Quick hit: Orbitz $100 off $100+ promo is back (2 nights required)

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Via Miles To Memories, run, don't walk over to Orbitz.com and start booking pairs of nights for $100 off using promo code "VISACHECKOUT" and paying through, you guessed it, Visa Checkout.

Your total stay cost must exceed $100 before the discount is applied, your stay must be two or more nights, and not all properties are eligible. According to Miles To Memories, the code is good for travel between December 10 and June 30, 2015.

If you don't have an Orbitz Rewards account yet, feel free to sign up using my referral link. If you do, we'll each earn $25 in Orbucks. And don't forget to click through a shopping portal for additional cash back: TopCashBack is currently paying 7% on Orbitz reservations, although only 2% on reservations made with a coupon code.

Do this now: double points with Hilton HHonors

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Registration is now open for Hilton's winter "Double Up" promotion, whereby you can earn double points between November 1, 2014 and January 31, 2015, starting with your second stay.

I love staying with Hilton, but naturally make almost all my reservations using HHonors points. I have one "Points and Money" and one award reservation during the promotional period, so it doesn't look like I'll be earning any double points during this promotion.

Whether you plan to take advantage of the promotion or not, be sure to register now, before you forget, and find the list of non-participating properties here.

Do this now: Starwood and IHG fall promotions

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I've updated my Hotel Promotions page with two more Fall hotel promotions.

Double or triple points with Starwood Preferred Guest

Between September 15 and December 15, 2014, earn double Starpoints on paid stays of 2 or more nights, or triple Starpoints on paid stays of 2 or more nights that include a Friday or Saturday night (Thursday or Friday night in the Middle East). Register for the promotion here by October 31, and find the list of non-participating properties here.

While it's not spectacular, and there are a fair number of non-participating properties, you should still register now, before you forget, in case you end up with some paid Starwood stays this Fall.

At least 50,000 points or 2 free nights with IHG Rewards

This Fall IHG Rewards is continuing their recent trend of offering "customized" promotions to members based on their history with the program. Here's the offer I received (based on my non-existent participation with IHG Rewards):

As is true for many folks, it's possible to complete all 5 of my tasks by staying a total of three nights over two stays, if and only if both stays are completed at different Holiday Inn hotels and include two Saturdays.

As it happens, I have an upcoming Saturday night award stay at the airport Hyatt Place in Portland, Oregon, for which I redeemed 8,000 Gold Passport points. Since there's also a Holiday Inn property at the airport, I can easily book a stay there and end up breaking roughly even (I'll pay about $93 and get my 8,000 Gold Passport points back, paying 1.16 cents per Gold Passport point and meeting almost half my IHG Rewards tasks).

For my second Saturday, second Holiday Inn, second stay, and second and third nights, I'll probably slightly "overbook" and make a 3-night reservation in San Antonio for an upcoming trip my partner needs to take there. I'll pay about $553 for the 3 nights and fulfill the rest of my IHG Rewards tasks.

That's perhaps $60-70 more than the cheapest satisfactory room in central San Antonio (and it's likely possible to find an even lower rate using opaque booking sites, not to mention using hotel points). On the other hand, that premium will pay for 2 free nights at any IHG property in the world, subject to award availability.

In discussing this promotion, The Miles Professor made the most important point when she wrote:

"The certificates do expire after 12 months so it only really makes sense to go for it if you have a particular trip and hotel in mind. For some hotels, award nights are not always available so, if you do have your heart set on a certain hotel, check for general availability instead of time [sic]."

Back in June I wrote about hotel loyalty program "no blackout date" policies, and shared that IHG has the worst policy of all the major chains, essentially allowing properties to throttle award availability at any time and in any way they choose.

On the other hand, I have an upcoming trip to Italy that still has a number of nights that need to be booked, so I'm hoping those 2 free award nights will give me some valuable flexibility as I complete my hotel reservations for that trip.

Whether you plan to game the promotion or not, be sure to register now, before you forget.

Do this now: register for fall/winter Hilton and Marriott promotions

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I've updated my Hotel Promotions page with information on two fall promotions announced so far. While neither promotion is particularly lucrative, it's crazy not to register for these promotions when they pop up, since it's hard to know in advance when a revenue night will end up making sense for your travel needs.

Hilton HHonors: double or triple base points

Between August 1 and October 31, 2014, earn double base points on paid weekday stays and triple base points on paid weekend stays. Register for the promotion here and find the (long) list of non-participating properties here.

Marriott Rewards: double points starting with second paid stay

Between September 15 and January 15, 2014, earn double Marriott Rewards points (up to 25,000 bonus points) starting with your second paid stay. Register for the promotion here.

Register now, before you forget.

Do this now? Summer Hyatt promo is way too complicated

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While I was updating my hotel promotions page this afternoon with the Hyatt summer promotion, I was trying to decide if I have anything to say about it. And I decided: not really.

Triple miles on 2nd through 15th eligible stays when you choose to earn miles

Between May 1 and August 31, 2014, Hyatt is offering triple miles with 8 of their partner airlines on the 2nd-15th eligible stays made during the promotional period (there is no bonus for the first eligible stay). Each partner airline has its own registration link (you can only register with one partner airline):

Who came up with this?

For the first, non-bonused miles-earning stay, you would have to consider 500 miles worth more than the Gold Passport Points you would earn for that stay. Then, having triggered the bonus, you can receive 1,500 airline miles per stay.

For the sake of simplicity, suppose you consider each Gold Passport point to be worth the same as one airline mile in a participating mileage program. Then this promotion is profitable only if the room rate (excluding taxes) on your first stay is less than $100, $87, or $77, depending on your elite status, and on subsequent stays is less than $300, $261, or $230.

