November 2014 hotel promotions guide

October saw a further erosion of customer trust in hotel loyalty programs.

In the past four months we have seen Marriott Rewards drastically change the terms for its Rewards Plus program two months into a six month long promotion. The promotion required only eight social media actions on Facebook and Twitter to earn 2,000 points in May and June, then in July changed to 80 actions to earn 2,000 points. We watched IHG Rewards Club disintegrate its social credibility with the Into the Nights fiasco with changes to members’ tasks six weeks after the promotion launched. Even the Europeans faltered when Le Club Accorhotels dropped its 5,000 bonus Aeroplan miles promotion on October 27, less than four weeks into a three month promotion, after they discovered customer overenthusiasm at earning Le Club Accorhotels Platinum elite membership after three stays, along with 15,000+ Aeroplan miles.

Please send me an email at ricgarrido@live.com if you know of a good hotel promotion not listed here.

Loyalty Traveler November 2014 Hotel Promotions Guide

Best Western Rewards: Fall14 promotion earn 1,000 bonus points per stay, elites earn additional 500 points per stay from September 2 to November 24, 2014. Best Western Fall14 Promotion Registration

Best Western Fall 2014 promotion FAQ

Best Western Fall 2014 promotion Terms and Conditions

Best Western Rewards: 1,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles per stay Sep 15 to Nov 30, 2014. Earn 1000 miles per stay with 250 base miles + 750 bonus AA miles per stay. Registration required and earning preference must be set to AAdvantage miles. http://www.bestwestern.com/rewards/offers/aapromo1.asp

Best Western Rewards: 1,000 Aeroplan miles per stay Sep 15 to Nov 30, 2014. Earn 1000 miles per stay with 250 base miles + 750 bonus Aeroplan miles per stay. Registration required and earning preference must be set to Aeroplan miles.

http://www.bestwestern.com/rewards/offers/appromo8.asp

Best Western Note: You can only earn Best Western bonus points if your earning profile is set to points and miles bonus if your earning profile is set to miles for the hotel stay.

Choice Privileges: Stay 2 times and earn 8,000 total points Sep 4 to Nov 12, 2014. There are some good deals in Europe like Comfort Hotel Diana in Venice for 10,000 points per night through January 31, 2015 and $500 per night suites in Norway for 16,000 points. Registration link for 8,000 points offer.

Choice Privileges: Earn 1,200 Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards points for each stay at any brand from August 14 -November 15, 2014. Loyalty Traveler post: Earn 1,200 Southwest points for Choice Hotels stays Aug 14 to Nov 15, 2014

Club Carlson Promotions

Club Carlson double points (40 points/$1) or Double Elite Credit November 4 to December 30, 2014. Loyalty Traveler – Club Carlson Double Points or Double Elite Nights Nov 4 to Dec 31, 2014 (November 4).

Loyalty Traveler – Hotel stay examples stacking Club Carlson promotions to rack up points and miles (September 22)

Club Carlson Earn 3,000 points per Carlson mobile app booking Sep 8 to Nov 16, 2014. Bonus may be earned unlimited times during promotion period.

Loyalty Traveler – 3,000 points for Club Carlson mobile app bookings Sep 8 to Nov 16, 2014 (Sep 22)

Club Carlson – Take Off with More Miles: Earn 7,500 miles with American Airlines AAdvantage or Aeroplan after two Radisson Hotel stays Sep 15 to Dec 15, 2014. This offer is a double dip that allows members to earn points and earn miles. Warning Note: Do not change your Club Carlson earning preference to miles or all points in your account will be converted to miles.

Club Carlson 7,500 AAdvantage or Aeroplan miles Sep 15-Dec 15, 2014 (Sep 22)

Club Carlson BIZTIME rate Triple Points for stays Sunday to Thursday nights to November 30, 2014. This is a rate offer bonus and you need to compare the BIZTIME3 rate to the otherwise lowest rate for your stay to determine if the extra 40 points/$1 is worth the higher rate.

Loyalty Traveler analysis: Club Carlson Triple Points BIZTIME3 rate for weekday nights to Nov 30 (Sep 22)

Club Carlson 25% off award nights at participating hotels September 1 through November 30, 2014. http://www.clubcarlson.com/offers/8577654. Book your next Award Stay using promotional ID POWERPTS at participating hotels.

Club Carlson Gold elites 2-for-1 and 4-for-2 rates in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Loyalty Traveler post May 29.

Club Carlson Gold elite 2-for-1 rates scarce availability in London and Dublin

http://www.clubcarlson.com/2for1

Hilton HHonors Promotions

Hilton HHonors Double Points November 1 – January 31, 2015. Double points begins with your second stay.

