Win Up to 20 Free Hyatt Nights

Enter Hyatt's "Million Points" sweepstakes by December 9 for a chance to win one of 10 prizes of 100,000 Gold Passport points each.

To enter, "Like" one or more of the individual Hyatt brand Facebook pages, as follows:

• Hyatt
• Park Hyatt
• Andaz
• Grand Hyatt
• Hyatt Regency
• Hyatt Place
• Hyatt Vacation Club
• Hyatt Hotels
• Hyatt Summerfield Suites

You may submit only one entry per Facebook page, for a maximum of nine entries.

To put the prizes in context, prices for Gold Passport award nights range from 5,000 to 22,000 points. So those 100,000 points would be good for as many as 20 nights at a Category 1 Hyatt Place hotel. Or, if you're more inclined toward quality than quantity, you could redeem the points for four nights at a luxe Hyatt Regency in London, Paris, or Maui, with enough left over for a few nights at lower-end properties as well.

Bottom line: Long odds, sure; but minimal effort for a chance to win a hefty prize.

The Fine Print

• Sweepstakes is open only to legal residents of the 50 United States or the District of Columbia, Aruba, Canada (excluding Quebec), Curacao, or Puerto Rico who are at least 18 who are registered users of Facebook in good standing.
• You must be a member of Hyatt's Gold Passport program to enter.

Other Posts of Interest

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• This Fall, Earn 2,000 US Air Miles for Marriott Stays
• Earn Up to 80,000 Priority Club Bonus Points for Fall Stays
• Hyatt's Possibilities Promo: 5,000 Bonus Points After Every Three Nights
• Another Marriott Option: Up to 30,000 Miles for Fall Stays
• Up to Triple Points for Best Western Stays
• Starwood Offers Double, Triple Points for Fall Stays
• Choice Hotels Offers Quadruple Points for Fall Stays
• Marriott's New MegaBonus: One Free Night After Two Stays
• Hyatt Adds Elite Perks, Changes Award Prices
• Get Texts to Get 500 Priority Club Bonus Points
• Book InterCon Stays by Smartphone to Earn a Priority Club Bonus
• Book Priority Club Hotels for Just 5,000 Points With PointBreaks
• Hilton Points Go Further With Point Stretcher Awards
• Your Choice: Airline Miles or Hotel Points?

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Double Elite-Qualifying Miles on Popular American Flights

Most airline double-mile promotions only double the redeemable miles.

The miles that qualify toward earning elite status—elite-qualifying miles, or EQMs—typically remain the same.

This new offer from American is notable for doubling both the redeemable and the elite-qualifying miles. And it does so on some popular routes, for a long time.

Offer Details

Between October 27, 2011, and March 31, 2012, AAdvantage members can earn double redeemable miles and double elite-qualifying miles when flying American non-stop on the following routes:

• Between Chicago and Los Angeles
• Between Chicago and San Francisco
• Between Dallas/Ft. Worth and Los Angeles
• Between Dallas/Ft. Worth and San Francisco

The offer is available only to travelers whose registered AAdvantage addresses are in California, Illinois, or Texas.

Registration is required.

Deal or No Deal

The bonus itself is well worth pursuing, especially if AAdvantage elite status is a goal.

These are popular routes, which American serves with multiple daily non-stops (16 flights every business day between Los Angeles and Dallas, for example).

And the promotion period, five full months, affords plenty of time to qualify.

The residence requirement might seem like a significant negative. But realistically, the great majority of those flying on the targeted routes would be residents of California, Illinois, or Texas in any case.

If American's ticket prices are competitive, and you plan to fly the featured routes, this offer makes American a best bet.

Other Posts of Interest

• Which Airline Programs Are the Most (and Least) Generous?
• Earn More Shopping Miles From United
• The Best Time to Book Southwest and JetBlue Award Flights
• Fly to Tokyo in Business Class for 50,000 AAdvantage Miles
• American Offers Double AAdvantage Miles on Caribbean Flights
• Are Pricier US Airways Miles Still a Buy?
• Double Southwest Points on Baltimore/Washington, Denver, Phoenix Flights
• Alaska Airlines Doubles the Miles for Fall Flights

Stay in Touch

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Earn More Shopping Miles From United

In the run-up to Christmas, there's typically a spike in the number of bonus offers for purchases at the airline and hotel mileage malls -- the networks of online retailers that award miles and points in travel loyalty programs.

Let the shopping, and earning, begin!

