The frequent guest has the choice of many hotel loyalty promotions with little guidance to their relative value. Here is Loyalty Traveler’s summary of current hotel loyalty promotions and limited time rate offers for the frequent guest. Newly added offers since the last June 10 update are marked with an asterisk (*).
Loyalty Traveler ranks the consumer value of hotel loyalty promotions on a Five Key Scale.
Five Keys = one of the best hotel loyalty promotions of the year.
Four Keys = high value rebate on the cost of hotel stays.
Three Keys = good value hotel loyalty promotion or rate offer
Two Keys = a bonus value if you play, but not necessarily worth going out of your way.
One Key = There is limited or no value. You are likely paying more than the bonus value.
Rate discounts and loyalty program bonuses are two types of hotel chain incentives to consider when booking travel.
Rankings are subjective and subject to change. Your specific travel pattern may result in some promotions ranking more favorably for you. When assigning a key rank I take into consideration the following factors and probably more:
- The opportunity for a significantly high-value return on hotel spend in terms of a hotel rebate in free nights and discounted hotel nights.
- Current loyalty program promotions and offers from other hotel chains.
- Past loyalty program offers and rates for the specific hotel chain and loyalty program.
- Current economic conditions in the travel industry and hotel location.
Accor A-Club
Limited Time Offer: Motel 6 is accepting A-Club $60 vouchers at over 1,000 North America hotels for stays from June 1-October 31.
Best Western Rewards
5-key Promotion One Free Night in US or Canada after two stays between June 20 and August 15, 2010. Limit of One free night during promotion unless Best Western rewards elite member, then limit is two free nights. (See elite status match offer.) Registration is required and limited to residents of USA, Canada, and the Caribbean Islands. Free night voucher expires December 25, 2010. (June 1)
*3-key Promotion – Earn 500 American AAdvantage bonus miles for every $50 Best Western Travel Card purchase through August 31. There is no limit to the number of bonus miles you can earn.
Elite Status Match Offer (February 19, 2010)
Carlson Hotels – Goldpoints Plus
5-Key promotion: June 1-August 31 Stay two times at any Carlson Hotel (Radisson, Park Plaza, Park Inn, Country Inn & Suites) and earn one free night at any property. Earn limit is seven free nights. Redeem nights at any Carlson Hotel September 1 – February 28, 2011. Registration is required. (May 25)
2-key promotion Triple Points rates through July 31 Earn 45 or 60 points per US$1 or EUR. Unfortunately the rates for this offer are higher than other rates available. This is a decent offer if you find the added cost comes out to less than $5 per 1,000 points. I did not find that value, hence the low promotion rank. Appears to be a combinable offer with two stays = free night promotion. (June 18)
*Goldpoints Plus program change – elite members earn 2,000 points for online booking. This change doubles the regular 1,000 online booking bonus for goldpoints elite members. (LT post July 18)
Choice Hotels – Choice Privileges
3-key promotion Earn 8,000 points for two stays between May 20 and August 5, 2010. After two stays points will be added to your account up to 8,000 total points. Choice Privileges members normally earn 10 points per $1 at most brands. Spend $75 for each hotel night and the 1,500 base points ($150 @ 10 points /$1) will be boosted up to 8,000 points. This promotion favors the low spender. A general member who spends $400 for a five night stay will earn 4,000 points for the stay. Two stays like that and you do not earn a bonus at all. Keep this promotion in mind for those $50 one night stays.
The Choice Privileges advertisement is for a Chili’s card, but you will receive points in your account for spending on whatever you choose. And 8,000 points is good for a free night at over 1,000 Choice Hotel members.
Hilton HHonors
*4-key promotion Hilton Golf Vacation Sweepstakes – Grand Prize is 3 nights with two rooms at a Hilton Golf Resort in Scotland, Mexico, Hawaii, Arizona, or Orlando, three rounds of golf, economy airfare for four persons with United Airlines, check for $3,370 and 100,000 HHonors points. Three Grand Prizes awarded. Prize value is $8,000 to $11,000.
HHonors members get one online sweepstakes entry by registering at www.hhonors.com/golf between June 15 and September 6, 2010. Sweepstakes is limited to US 50 states + DC legal residents.
Additional entries: Each night you stay at a Hilton brand hotel through September 6, 2010 will create an additional entry into the golf sweepstakes.
Loyalty Traveler post July 15.
*4-key promotion – Hilton Top Chef Culinary Sweepstakes for a 6-Night Barcelona, Spain Vacation and $5,000 cash. Prize value $9,080. Enter sweepstakes by September 15. Only open to USA residents. LT post July 19.
4-key promotion Nine bonus airline miles promotions that may be combined with free night promotion (April 13, 2010) [Note: most airline offers end June 30, some go to July 15 or 31, and some longer.]
