Loyalty Traveler Does Chicago in Style for $100 per Day

Some people think I get free travel. The hotels and opportunities I get for discount rooms are the same opportunities open to any loyalty program member who plans with good travel strategies. I do not take complimentary rooms from hotels when I travel.

My goal is to show readers what is possible with hotel loyalty programs. Sometimes I probably get a nice upgrade due to being Loyalty Traveler, but the nice upgrades were a benefit I received as an elite hotel loyalty program member for many years prior to writing this blog.

Here is an example of how I stayed mostly in upper upscale and luxury hotels in Chicago for under $100 per night this past week even though a major Opthalmologist Convention was happening and filling many of the downtown Chicago hotels.

Holiday Inn Elk Grove (O’Hare Airport)

• Points & Cash = 0 points + $30
• Priority Club elite benefit = free Gatorade and chips from hotel pantry
• Published room rate = $109 or $122.08 after tax
• Loyalty Traveler Checkout total = $30 + $5 maid tip = $35
• Loyalty Traveler Savings = $87.08

Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers

• SPG Cash & Points $60 + 4,000 points
• SPG Platinum benefits = 33^rd floor lounge access with evening snacks and sodas, morning lounge breakfast, free internet, SPG Platinum Welcome Amenity 500 points and late checkout
• Published Room Rate = $265 or $304.75 after tax.
• Loyalty Traveler Checkout total = $69 + $5 maid tip = $74
• Loyalty Traveler Savings = $230.75
• There is no cash equivalent value given for the 8,000 Starpoints used in Chicago since I earned 70,000 free Starpoints through this “My Midas Touch” promotion. There was also an option to buy SPG points at the rate of $145 per 10,000 points through DiscoverAmerica.com in May 2010. The cash equivalent value for 4,000 points would have been $58.

 

W Hotel Lakeshore

• SPG Cash & Points $60 + 4,000 points
• SPG Platinum benefits = Lakeview room, high floor, two free drinks at the Wave Bar, free internet, SPG Platinum Welcome Amenity 500 points and 4 pm checkout
• Published Room Rate = $309 or $355 after tax.
• Loyalty Traveler Checkout total = $69 + $5 maid tip = $74
• Loyalty Traveler Savings = $281

Crowne Plaza Hotel Avenue

• Priority Club 25,000 points award ( I purchased 25,000 points last May for $150 through DiscoverAmerica.com Priority Club discount offer).
• Priority Club elite benefits = 15% off breakfast buffetat 40^th floor lounge; free beer at Elephant & Castle pub; complimentary upgrade to Tech floor with Mac computer and free internet.
• Published Room Rate = $329 or $379.67 after tax
• Loyalty Traveler Checkout total = $15 (Elephant & Castle pub meal) + $5 maid tip = $20
• Loyalty Traveler Savings = $229.67

Park Hyatt Chicago

• Hyatt Gold Passport Category 6  award for 22,000 points ( I purchased 22,000 points last June for $206.25 through DiscoverAmerica.com Hyatt Gold Passport discount offer) (oops … I posted this a few minutes ago incorrectly stating I paid $123.75, so now my average is a little over $100 per night.)
• Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond elite benefits = complimentary breakfast at NoMI ($33 value for crab omelette); free internet; Diamond member welcome amenity of 1,000 points; preferred view room on top floor (18) of hotel facing historic Chicago Water Tower.
• Published Room Rate = $422.50 (AAA) or $487.56 after tax
• Loyalty Traveler Checkout total = $5 maid tip
• Loyalty Traveler Savings = $281.31

5 hotel nights in Chicago = $564.25 for Loyalty Traveler

Actual lowest published rates for these hotel rooms = $1,649.06

That is why I am a loyalty traveler.