<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by bacasey:
At first glance it looks rather similar to the programs offered by Choice or BW, but I haven't looked close yet. I Didn't see any elite levels, but it may be of use to those of us who spend a lot of time in smaller markets. You can find more info at www.triprewards.com.
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Hm, 2 airline/railway miles per dollar spent on qualifying room rates? At these hotel chains, room rates are likely to be $50ish to $75ish maybe, so that's 100 to 150 miles per 1-night stay (and only if you collect with one of the just three programs they partner with). Both Choice and BW give you 250 miles per stay. So this would be much poorer earning than Choice or BW unless your stays are multi-night.
And, in fact, unless you're going to stay with the very occasionally, earning directly to airline miles isn't as good as converting. $800 of room stays will give you 8000 points, which you can convert to 3200 miles. (That's the minimum conversion amount.) But going directly to miles, you'd only get 1600 miles for that same $800! Sounds like they want to make sure you're a frequent guest and not just an occasional one!
(It's only if you convert like this that the mileage comes out around what you'd get at Choice or BW. But that's assuming that Cendant runs as many double point promos as BW and especially Choice do.)