3-Key promotion Double Points or Double Miles July 7-September 30, 2010. This is the standard promotion for HHonors. There are some good miles opportunities. You must remain with your choice for the duration of the promotion once you select double points or double miles. (July 6)
Hyatt Gold Passport
*4-key Promotion – 1,000 bonus miles per night for up to 30,000 bonus miles through September 30, 2010 with a choice of nine airlines. Amtrak, ANA, Japan Airlines, Jet Airways, Lufthansa Miles & More, Southwest, Thai, United, US Airways. Southwest Airlines earns 1 bonus Rapid Rewards credit per night. Bonus miles are in addition to regular 500 miles per hotel stay (or 0.5 Southwest credit). Member must choose miles as earning preference which excludes earning most G bonuses or hotel specific points bonuses.
*4-key promotion = 60,000 AAdvantage miles. 2,500 bonus miles per stay with American Airlines AAdvantage through October 15, 2010. This offer may be repeated for up to 20 stays. Bonus miles are in addition to regular 500 miles per stay. 60,000 AAdvantage miles registration link. Loyalty Traveler post July 16.
*4-key rate offer – Park Hyatt Aviara, Carlsbad, California 4th night free, $100 hotel credit per stay and 10,000 bonus points for stays through December 31, 2010. Advance reservations must be made by July 31 using special offer code PHA10K. This property was a Four Seasons rebranded to Park Hyatt in June. This offer is a good deal for the hotel since there are very few discount rates available at this time. LT post July 21.
*2-key promotion – 5,000 bonus points for two-night stays at northern California Hyatt Hotels through September 12, 2010. Rate code NCA5K includes 20% off spa, 20% off lunch and dinner dining and 5,000 bonus points. You need to compare rates as most hotels return a higher daily rate than otherwise available when using this code. LT post July 19.
$5,000 Art Scholarship Contest – Canvas Artist Series sponsored by Hyatt. Design a Hyatt Canvas Wines label and submit your entry by August 15 to win a $5,000 college scholarship. Must be enrolled in an accredited art school or program to win. (July 4)
4-key offer: $100 in Hyatt gift certificates for $80 at Costco. Many Costco stores carry these. Two $50 certificates cost $79.99. These certificates do not provide change. Effectively these certificates save up to 20% on room rates, but are not good on prepaid rates.
3-key offer: Hyatt offers a COSTCO discount rate (use Group/Corporate # 13365) that is equivalent or even better than AAA rate for many hotels. The Costco discount rate is up to 25% for North America hotels. Bookings must be made between May 7 – September 9 for stays from May 7 through September 12.
There are several different codes being tossed around for this offer.
Inserting 13365 in the Group/Corporate # has worked best for me in retrieving the $25 per night credit rate and the rate tends to match the prepaid rate, but with cancellation policies equivalent to AAA rates. For a one night stay the AAA full breakfast rate may be a better deal. Compare prices.
- North American Park Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, and Andaz up to 25% + $25 nightly stay credit.
- Hyatt Place and Hyatt Summerfield Suites up to 15% discount.
- International Hyatt properties – up to 10% discount.
Hyatt Gold Passport hotel award categories increased for 25% of hotels as of June 4, 2010. Loyalty traveler post.
InterContinental Hotels Group – Priority Club
*3-key promotion: 5,000 Bonus Points for stays at two different Hotel Indigo locations through September 17. This offer may be repeated five times for up to 10 different hotel locations in the USA and Canada. Promotion registration is required. LT post July 21.
Europe IHG Rate Discount: 2 nights for the price of 1 for hotel stays through September 27, 2010. The InterContinental Budapest was available for $83 per night when I first posted this offer. These rates are prepaid and nonrefundable, but there are some fantastic savings if you want to prepay your hotel stay. (May 25)
5-key offer Priority Club PointBreaks 5,000 points per night awards to August 30 (June 7, 2010)
4-Key Promotion Priority Club $50 gift card for any IHG brand hotel stay worldwide including a Friday or Saturday night. Gift card offer is valid with second hotel stay between May 14 and July 31. There is a maximum earn limit of $500 in gift cards. Registration is required. This offer is mutually exclusive from the Double Points or Double Miles offer listed below. (May 21)
3-Key promotion Priority Club Double Points or Double Miles May 14-August 31 (April 15)
3-key promotion Ambassador members receive up to 10,000 points after stays in four different InterContinental Hotels. May 10-July 31. Registration required. (May 11)
*3-key promotion – 1,000 Points for Android Application Bookings through September 30. (LT post July 17)
2-key promotion: Ambassador members receive 25,000 points for a two-night stay at participating InterContinental Hotels (June 1-September 30). Unfortunately most hotels are asking a significantly higher rate ($50 to $100 per night over lowest available) for this offer. Bonus may be earned three times for 75,000 points. (May 11)
IHG Friend & Family Hotel Rates (Dec 26, 2010)
*Program Change: Ambassador Annual Membership Fee Increased from $150 to $200 as of July 1, 2010. You can also buy Ambassador membership for 32,000 Priority Club Rewards points (formerly 24,000).
