Priority Club's Win It in a Minute Contest Delivers Fun and Freebies

In InterContinental Hotels Group's Priority Club online trivia contest, Win It in a Minute, potential players are invited to "Think fast, win big."

Indeed, quick thinking is a must to win—big, little, or otherwise. But winning big will take more than a fast-lane brain; it will take a fact-filled mind as well.

Contest Details

Through April 15, Priority Club Rewards members can play the Win It in a Minute Trivia Challenge once a day, every weekday.

Each day's game consists of five trivia questions that must be answered within 12 seconds. The faster you answer, the more points you earn.

There are prizes for the best daily scores, and the best weekly scores:

• The 50 players with the most points each day will win 5,000 Priority Club points (approximate retail value (ARV): $21).
• The 100 players with the most cumulative points each week will win 15,000 Priority Club points (ARV: $63).

While you can play every weekday, there are limits on how often you can win: once weekly for the daily prize, and once monthly for the weekly prize.

So, assuming you maxed out on winning, you could earn a total of 120,000 points (ARV: $504).

To Play or Not to Play

If your goal is a little innocent distraction, this contest delivers. In my experience, the questions were mostly clever. And while the topics were esoteric, by design, they were also intriguing.

If your goal is to snag a significant number of Priority Club points, take an honest measure of your trivia capabilities before jumping in with high hopes. Because only the highest-scoring players win points, you'll have to be a bona fide trivia hound to be among the winners.

Playing the game this morning, I managed a lackluster three out of five correct answers, and I was right up against the 12-second deadline in each case. Clearly I'm not among the trivia league's elite. But I was certainly entertained, and in the process learned which country has the longest coastline in the world, "about 243,000 kms. in length."

Reader Reality Check

Fun or freebies? Give it a try and let us know what you won.

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Quick and Easy American Frequent Flyer Miles

Earn American AAdvantage miles for joining Best Western's Rewards program?

Strange, perhaps, but true. And it's quick and easy as well.

Offer Details

As part of an upcoming bonus-mile offer for Best Western stays between February 6 and April 11 (which will be reviewed next week), American AAdvantage members can earn 250 bonus miles by signing up for a new Best Western Rewards account and setting their earning preference to American AAdvantage miles.

Deadline: April 11.

Deal or No Deal

If you're not already a Best Western Rewards member and can use a few extra American miles, this is a no-brainer, even if you never plan to stay at a Best Western property.

Figure five minutes to set up a new Rewards account and you're earning 50 miles a minute with no out-of-pocket expense. That's 3,000 miles an hour, 24,000 miles during a workday, and ... well, you get the idea.

Reader Reality Check

Need American miles?

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Latest Priority Club PointBreaks Offer Disappoints

Earlier this week, Priority Club Rewards published its list of PointBreaks hotels available for winter stays for fewer reward points.

Program members who have become accustomed to great deals on stays at InterContinental family hotels are likely to be underwhelmed by this latest PointBreaks iteration.

Offer Details

Through February 28, Priority Club Rewards members can stay at 55 hotels—31 in the U.S., 24 outside the country—for just 5,000 points per night.

As always with PointBreaks stays, the caveat: Rooms are limited, and it's first-come-first-served. So review the list and book ASAP to avoid disappointment.

Deal or No Deal

Priority Club award nights are normally priced at between 10,000 and 40,000 points, so a hotel room night for 5,000 points is a deal. Period.

It's only a great deal, however, if there are plenty of participating hotels to choose from, and if there's adequate time to take advantage of the discounted rate.

But with just 55 participating hotels—out of InterContinental's network of more than 4,500 properties—this PointBreaks offering is pretty slim pickings.

And a five-week window to book and stay at the discounted rate further detracts from the offer's viability.

For comparison, the previous PointBreaks offer was in place for stays during the entire fourth quarter of 2010, and encompassed 125 hotels.

Why did Priority Club so drastically scale back such a valuable and popular feature of the program? And why did they do it now, during a perennially slow travel period, when hotels have a surplus of empty rooms?

Priority Club members can only wonder, and hope that this is a temporary aberration.

Reader Reality Check

Have you taken advantage of past PointBreaks opportunities?

Will you take advantage of this one?

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Hilton Offers More Delta Miles for Stays Through March

Are you a Hilton customer with a yen for Delta miles? There's a promotion for that.

