton properties encompass many brands–Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton Inn, Embassy Suites, and more. They are located in virtually every town I have ever stayed in. My favorite Hilton was the one in downtown Charlotte, but they are nice everywhere. However, regardless of who your favorite hotel is and why you love them, make sure you register for their reward program and then consistently stay there. Points are one of the perks of business travel, and we all need to take advantage!!