Marriott's Summer Offer: One Free Night After Three Stays

Marriott has weighed in with its contribution to the growing list of summer hotel promotions, offering a free night after three stays.

Offer Details

Marriott Rewards members will earn one free night after three paid stays between June 1 and August 31, up to a maximum of two free nights for six stays. In addition to the free nights, members receive a voucher worth up to $50 toward Hertz rentals completed by February 28, 2011.

The free night awards can be redeemed for stays at Category 1 through 4 Marriotts between June 1 and December 31.

To participate, Rewards members must register by June 30.

Advertisement

Deal or No Deal

As summer promotions go, this one is middle-of-the-pack, value-wise. Omni's free weekend night after one paid night is clearly the more compelling offer. But Marriott's offer trumps Best Western's current bonus-mile promotion.

Three stays is a high qualification hurdle for many travelers.

And limiting the free night to the lowest four of Marriott's eight hotel categories detracts from the reward's luster.

On the other hand, for Marriott loyalists who travel at least semi-frequently, this may be enough to keep them from taking their business elsewhere.

And maybe that's all Marriott was trying to achieve.

Reader Reality Check

On a scale of 1 to 10, how does this offer rate on your promotion meter?

Is the three-stay qualification requirement within range for you?

This Summer, Buy-One-Get-One-Free at Omni Hotels

In spite of signs that demand for travel is firming up, finally, the hotels continue to pour on the promotions for summer travel.

The latest, from Omni, is among the most attractive I've seen.

Offer Details

Beginning this week, members of Omni Hotels' Select Guest program began receiving emails including two buy-one-get-one-free promotion codes.

One code is for use by the member; the other is to be given to a friend or family member.

Advertisement

The codes entitle users to book a free night in conjunction with a paid night for Thursday, Friday, or Saturday arrivals between May 29 and September 6.

Each code may only be used once.

Deal or No Deal

I'm a fan of simplicity: Promotions should be easy to understand, and simple to participate in.

This offer fits that bill nicely.

Promotions should also deliver real extra value. Obviously, or there's no point in calling it a "promotion."

Again, this offer passes with flying colors. A free night during weekend stays, any time this summer, is unquestionably a meaty incentive to visit an Omni.

My only disappointments concern what this offer isn't: It isn't applicable to more stays (one free night per member); and it isn't usable at more hotels (Omni only has 41 hotels in its network).

If you're not already a Select Guest member, and the Omni network dovetails with your travel patterns, this offer stands as a solid reason to sign up for the program.

Reader Reality Check

Any comments on this offer, pro or con?

New Promotion Cuts Price of Delta Miles in Half

I reviewed the latest permanent addition to the benefits packages associated with Delta's co-branded SkyMiles credit cards issued by American Express—no fee for the first checked bag—just last week.

Now, hard on the heels of that development, Delta has launched a new limited-time offer for its cardholders: a bonus for Delta miles purchased with a SkyMiles credit card.

Advertisement

Offer Details

Through June 30, holders of SkyMiles credit cards will receive a 100 percent bonus on Delta miles purchased and charged to their cards.

In addition to the extra miles received, cardholders will earn double miles for the purchase itself.

Delta miles normally cost 2.8 cents apiece, plus a 7.5 percent excise tax. So, for example, if you purchased 10,000 miles for $280 (not including tax), you would receive 20,000 miles (the 100 percent bonus), plus 560 miles (two miles per dollar spent instead of one).

A maximum of 60,000 miles may be purchased annually. With the bonus, a cardholder could purchase as many as 120,000 miles, at an effective price of 1.4 cents each, not including the tax and leaving aside the effect of the extra miles earned for the transaction.

Deal or No Deal

Bonuses for purchased miles tend to be modest—10 percent, say, or 25 percent at most. Until this latest Delta promotion, the most lucrative such offer I had seen was from US Airways, a 100 percent bonus on up to 50,000 purchased miles.

With the bonuses for both the miles purchased and earned, Delta's offer trumps US Airways', if only slightly.

This isn't a competition, though. Ultimately it comes down to the offer's value proposition. Are the miles worth around 1.4 cents each? And that, of course, depends on the availability of award seats. Here's what Delta has to say on the subject, in its own FAQ:

If I buy miles, will there be award seats available?

