I haven't done any phantom stays yet but I've looked into it and that (30 miles / $) seems to be about right.

For hotels I'm actually going to stay in, 25 miles / $ seems to be attainable quite often.

I'm new at this, but was thinking about it differently. If the rate is lower than booking direct, I accept the AA booking (at any rate). It happens my two bookings got 7 & 9 LPs per $ (much lower than you are both describing). However, it will get me to the next level and there was only a nominal cost to me (other than giving up points in the other programs to get LPs). I'll have to re-consider going forward and try to seek these 25-30 LP options (which I haven't seen yet). I have only been looking at chains though (Hilton/Hyatt/Marriott/Accor).

Maybe you're EXP and get higher amounts?

I actually just rechecked thinking my $s per LP were too low and one of my reservations is now 15 LPs per $ (and the rate is identical). Wild how much it moved (it was 9 LPs prior). I cancelled the 9 LPs one. Guess you have to constantly check and recheck these prepaid reservations, I didn't know

So to clarify please; what did the charge appear as on your statement? Was it as if the hotel charged the stay rather than RTI/RocketTravel? I have a similar concern to an above poster regarding risk of expense justification.

And also for your experience, it seems like this opens up the possibility of stacking with whatever card related spend offers you may have for that hotel... good!

RTI*AADVANTAGEHOTELS H Internet DE Digital Account Number XXX

Spend Category: Travel Agency And Tour Operators
Merchant Details: AADVANTAGEHOTELS

There is no stacking, it bills as an OTA (unless you have a card that gives x points for travel)

Yes, HYATT PLACE XYZ. No mention of RocketTravel or AAdvantage Hotels.

Right, if I had had a Hyatt offer on a Chase card, that should have stacked.

That’s how my prepaid reservations posted to the card I provided to Rocket travel. I think onetouchpass is asking about a reservation where the hotel processes the charge.

I just spent a bit of time looking at hypothetical future trips and/or phantom stays, and I didn’t see anything near 30 LP per $. That’s for US properties. I am only a Plat and don’t get any 30% bonus.

When comparing the rate to booking direct, you need to determine what benefits you’d not get via AA hotels, and how many points in the native program you are not getting. Could be quite a lot if the chain happens to be running a good promo. I am no longer interested in earning elite qualifying nights in any program, so those aren’t a factor for me.

For phantom stays, look for properties in places with cheap rates and relatively high resort fees (they are charged at check-in, so you don't pay). Vegas is good for this. Also look at "nice" hotels in less expensive places. I've had good results in SE Asia, but I'm sure there are other places.

You have an AA credit card right?

Yes, I have the AA MileUp card.

I think when I first started looking at AA Hotels a month ago, cheap casinos like Excalibur were around $30 (plus $40 resort fee) and earned 1200 LP. But more recently the earnings seem to have dropped to 400 for nights with those room rates.

A quick search for 1 night in New Delhi found me a 24-25 mile/$ rate. That's not great but also not horrible. If you put in some time searching for random cities and dates I'm sure you can beat that.

Exactly. For us, our real hotel stays are primarily Hyatt, where we have (and want to keep earning) Globalist. The benefits are worth it. All of our BAAH bookings (only 2 each so far) are phantom, so only LP ration matters. In reality, we'll need maybe 4-5 nights of this a year to supplement flying, so it's not too hard to find good rates for places we won't be staying anyway.

As mentioned, SE Asia has some good deals.

Cheers.

Perhaps we need to start an AAdvantage Hotels Mattress Run Thread….

Honestly...I'd like and subscribe.

This phantom run conversation is interesting. Are you all finding that a pre-paid AA Hotels reservation where we are no shows 100% of the time provides LPs?

Yes, this has been the practice ever since the new LP program began.