How are you handling the summer hotel promotions?
 

Summer hotel promotions are out in full swing now. We have...

-IHG - 87.5k + 58.5k to share
-Hyatt - 65k pnts up for grabs for 25nt stay

-Starwood - 1k pts per 2nt or longer stay that includes a weekend night (no limit). Can be combined with;
a) Sheraton stays (5) nts or longer from July 9th - Sept 30th earn a free night at a Sheraton.
b) Spice it Up Promo where you earn Starpoints on dining at on-site SPG restaurants


For me, I am knocking out the Hyatt promo first (SPG hotels are prohibitively priced for current project), SPG will be next in consideration. Marriott continue to be my backup and I do want to knock out Marriott Gold (i have to stay like 5 more nights in 60-70 days?). IHG's latest devaluation is kind of putting them on the back burner. I know I will get a stay with them, but I can't see myself focusing on them.

Until the end of June, several more one-night stays at La Quinta, where stays (of any duration, as short as 1 night) earn 1000 total (250 normal plus 750 bonus) UA miles.

Other than that, because Marriott has not summer promo apparently (otherwise I'd be maxing that out, presumably around 20 to 25 nights), I'm doing Choice with two cheap suburban one-night stays at Comfort/Quality/Clarion/Sleep earning 8000 points, which can be enough at times for $200++/night hotels in Europe, and also enough for a nigh in Tokyo at a nice Comfort Hotel there.

And since I'm on my own dime, these hotels are way cheaper in the area that I'm staying than Hyatt, which is why (in addition to its small "footprint"), I don't even consider Hyatt.

And IHG I have no so many points with them from previous rounds of "rich" promotions, I'm not interested in the promotion they targeted me with for this summer (too few bonus points with too much spend on overpriced hotels required).

Where it works for me (so far, a one-night layover at Toronto YYZ airport later this month), I'm also doing Hilton (HGI in that case) for the double points (finally with no opt-out hotels, yaay!). Though again, this time because of the credit cards, I have more HHonors points than I know what to do with (if using them only where the redemptions are good values, that is).

That is a very interesting La Quinta promotion. Congrats on finding that and picking up on it. Last time I earned/burned UA miles was that time we could get like 1000 points for every dine (or something like that?).

Hmm. I just let 2,906 UA miles expire too. That sounds like an awesome promotion, best of luck to you on La Quinta stays. What is their market foot print like?

From their "About Us" page:

"you’ll find more than 870 hotels across the U.S., plus Mexico and Canada."

An interadtive map:

http://www.lq.com/en/findandbook.by_..._map.html.html

Therefore a much better footprint than Hyatt within North America. But mostly in suburbs; none in most big city centers. (For example, one in Berkeley CA and two near SFO airport, but none closer to SF proper.)

Having said that, I only have experience with one property so far, which is very close to where I need to stay regularly related to work (but not paid for by work). From reviews of neighboring ones, it seems the quality varies between properties.

I was focusing on IHG prior to the other promos being announced. I'm 8 nights in, and getting to 16 will achieve the next 3 thresholds, netting me and my share-ee 12K points plus 2 free nights (or 62K points). So I'll knock that off first. Getting to the final level for 60K more would be an additional IHG 10 nights; I'll likely skip that and focus on Hyatt then. But I'll also have to re-assess based on my travel plans; my Hyatt promo rewards 15/20/25 nights, and I may not have enough travel to achieve that.

If I refocused immediately on Hyatt, I could get at least to 15, but I'm thinking the 2 IHG nights are worth more than 30K Hyatt?

It depends on where you'd need free nights.

And it depends on just how free you want them to be.

Your profile says that you're Hyatt Diamond. I presume that means that any free nights at Hyatt are totally free.

Meanwhile, IHG Plat doesn't stop you from having to pay $50 for breakfast (at the IC in Rome on the Spanish Steps a number of years ago). So IHG nights are not as totallly free as Hyatt nights for you, because of the differences in elite status. Unless, that is, you only use your IHG free nights at Staybridge Suites (say, in Times Square, where even a Staybridge Suites would be expensive on points or money), which gives free breakfast to all.

But on the other hand, there's Hyatt's small footprint. There's lots of places where there's an IHG hotel but no Hyatt hotel. So if you're going to those places, then obviously the elite comparison is useless.