Offer Details

Through November 11, MileagePlus and OnePass members can earn up to 2,000 bonus miles for shopping at the MileagePlus Shopping mall as follows:

• Earn 1,500 bonus miles for purchasing $125 or more with any participating retailer.
• Earn 500 bonus miles for downloading and using the Shopping Assistant widget.

The Shopping Assistant sits at the top of users' Web browsers and lets program members know if they can earn miles when shopping at various vendors and alerts them to special offers.

Deal or No Deal

If you spend exactly $125 to qualify for the 1,500-mile bonus, you're earning 12 miles per $1 spent over and above the merchant's normal payout rate. That's a hefty bonus, well worth considering.

If you're a regular mileage mall shopper, it's probably worth the time to download the Shopping Assistant as well.

Reader Reality Check

How many miles will you earn for holiday shopping this year?

Other Posts of Interest

• Which Airline Programs Are the Most (and Least) Generous?
• Fly to Tokyo in Business Class for 50,000 AAdvantage Miles
• American Offers Double AAdvantage Miles on Caribbean Flights
• Are Pricier US Airways Miles Still a Buy?
• Double Southwest Points on Baltimore/Washington, Denver, Phoenix Flights
• Alaska Airlines Doubles the Miles for Fall Flights

Stay in Touch

For more news like this, sign up to receive our free weekly newsletter. You can follow us on Twitter, too.

The Best Time to Book Southwest and JetBlue Award Flights

One of the hot topics in the travel universe is holiday airfares: Will ticket prices increase or decrease as we get closer to Thanksgiving and Christmas?

For members of most airline loyalty programs planning to burn miles for holiday travel, the question is moot. An award trip to New York or San Francisco will cost 25,000 miles, whether it's booked today, next week, or next month.

Unlike the prices of paid tickets, which rise and fall according to supply and demand, award prices are typically fixed.

To fly for fewer miles, members of traditional mileage-based programs must wait for award sales. But sales such as American's discount on award flights to Japan are few, far between, and limited in scope.

That's only part of the picture, however, and shouldn't deflect attention away from the operations of another group of airline programs that feature a wholly different system for awarding points and pricing awards.

With revenue-based programs -- like those of Southwest, JetBlue, and Virgin America -- award ticket prices are directly linked to the prices of comparable paid tickets. In other words, when paid tickets are on sale, so are award tickets.

Southwest's latest online booking app makes it easy to see the relationship between paid tickets and award tickets, allowing travelers to toggle back and forth between the price in dollars and the price in points for any given flight. And the Low Fare Calendar feature provides a month-at-a-glance view of price changes, day by day, flight by flight.

During November, for example, the price of a Wanna Get Away ticket between Los Angeles and Phoenix ranged from $59 and $180, or 3,540 to 10,800 points, depending on the day of the week and the time of day.

For better or for worse, then, members of the programs of Southwest, JetBlue, and Virgin America stand to gain (or lose) as ticket prices rise and fall.

So to get the best value for your points in the programs of Southwest, JetBlue, and Virgin America, book award trips when those airlines are having airfare sales. When paying customers save, you do too.

Other Posts of Interest

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• Southwest Changes the Game With New Rapid Rewards Program
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• New Southwest Rapid Rewards Program Gets Mixed Reviews
• Just How Rewarding Is Your Airline Rewards Program?
• British Air Card Now Offers 50,000 Bonus Miles, No Foreign Transaction Fees
• Q&A: Help, I Can No Longer Afford That "Free" Ticket!
• Your Choice: Airline Miles or Hotel Points?

Stay in Touch

For more news like this, sign up to receive our free weekly newsletter. You can follow us on Twitter, too.

Win a Trip for 2 to Rome From Travel Channel

Enter Travel Channel's "Sweepstakes 2011" giveaway by October 31 for a chance to win a trip for two to Rome, Italy, including round-trip air, five nights' hotel accommodations, airport transfers, one dinner for two, and city tour passes.

The Fine Print

• All entrants must be at least 21 years of age or older as of the date of entry.
• Entrants must be legal residents of the 50 United States including the District of Columbia.
• The prize trip must be completed by October 31, 2012.
• Approximate retail value of the trip package: $8,840.

Reader Reality Check

Roma, anyone?

