The column I wrote for InsideFlyer October 2011 is Matching Hotel Promotions to Your Travel Style. The problem with writing an article about hotel loyalty promotions for a magazine are new offers typically come out between the due date for the article (Sep 8) and the time the article is published and online. My Loyalty Traveler column on InsideFlyer.com is free for nonsubscriber readers.
The Travel Styles I matched with end-of-year promotions include:
Best Low Spend Bonus — Marriott
Best Luxury or Hotel Suite Bargain — Hotels.com
Best Long Weekend Getaway — Starwood
Best Upscale Hotel Extended Stay Bonus — Hyatt
Best Midscale Hotel Extended Stay Bonus — Choice
Best Miles Bonuses — Marriott
Best Road Warrior Bonus — IHG
Links to all these offers are in the InsideFlyer.com column.
In the past three weeks there have been additional high value loyalty offers that fit into the mix of best value hotel loyalty promotions for upcoming hotel stays.
Hilton HHonors free night after every four stays or 10 nights is the highest potential value offer for Q4-2011 hotel stays. $2,500 in hotel stays can potentially provide a $4,000 luxury hotel vacation on free nights. Almost all the other non-spend based hotel offers have a limit to the number of bonus points, miles, and free nights that a member can earn during the promotion. The exclusion list is the main impediment to making this Hilton offer a truly outstanding offer for the quarter. San Francisco Bay Area is severely impacted by the nonparticipating Hilton properties list.
I add Hilton’s Fast Ways to Free Stays offer to the Best Road Warrior Bonus and actually would rank this ahead of the IHG 4x points offer listed in my InsideFlyer article.
Other recent loyalty promotion offers:
Club Carlson for a free night after two stays at Country Inns & Suites Oct 2- Dec 1 for stays from Sunday to Thursday.
Wyndham Cash back and Double Points Sep 15-Nov 18.
Both of these offers fit well in Best Low Spend bonus category. But I still favor Marriott as the best low spend offer although Country Inn offers a free night with a two-night midweek stay and might be a better offer than Marriott for the person needing just one hotel stay.
Best Mileage Bonus seekers who fly Southwest can add Hyatt’s 1,800 Rapid Rewards points per stay October 1-Jan 15, 2012 to the list of high value offers, especially since this offer can be combined with the Gold Passport 5,000 bonus points every three nights.
Best Car Rental Bonus didn’t fit in my InsideFlyer column word limit. Club Carlson offers 9,000 points for a three day car rental from Avia or Budget for stays through the end of the year. 9,000 points is sufficient for a free hotel night at a Club Carlson category 1 hotel. Or you can exchange 8,000 points for 1,000 airline miles. Not bad for a car rental.
