- Choice Hotels has reintroduced its very popular (as in runner-up for last year’s Freddie Award) “Stay Twice, Earn a Free Night” promotion. Through April 15, members will get 8,000 points — enough for a free night — on each second qualifying stay. The beauty of this promotion is that you’re rewarded with long-lasting points, not a time-sensitive voucher. Visit http://www.choicehotels.com for the skinny.
- Marriott Rewards has brought back its long-running and popular MegaBonus promotion. Through May 15, members will receive up to 10,000 Rewards points after completing five stays collectively at any of 2,600 participating hotels in 65 countries. To become eligible, members must register for the promotion offer via MarriottRewards.com or by calling 1-888-MARRIOTT (627-7468) during the promotional period.
Members earn 2,500 bonus points for every stay beginning with their second stay up to a maximum 10,000 points.
- Sometimes, when airlines fight, you win. Take, for example, the current tiff going on between American Airlines and Southwest. Both have new flights between Dallas Love Field and St. Louis, and both are going after your business. Southwest got the ball rolling by offering triple Rapid Rewards credits between Love Field and Kansas City or St. Louis through April 30. Bookings must be made online to be eligible.
For its part, American AAdvantage is offering up to 60,000 miles on new flights from Love Field (and Dallas/Fort Worth to Kansas City, St. Louis, Austin and San Antonio.
Three roundtrips earn 30,000 miles; six roundtrips earn 60,000 miles. Registration at http://www.aa.com is required.
- Through May 6, members of Best Western’s Gold Crown Club will earn a 12,000-point Global Free Night Voucher for every six qualifying stays. The offer is only available to members of Gold Crown Club International and Speed Rewards. Visit http://www.goldcrownclub.com/offers/freenight for details.
- It’s never too early to think about your taxes, particularly when there are miles and points to be earned. There are usually a number of frequent travel-related tax offers this time of year, with Starwood Preferred Guest and United Mileage Plus blazing the trail in 2006. SPG offers double Starpoints for federal income taxes paid with the Starwood Preferred Guest credit card. Pay online or by phone until April 17, and receive double Starpoints on your first $5,000 in tax payments ( http://www.pay1040.com/starwood ). Delta SkyMiles members can earn double miles with the SkyMiles American Express card until April 17. SkyMiles members are limited to 30-100,000 bonus miles depending on your tax bill and the type of SkyMiles American Express card you have ( http://www.pay1040.com/delta ). United Mileage Plus members have a chance for double miles all year long when paying any tax through http://www.officialpayments.com
- Until April 30, Priority Club members can earn 3,000 bonus points or 1,000 miles for every third qualifying night at InterContinental hotels, up to ten times, for a maximum bonus of 30,000 points or 10,000 miles.
Registration is required, so log on to http://www.priorityclub.com/3000
- Triple points are always a good thing, so we’re pleased to tell you that through April 30, stays at La Quinta booked through LQ.com will earn triple Returns points. What’s more, everyone who registers has a chance to win one of hundreds of SIRIUS Satellite Radio subscriptions in their Business Traveler Giveaway.
- Through May 31, Northwest WorldPerks is offering its 100,000 Mile Dash promotion. Registered members can earn points for a number of Northwest and Northwest partner related activities, including flights, hotel stays and car rentals. Hotel stays, for example, earn five points.
Points are converted to miles at the end of the promotion. For example, 1 to 19 points nets 500 bonus miles, 100 to 149 points gets 3,000 bonus miles.
Is it the greatest promotion ever? No, but it gets honorable mention, because Northwest WorldPerks remains one of the only programs in North America to consistently offer the kinds of creative promotions frequent flyers used to know and love.
Check out http://www.nwa.com/offers/dash for more information.
- Northwest continues to please by offering bonus miles for next to nothing. Check out their latest Refer-A-Friend promotion, where you can earn up to 20,000 miles for your friends’ travel when you refer them to Northwest WorldPerks. You can earn up to 4,000 miles for each of five friends, and your friends can earn an unlimited number of bonus miles.
Registration is required before May 15. Upon registering, you’ll receive a confirmation email that you can send to up to five friends. To be eligible, your friends must be WorldPerks members (or join the program prior to receiving your email) and may not have earned Northwest miles for travel since Jan. 1, 2005. Your friends then have until May 31 to complete specific activities, like purchasing a ticket at nwa.com (500 miles) or checking in online (500 miles).
Visit http://www.nwa.com/offers/referafriend/ for details.
- Through May 3, TripRewards members will earn double points for each hotel stay and 250 bonus points for booking online as part of the new “On the Double” promotion. Members will receive twice the points for up to four double-point qualifying stays during the promotional period at participating Days Inn, Ramada, Super 8, Howard Johnson, Wingate Inn AmeriHost Inn and Knights Inn hotels in the United States and Canada or any Travelodge hotel in the United States. Members who select airline miles or rail points as their earning preference will receive double points in their chosen currency. Current TripRewards members can register for the promotion online at http://www.triprewards.com or by calling (800) FOR TRIP (367-8747).
Best Bets – March, 30 2006
