Lucky reports that Starwood Platinum members will begin receiving complimentary in-room internet worldwide on March 1. Hyatt added free internet as a benefit for all elites last year, at the same time they added four confirmed-at-booking suite upgrades per year. This is a good move to match Hyatt, but I still consider Hyatt’s Diamond upgrade program better than Starwood’s, although Starwood Platinums do have the chance of more suites than Hyatt Diamonds (quite rare for a Diamond to receive a suite without confirming it, in my experience). I’ve long been saying that Starwood hsa needed to ramp up benefits to stay competitive. What was once an industry-leading program has been matched and even surpassed. Starwood’s unique selling propositions were two-fold: True Redemptions: No capacity controls on awards. Hilton and Hyatt now both offer this. Upgrades…
Best Western Status Match Offer
Best Western is offering to match elite status. To match your ELITE status in any other hotel program you can either email our Customer Care team at BWRelite@bestwestern.com, or call 1-800-444-7646. Just tell us you want to upgrade your membership with Status Match…No CatchSM, provide us with proof of elite status with another hotel program and we’ll take care of the rest! If you hold elite status in another program, and you might stay at a Best Western, great. Me? I have no Best Western plans in my future, so probably won’t take advantage of the offer. (HT: Frugal Travel Guy.)
Free Hyatt Platinum Status and Fast Track to Diamond
Hyatt is offering instant platinum status (valid for 180 days) and a fast-track to retaining Platinum and achieving Diamond. The key benefits of Platinum status are avoiding the worst room in the house, free internet, and a 15% bonus on points earning. The offer is valid through December 30. New members receive their status instantly via the online link, current members need to call to register for the offer. The elite status fast track component of the offer is 5 nights during the 180 day trial to requalify through February 2012, or 15 nights to achieve Diamond status until then. Hyatt Diamond, in my estimation, is the best top tier of any major program at the moment (Intercontinental Royal Ambassador doesn’t count for the comparison). Hyatt matched Starwood on award redemption, so Hyatt points are…
Wonderful to Wake Up To
$100 Amazon Gift Card for Every Two Westin Stays
Register by April 30 and then every two stays — with Sunday through Thursday checkin — through May 13, 2010 will earn a $100 Amazon gift card. The bonus can be earned up to 3 times. No reason not to register, of course, even if you aren’t sure you’ll net two Westin stays.
A Series of Travel Giveaways to Come, Follow Me on Twitter
After the free Hilton Hotel night giveaway generated so much interest, I’m really enjoying giving away travel items. This next time I think I’m going to try something a little bit different. I’m going to offer some giveaways on Twietter, and you’ll have to follow @garyleff in order to be eligible. Details to come, follow me now so you don’t miss out!
Marriott Offers Elite Status Buyback for Members Who Did Not Requalify
In March 2008 I posted an offer to sign up for Marriott Rewards with instant gold status. The offer was even around for a few months. Well, I signed up, and my status was valid through February, 2010. I took advantage of it a bit, but am just not much of a Marriott guy. So my status is about to end… or is it? Yesterday I received an email offering me a chance to keep it. Through April 1 I have the following option: Limited-time only! Buy back your Gold status for just 25,000 points – a 15,000-point savings. Use points you already have, or purchase points. Anyone with status in 2009 can redeem points to keep that status through February, 2001. And Marriott will sell you up to 50,000 points per year for 1.25…
Spirit Claims They Didn’t Deny Water to a Pregnant Woman (umm….)
After posting about the incident of a family kicked off a Spirit aircraft after being denied water for the pregnant woman in the party (I blamed the family for flying Spirit in the first place), I heard from Spirit Corporate Communications. They didn’t defend their record of customer service, or disagree with my points about why it’s silly to fly Spirit if you can possibly avoid it. But they did dispute that they denied a pregnant woman water. Sort of. Here is what really happened: Spirit did not deny water to anyone. Beverages were offered for purchase just as we do on all of our flights. The real story is that Dr. Roslin was escorted off the flight for violating federal law for interfering with a flight crew. He was causing a disturbance and attempted…
And the Winner of the Free Hilton Hotel Night Certificate Is…
The Hilton free night contest ended yesterday. There were more than 1300 entries (color me surprised!). I drew the winner based on random number, as promised, with thanks to Random.org. And thanks, of course, to BoardingArea.com for providing the free Hilton hotel night to give away! The winning comment came from LAXNRT. Please join me in congratulating LAXNRT! With the kind of response that I got, look for more giveaways soon…
Planning Vacations Makes You Happy
Research from the Netherlands measured the effect of vacations on happiness. It turns out that people get the most happiness from planning and anticipating their vacations. Except for the most relaxing of vacations, people aren’t happier when they return from a trip than when they left. Even at the most extreme end of relaxation, the happiness effect wears off after two weeks. Taking more trips and planning and talking (obsessing?) about them, then, may be the keys to happiness. I guess that must make travel agents the happiest people on earth! Indeed, perhaps I’m one of the happiest as well.
