The Points Guy: Taking Advantage Of Hotel Points

[TotallyOz]

When people think about travel points, the first programs that come to mind are usually airline mile accounts. However, the number, variety and value of great hotel points programs have grown exponentially over the past few years, and consumers are starting to take notice. Thanks to their versatility, flexibility and elite perks, hotel points are some of the hottest commodities in travel points.

The bottom line is: Hotel points matter--even if it's free airline tickets you're after. Here are a few of the reasons why, and what you should be thinking about as you get started with them.

Higher Value: Unlike airline miles, which usually amount to a value of about 1-2 cents each, hotel loyalty points' value can be worth much, much more. The combination of rising airfares, reduced flight capacities and scarcer award seat availability can make finding ideal award tickets challenging. On the other hand, although hotel rates have also risen dramatically over the past decade, capacity keeps on growing as well (or at least remains fixed since you can't switch buildings if you don't sell out your hotel, whereas you can switch out aircraft) as hotel chains expand and keep on adding brands. That means that more rooms--and more expensive rooms--are up for grabs to loyalty point program members. Enough stays at an Embassy Suites can translate to overnights at a Waldorf Astoria. The 20,000 Starwood points you earn staying at a Sheraton can get you a night at the St. Regis Rome.

Exchange Rates: Airfares were high this summer thanks to a number of factors including the skyrocketing cost of gas, but Americans have been feeling even more of a pinch thanks to the weak US dollar. That holds true for hotel rates as well, especially in Europe, where the Euro is pummeling the greenback. A hotel room that would cost $200 in Los Angeles could go for the equivalent of $600 in Paris. That makes using your hotel points wisely more important than ever. Plus, the Starwood Preferred Guest program has a "Cash & Points" option that gets you hotel rooms for both fewer points and less money than using one method of payment or the other. For example, a Category 4 (out of 7) Starwood property like the Westin Grand Berlin, would cost you 4,000 Starpoints and $60 USD using the "Cash & Points" option versus paying over 250 euros (around $360 at the moment).

More Options: Though hotel points are generally only redeemable within a single hotel group (like Marriott or Hilton), most of these chains have created, incorporated or bought other brands to put under their umbrella and usually you can both earn points on stays at any of the brands within the chain, as well as using points earned at any of the brands within the chain for stays at any of the other brands. Just to give you a quick rundown of some of the biggest:

-IHG Priority Club: This is the biggest group, with over 4,000 properties worldwide, and brands like InterContinental, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn.

-Hilton HHonors: Another huge hotel group of over 3,600 hotels worldwide with familiar names like Hilton, Waldorf Astoria, DoubleTree, Embassy Suites and Hilton Garden Inn.

-Marriott Rewards: The next largest chain, with over 3,400 properties in the Marriott, JW Marriott, Ritz-Carlton, Renaissance, Edition and Residence Inn brands.

-Starwood Preferred Guest: This group has over 1,000 properties across several great brands including Westin, St. Regis, W Hotels, Sheraton, Element and Aloft.

-Hyatt Gold Passport: One of the best hotel programs out there (which I'll talk about in a future post) even though they only have just over 400 properties across brands like Hyatt, Park Hyatt, Andaz and Hyatt Place.

Airline Transfers: Just because you pick a hotel loyalty program and start accruing points in it doesn't mean you can't still use them for airfare. In fact, most hotel programs allow you to transfer points to several different airline mileage accounts. For instance, right now, Starwood Preferred Guest members can transfer their points to 31 different mileage programs including those of American Airlines, British Airways, Delta, Air France, United, US Airways and Virgin Atlantic (see the list here), and SPG will give you a bonus of 5,000 points for every 20,000 that you transfer. (What does that tell you about the value of hotel points versus airline miles?). Hilton HHonors members can already transfer points to 40 airline partners (see the list here). In general, however, hotel points are more valuable when used on hotel stays rather than on flights.

See link for full info:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-kelly/the-points-guy-taking-adv_b_946364.html

[eeyore]

Interesting and informative. Thanks for sharing.

[TownsendPLocke]

The Points Guy is a friend of mine and I am very proud of him turning a hobby into a career.Here is the direct link to his site. http://thepointsguy.com/

I spend a lot of nights in hotels that are less than glamorous(typing this from my club level room at the Sheraton Garden Grove)so that I can spend my leisure time in hotels which I otherwise could not afford-or rather would have a hard time justifying the cost of such lodgings.

This year has seen the lodging chains/airlines cutting way back on the promotions offered to their frequent customers. Hyatt abandonned their usuall Free Frequent Night promotion for the first time in six years. Starwood had a very good promotion=three nights stay got you a free night at one of their high end resorts,which is great for those that like resorts-which I don't.Both of theese chains are ending the year on very dull notes which is making me question my loyalty to Starwood for the first time in four years.

This persuit of elite status with three chains(I also keep Marriott mid tier) has greatly reduced my budget for the sort of expenses this board is attuned to.Namely my hiring of service providers has dropped dramaticly in the past 3 years.This is actually good timing because my libido has dropped as well as a result of middle age so a comfy bed means more to me than what goes on in that bed! I have also dropped most of my airline status as well-air travel is a hassle for fat guys-and I just am not up to the challenge most days.

I still manage to travel a lot more than anyone in my family-and most of the general population.But I am not as driven about this crazy hobby of mine as I used to be.But it is a hard habit to give up completely.

[Guest EXPAT]

I was obsessed with status and points when I was traveling all over the world. But now that I'm not, I'm using up all my points and I will be out of them by the middle of next year on all airlines and hotels (except Starwood). I had 1 million miles on 2 airlines and 750,000 on a third and I've used up almost all of them except United and I will be done by next year. But I haven't paid for an airline seat in 6 years now. I'll have to start paying sometime next year. sigh. . . And of course since I haven't paid for a seat in 6 years I haven't attained any status on any airline either. But at least I get to use my points for a first class seat.

[KYTOP]

When I traveled a lot I was almost always an exclusive Marriott points guy and knew the ends and outs on getting double and extra points. I almost always got great upgrades even in places like NYC,and Chicago. The JW Marriott in Bangkok always upgraded me to a 2 room suite and the Marriott in Pattaya surprised me a with birthday cake while eating a late Breakfast in the lounge on my birthday. You should have heard their staff sing Happy Birthday to me in English that morning.

I became even more loyal to Marriott after I got stranded in New Orleans for days after Hurricane Katrina (some of you know my story about that) with the effort they took to protect me and the other guests and the efforts they took to get us out of New Orleans at their expense. They took care of me (including food)during and after the Hurricane and never charged me a dime for what they did. Even got a hand written note from Mr Marriott himself after I got safely home.

[Guest tomcal]

The advantage to sticking to one airline for me(american) was that being tall, if I couldn't get upgraded I needed to get a emergency exit row with it's extra leg room, which on some planes like a 757, has more leg room than first class! Also with Exec Plat. status you get 8 international upgrades a year! This past June, I went over 3,000,000 miles on American, when you go over 2,000,000 miles you become "Platinum" for life, so when I end up in retirement, and not doing business travel, I can still reserve exit row when I make the reservation as opposed to the day of check-in which is when it becomes available for those without airline status. I have been happy with American overall. I would say I get upgraded for free on 90% of my domestic flights, which is much higher rate than my co-workers who have their status on United!

For Hotels I went with the Starwood program, Sheraton/Westin/W's, and wish I had done Marriott instead. Starwood is ok, but everyone I know who has status with marriott loves it!

For rental cars I have stuck with AVIS and like their program.