Loyalty Traveler – Register for Hilton HHonors Double Up Double Points Nov 1 to Jan 31, 2015

Hilton HHonors August 11 to November 30, 2014 – 4x Avios Points London and 3x points for Europe, Middle East and Africa. Loyalty Traveler post: Hilton HHonors earn 4x Avios points 11 Aug to 30 Nov 2014

Waldorf-Astoria Driving Experience Sep 30 – Dec 7, 2014 offers the opportunity to learn driving from a professional race car driver and drive several luxury sports cars at different USA Waldorf-Astoria Hotels. Loyalty Traveler: Waldorf Astoria Driving Experience Sep 30-Dec 7, 2014

Hyatt Gold Passport promotions

Hyatt mobile app earns 1,000 points per booking Oct 1- Dec 31, 2014.

Hyatt Mobile app promotion page and download links

Loyalty Traveler – Mobile apps for hotel discounts and bonus points: Hyatt, Club Carlson, Expedia, TravelPony (Oct 5)

Hyatt Gold Passport Sep 1 – Nov 30 has at least 8 different offers targeted for member stays. One of the big offers is 50,000 bonus points after 20 nights. My offer was 2,000 bonus points on next three stays. Loyalty Traveler post lists eight different offers. It has been reported that Hyatt Gold Passport has let members change their targeted offer to a different version.

Hyatt Gold Passport Earn up to 3,000 Hyatt bonus points for every three Las Vegas Mlife nights to Dec 31 2014. Registration required by October 15.

IHG Rewards Club

IHG Fall promotion for 50,000 bonus points or 10,000 bonus miles September 4 to December 31, 2014. Register for the “Into the Nights” promotion at www.ihg.com/freenights. Once registered, members will receive their tailored set of offers and begin earning IHG® Rewards Club bonus points or bonus airline miles when they stay at any IHG®-branded hotel between.

Loyalty Traveler – Dealing with IHG Into the Nights Fiasco. I was one of the members deeply impacted by IHG Rewards Club Into the Nights changes in October 2014.

Loyalty Traveler – IHG mobile app and bonus points breakfast package for Into the Nights. This post has the link for finding bonus points and breakfast package rates for hotels where they may not appear in a regular search. Some hotels offer 5,000 points for as low as $10 more than Best Flexible Rate.

IHG PointBreaks Hotels for 5,000 points reward nights for stays by November 30, 2014. Loyalty Traveler – IHG PointBreaks Sep 29-Nov 30 now bookable

Marriott Rewards Promotions

Marriott Rewards MegaBonus targeted offers Sep 15-Jan 15, 2015 Loyalty Traveler post August 13, 2014

Version 1: Earn double points with every paid stay, starting with your second stay, up to 25,000 bonus points.
Version 2: Earn 2,500 bonus points on every stay, starting with your second paid stay, up to 25,000 bonus points.
Version 3: Earn 25,000 bonus points after 12 paid nights, plus an additional 5,000 points after 18 paid nights, up to 30,000 bonus points.
Version 4: Earn 25,000 bonus points after 15 paid nights, plus an additional 15,000 points after 20 paid nights, up to 40,000 bonus points.
Version 5: Earn 35,000 bonus points after 20 paid nights, plus and additional 15,000 after 25 nights, up to 50,000 bonus points.
Version 6: Earn 35,000 bonus points after 20 paid nights, plus an additional 2,000 for every additional paid night, up to 55,000 bonus points.

Marriott Rewards Plus Points social media campaign May 8-Nov 8, 2014. This is the promotion that changed from earning 250 points per Twitter ‘Follow’ to 25 points two months into the promotion. Earn 2,000 free points every 30 days (LT post on original offer) Marriott Rewards Plus Points now need 80 actions to earn 2,000 points (July 15, 2014) for connecting Facebook, Twitter, Instagram accounts to Marriott Rewards Plus Points. Then, ‘Follow’ hotels and brands, use hashtags in social media and post geotagged photos. Easy and quick to simply follow a different hotel for 25 points, up to 100 points per day to max out 2,000 points every 30 days offer.

Ritz-Carlton Rewards

Double Elite Credit for Ritz-Carlton stays in 2014. This benefit is retroactive for all 2014 stays if you were a Ritz-Carlton Rewards member during the stay.

Starwood Preferred Guest

SPG More For You double and triple points promotion for stays of two or more nights from September 15 to December 15, 2014. SPG More for You promotion registration is required by October 31.

Earn double points (total 4 points/$1) for weekdays and triple points (total 6 points/$1) for stays that include a weekend night. The definition of weekends depends on what region of the world you are staying.

