FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - maximize upcoming hotel stays for points
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Old Aug 3, 2012, 12:13 pm
  #7  
redtop43
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: PHL (kinda, no airport is really close)
Programs: AA Exp, but not sure for how long. Enterprise Platinum woo-hoo!
Posts: 4,546
As a general rule, you will get upgrades only as a result of elite status, which will require a certain number of nights or stays in the prior year. Hotels give out the lowest elite status level quite freely, so you would have to shoot for the next level. If you are not already elite, this trip will not qualify you for elite status on this trip. If you are able to concentrate your stays in the same chain, you might be able to get elite status for next year. I'm not sure just what is required, and it varies from chain to chain. You have 16 nights listed, I think it usually takes 15-25 nights to get elite status. Even then, you are not going to walk into a resort and be told "Mr. Trekker, we hope that a Prestiege Suite for the price of a regular room will be adequate, we're sorry but the Imperial Suites are all booked."

Free nights are a different matter. You can accumulate points toward free nights wherever you stay. Again I'm not an expert, but I think for example that Marriott gives you 10 points per dollar spent, and their top redemption is 40K points. So if you stayed 16 nights in rooms costing $250 a night, you'd have enough points for one free night at one of their top-tier hotels - or 2, 3, or 4 nights at lesser properties.

I think you will do best by just booking the hotels that seem best in regard to your price, location, and quality requirements. It's probably not worth even an extra $10 to stay at a Hilton rather than a Marriott because you are accumulating Hilton points, and certainly not an extra $20.
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