Starwood’s marketing gurus — and their consultants, presumably — have run amok. Someone needs to get back control of White Plains. They’re rolling out a partnership between W Hotels and Victoria’s Secret, as though the opportunity to buy naughty nighties from the minibar is going to enhance the experience of cool or make customers want to choose the hotel. (The pickup scene in the hotel lobby bar is another matter, indeed.) Sponsor the Victoria’s Secret fashion show. Fine. Offer experiential rewards at the event for redeeming lots of Starwood points. Fine. And if you want to include lingerie next to the condoms, W baseball cap, and Jim Bean on the minibar price list I guess that works (though I doubt one size fits all!). Perhaps even include a list of lingerie in the room services…
1000 Bonus American Per Night at Hyatt
Mar
09
2006
In addition to Hyatt’s offer of 1000 Cathay Pacific AsiaMiles per night, they’re also putting the choice of 1000 American Airlines points per night on offer as well from March 15 through June 30.
Others rate the best domestic first class experience
CNN Money runs a Fortune piece on the best domestic first class cabins. Their take is similar to mine. United takes top overall nods. They sum up Northwest nicely:Two words: Avoid DC-9s. On those old planes, you only get 34 inches of pitch (JetBlue offers the same in coach). Not that the rest of the fleet is much better — the maximum you’ll find is likely a measly 36 inches.
It pays to be a procrastinator
Mar
08
2006
Last month I reported that American Airlines was offering 2500 miles for test driving a Lincoln. (250 miles also on offer for watching a video about Lincoln.) Now they’ve upped the offer to 5000 miles for a test drive (and 50,000 miles for purchase, along with the original 250 miles for watching the video). I’ll finally get off my duff and go for a test drive this weekend! The new 5000 mile offer does say that it was targeted, though I have no idea if there’s actually a way for them to check who got this in their American Airlines eSummary. You might just use the old 2500 mile offer, but I’m going to use the new one.
Amtrak Transfer Bonus
Amtrak is offering 500 bonus points when you transfer 5000 or more points into your Guest Rewards account from one of their partners by March 31. While Amtrak hardly offers a great program, it’s a reasonable place to move Continental miles for sure. Log in to your Amtrak Guest Rewards account and then register using promo code 30806.
Rate Glitch Update: Holiday Inn Phuket
Last month I reported on a rate glitch at the Holiday Inn Phuket — THB0.01 per night from May through October — and the rate was available for more or less a full day. No one has been cancelled that I’m aware of, whether they booked at the Priority Club website, Travelocity, or elsewhere. The hotel did say at first that there was an error that they couldn’t honor, though they didn’t cancel reservations. Now, as reported by several Flyertalkers, the hotel has explicitly acknowledged that they will be honoring this “once-in a lifetime, special room rate.”
Fact Checking the Starwood Blog
The new Starwood Blog seems to be getting its footing, with some improved content, and it hasn’t been officially launched yet. I’m hoping that my early criticisms are overcome. In the meantime I noticed that they’re detailing the new Westin Arlington Gateway (which I reported on last week). But they don’t quite have their facts right: In addition to the reliably comfortable and spacious Westin rooms and appointments (with available in-room WiFi) Rooms at this brand new construction do not offer wireless internet. Their high-speed access is wired (and $14.95 at that). Wireless is available in the public spaces, though.
New Coca Cola Loyalty Program
Coca Cola has launched MyCokeRewards.com. Collecting points starts out with their 20 oz bottles but will spread across their product line. Delta and Hilton are redemption partners, and so far it looks like about 950 cokes gets you enough miles for a free domestic flight. Lounge passes are even an option. So far the financials don’t seem to work out to make it worth buying Coke just for the miles (unlike the recent Airtan/Wendy’s promo). But it’s enough to get me to buy Coke over a competitor that isn’t offering points. My bet is it won’t be long until we see redemption codes for sale on eBay…
Starwood’s New Blog
Starwood has launched a blog called The Lobby. So far it’s only marginally better than the lame attempt from Priority Club, but it’s a start. Entries are mostly quick puff featurettes on properties and things to do in cities centered around Starwood properties; think paragraph-long versions of airline inflight magazines. Now, they’d be really onto something if they provided real special rates (not just faux specials that are more expensive than standard rates), ‘behind the scenes looks’ into new hotel construction or a ‘Day in the Life of a Starwood General Manager’. In other words, they could sponsor real Starwood employees to really blog. Until that happens I’ll probably check into this one occasionally, I can’t help myself, even if I wish for more…
Spirit Air Launches a Frequent Flyer Program
As expecting since B. Ben Baldanza left USAirways as VP of Marketing to become President and COO in January 2005, Spirit Air has launched a frequent flyer program called Free Spirit. Details of the program include 5 (!) status levels and a co-branded Mastercard. All points earned in the program, from flying or partner activity (so far the credit card is the only partner) count towards status. It’s somewhat unclear what status gets you outside of bonus miles, the ability to nominate a member for status (once you reach VIP) and the ability to have a plane named for you (if you’re their top points-accumulating customer for the year). Discount coach only earns 50% of miles flown unless you have status, and there’s a screwy mileage expiration policy. FREE SPIRIT miles older than 6 months…