Offer Details

Through March 31, Hilton HHonors members who opt to earn fixed mileage for their stays can earn up to 2,000 Delta miles for qualifying stays of one or more nights at Hilton family hotels, as follows:

• Earn 1,000 miles for one night (200 miles at Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites)
• Earn 1,500 miles for two nights (300 miles at Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites)
• Earn 2,000 miles for three or more nights (600 miles at Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites)

The above figures include both the base and bonus miles.

Registration is required.

Deal or No Deal

For Hilton partisans, the first order of business is comparing this promotion with the "More Free Nights" offer in effect during the same timeframe: double, triple, or quadruple points for stays of two, three, or four nights, respectively.

The difference goes beyond bonus points versus bonus miles -- there's also a qualification difference. While the Delta offer kicks in after a single night, the points offer requires two or more nights. So if multiple-night stays aren't on the travel agenda, the Delta promotion wins by default.

And for travelers who are brand-neutral, there are competing promotions from other hotel chains to consider. Among them:

• Through February 17, members of the goldpoints plus program can earn a one-time 10,000-point bonus for staying one or more nights, Sunday through Thursday, at a Carlson Hotels Country Inns & Suites hotel.
• Through March 2, Choice Privileges members can earn triple points, double points, or 500 bonus points for stays at Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality, Sleep Inn, Clarion, MainStay Suites, Cambria Suites, Suburban Extended Stay, Ascend Collection, EconoLodge, and Rodeway Inn hotels.
• Between February 1 and April 30, Marriott Rewards members can choose to earn a free night after two paid stays, up to two free nights (the MegaBonus offer), or triple airline miles for the second and subsequent stays (the MegaMiles offer).
• Between February 1 and April 30, Priority Club Rewards members can earn 3,000 bonus points for every third qualifying night, up to a maximum of 30,000 points.
• Through April 15, Starwood Preferred Guest members can earn double points for all nights, plus an additional 500 points for Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights, at more than 930 participating Starwood family hotels.

Reader Reality Check

Airline miles. Hotel points. Free nights. Your choice?

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Q&A: How Could a British Airways Award Ticket Cost More Than $500?

Question From Ingrid

I am a regular reader of your emails and have benefited much from your advice. Now I have a concern regarding fees or taxes imposed when flying through London on British Airways and using frequent flyer miles. I have sufficient miles to fly from Texas to South Africa and was told this morning by a less than communicative BA customer representative (and after an extremely long hold) that I may incur charges as high as $600-700 for such a trip. It required a number of questions before he volunteered that the amount changes daily and that it is contingent upon the destination.

If this is indeed the case, then it is hardly worth my while traveling on miles and possibly subjecting myself to less than desirable schedules and connections.

I'd greatly appreciate if you can find out if the information given to me is correct.

Answer

While it may be no consolation, yours is a common complaint.

In stark contrast to the great majority of U.S. carriers, British Airways imposes fuel surcharges for award tickets, which, as you've discovered, can amount to hundreds of dollars and seriously undermine the value of frequent flyer miles earned in the Executive Club program.

British Airways' current fees chart (which you'll have to log in with your Executive Club credentials to view) shows fuel surcharges from the western U.S., including Dallas, to London ranging from $156 for coach to $220 for first class, each way. Those numbers could change at any time to, according to the website, "reflect the fluctuating price of worldwide oil."

Fuel Surcharge Shock and Awe

I can't speak for citizens of Great Britain, but I've heard from many Americans who were not only incensed by the fees, but blindsided by them as well. No wonder.

In the U.S., fuel surcharges haven't been a significant factor in airline pricing since oil prices backed off their high of $147.27 a barrel on July 11, 2008. So British Airways' policy is likely to come as a shock.

Exacerbating the problem, British Airways has done a decidedly halfhearted job of making customers aware of the fees.

Case in point: Even though I was well aware of their fuel surcharges, it took me almost 30 minutes of searching British Airways' website to find the page where the fees are published.

Where Do You Go From Here?

Having confirmed that award flights on British Airways flights would indeed require significant cash co-payments, mostly for fuel surcharges, the next step was to look for less pricey alternatives.

Since the British Airways website is notably unhelpful in explaining which fees apply to award flights on partner airlines, I called the U.S. Executive Club service center. The agent verified that the fees for an award flight to Johannesburg would be between $400 and $500, mostly fuel surcharges.

When I expressed surprise that the cash cost would be so high, she explained that the fees were tantamount to a "luxury tax" because the miles were "a gift, and taxed as a bonus." One hopes that she's not expressing British Airways' official position on the issue, as the travel consumers I know would argue that their frequent flyer miles were bought and paid for—not an entitlement, but hardly a gift.