Loyalty Traveler – My opinion on weak SPG More for You Double and Triple Points promotion Sep 15 to Dec 15, 2014 (Sep 8)

SPG Triple Crave Dining Bonus Points September 1 to December 30, 2014

SPG Triple Crave 3x points for Dining Sep 1-Dec 30, 2014 offers members the chance to earn triple Starpoints (6 points/$1) for dining charges of $50 or more at 1,451 participating restaurants worldwide for weekday dining Mondays through Thursdays.

spg.com/triplecrave registration for SPG Triple Crave promotion is required by November 30, 2014.

Loyalty Traveler – SPG Triple Crave 3x points for Dining Sep 1-Dec 30, 2014 (Sep 8).

Participating restaurants can be found here. You do not have to be a hotel guest for this offer.

Wyndham Rewards

Note: the following two Wyndham Rewards promotions are valid only for stays at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts and not other Wyndham brands like Days Inn, Ramada, Super 8, etc.

Earn 1,500 United Airlines Mileage Plus miles per stay at a Wyndham Hotel & Resort October 15 to January 16, 2015, beginning with your second stay. This bonus may be earned three times on your 2nd to 4th stays for 4,500 bonus miles. You can earn bonus miles for up to three rooms per stay.

Wyndham Rewards has another 10th Anniversary promotion.

Earn 1,000 points per night on stays of 2 or more nights, up to 10,000 bonus points per stay at a Wyndham Hotel November 1 to January 13, 2015.

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Loyalty Traveler Research and recent info:

Difficulty of getting IHG Best Price Guarantee claim approval for international hotels

Which Hotel Programs count award stays for elite membership?

Hyatt and Starwood brands average room rates compared (based on 2014 Q-1 average rates by brand)

Average Hotel Rates for Hilton and Marriott brands

Use Google Flights to find low cost routes around Europe

Finding low airfare routes with Skyscanner

Norwegian Air USA to Europe under $500 round trip August-September 2014 (July 24, 2014) Norwegian Air $89 checked bag fee OAK-Stockholm comes with assigned seat and meals

InterContinental Chicago O’Hare rebranded to Loews Chicago O’Hare and YouFirst Benefits (July 25, 2014)

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Accor Hotels – Le Club Accorhotels

Hotel Brands: Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, Grand Mercure, Novotel, Mercure, Suite Novotel, The Sebel, Ibis, Ibis Styles, Adagio, Thalassa Sea & Spa.

Accor Hotels Brand Profile – Loyalty Traveler

Accor Hotels offers numerous promotions by global region and country that can be found on their website.

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Best Western Hotels – Best Western Rewards

Hotel Brands: Best Western, Best Western Plus, Best Western Premier

Best Western Rewards: Fall14 promotion earn 1,000 bonus points per stay, elites earn additional 500 points per stay from September 2 to November 24, 2014.

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Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group – Club Carlson

Hotel brands: Radisson Blu, Radisson, Radisson Red, Park Plaza, Park Inn, Country Inn & Suites, Quorvus Collection.

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Club Carlson Gold elites 2-for-1 and 4-for-2 rates in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Loyalty Traveler post May 29.

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10,000 bonus points per stay packages at six Radisson Hotels in USA.

MegaPoints 10,000 points per night at six Radisson Hotels in USA (Feb 20, 2014). This offer is a good deal on a rate $20 more than BAR. There is no main promotion page and no dates provided for the duration of this offer at six hotels:

New York City Radisson Martinique on Broadway and Radisson JFK Airport

Orlando Radisson Resort Orlando – Celebration and Radisson Hotel Orlando – Lake Buena Vista and Radisson Hotel Orlando – UCF Area

San Francisco Radisson Hotel Fisherman’s Wharf

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Club Carlson Hotel Brands Profile by Loyalty Traveler (Jan 8, 2014).

Club Carlson Hotel Loyalty Program Basics by Loyalty Traveler (Jan 8, 2014)

Analysis of Club Carlson award category increases at 114 hotels on March 15, 2014 (Feb 24, 2014)

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Choice Hotels – Choice Privileges

Hotel Brands: Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality, Sleep Inn, Clarion, Cambria Suites, Ascend Hotel Collection, MainStay Suites, Suburban Extended Stay, Econo Lodge and Rodeway Inn.

Choice Hotel BRG free night claim

Choice Hotels free night with approved Best Rate Guarantee. Here is a post on my experience claiming a successful Best Rate Guarantee with one free night (Feb 28, 2014).