Very timely topic. ^
Due to Marriott not having a summer promo, I moved 22 nights (in China and Europe) over to SPG.

Splitting between Starwood and HHonors. My Hyatt stays are redeeming awards, so no participation in promos there...

Odd to get zilch from Marriott. Thus the only summer activity I'll have with them will be a couple certificate redemptions and a cheap suburban weekend stay near family where there isn't an Embassy or Homewood Suites nearby.

I don't really notice La Quinta much anymore. I remember their ads from the 1990s, so in my mind I'm envisioning a lot of 20-year-old properties. How do they compare quality-wise to a Hampton or HIX? Are they generally in good condition?

This is truly the summer of IHG/Hyatt/SPG.

The 2 free nights at IHG are pretty tempting in select locations, and the points just make it all worthwhile with them.

Hyatt is offering enough to force you to consider them - especially as they continue to aggressively expand with awesome properties. And it seems there is never enough Hyatt points in your account.

SPG is offering a promotion that keeps the SPG fans happy - and allows us to continue bankrolling some of their highly valued points. I don't think the SPG promotion is the best, but it all depends on your ability to do Sheraton + weekend stays (in one itinerary). With that point multiplier attached - you get something worth being proud of.

La Quinta's 1k mile promotion is mighty appealing for those United flyers too. I be that is the hush-hush promo that no one is talking about, in addition to the Club Carlson. CC received a lot of flak and I am interested to see just how aggressively they are going to have to mint points and offer promos to keep frequent guests loyal.

Thanks for the thread and for all these posts with the ideas/activities.

For us, airline miles will have to move to the side and wait.

EDIT: With that said, I noticed belatedly that the discussion was "miles buzz". I will direct my post elsewhere.

Sorry 'bout that....carry on! :)

Their website identifies those that have been renovated reasonably recently.

The room quality might compare somewhat but the breakfast is low on variety compared to Hampton or even HIX. I've only ever stayed in one, but what it has is hard-boiled eggs (unshelled), only one kind of milk, and the only hot item is prepared oatmeal (though significantly more watery than at those Fairfields where I've seen prepared oatmeal). Also a waffle maker, plus toastable bread and bagels.

So I would place it a bit below HIX but a bit above Comfort Inn, both on the breakfast and the room. (In turn, I'd rate HIX a bit below Hampton and Fairfield for breakfast.)

Like Comfort Inn, La Quinta is a brand where you don't to blindly book based on brand alone, but want to check the reviews carefully. (In fact, basically any brand at the low end of midscale or below doesn't have enough consistency for me to trust booking without reading reviews.)

La Qunita seems to be in expansion mode these days, so you get a mix of their older exterior door properties and newer properties with proper interior corridors. I'm keeping a modest number of points with them because they seem to have an interest in putting hotels near US western national parks, and most other chains outside of Best Western are kind of hit and miss in that coverage.

I usually go for the Hyatt promos, but I don't think it'll work out this summer. I see about 7-10 nights, but not more, and my offer is minimum 15 nights. I have three vacations planned before September 30. The first is in Florida - and every night is booked at a Hyatt. The second is in IGU and LIM - no Hyatts at either. and the third is CPT - another location without Hyatts. boo. But I will be using up three sets of Club Carlson 2 night stays....

Huh? :confused: Near which US western national parks? Not Olympic, that only has Choice (near the north entrance). Not Yosemite, only Best Western and Choice are in the nearest towns (Oakhurst and Mariposa), LQ is way over in Fresno (where there's lots of hotel programs to choose from). Yes, LQ's in Moab, but what hotel program (with a midsclae or lower property) isn't? I've browsed their interactive map and I can't figure out how you're coming that conclusion, unless you know something about their future plans that I don't see on their website.

As I see it (based on LQ's interactive map), La Qunita's at best a distant third for closeness to western national parks after Best Western and Choice. Which is why I haven't bothered with collecting LQ points (I always earn miles when staying at LQ).

Walking distance to Zion, two locations near Colorado National Monument, 6 miles to Lassen Volcanoes, in Kalispell for Glacier (though a lot of chains are), and a whole bunch in locations near noteworthy national forests in Idaho and Montana.