Best Western hotels Best Western Rewards Choice Hotels Choice Privileges Daily Getaways Hotel-Airline Loyalty Promotions 2016-Q2 promotions IHG One Rewards InterContinental Hotels Group Points & Cash U.S. Travel Association Wyndham Hotels Wyndham Rewards Wyndham Worldwide

Any great deals in first two weeks of Daily Getaways 2016? Depends on where you travel.

by Ric Garrido
March 28, 2016
9 Comments
298 Views

U.S. Travel Association posted a preview of the first two weeks offers for Daily Getaways 2016 beginning Monday, April 4. For me, this annual five week sale is generally when I buy hundreds of dollars in hotel points. Choice Privileges, Best Western Rewards, IHG Rewards Club and Wyndham Rewards have sale days during the first two weeks.

IHG Rewards Clubâ€™s price point of $5.65 to $6.00 per 1,000 points is a pass for me. There are opportunities to buy 15,000 points for $85 with Points and Cash reservations.

Choice Privileges is the best deal here with points as low as $4.00 per 1,000 points. There are some very high room night values in Scandinavian hotels where $64 to $80 in points with this deal buys rooms with published rates of $300 to $500 per night. The combination of low priced USA-Scandinavia flights and low priced Choice Privileges reward nights can make a trip to Scandinavia quite affordable. Iâ€™ll show examples of the high value of Choice Privileges points in an upcoming article this week.

Wyndham Rewards is a high price at $10 per 1,000 points to buy 15,000 points, but a good deal with their new GoFast cash and points reward option requiring 3,000 points or for some high end Wyndham hotel nights at 15,000 points for a GoFree reward.

Best Western Rewards can be a decent deal at $5.50 per 1,000 points. I have my eye on some European hotels where 20,000 BWR points buys a $200 per night room.

Daily Getaways Week 1: April 4-8

Daily Getaways Week 2: April 11-15

Expedia $1,000 Travel coupon for $650 was a hot item last year.

Busch Gardens, Sea World, Universal Studios and Las Vegas packages hold no interest for me.

Omni Hotels is a deal that I donâ€™t think has ever sold out on the first day Omni packages were offered in Daily Getaways. Every year I come across Omni Hotels during the year where any of these deals would be a big rate discount.

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9 Comments

eponymous coward March 28, 2016

So, basically a yawnfest unless you travel to Scandinavia or there’s Omni Hotels you would stay at during peak rate seasons?

I priced out some Best Western hotels during July in Amsterdam and northern Germany, so pretty much peak season, compared points to cash. The discounts were somewhere between “not very much, on the margin when you include the points you get back” to “you’d actually be paying more if you bought points”.
eponymous coward March 28, 2016

FWIW, Best Western had a lot of hotels under 100 euro on my dates in early-mid July in Amsterdam and Germany, and nothing over 200, and the most expensive hotels were at 28k points per night (which means you’re paying $165 for those points and you have 2k left over unless you have a BW points balance). This makes it hard to get a lot of good value. Even the Best Western Couture in Amsterdam (thanks for the review!) has a fully refundable rate under 100 Euro during my dates.
eponymous coward March 28, 2016

OK, the Wyndham deal looks good. In effect you get a night at the New Yorker or some other NYC Wyndham prooperty for $150.
Ric Garrido March 28, 2016

eponymous coward – Best Western Rewards uses peak season pricing. Summer reward rates are often triple the reward cost in off-season. http://loyaltytraveler.boardingarea.com/2015/03/30/did-you-know-best-western-rewards-uses-seasonal-reward-rates/

There are not a lot of hotels where Best Western Rewards are going to give great value on reward stay redemptions at the Daily Getaways price point. There are some hotels. I got great value from two reward stays in British Columbia last year. Even got a suite upgrade at one of the hotels.

On the Beach at Best Western Tin Wis Resort Tofino, British Columbia (April 28)
http://loyaltytraveler.boardingarea.com/2015/04/28/on-the-beach-at-best-western-tin-wis-resort-tofino-british-columbia/

Go west from Victoria for Best Western Premier Prestige Oceanfront Resort Sooke (May 1)
http://loyaltytraveler.boardingarea.com/2015/05/01/go-west-from-victoria-for-best-western-premier-prestige-oceanfront-resort-sooke/

BEST WESTERN PLUS Delmere Hotel, Paddington area, London UK
May 11 reward rate = 28,000 points
May 11 cash rate = $239.
$154 to buy points.
$85 per night savings.

BW PREMIER COLLECTION Hotel Milton Rimini, Italy July 10-15
935 EUR or 140,000 BW points.

$1,047 / 140 = $7.48 per 1,000 points.
Daily Getaways lets a couple buy 100,000 points for $550.

This is one example. Not a very good example since this Italy hotel has a 5-night minimum stay in July. Works for me since I have 40,000 points I can add to the 100,000 points for a five night stay.

The redemption value of Wyndham points is often from $30 to $50 per 1,000 points with a GoFast reward stay for 3,000 points + cash copay. There are some hotels like The Mills House Wyndham Grand Charleston, SC where a $150 room night is a bargain with 15,000 points.
Dan March 28, 2016

With Best Western $110=20,000 points. Some hotels that can be a very good deal(near national parks, along pacific coast). Im unsure how the pt value rules changes affect some of these hotels.

for choice the points also can be a good deal. There are a few I know that are 20K points but go for $200.night at peak time.
eponymous coward March 28, 2016

Thanks, Ric.

For my uses American Southwest, often in places like Phoenix, Vegas, SoCal and Tucson during off-peak, East Coast in the DCA-NYC corridor, continental Europe, the lower-priced parts of Asia like Thailand, with the occasional Hong Kong/Tokyo trip, none of the deals screams BUY ME NOW with the possible exception of Wyndham- the time I cashed in some Wyndham points for the New Yorker I also ended up with a suite with terrace, looking out at the Chrysler Building. That was a killer deal, even at the older pricing for Wyndham points.
Dan March 28, 2016

I have known for years best western had variable points at many of their hotels where the points rate drops in off-seasons. Usually its 1 or 2 steps in their 4,000 point level system.

best western grand canyon in June for a 2 queen bed room is = $245+tax or 36,000/night. Buy 40,000 points=$220. Same with a couple near Glacier. rate around $220-$240/night + tax. Same true with Estes PArk BW. –around same rate and same points.

what has happened in the BW point changes has allowed the best westerns to go to max 36,000 points in the peak summer season. Before the change the hotel in Kalispell was around 24K, and Whitefish around 28K. 28K for the best western in Estes Park.

Seaside, OR was regularly 28K, now peak summer its 36K, then it drops to below 28K in offseason.
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