Other Posts of Interest

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• Southwest Is Giving Away 30 Million Rapid Rewards Points
• Fall Hotel Promotions, Compared
• Carlson's Free-Night Promotion Could Cost You
• This Fall, Earn 2,000 US Air Miles for Marriott Stays
• Earn Up to 80,000 Priority Club Bonus Points for Fall Stays
• Hyatt's Possibilities Promo: 5,000 Bonus Points After Every Three Nights
• Another Marriott Option: Up to 30,000 Miles for Fall Stays
• Up to Triple Points for Best Western Stays
• Starwood Offers Double, Triple Points for Fall Stays
• Choice Hotels Offers Quadruple Points for Fall Stays
• Marriott's New MegaBonus: One Free Night After Two Stays
• Hyatt Adds Elite Perks, Changes Award Prices
• Get Texts to Get 500 Priority Club Bonus Points
• Book InterCon Stays by Smartphone to Earn a Priority Club Bonus
• Book Priority Club Hotels for Just 5,000 Points With PointBreaks
• Hilton Points Go Further With Point Stretcher Awards
• Your Choice: Airline Miles or Hotel Points?

Stay in Touch

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Starwood Embraces Customers' Reviews

When it comes to transparency, I'm a true believer.

Give consumers all pertinent information, in accessible form, and the free market will reward those companies that provide the best products and services at the lowest cost. Lousy companies will fall by the wayside.

Sure, it's a bit more complicated than that. But insofar as Adam Smith's "invisible hand" does work to ensure a positive outcome for consumers, it does so only to the extent that transparency prevails.

In the case of loyalty programs, transparency would mean that consumers have access to all programs' performance data, in particular how well each program delivers on the promise of free trips, upgrades, and the like.

That's hardly the case today, and won't be any time soon.

Starwood's Ratings & Reviews

While only indirectly related to loyalty programs, Starwood has embraced transparency with a move as surprising as it is heartening: With the newly launched Ratings & Reviews, Starwood Preferred Guest members can now post reviews of their hotel stays on Starwood websites, where they will be available for all to see.

Unlike most hotel review sites, Starwood reviews may only be posted by those who can show that they've had a stay at the property in question within the past 18 months -- before posting, reviewers must provide their Preferred Guest credentials or the reservation confirmation number of the stay to be rated.

And no reviews for a particular hotel will be displayed until at least five reviews have been posted.

Those requirements should go a long way toward ensuring a balanced assessment by travelers who are in a position to make informed judgments.

Another Hotel Review Site, Not

It's not as though there aren't plenty of first-hand hotel reviews already available to help travelers make informed decisions about which properties are worth booking and which should be avoided. There are.

But a hotel company posting unedited reviews of its own properties, good and bad, on its own website?

Travelers aren't the only beneficiaries here.

As Starwood's management no doubt knows, the reviews will inevitably have a positive effect on the company's overall quality.

Over time, glowing reviews will promote more of the behavior that gave rise to the positive feedback. And negative reviews will exert pressure on underperformers to address their deficiencies.

In theory at least, this is a virtuous circle, with better service generating better reviews, which in turn spur even better service, generating even better reviews, and so on.

This was a gutsy move on Starwood's part. And a smart one.

Reader Reality Check

Do you take time to write hotel reviews?

How important to you are user reviews when deciding which hotels to book?

Other Posts of Interest

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• Carlson's Free-Night Promotion Could Cost You
• This Fall, Earn 2,000 US Air Miles for Marriott Stays
• Earn Up to 80,000 Priority Club Bonus Points for Fall Stays
• Hyatt's Possibilities Promo: 5,000 Bonus Points After Every Three Nights
• Another Marriott Option: Up to 30,000 Miles for Fall Stays
• Up to Triple Points for Best Western Stays
• Starwood Offers Double, Triple Points for Fall Stays
• Choice Hotels Offers Quadruple Points for Fall Stays
• Marriott's New MegaBonus: One Free Night After Two Stays
• Hyatt Adds Elite Perks, Changes Award Prices
• Get Texts to Get 500 Priority Club Bonus Points
• Book InterCon Stays by Smartphone to Earn a Priority Club Bonus
• Book Priority Club Hotels for Just 5,000 Points With PointBreaks
• Hilton Points Go Further With Point Stretcher Awards
• Your Choice: Airline Miles or Hotel Points?

Stay in Touch

For more news like this, sign up to receive our free weekly newsletter. You can follow us on Twitter, too.

United Is New Chase Sapphire Transfer Partner

Effective immediately, Chase Sapphire Preferred cardholders can transfer their Ultimate Rewards points 1:1 for miles in United's Mileage Plus program.

Chase and United have a longstanding relationship -- Chase issues United's Mileage Plus credit cards -- and Continental was already a Sapphire transfer partner. So this latest tie-up is no great surprise. Still, it's good news for current Continental OnePass members, who will be absorbed into United's MileagePlus program early next year, and for anyone aiming to redeem miles through Star Alliance partner airlines.

