Pedro M

I just received offer below. I hadn't seen EQM for hotel stays before. Is it something new?

You've been selected to earn up to 100 Elite Qualifying Miles (EQMs) on each qualifying stay with these partners through July 31:
Marriott Starwood
Hilton Fairmont
Rocketmiles Best Western
IHG Carlson
Hyatt PointsHound
Choice Wyndham

How it works:
• Register now with promo code HTEQM
• Book and stay by July 31, 2017
• Earn 10% EQMs on all base award miles earned from qualifying stays (up to 1,250 EQMs during the promotion period)

penlin

Its an interesting offer, I received the same.. but do I need to book my hotels through AA? Not very clear..

masonp123

Also rec'd it. Here are the full T&C's. Does it eliminate earning hotel points at the hotel partners (see bolding)?

To qualify for this American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus Elite Qualifying Mile promotion (the “Promotion”), an AAdvantage® member must have received an email from American Airlines regarding the Promotion (an “Eligible Member”). Eligible Members that register for the Promotion and earn miles on qualifying stays with Hotel Partners during the Promotion Period will receive 10% bonus Elite Qualifying Miles (“EQMs”) on all base miles earned from the qualifying stays. Limit: An Eligible Member may earn a maximum of 100 EQMs per qualifying stay and a maximum of 1,250 EQMs during the Promotion Period, regardless of the amount of qualifying stays. Qualifying stays that take place before an Eligible Member is registered for the Promotion will not count toward the Promotion. An Eligible Member must also be in good standing in the AAdvantage® program at the time of the Eligible Member’s first qualifying stay and throughout the remainder of the Promotion Period.

To earn AAdvantage® miles from qualifying stays, an Eligible Member must follow instructions given by the Hotel Partner to either (i) set the Eligible Member’s earning preference to American Airlines miles on the Hotel Partner’s site, or (ii) provide the Eligible Member’s AAdvantage® number during the booking process or upon check-in.

EQMs earned as a result of the Promotion will typically be posted to the Eligible Member’s AAdvantage® account within 7 business days after the qualifying stay has been posted by the participating Hotel Partner. EQMs only count toward elite status qualification for the AAdvantage® program. EQMs earned through the Promotion will not count toward AAdvantage® Million MilerSM status. EQMs cannot be redeemed for award travel, AAdvantage® miles or any other AAdvantage® program awards.

American Airlines is not responsible for products or services offered by Hotel Partners. American Airlines assumes no responsibility for how participating Hotel Partners count qualifying stays. An Eligible Member must check with the Hotel Partner to confirm how the Hotel Partner records a qualifying stay. Additional terms and conditions that govern certain Hotel Partners’ qualifying stays can be found at aa.com/hotelpartners

The Promotion may be used in conjunction with other AAdvantage® Hotel Partner bonus mileage offers. Qualifying stays booked through bookaahotels.com that earn AAdvantage® miles will qualify for the Promotion. AAdvantage® program elite status requirements and balances are available on the AAdvantage® section of aa.com. Additional terms may apply.

This email was sent to [email protected] because you subscribe to AAdvantage® Promotions.

This email has been sent on behalf of American Airlines. We are happy to help you with any questions or concerns you may have. For all inquiries about American Airlines or the AAdvantage® program, visit aa.com/contactaa or contact us in writing at American Airlines, 4255 Amon Carter Blvd., MD 2400, Fort Worth, TX 76155-2503.

American Airlines reserves the right to change the AAdvantage® program and its terms and conditions at any time without notice, and to end the AAdvantage program with six months notice. Any such changes may affect your ability to use the awards or mileage credits that you have accumulated. Unless specified, AAdvantage miles earned through this promotion/offer do not count towards elite-status qualification or AAdvantage Million MilerSM status. American Airlines is not responsible for products or services offered by other participating companies. For complete details about the AAdvantage program, visit aa.com/aadvantage.

Travel booked on American Airlines may be American Eagle® service, operated by Compass Airlines, LLC, Envoy Air Inc., ExpressJet Airlines, Inc., Republic Airline Inc., SkyWest Airlines, Inc., Air Wisconsin Airlines Corporation, Mesa Airlines, Inc., PSA Airlines, Inc., Piedmont Airlines, Inc., or Trans States Airlines, LLC.

billybligh

I jumped into the could care less about status boat this year. Offers like this make me feel absolutely fantastic. As unclear as it is, you guys need to post as much fine print as you can round up. Free time? Ill be waiting for some nice blogger to put this into english, but until then, I'll be passing on 12k in hotel spend for 1250 eqm that i could give two uncleared upgrades about.

controller1

You do not need to book through AA. You can book through your normal booking channel. The big deal here is that you must have your hotel earning preferences set for AAdvantage miles and not set for the hotel chain's points. Even though I received the email and registered, this may be a promo that provides me nothing as I typically find my Starwood Starpoints more valuable (especially with the elite bonus) than the paltry AA miles I could earn with the same stay.

yoganeck

As I read it, it means that 10% of the AA miles awarded by Hotel program for each stay will be credited as EQM's to your AA account.

In other words, if you elect AA airline miles INSTEAD of Hotel points for your Marriott stay, and the Marriott program awards you 500 AA miles for each stay, then in addition to those Hotel points, you'll ALSO be credited with fifty (50) AA EQM's for each stay.

Wash, rinse, repeat for up to a total of 1250 EQM's awarded via this promotion.

Which means that (using the example above) in order to 'max-out' this promotion you'd need to forgo Hotel points (but not necessarily Hotel Stay/night credit) for 25 (!) stays ~ 25*50=1250 EQM.

Pretty lame promotion, unless you're super close to an EQM threshold and don't want to bother with a 'EQM' mileage-run.

Most people aren't going to be short EQM's, though. It is of course the damn EQD's that are the killer.

Now, if this promotion used the same math but instead awarded EQD's, then it most DEFINITELY be worthwhile.

No such luck.....

yoganeck

Of the Hotel Major chains, the one where I see this possibly being useful (other than the unlikely super-close-to-EQM-threshold scenario) is Hilton, because you can 'Double-Dip' and earn both HHonors points & Airline points with each stay.

rasheed

My guess is a promo like this indicates that people are not collecting miles because of the destruction of the AA program (particularly on the redemption side).

I suspect the EQD outside of flying is exclusive to Barclays otherwise this offer would have offered both. I mean hotels buy miles, so it makes sense to value them in a similar fashion to flying EQ stuff.

I agree that Hilton is the only chain where miles accrual is straight forward. I think for most other chains this would apply when you convert hotel points to miles (usually not a good idea anymore). I did prefer the Hilton miles bonus program from earlier this year though versus this one because I don't find EQM in shortage either.

Rasheed

controller1

You need to read the T&C as this does not apply to the conversion of hotel points to AA miles. It is solely in conjunction with the direct earning of AA miles through hotel stays.

Smiley90

Received the same thing. With the limit being 100 per stay and 1250 in total, not particularly useful.

also, from the T&C:

"Qualifying stays booked through bookaahotels.com that earn AAdvantage® miles will qualify for the Promotion. "


looks like it has to be booked through AA.

SpammersAreScum

I didn't see an "only" in there. I would read that as an implied "also".

controller1

I agree. IMO, AA is only indicating that one may also book at bookaahotels.com and earn the promo.

E55

Maybe EQM, collectively, are low among AAdvantage members.

flyerCO

+1

Though note you don't earn points/miles in some Hotel programs if you book through third party sites.

ckendall

This is a sufficiently complex promotion that I, who am short EQM at the moment ($6K EQD, 40K EQM) cannot figure out whether it's worth it or not.