Points Scrounger

There was, indeed, an Accelerate promotion for the last part of 2018; my components didn't work for me, but I had some same as always.

BaconSF

The_Bouncer

I'm still unsure which way to jump for Q1.

On one hand Hilton are offering the 2k bonus and 10k for 5 stays and I have free breakfast with gold, thanks to my credit card.

But on the other hand I have accidentally hit IHG Spire, thanks to an extended stay on a 15zar/3k per night bonus package in South Africa and now I have status match offer from Choice.

With way too many IHG points to burn already (and not much of an idea of what I'm going to burn them on), the lack of a decent promo is definitely helping to push me towards Hilton or Choice.

Concerto

The problem with Hilton is the lack of reasonably priced properties in many of the locations I have to visit, although Germany's not too bad. But Madrid, for example, is a write off and I don't want to have to spend 400 Euros every time for a hotel night. IHG is quite good in this respect, because they have a lot of properties at a cheaper price point.

Not sure about Choice Hotels, they have rather a lot of crappy hotels in their portfoliol, some extremely crappy ones as well (e.g. Ramsgate!). I was wondering about Wyndham...

The_Bouncer

Hilton is very hit-and-miss in terms of price points. Sometimes you can pick up seriously good value, but sometimes they are asking stupid money.

Wyndham is one I have looked at, although their 15k flat-rate redemptions can be viewed as either a good thing or not, depending on your priorities.

I think, given the state of things across the board at the moment, I'm just going to go completely agnostic for the rest of my season and book solely on price, quality and convenience.

I'm sure this will result in quite a mixed bag, so once I've chosen a property, I'll book direct with the relevant chain if I have existing status and take hotels.com's 10% on everything else.

FlyerTalker688786

If I were in your shoes, I will take advantage of Hilton promo. At the places where Hilton wants highway robbery money, just go to IHG and go for the bonus points package. Three programmes are one too many. Two is about right in my opinion.

craigthemif

You do realise that:

a) you actually pay for those "bonus point packages" and virtually all employers are going to be unhappy with paying extra so that you can bank some bonus points.
b) those with different travel patterns than yours can easily manage 3 or 4 hotel chains, and not have to spend weeks worrying about what a specific chain's promo will look like. "I can only handle two programmes" is a recipe for overpaying and/or missing out on status benefits / promos / etc.

FlyerTalker688786

that is why I said 'in my opinion'. Everyone has different travel patterns. But there is no law said that I can not say something 'in my opinion'. So what is wrong to have 'an opinion'?

and, many people are happy for their employees to book a cheaper hotel. What package they book is none of employers concern as long as the room rate meet the budget. Would you like your employee to book a Hilton for 400 dollars or a cheap Holiday Inn next door for 150 dollars? Or are you going to penalise your employee to book this 150 dollar room because it has 2000 bonus points included? And I can assure you many companies do allow flexbility in terms of hotel choice and room rate choice. So far there is no evidence or whatsoever that one is punished or denied by employers due to bonus points packages. If so I am willing to learn.

Concerto

Good advice, nice and clearly put. That is probably exactly what I will do, and Hilton has made their promo nice and uncomplicated (my Gold status for 2019 was in fact recognized by their system, so that's good). There are some IHG hotels I go to again and again, such as Zurich Airport. I have also booked Munich and Brussels airports (both HI and HIX) for stays in January and February, just because I know the hotels and they offer really quite good prices.

I think, for The_Bouncer above, that the hotels.com programme should not be underestimated as an ongoing hotel programme, because the simplicity and clarity of their offer makes it very attractive and easy to use. I know a lot of people who use this option only, with the occasional foray into booking.com, which has its plus points too.

Qwkynuf

I can't speak for your employer, but I am 100% certain that my (large, multinational) employer would not be impressed with "I could have booked a $400 room, but I didn't. Instead, I booked a $130 room but paid $150 with your money so that I could put 2000 points into my personal account." My employer would call that unethical. Would your employer be ok if you said "I could have booked a $400 room, but I didn't. Instead I booked a $150 room and spent $50 on a hooker - so I saved you $200!"?

Lionheart

My employer allows us to book up to a certain room value. No questions asked below that room value. For your example, I would hope a $150 room & $50 food would be acceptable; you just saved them $200. It all depends whether the company is sensible and can see the savings you provide them; or want to stick to some farcical inflexible policy which costs them more money. I could easily stay in a more expensive room; but I save my employer money by going for a cheaper room (Holiday Inn Express) allowing for bonus point packages. I save them money; I get bonus points. Both sides are happy.

Qwkynuf

You can justify unethical behavior any way you want - doesn't make it right though. Are you suggesting that your company would be ok with you paying $200 for a room and submitting $399 for reimbursement, since it saves them $1 and puts $199 in your pocket? Both sides are happy, right?

From my employers' fairly generous published travel policy document:

Marriott15

All depends on your companies travel policies and rules! Not one company has the same travel policy! Each company has its own mindset to determine what's ethical and unethical! Under my travel plan and I have talked to our director, as long as you spend $200 or below you met our travel guidelines! Some Marriott's offer $50 visa gift cards as a package and there are employees within my companies that take advantage of that sometimes but near impossible most of the time since it is more than $200.


1. On the receipt submitted it only says accommodation and never says your room type or bonus point packages
2. From my travel manager at our pharma company! "It is against most hotel chains including IHG, Hilton, and Marriott for your company to call the hotel or corporate and ask the hotel any details about your stay! Its in violation of the hotels privacy policy to share this information!"

Qwkynuf

Whether you can get away with something has literally nothing to do with whether it is ethical or not. A person's character is defined by how they behave when no one is looking.

Don't you think that if your employer wanted to offer you additional compensation that it would be documented in policy somewhere, and not left to you to try to find ways to nickel and dime them? I have to think that if my job reduced me to hustling for $50 gift cards, I'd be looking for a new gig.

Fabo.sk

If a company want's to do like that, they might as well give you flat $400 and you do whatever...
For some reason I don't see if your boss would like that.