In addition to United's MileagePlus, Sapphire Preferred cardholders may now transfer their points into the following programs: Amtrak Guest Rewards, British Airways Executive Club, Continental OnePass, InterContinental Priority Club Rewards, Hyatt Gold Passport, Korean Air Skypass, and Marriott Rewards.

With the move, Chase nudges the Sapphire Preferred card closer to the likes of the Starwood Preferred Guest credit card and the American Express cards linked to its Membership Rewards program. For many consumers, the signature benefit of those cards is the ability to exchange the points for miles in a range of airline or hotel programs.

Membership Rewards points can be exchanged for miles in 16 airline programs, including Aeroplan, AirTran A+ Rewards, British Airways Executive Club, Delta SkyMiles, Frontier EarlyReturns, Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles, JetBlue TrueBlue, and Virgin America Elevate. Additionally, Membership Rewards points can be exchanged for points in four hotel programs: Best Western, Hilton HHonors, InterContinental Priority Club Rewards, and Starwood Preferred Guest.

Starwood Preferred Guest points can be exchanged for miles in 31 airline programs, including Aeroplan, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, American AAdvantage, British Airways Executive Club, Continental OnePass, Delta SkyMiles, Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles, United MileagePlus, and US Airways Dividend Miles.

At this point, the list of Sapphire Preferred transfer partners looks paltry by comparison. But what matters most isn't the sheer number of choices, it's the number of choices that are relevant to your needs. With two major hotel programs, and airlines representing all three major global alliances, Chase has covered a lot of bases.

Chase Sapphire Preferred card overview

• Annual fee: $95, waived the first year
• Annual percentage rate: variable, currently 15.24 percent
• No foreign transaction fees
• Cardholders earn 1 point for every $1 charged for most purchases, 2 points per $1 for travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards, and up to 10 points per $1 for purchases through the Ultimate Rewards Mall.
• Cardholders earn a 7 percent dividend on points earned during the year.
• When redeemed for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards, points are worth 1.25 cents each.
• Points can be transferred 1:1 for miles/points in the programs of British Airways, Continental, Hyatt, InterContinental Priority Club, Marriott, United, and Amtrak.
• Cardholders can redeem points for cash at 1 cent per point.
• Customer service calls are "answered by people, not prompts."

New Chase Sapphire Preferred cardholders earn 50,000 bonus points after charging at least $3,000 to the card during the first three months. Assuming they are redeemed for travel -- flights, cruises, etc., with no capacity controls or blackout dates -- through Chase Ultimate Rewards, the bonus points are worth $625. (There's no published end date to the 50,000-point bonus, so it could be scaled back or discontinued at any time.)

Other Posts of Interest

• Southwest's 50,000-Point Credit Card Bonus Is Back
• Chase Sapphire Preferred Card Comes With 50,000-Point Bonus
• New Southwest Rapid Rewards Program Gets Mixed Reviews
• Just How Rewarding Is Your Airline Rewards Program?
• British Air Card Now Offers 50,000 Bonus Miles, No Foreign Transaction Fees
• Q&A: Help, I Can No Longer Afford That "Free" Ticket!
• Your Choice: Airline Miles or Hotel Points?

Stay in Touch

For more news like this, sign up to receive our free weekly newsletter. You can follow us on Twitter, too.

Fly to Tokyo in Business Class for 50,000 AAdvantage Miles

The only thing better than a frequent flyer award flight? A discounted frequent flyer award flight.

When it comes to award discounts, the norm is a savings of 20 to 30 percent. While limited in scope, this new offer for AAdvantage members features a hefty 40 to 50 percent discount.

Offer Details

Through February 29, 2012, AAdvantage members can book discounted round-trip award flights on Japan Airlines as follows:

Routes: San Francisco to Tokyo/Haneda; Vancouver to Tokyo/Narita
Travel period: November 1, 2011 - February 29, 2012
Business-class award price: 50,000 miles (normally 100,000)
Coach-class award price: 30,000 miles (normally 50,000)

The discount applies only to the Japan Airlines flights; connecting flights to and from San Francisco or Vancouver must be booked separately, at non-discounted rates.

Discounted trips must be booked via AAdvantage Reservations at 1-800-882-8880, which will incur a $25 service charge.

Deal or No Deal

Positives

• Hefty discount
• Generous booking and travel window

Negatives

• Limited routes
• Connecting flights not included
• Service charge to book by phone

If you have any interest in visiting Japan and can cost-effectively get to one of the two North American gateways, this is a rare opportunity to fly transpacific for substantially fewer miles. These are long flights -- go for business class if you have the miles.

