We also stayed in a lot of luxury hotels either for free or very low prices, in peak season. This was due to a number of frequent hotel guest programs, and in one of the programs, I earned enough points for two free nights without ever staying in one of their hotels once.

Today we are going to talk about hotel loyalty programs.

Of course those points add up and can be redeemed for free nights at all of the participating hotels in the program. The number of points required to redeem a free night award depends on the rank of the hotel, but free nights start at 2000 points. Considering the hotel brands in the Starwood group, you know that you will be getting a nice room when you do redeem.

Hyatt Gold Passport is another award winning hotel loyalty program which is well known among frequent travelers for its generous promotions. November sees the return of “Faster Free Nights”, where you earn a free night after every two stays paid for with a Mastercard. Keep in mind that it is 2 stays, not nights, so if you are in hurry to earn those free nights you will need two separate reservations that are not consecutive nights at the same hotel. If you stay two consecutive nights at the same hotel, that is only counted as one stay and one credit.
The cool thing about the “Faster Free Nights” promotion is that the rank of hotel that you stay in to earn the free nights has no relation to the rank of the hotel you can redeem your free night in. So you can stay 2 nights in a USD80 room at a regional US Hyatt, and redeem your free stay at the USD600 a night Park Hyatt Tokyo if you wanted. You just have to be quick if you want to snap up a room like that because reward inventory is limited.

You earn 5 Gold Passport points for every eligible US dollar spent at Hyatt Hotels and reservations, and free nights start at 5000 points. Platinum level is reached after 5 stays and at this level you earn an additional 15% on any points you earn.

Marriot was the pioneer of frequent guest reward programs and their Marriott Rewards program is also quite generous. You earn 10 points per eligible US dollar spent and free nights start at 7500 points.

Both Starwood and Marriott have co-branded credit cards that earn points for every dollar spent which provides a much faster way to earn free nights and upgrades.

We stayed at the Sheraton Krabi beach for less than 25% of the going rate by transferring American Express Membership Plus points over to Starwood. You can save huge amounts of money by using either a co-branded credit card or a card that while not co-branded, will allow you to transfer your points to an airline or hotel program. Some credit card programs may charge a small annual fee for this service, but in my opinion, it is certainly worth it.

There are many frequent guest programs out there, some more rewarding than others, and I have just listed the three that are my personal favourites. There are many more including Hilton HHonors, Intercontinental Priority Club as well as smaller hotel chains. Take a look at what they offer in terms of earning opportunities and also at whether they have properties in areas where you are likely to be able to earn points as well as where you would like to stay on a future free vacation.

As for the 3 nights at the Phuket Marriott Vacation Club which normally sell for more than USD350 per night that cost us a total of USD99 for all three nights. When my wife and I checked into the Marriott resort and spa in Bangkok a year earlier we were handed an invitation labelled "for married guests and their families." Marriott's Vacation Club as a timeshare operation and at first I thought "Oh no", because we have all heard the stories about timeshares. The deal was USD 99 for three nights and all we had to do was sit through a 90 minute presentation.
My plan was just to sit through the presentation as required, say "not interested thank you" and head back to the pool.
I was actually pleasantly surprised. Of course being Marriott it was very professional, and there was no hardcore high pressure sales talk. Actually by the end of it I really wanted to buy. If I had 22,000 dollars lying around I would have bought a week.

Marriott Vacation Club has an office in the Bangkok Marriott resort and spa, so drop by and enquire about their properties. They are extending the property this year and are eager to sell as many weeks as they can. You can also perhaps find good offers on the Marriott Vacation Club website for other properties as well.

Starwood Preferred Guest
Hyatt Gold Passport
Marriott Rewards