When pressed for more cost-effective options for redeeming Executive Club miles, the agent rather reluctantly suggested domestic flights on American or Alaska Airlines, which could be had without fuel surcharges.

The irony of earning miles on a self-proclaimed global airline only to find oneself forced to redeem them for domestic flights was not, I suspect, lost on her.

Further Reading

• What Would You Do With 100,000 British Air Frequent Flyer Miles?
• British Air Card Now Offers 50,000 Bonus Miles, No Foreign Transaction Fees
• The Curious Case of BA's Disappearing Credit Card Offer

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Get a 1,000-Mile Rebate on Aeroplan Awards

If a frequent flyer award is good, a cheaper frequent flyer award is even better.

Case in point: this discount on Aeroplan awards.

Offer Details

Through February 28, Aeroplan members will receive a 1,000-mile rebate when redeeming miles for the following awards:

• Selected Air Canada Vacation packages
• Selected MSC cruises
• Fairmont Hotel stays priced at 30,000 miles or more
• Stays at Sheraton, Westin, W, Four Points, Le Meridien, and St Regis hotels priced at 30,000 or more miles
• Any Best Western stays
• Any Avis car rentals

Members will receive their rebated miles within 30 days of the end of the promotion, or within 30 days of the end of the qualifying stay in the case of some vacation packages.

Deal or No Deal

A 1,000-mile rebate on a 30,000-mile award amounts to a discount of 3.3 percent. Whether that's negligible or a needle-mover is in the eye of the redeemer.

On the other hand, a Best Western stay can be had for fewer than 10,000 miles, in which case the rebate amounts to a solid if unspectacular 10 percent discount.

And applying the rebate to a 5,000 Avis rental yields a hefty 20 percent discount.

For most, the discount is probably insufficient to trigger a redemption they wouldn't have made anyway. But for those already inclined toward one of the eligible awards, any discount—even a modest one—is better than no discount at all.

Reader Reality Check

Is a 1,000-mile discount a game-changer for you?

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From InterContinental: 3,000 Priority Club Points After 3 Nights

The latest addition to the long list of winter/spring hotel promotions is from InterContinental Hotels Group.

Offer Details

Between February 1 and April 30, Priority Club Rewards members can earn 3,000 bonus points for every third qualifying night, up to a maximum of 30,000 points.

Registration is required.

Deal or No Deal

If you won't be logging at least three nights at an InterContinental family hotel (InterContinental, Hotel Indigo, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites, Candlewood Suites) during the promotion period, this offer is moot.

If you do stay three nights, the 3,000-point bonus amounts to an extra 1,000 points per night.

In the context of the different earning rates associated with the different brands, here's how the bonus computes:

• At InterContinental hotels, Priority Club members normally earn 2,000 points per stay, so the 3,000 extra points would equate to a 150 percent bonus on a three-night stay.
• At Hotel Indigo, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, and Holiday Inn Express hotels, program members normally earn 10 points per $1 in charges. Assuming $100 per night in charges, a three-night stay would net 3,000 points, and the extra points would amount to a 100 percent bonus.
• And for stays at Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites, which normally net five points per $1, the bonus would be 200 percent on a three-night stay.

Bottom line: If points are your earning preference, this promotion delivers a solid bonus. And the ability to earn the bonus multiple times is a plus for frequent travelers.

Reader Reality Check

Good deal, or not?

More generally, how is this winter shaping up for you, rewards-wise?

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Get a 30% Bonus for Membership Rewards Transfers to Delta

Got Membership Rewards points? Want Delta miles?

Here's an opportunity to get more of the latter in exchange for the former.

Offer Details

Through March 31, members of the American Express Membership Rewards program will earn a 30 percent bonus when transferring their Membership Rewards points into the Delta SkyMiles program. There's no limit to the number of points that may be converted into miles.

As always, there's a price to be paid for transferring Membership Rewards points: $0.0006 per point, with a maximum fee of $99. The offer terms note that the fee is "to offset the federal excise tax we must pay on such conversions," but adds that "the fee may be more or less than the actual amount of the excise tax we pay on any individual conversion."

Registration is required.

Deal or No Deal

For Membership Rewards members accustomed to transferring points to miles at the normal 1:1 ratio, this bonus delivers significantly better value.

Any such offer, however, raises the issue of the transfer fee.