Reader Reality Check

Is this award discount enough to put Japan on your travel itinerary?

Other Posts of Interest

• Which Airline Programs Are the Most (and Least) Generous?
• American Offers Double AAdvantage Miles on Caribbean Flights
• Are Pricier US Airways Miles Still a Buy?
• Double Southwest Points on Baltimore/Washington, Denver, Phoenix Flights
• Alaska Airlines Doubles the Miles for Fall Flights

Stay in Touch

For more news like this, sign up to receive our free weekly newsletter. You can follow us on Twitter, too.

American Offers Double AAdvantage Miles on Caribbean Flights

Planning a Caribbean trip in the next month or so?

Don't forget to pack the bonus miles.

Offer Details

Through November 15, AAdvantage members can earn double miles for non-stop American flights between New York (JFK) and Santiago or Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Port-au-Prince, Haiti; and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Registration is required.

Deal or No Deal

There are no onerous fare-type requirements with this promotion -- travel on any mileage-eligible ticket earns the bonus.

As bonuses go, double miles is respectable if not eye-popping. And since no other airlines are offering bonuses on these routes, this is the best you can do, mileage-wise.

Bottom line: If you're headed for any of the targeted destinations during the promotion period, and American's fare is competitive (don't ever overpay to earn miles!), this is the way to go.

Other Posts of Interest

• Which Airline Programs Are the Most (and Least) Generous?
• Are Pricier US Airways Miles Still a Buy?
• Double Southwest Points on Baltimore/Washington, Denver, Phoenix Flights
• Alaska Airlines Doubles the Miles for Fall Flights

Stay in Touch

For more news like this, sign up to receive our free weekly newsletter. You can follow us on Twitter, too.

Southwest's 50,000-Point Credit Card Bonus Is Back

NOTE: This offer was terminated as of November 13, 2011.

With the many credit card incentives currently in circulation, anything less than a 50,000-mile bonus just isn't going to get much traction with consumers.

Apparently with that in mind, Chase, which has established itself as the premier issuer of rewards credit cards, has launched a new 50,000-point bonus promotion to ensure that its Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Visa cards remain top-of-mind among the travel rewards set.

Offers Details

Over the summer, Southwest was offering 50,000 bonus points after the first charge to the Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Premier Visa.  That offer is being reprised, but this time the bonus applies to both the pricier Premier ($99 annual fee) and cheaper Plus ($69 annual fee) cards.

 In Southwest's new program, 50,000 Rapid Rewards points translate into more than $800 toward Wanna Get Away award tickets -- probably two free round-trip flights.

Other card details:

• Both cards award two points per $1 on purchases of Southwest tickets and Rapid Rewards hotel and rental car partners; one point per $1 for other charges.
• Annual percentage rate (APR) is variable -- the Prime Rate plus 10.99 percent -- currently 14.24 percent.
• Premier cardholders receive 6,000 bonus points on their anniversary, enough for $100 toward a Wanna Get Away award ticket.
• Plus cardholders receive 3,000 bonus points on their anniversary.

There's no published end date to the 50,000-point offer, but my guess is that it will be in place for a month or so.

Deal or No Deal

Southwest isn't known for its aggressive credit card offers, so this is likely as good as it's going to get.  Which is to say, if a Rapid Rewards-linked credit card is on your shopping list, this would be a good time to pull the trigger.

Unless you're a serial card acquirer -- a "flipper," who signs up solely for the bonus, and then moves on -- the question posed by a credit card has less to do with the card itself than it does with the program it's linked to.  So in this case, the question is: Is Southwest's Rapid Rewards a program that meets your needs?

The new revenue-based version of the program has seemingly split the traveler universe into fierce partisans and equally fierce critics.  For those in the former camp, the Rapid Rewards credit card is a natural adjunct to their participation in the program.  For those in the latter camp, the question is moot.

Reader Reality Check

Comments on Rapid Rewards, or this credit card offer?

Other Posts of Interest

• Southwest Changes the Game With New Rapid Rewards Program
• Chase Sapphire Preferred Card Comes With 50,000-Point Bonus
• New Southwest Rapid Rewards Program Gets Mixed Reviews
• Just How Rewarding Is Your Airline Rewards Program?
• British Air Card Now Offers 50,000 Bonus Miles, No Foreign Transaction Fees
• Q&A: Help, I Can No Longer Afford That "Free" Ticket!
• Your Choice: Airline Miles or Hotel Points?

Stay in Touch

For more news like this, sign up to receive our free weekly newsletter. You can follow us on Twitter, too.