Award Travel seat inventory is dynamic and always changing. Delta cannot guarantee availability. Travel to prime destinations during peak periods may require unrestricted inventory which requires additional miles to secure those seats. Award Travel availability depends on the flight, the date of travel, the expected demand for the flight, the season, the destination, and various other factors.

That's a caveat that would apply to miles earned or purchased in any airline's frequent flyer program. How does Delta in particular score when it comes to making seats available for award use?

According to a recent report on award availability, Delta is the second worst among the largest U.S. airline programs, behind, coincidentally, US Airways.

In the study, the researchers were able to successfully book award trips only 12.9 percent of the time on Delta. For comparison, the top airline in award generosity was Southwest, on which they found award seats 99.3 percent of the time.

Which suggests another caveat: While paying less is always better than paying more, sometimes even less is too much.

Reader Reality Check

Do you think 1.4 cents per frequent flyer mile is a good buy in general?

Is it good buy when it comes to Delta miles?

If you think you might take advantage of this promotion, what are your plans for redeeming the miles you purchase?

Delta Credit Card Permits Flyers to Bypass Bag Fees

Watching wave after wave of Delta jets landing and taking off at Atlanta's Hartsfield Airport, you might not suspect that the airline's financial health is bound up with the performance of something only remotely related to flying.

Credit cards.

Specifically, it's the suite of credit cards issued by American Express and linked to Delta's SkyMiles program.

Delta generates around $1 billion a year from the sale of frequent flyer miles to companies that partner in the SkyMiles program. And by far the largest purchaser of those miles is American Express, which uses the miles as sign-up bonuses to attract new cardholders, and then awards them for purchases charged to its cards.

Advertisement

It's a lucrative relationship for both Delta and American Express.

The sale of frequent flyer miles is a highly profitable side business for Delta. And for American Express, frequent flyers are a very desirable demographic—big spenders with low default rates.

It is therefore in the best interest of both Delta and American Express to get cards into the hands of as many consumers as possible, and to encourage as much card usage as possible.

Earlier this week, American Express and Delta announced a new card benefit clearly designed to expand the cardholder base.

What's New

Beginning June 1, Delta customers who hold a Gold, Platinum, or Reserve SkyMiles credit card will be exempt from the first checked bag fee when flying Delta and Delta Express. The fee will also be waived for up to eight companions traveling together on the same reservation with the cardholder. (Elite members of the SkyMiles program are already exempt from this fee, so this is moot for them.)

The Reserve, Platinum, and Gold cards come with annual fees of $450, $150, and $95 (waived for the first year), respectively.

Deal or No Deal

The math here is pretty straightforward. It takes two round-trips with one bag checked on each flight to run up $100 in bag fees. So holders of the Gold card, with its $95 annual fee, would be ahead of the game if they fly just twice a year.

For Delta customers who check bags, this creates a compelling argument for acquiring a Gold card, especially given the card's current "no annual fee" offer during the first year.

For the other cards, with higher annual fees that are not waived, you'll have to add up their respective benefits, including the new fee waiver, to determine whether you can justify the higher costs.

The cost-benefit analysis aside, it's worth noting that such relationships establish a troubling dynamic in which the best interests of consumers may be jeopardized.

It's not hard to imagine Delta executives discussing which services they could charge fees for, which could then be waived for American Express cardholders. Flyers would be forced to either pay the fees, or sign up for a SkyMiles credit card to avoid them—either of which would cost consumers and benefit Delta.

I'm not suggesting that Delta and American Express actually engage in such nastiness, but the perverse incentive to do so certainly exists.

Reader Reality Check

If you're already a SkyMiles credit card holder, is the fee waiver a meaningful benefit to you?

And if you're not a SkyMiles credit card holder, is this new benefit worth enough to get you to sign up for a new Delta credit card?

American, Marriott Split Devalues Both Programs

In the world of travel rewards programs, partners come and partners go.

As a top-of-the-news example, Continental was buddy-buddy with Delta until late last year, offering reciprocal frequent flyer benefits and co-participating in the SkyTeam global airline alliance.

Today, Continental is a member of a competing alliance, the Star Alliance, and is in the process of merging with United.

While that represents a shift of monumental proportions, it's not a surprising development, given the history and business trajectories of the airlines involved.

For a surprising change, consider the following email message sent on April 30 to members of American's AAdvantage program:

We would like to provide you with an important update to the American Airlines AAdvantage program. Effective July 1, 2010, the Marriott Rewards program will no longer offer AAdvantage miles for stays at Marriott hotels.

