Book InterCon Stays by Smartphone to Earn a Priority Club Bonus

Earlier this month, I reviewed separate promotions from JetBlue and Delta—both featuring bonuses for using mobile devices to check in for flights—noting that the travel industry has a long history of deploying frequent flyer bonuses to encourage consumers to adopt new technology, and recommending that mileage-collectors take advantage of the extra miles while they can.

What works for the airlines often works for the hotels as well. Case in point: this bonus for booking stays at InterContinental, Hotel Indigo, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites, and Candlewood Suites hotels using a smartphone.

Offer Details

Priority Club Rewards members can earn a 1,000-point bonus for every qualifying booking made and completed by August 31 using the Priority Club Rewards Windows Phone app on their smartphones.

The app does much more than make bookings. According to the Priority Club website, an app-enabled smartphone can also accomplish the following:

Redeem points for Reward Night stays
Get GPS-enabled hotel directions
Click-to-call your hotel's front desk
View full photo galleries for each hotel
Search hotels by airport code
Expedite bookings with info stored in your profile
Use corporate IDs for special rates
Access special offers

According to the offer's terms and conditions, those who qualify for the bonus will receive points even if their earning preferred is airline miles.

Deal or No Deal

While there are also Priority Club apps available for the iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry phones—all of which are more popular than Windows-based smartphones—the bonus doesn't apply to them. And neither the app nor the bonus is sufficient reason to switch phones. Or, for that matter, to switch from one hotel loyalty program to another.

But if you're a Priority Club loyalist who already has a Windows smartphone, the app looks like a worthwhile download for its sheer utility, and a real winner when the bonus is factored into the equation.

Reader Reality Check

Have you used a smartphone or other mobile device to book a hotel room or check in for a flight?

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Comments

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nubiles - Very true. Windows phones now account for around 9% of the market. And with Apple and Android phones on a roll, the Windows share could fall even further.

Posted by: Tim Winship | 07/28/2011 at 11:40 AM

A Windows Phone app? Seriously? That's like saying you get extra points if you show up at the hotel in an Edsel.

Posted by: nubiles | 07/26/2011 at 10:46 AM

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