On some blogs this is being parsed as "this is a nice promotion for someone that frequently makes short and cheap stays," and "this promo especially good for inexpensive and short Hyatt stays."

But I actually don't think that does justice to how bad this promotion is: if you have frequent, sub-$300 stays between May 1 and August 31, 2014, why on earth are you staying at Hyatts?

Do this now: Hilton HHonors early summer promotion

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Registration is now live for Hilton's first summer promotion, whereby you can earn double points or double miles for all paid stays between May 1 and July 31, 2014.

Once you've made your selection, upon registration, it can't be changed later.

The Points Guy helpfully reminds us that since January, the only two Hilton HHonors earning options have been "Points & Points" and "Points & Miles."

So whichever version of the promotion you choose, make sure you have the corresponding earning preference selected!

In any case, register now, before you forget.

Do this now: Starwood Preferred Guest early summer promotion

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Between May 1 and July 31, 2014, Starwood Preferred Guest is running a promotion giving double base points at participating properties for stays that don’t include a Sunday night (Saturday night in the Middle East) and triple base points at participating properties for stays that do include such a night.

There’s a long list of non-participating properties, so don’t deliberately direct any stays to Starwood properties without making sure the property is participating in this promotion.

And of course, register now, before you forget.

Do this now: Hilton HHonors Spring Promotion

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As you can see on my updated Hotel Promotions page, Hilton HHonors has announced a Spring promotion, whereby you can earn up to 9,000 HHonors points per paid stay between February 1, 2014 and April 30, 2014. You'll earn 1,000 HHonors points per paid Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday night stay, plus 5,000 HHonors points per 2-night stay that includes 2 or more of those nights. Register for the promotion here, and find the list of non-participating properties here.

Many bloggers have panned this promotion for not offering outsized rewards. Fair! I stay in a fair number of Hiltons because of their convenient downtown locations, HHonors points are relatively easy to earn with the no-annual-fee Hilton HHonors American Express or $75-annual-fee Surpass, and because as a Gold member I receive free breakfast for myself and anyone else staying in my room. So I consider it a decent possibility that I'll end up earning a few thousand points through this promotion, which is why I registered right away, before I forgot.

You should do the same.

I love Marriott free night promotions

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If there's one thing I've learned in the travel-hacking community, it's that people who love Marriott Rewards really love Marriott Rewards.

Personally, I don't find Marriott Rewards points very useful. Even though I have the Marriott Rewards Premier Visa, I signed up for that card because of the free night certificate, 50,000 bonus Marriott Rewards points, and $75 statement credit (plus the annual free night certificate). As a rule I only charge one small purchase to the card every 6 months or so, to keep the account from being closed due to inactivity.

There's no point in manufacturing spend on the Marriott Rewards Visa cards because they only earn 1 point per dollar spent on most purchases (the Premier Visa earns 2 points per dollar spent on restaurants, airline tickets, and rental cars, which are irrelevant here).

However, I do find Marriott's regular MegaBonus promotions (here's the latest one) amazingly effective at getting me to direct my paid stays to Marriott properties. If you understand hotel loyalty programs as rebates on hotel stays, then the MegaBonus promotions are a 50% – or more – rebate on up to 4 paid stays during each promotional period.

My Winter MegaBonus

The MegaBonus promotion ending tomorrow offered a free night certificate good at Category 1-5 properties after your second and fourth paid stays during the promotional period. I earned 1 certificate, on the following stays over New Years:

  • 1 night at Courtyard Portland City Center: $115.64
  • 1 night at Fairfield Inn Portland Airport: $81.30

If I'd charged those stays to my Marriott Rewards Premier Visa, I would have earned 984 bonus Marriott Rewards points, on top of the 2,064 points I earned as a Silver elite. Instead, I charged both stays to my Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard, so I can redeem 19,694 Arrival miles against the two charges, at a total cost of a bit less than $79 (because of the 10% rebate on travel redemptions).

Having completed those 2 paid stays, I earned a Free Night Certificate good at a category 1-5 hotel. As you can see from my point density charts, there is no other hotel program that allows you to earn a free night at even the lowest tier properties after spending just $200 (with the exception of Concierge members with Club Carlson). Marriott allows you to stay at Category 4 or 5 properties for that much (or less) multiple times per year.

Plan Your Stays

To maximize the rebate from the MegaBonus promotions, you do need to plan your paid stays to make sure you have exactly 2 or 4 paid stays during each promotional period. Multiple nights in a row at the same hotel – even on separate reservations – are not supposed to count as separate stays. That's why for my 2-night stay at the Courtyard Portland City Center I booked the first night as a paid stay, then used a free night certificate from a previous MegaBonus promotion for the second night of the stay. By then changing hotels to the Fairfield Inn Portland Airport I was able to get a second stay credit (and be closer to the airport for my morning flight the next day).

If you're traveling with another person, you should be able to alternate nights at the same property and earn a stay credit for each night by crediting them to each person's account in turn. However, I have had problems in the past getting stays to properly credit to my Marriott Rewards account, so you may have to follow up with Marriott Rewards after your stays to make sure they credit properly.

Stackable New Member Promotion

Even better, Marriott is currently running a promotion for new members, whereby you can earn a free night certificate good at Category 1-5 properties after completing 2 paid stays within 120 days of the end of the month in which you join.

The best way to time this promotion with the next MegaBonus promotion is to sign up through this link on February 1: that way you'll have until the end of February, plus 120 days (roughly through the end of June), to complete your 2 paid stays, after which you'll have 1 free night certificate good at Category 1-5 properties (from the new member promotion) and 1 certificate good at Category 1-4 properties (from the Spring MegaBonus promotion).