Joie de Vivre Hotels – Joy of Life Club
*3-key promotion – Earn both Virgin America Elevate points and Joy of Life points for the remainder of 2010. LT post July 22.
Kimpton Hotels In Touch
*4-key promotion – Bring Your Own Wine to a Kimpton Restaurant. Through Labor Day you can bring up to two bottles of your own wine to a Kimpton Restaurant and receive complimentary corkage. This offer is only valid in the more liberal states of California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, and the U.S. capital city of Washington, D.C. Loyalty Traveler post July 16.
Leading Hotels of the World (LHW) – Leaders Club Rewards
3-key promotion – Earn 1 free night after every 5 hotel stays in 2010. Must stay in at least two different hotels. Bellagio in Las Vegas is LHW member. (April 13, 2010)
Marriott Rewards
5-Key promotion – May 1-July 31 New members of Marriott Rewards earn a free night after two stays (April 5, 2010)
4-key promotion – Up to 60,000 Delta Skymiles. Earn 5,000 Skymiles per stay beginning with your second stay from May 1 through September 6, 2010. Registration required. Note: Your Marriott Rewards account earning preference must be set to miles for this offer to load correctly on your web browser.
1-Key offer – Marriott Rewards Instant Redemption Awards (March 24, 2010)
Starwood Preferred Guest
*4-Key Promotion – SPG Rewarding Returns offers members a choice after 5 stays by December 31, 2010. Promotion choices are 25% off an award up to five nights at any category 1 to 5 hotel for redemption by July 31, 2011. Discount may be combined with “5th night free award”. Other choices are $50 hotel credit certificate or 4,000 Starpoints. Loyalty Traveler post July 14.
There are variations of this offer including only requiring one stay by August 31 for targeted members. Points offer ranges from 2,000 to 8,000 points, and some members may have a free night choice. Offers are targeted.
Promotion registration is required at https://www.spgpromos.com/rewardingreturns/index.cfm.
4-Key Award Discount – Le Parker Meridien Palm Springs Cash & Points $15 + 4,800 points through September 2. Friday and Saturday night rate is $30 + 4,800 points. You must call 866-912-1169 to book this offer. (July 5)
4-Key Promotion – Win One Million Starpoints for most stays at Africa Starwood Hotels in 2010. Must register by July 31. The 2nd prize is 300,000 Starpoints. 3rd Prize 200,000 points. Stays between June 8 and December 31, 2010 are counted. A single stay in an Africa Starwood Hotel earns an entry into alternate prize contest for 50,000 points. (June 22)
4-Key promotion – Earn 1,000 AAdvantage bonus miles for every stay with Sheraton Hotels in North America (US, Canada, and Caribbean) through July 31. No limit. This offer may be combined with the stay three earn a free weekend night.
3-key promotion SPG link: Pay Your Birthyear Rate (This promotion can be an incredible savings or no savings depending on the hotel and your birthyear.) LT post 4/28/2009
3-key discount rates Starwood Hotel Rate Discount Codes for Multiple Night Stays
These offers are for rate discounts on stays of 2 to 6 nights. Third night free tends to be one of the best discount rates. Important to check other rates (AAA, Senior, Special Offers) as these discounts are generally based on the Best Available Rate (BAR) and may not be the lowest overall rate for some hotels.
1-key promotion Four Points Breakfast for a Buck (April 12, 2010)
Starpoints Airline Direct Deposit is Better for United, Continental, and Singapore miles (March 25, 2010)
Wyndham Rewards
4-Key promotion: Earn up to 25,000 American AAdvantage miles after 9 stays from April 30 to September 30, 2010. Wyndham, Wingate, and Hawthorn Suites brands only. Earn 3,000 bonus miles after 3 stays. Earn 7,500 miles bonus after 6 stays. Earn 10,000 bonus miles after 9 stays. Along with normal 500 miles per stay, you can earn 25,000 AAdvantage miles after 9 stays. (June 15, 2010)
Wyndham Hotels Game Prizes: Wyndham Mission: Save Summer campaign offering gift card prizes and a five night Wyndham Hotel stay. Register and play weekly for a chance to win prizes. There are also discount rate links for most Wyndham Hotel brands in this thread.
Hotel Points to Airline Miles Conversion Tables
Hotel Points-to-Miles Conversion Tables for 9 hotel programs and 7 U.S. airlines (March 30, 2010)
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