To transfer 25,000 points, the fee would be $15.00—hardly a deal-breaker. By the same token, though, the amount hardly seems worth American Express's time to collect, much less the cost and inconvenience to its customers.

It's true that American Express pays federal excise tax when it purchases miles from Delta. But that's just one among a multitude of costs the company incurs in serving its customers. It's a cost of doing business—why single it out and charge extra?

'Nuf said.

Reader Reality Check

How do you feel about the transfer fee?

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Earn Triple JetBlue Points for Avis, Budget Rentals

Renting a car is among the least rewarding of the many ways to earn airline miles—typically 50 miles per day or one mile per $1 in charges.

This offer for members of JetBlue's TrueBlue program triples the normal payout, and tops that off with a discount.

Offer Details

Through March 31, TrueBlue members can earn triple points plus a discount when renting from Avis (35 percent discount) and Budget (30 percent discount).

The normal TrueBlue earning rate for Avis and Budget car rentals is one point per $1, so it's three points per $1 with the bonus.

For Avis rentals, use coupon MUAA035 and provide your TrueBlue number when making your reservation to earn the bonus points, and code AWD H798501 to receive the discount.

For Budget rentals, use coupon MUAZ046 to earn the bonus, and BCD R344901 to receive the discount.

Deal or No Deal

Without the bonus, the earning rate for Avis and Budget rentals is paltry.

Tripling the points payout at least makes renting a semi-significant event, mileage-wise.

But value-wise, the discount trumps the extra points.

So, be sure to take advantage of both offers, the points and the discount, using the codes referenced above.

Reader Reality Check

What place do car rentals have in your overall mileage-earning strategy?

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Hyatt's Buy Two, Get Three Offer Comes With Risk

Buy two, get one free?

That's the premise of Hyatt's "Three for Two with American Express" promotion. On closer inspection, it's a little more complicated than that.

Offer Details

Between January 1 and March 31, Hyatt is offering a free night after two paid nights charged to an American Express card at hotels in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Participating properties are as follows: Hyatt Regency Dushanbe, Hyatt Regency Warsaw, Park Ararat Hyatt Moscow, Hyatt Regency Kiev, Park Hyatt Istanbul - Macka Palas, Grand Hyatt Amman, Park Hyatt Jeddah, Park Hyatt Hamburg, Hyatt Regency Sharm El Sheikh, Hyatt Regency London - The Churchill, Hyatt Regency Ekaterinburg, Hyatt Regency Mainz, Grand Hyatt Berlin, Grand Hyatt Doha, Hyatt Regency Johannesburg, Grand Hyatt Istanbul, Hyatt Regency Dusseldorf, Hyatt Regency Thessaloniki, Hyatt Regency Taba Heights, Hyatt Regency Oubaai Golf Resort and Spa, Grand Hyatt Cairo, Hyatt Regency Cologne, Hyatt Regency Almaty, Hyatt Regency Belgrade, Grand Hyatt Dubai, Park Hyatt Dubai, Hyatt Regency Dubai, Grand Hyatt Muscat, and Hyatt Regency Birmingham.

Stay must be paid in advance and the reservation is non-refundable—if cancelled, the price of all three nights will be forfeited.

When booking, use promotion code AX436.

Deal or No Deal

On its face, this promotion seems to amount to a 33 percent discount. But there are two red flags to consider.

The first concerns promotions that require qualifying purchases to be made using a specified rate or promotion code. If that rate is higher than the best available rate (BAR), you might be paying more than the incentive is worth.

As a quick check, I test-booked stays at the Hyatt Regency London and the Grand Hyatt Cairo, comparing the promo rate with the BAR.

In both cases, the Pay 2 Get 3 rate was the same as the BAR. So the promotion's nominal value looks to be as advertised. I'd still suggest comparing the promo rate and the BAR before booking, to confirm that there are no nasty surprises lurking in the pricing.

The second caveat concerns the non-refundable prepayment requirement. Three nights at the Hyatt Regency London, to put it into perspective, would require a prepayment of $1,449.50. Any change of plan—as a result of illness, an airline strike, weather, anything—would put that considerable sum at risk.

Probably the best way to view such offers is as a calculated trade-off between a discount and the possibility of losing the prepayment. That puts the focus where it should be—not just on the upside, but on the potential downside as well.

Reader Reality Check

Have you ever forfeited a non-refundable prepayment?

What do you suppose the odds are of your having to cancel an overseas trip?

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