2008 Hotel Strategy - Is there one for me?
May 31, 2008 | 8:16 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2006
Programs: UA, bmi, AA, CO, DL, B6, AMEX, Hertz, Most Hotels
Posts: 3,042
2008 Hotel Strategy - Is there one for me?
I am not a frequent hotel visitor, the only regular stay is usually with Marriott for @ 5 nights/year.
However, I now find myself needing to book at least 14 nights between next week and October (ANC 2 nights, Seward AK 2 nights, Ann Arbor MI 2 nights, Kauai 7 nights and Sedona AZ 1 night)
I was hoping to plan my stays to maybe achieve a better status for 2009, but from my newbie reading of most program websites that plan does not seem possible.
Maybe I'm missing something that more experienced eyes can spot.
So far the only hotel status I have is w/Marriott (Silver - via the Sig Visa) and with that and my new Biz Visa my balance is 85Kish points and 20 nights for 2008. I do get a free room each year.
I plan to but have yet to get a SPG Amex and have 16K points left from brokerage promo.
I'm Hyatt Gold with 3 nights/2 stays in 2008 and just over 5K points. fwiw, I may do a mattress run soon cause I have an offer for a free room later this year if I do a 1 night stay in the next month.
Finally, I'm 1/2 way to Gold w/Priority Club having bought 10K points for 2 PointBreak award stays in 2008.
So is there a way to use my upcoming stays to max any status or should I just chase the promos to max points wherever I can and priceline the rest?
However, I now find myself needing to book at least 14 nights between next week and October (ANC 2 nights, Seward AK 2 nights, Ann Arbor MI 2 nights, Kauai 7 nights and Sedona AZ 1 night)
I was hoping to plan my stays to maybe achieve a better status for 2009, but from my newbie reading of most program websites that plan does not seem possible.
Maybe I'm missing something that more experienced eyes can spot.
So far the only hotel status I have is w/Marriott (Silver - via the Sig Visa) and with that and my new Biz Visa my balance is 85Kish points and 20 nights for 2008. I do get a free room each year.
I plan to but have yet to get a SPG Amex and have 16K points left from brokerage promo.
I'm Hyatt Gold with 3 nights/2 stays in 2008 and just over 5K points. fwiw, I may do a mattress run soon cause I have an offer for a free room later this year if I do a 1 night stay in the next month.
Finally, I'm 1/2 way to Gold w/Priority Club having bought 10K points for 2 PointBreak award stays in 2008.
So is there a way to use my upcoming stays to max any status or should I just chase the promos to max points wherever I can and priceline the rest?
Last edited by bk3day; May 31, 2008 at 12:06 pm
May 31, 2008 | 8:59 am
#2
Join Date: Dec 2006
Programs: thai, virgin, emirates, priority club
Posts: 490
why not buy another 10k priority club points to bring u to gold? good pointbreaks are a bit thin on the ground for the summer, but this is to be expected for the high season. gold status means u receive a 10% bonus for each $ spent on a hotel stay, including expenses billed to ur room (such as meals, mini-bar and phone calls).
priority club is also running a promo to the end of august which gives 2k points for every second qualifying night. instead of 2k priority club points, u can choose 500 bonus miles for ur preferred ffp if u set ur preferences accordingly.
http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/pc/...p/q208/17.html
admittedly, this promo isn't very generous and, if u're paying for urself, then priceline or hotwire might work better for u (we tried hotwire for the first time earlier this month and were allocated a room in the hyatt regency montreal - excellent location, shame about the slow front desk service - for less than the cost of the cheapest nearby holiday inn).
ian.
priority club is also running a promo to the end of august which gives 2k points for every second qualifying night. instead of 2k priority club points, u can choose 500 bonus miles for ur preferred ffp if u set ur preferences accordingly.
http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/pc/...p/q208/17.html
admittedly, this promo isn't very generous and, if u're paying for urself, then priceline or hotwire might work better for u (we tried hotwire for the first time earlier this month and were allocated a room in the hyatt regency montreal - excellent location, shame about the slow front desk service - for less than the cost of the cheapest nearby holiday inn).
ian.