All qualifying stays at participating properties completed by June 30, 2010, will be eligible to earn AAdvantage miles. It is also important to note the final date to convert your Marriott Rewards points to AAdvantage miles will be June 30, 2010.

The loyalty programs of American and Marriott are two of the industry's oldest and most popular. They've been linked since the earliest days of travel rewards programs.

And that relationship is part of what makes both programs valuable for their members.

It follows that severing that tie will have an adverse effect on the value of many program members' miles and points. At a minimum, they are owed an explanation, not just an apology.

With that in mind, I sent the following query to both American and Marriott:

Would it be possible to get the real story behind the upcoming American-Marriott loyalty program break-up?

This is a serious blow to many of your customers, and they deserve better than the generic responses they've been getting through normal customer service channels of communication.

Predictably, the real story was not forthcoming. American responded as follows:

It was a decision Marriott made not to renew its partnership. As you know, some partners join the AAdvantage program and some decide that it is time to part ways.

My best guess is that Marriott is unwilling to pay what American felt was a fair price for its AAdvantage miles. But had American upped its prices? Was Marriott simply unwilling to extend the agreement at the old prices? Does this portend other airline-hotel break-ups? All we can do is speculate.

Whatever the back story, this is a lose-lose-lose situation. Two good programs will be worse for the change. And their customers' best interests have been kicked to the curb.

You've heard of marriage refs? What's needed here is a loyalty program ref, to keep both sides at the negotiating table until their differences are resolved.

In the meantime, the two companies could work together to provide their loyal customers with a real explanation of their current difficulties. Who knows, it might be the beginning of a great relationship.

What a United-Continental Merger Means for Frequent Flyers

This morning, Continental and United issued a joint press release, confirming what had been assumed for several days: Subject to shareholder and regulatory approval, the two airlines will merge to become the world's largest airline.

Among the groups that will be most directly affected by the tie-up are, by definition, the two airlines' frequent flyers, in particular members of the Continental OnePass and United Mileage Plus loyalty programs. What changes does the merger portend for them?

Because of steps the two carriers have already taken to align their mileage programs, a program combining OnePass and Mileage Plus would probably look very much like the existing programs, which already look very much like each other.

Advertisement

The process of alignment began with Continental's switch from the SkyTeam alliance, anchored by Delta, to the Star Alliance, anchored by United, in October of 2009.

Alliance partnerships are sometimes referred to as virtual mergers. While that may be overstating the case somewhat, it contains a kernel of truth. And Continental and United were quick to go beyond the usual alliance forms of cooperation—reciprocal frequent flyer participation, schedule coordination, and code sharing. They revamped their award charts to match up geographical zones and share upgrade policies, for example. And in November they announced plans to offer extra perks to each other's elite members later this year.

As a result, today OnePass and Mileage Plus are more alike than they are different. So combining the programs is more likely to provoke a sense of deja vu than of disorientation.

One issue yet to be resolved is the fate of United's Economy Plus seating, a nice perk for elite members when an upgrade to business or first isn't available.

There's also the more complicated question of the company's commitment to its loyalty program. That will depend on the corporate culture of the new company, which in turn will depend on the makeup of the executive ranks.

Continental is generally considered to be a better managed company than United. On the other hand, United has been significantly more aggressive, and creative, in its loyalty marketing than Continental.

While it has been decided that Continental's Jeff Smisek will be the new company's chief executive officer, it will be some time before we know who will be calling the shots in the loyalty marketing area, and whether that person will bring a Continental or United approach to the program.

When OnePass and Mileage Plus are consolidated, the new program will be the largest in the world. And larger is better, at least insofar as it means more flights eligible for mileage accrual and redemption. According to the merger website:

Combining the loyalty programs of Continental Airlines and United Airlines will create the industry's leading frequent flyer program, providing more opportunities for more customers to earn and redeem more miles in more places worldwide with more partners, including our Star Alliance partners. The new frequent flyer program will combine valuable features of Mileage Plus and OnePass from United and Continental.

When Delta and Northwest merged, Delta promised that its program would not only be the world's largest, it would also be the best. That hasn't happened. If anything, I've heard more complaints than ever about Delta's program post-merger.

That's not to say that there won't be some consumer benefits to merging Continental and United, and consolidating OnePass and Mileage Plus. But the "industry's leading frequent flyer program"? History suggests we shouldn't believe it until we see it.