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Hilton Worldwide – Hilton HHonors

Hilton hotel brands: Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Waldorf-Astoria Collection, Conrad Hotels, DoubleTree, Hampton Inn, Hilton Garden Inn, Homewood Suites, Home2 Suites.

Hilton HHonors Double Points November 1 – January 31, 2015. Double points begins with your second stay.

Loyalty Traveler – Register for Hilton HHonors Double Up Double Points Nov 1 to Jan 31, 2015

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Hilton HHonors Loyalty Traveler Guide (July 16, 2014)

Loyalty Traveler post: Loyalty Traveler Hilton HHonors Points and Money Rewards table (July 16, 2014) – Hilton does not post a table for Points and Money Rewards on its website.

Loyalty Traveler post: Warning: Do Not Trust HHonors Rewards Pricing Tool (July 3, 2014)

Loyalty Traveler post: Hilton HHonors 39 award category changes and 56 new hotels (July 3, 2014)

Loyalty Traveler post: Marriott beats Hilton for category 1 and 2 hotels in USA (July 7, 2014)

Loyalty Traveler post: Hilton HHonors Seasonal Reward Rates clarified (Jan 24, 2014).

Loyalty Traveler post: Tutorial: Finding HHonors Points & Money and Standard Rewards (Jan 28, 2014).

Loyalty Traveler table: Hilton HHonors Points & Money Rewards table (there is no table on the Hilton HHonors site showing the cost of Points & Money Rewards by hotel category. I created this one.)

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Hyatt Hotels – Hyatt Gold Passport

Hotel Brands: Hyatt Regency, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Place, Hyatt House, Park Hyatt, Andaz

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Hyatt Gold Passport Earn up to 3,000 Hyatt bonus points for every three Las Vegas Mlife nights to Dec 31 2014 (August 10, 2014)

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Hyatt Zilara Rose Hall Montego Bay, Jamaica Grand Opening 50% off rate

Book by October 31, 2014 for stays through December 1, 2015.

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Loyalty Traveler Guide to Hyatt Gold Passport – Overview

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Guide to Hyatt Gold Passport Airline Partners

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Hyatt beats Starwood in USA for category 1 and 2 hotel awards

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Hyatt Gold Passport introduces Points + Cash Rewards Jan 7, 2014.

Loyalty Traveler post Jan 7.

The main problem is Points + Cash availability is not an online function. You have to call Hyatt to book Points + Cash reward stays. Anecdotal reports suggest availability is very good.

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InterContinental Hotels Group – IHG Rewards Club

Hotel Brands – InterContinental Hotels, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites, Candlewood Suites, Hualux (China), Even.

Loyalty Traveler overview of IHG Rewards Club (Jan 6, 2014) – IHG Rewards Club in 2014: History, Award Nights and Elite Status

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IHG PointBreaks Hotels for 5,000 points reward nights for stays by November 30, 2014. Loyalty Traveler – IHG PointBreaks Sep 29-Nov 30 now bookable

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Marriott International – Marriott Rewards

Marriott hotel brands: Marriott, JW Marriott, Renaissance, Fairfield Inn, SpringHill Suites, TownePlace Suites, Residence Inn, Courtyard by Marriott, Autograph Collection, Ritz-Carlton, Marriott Vacation Clubs

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Marriott Rewards MegaBonus targeted offers Sep 15-Jan 15, 2015 Loyalty Traveler post August 13, 2014

Version 1: Earn double points with every paid stay, starting with your second stay, up to 25,000 bonus points.
Version 2: Earn 2,500 bonus points on every stay, starting with your second paid stay, up to 25,000 bonus points.
Version 3: Earn 25,000 bonus points after 12 paid nights, plus an additional 5,000 points after 18 paid nights, up to 30,000 bonus points.
Version 4: Earn 25,000 bonus points after 15 paid nights, plus an additional 15,000 points after 20 paid nights, up to 40,000 bonus points.
Version 5: Earn 35,000 bonus points after 20 paid nights, plus and additional 15,000 after 25 nights, up to 50,000 bonus points.
Version 6: Earn 35,000 bonus points after 20 paid nights, plus an additional 2,000 for every additional paid night, up to 55,000 bonus points.

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Free Night offer for New Members of Marriott Rewards, Earn one free category 1-5 hotel night certificate after two stays within 90 days of enrollment. This offer is reported stackable with MegaBonus free night offer. Loyalty Traveler post: New Marriott Rewards members earn one category 5 free night certificate after two stays in 120 days (Feb 6, 2014). Category 5 hotels include several hotels around the world that will run $300+ per night.

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Marriott Rewards Refer-a-Friend for up to 50,000 points (August 1, 2014)

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Atlantis Resort Bahamas joins Marriott Autograph Collection (July 7, 2014)

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Marriott PointSavers hotels has about 60 hotels in USA and UK offering reward nights at one category discount. A category 5 hotel at 25,000 points per night is only 20,000 points with PointSavers award. These award discount rates also apply to 5th night free.

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Loyalty Traveler post: Marriott beats Hilton for category 1 and 2 hotels in USA (July 7, 2014)

Loyalty Traveler post – Marriott Rewards Hotel + Air Package Rewards for United and other airlines (Feb 5, 2014)

Loyalty Traveler post – Tutorial: Marriott’s Cash + Points Rewards with 5th Night Free (Jan 28, 2014)

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Marriott Points & Miles Deals – http://www.marriott.com/specials/mesSearchResults.mi

There are hundreds of discount rates, package deals and points and miles bonus offers at Marriott hotels worldwide. My advice is to check the Marriott specials site and search your destination city for special offers at marriott brand hotels.

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Loyalty Traveler post – Marriott MegaBonus 16 days hiatus and why Category 4 Certificates have less value in 2014 (Jan 15, 2014).

Loyalty Traveler post – Marriott International hotel numbers by brand 12-31-13

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Starwood Hotels – Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG)

Starwood brands: Westin, Sheraton, Four Points, Aloft, Element, Luxury Collection, St. Regis, W Hotels, Le Meridien

Fall 2014 Promotions

SPG More For You double and triple points promotion for stays of two or more nights from September 15 to December 15, 2014. SPG More for You promotion registration is required by October 31.

Earn double points (total 4 points/$1) for weekdays and triple points (total 6 points/$1) for stays that include one weekend night. The definition of weekends depends on what region of the world you are staying.

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Loyalty Traveler post: Tutorial: SPG Browse Dates and Rates Feature (Jan 30, 2014)

Loyalty Traveler Guide to SPG Airline Partners, Transfers and Airline Direct Deposit program (July 1, 2014)

Starwood Preferred Guest Cash and Points Awards Guide

Hyatt beats Starwood in USA for category 1 and 2 hotel awards (July 3, 2014)

SPG 2014 Hotel Category Reassignment:

Loyalty Traveler post:Analysis of SPG Hotels outside USA rising in award category March 4, 2014

Loyalty Traveler post: 139 hotels down in Starwood Hotels award category reassignment March 4, 2014

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Starwood Hotels Birth Year rate can be a great savings at some hotels. Pay a set rate for the first night of your hotel stay and get the second and for select hotels third night at the nightly rate of your birth year. For example, born in 1975, then the room rate is $75. At some hotels this will be the lowest rate possible and can save a $100 to $300 on a hotel stay.

http://americas.starwoodoffers.com/payyourbirthyear

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Starwood Preferred Guest And Caesars Total Rewards Partnership

SPG has teamed up with Caesars Entertainment to reward points to each other’s members. This deal allows members to earn SPG points at Caesars properties. Redemption rates are generally poor using SPG points for Caesars Hotels.

Loyalty Traveler posts on SPG and Caesars partnership:

Caesars and Starwood Preferred Guest partner for points earning (Jan 21, 2014)

Redemption Value analysis using SPG points for Caesars award stays in Las Vegas (Jan 21, 2014).

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Wyndham Hotel Group – Wyndham Rewards

Wyndham Hotel Brands: Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Wyndham Grand, Wyndham Garden, Tryp by Wyndham, Wingate by Wyndham, Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham, Microtel Inn & Suites, Dream Hotels, Night Hotels, Planet Hollywood, Ramada Worldwide, Baymont Inn & Suites, Days Inn, Super 8, Howard Johnson, Travelodge, Knights Inn.

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Wyndham Rewards has another 10th Anniversary promotion.

Earn 1,000 points per night on stays of 2 or more nights, up to 10,000 bonus points per stay at a Wyndham Hotel November 1 to January 13, 2015.

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Wyndham Rewards points-to-miles exchange rate was cut by half for hotel points transfer to frequent flyer program miles on January 31, 2014 without any prior member notice. Loyalty Traveler post: Gone with the Wyndham Rewards: points-to-miles rate cut by half Jan 31, 2014 (Feb 1, 2014).

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Ric Garrido of Monterey, California is writer and owner of Loyalty Traveler.

Loyalty Traveler shares news and views on hotels, hotel loyalty programs and vacation destinations for frequent guests.

Follow Loyalty Traveler on Twitter and Facebook and RSS feed.

November 2014 hotel promotions guide

Hilton HHonors Loyalty Traveler Guide (July 16, 2014)

Atlantis Resort Bahamas joins Marriott Autograph Collection (July 7, 2014)

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