Loyalty Lobby: "This offer allows you to earn 4,000 bonus ALL points, worth 80 euros if you stay at Sofitel hotels twice during the offer period. There is no minimum stay requirement, so two stays for one night qualify."
You must complete your two stays by May 12, 2024.
Points Wire Note:
Accor doesn't get a ton of chatter in the US points community, but they have several nice brands including Fairmont, Raffles, and Sofitel. All three of these brands participate in Accor's STEP program which offers VIP benefits such as daily breakfast, a room upgrade, and a $100 property credit.
STEP bookings should be eligible for this promo since they're direct bookings. That means you can get the VIP benefits and earn 4,000 bonus points worth $85.
View From The Wing: "Starting this Friday, March 1 you must be an AAdvantage member to take advantage of free standby. So that’s a new restriction on standby, though of course people can join the program at the airport."
"What wasn’t previously announced, though, but American is now telling customers is that they won’t be able to get added to the standby list by a customer service agent or gate agent. Standby requests will be self-serve only:"
Disclosure: I serve on a Bilt advisory board and may earn a commission if you use the links below.
If you have a Bilt Platinum status, you can get Air France-KLM Flying Blue Gold status for 12 months with a simple status match starting February 29, 2024.
To activate the status match, you must transfer 10,000 Bilt Rewards points to Flying Blue. It can take up to three days for the match to process and for you to see your new Flying Blue Gold status.
Once active, your Gold status will be valid for 12 months. Since it's 12 months regardless of when you match, I would time this to line up with your travel plans on SkyTeam carriers. On international flights, you'll have SkyTeam lounges access regardless of what class of service you fly.
Even if you take advantage of this status match option, you will be eligible for future matches.
One Mile At A Time: "The company has just unveiled a new loyalty program, named Brilliant by Langham, which is launching this week. Frankly, the program doesn’t seem particularly inspiring, especially since you’d think Langham would use this as a point of differentiation, given its small footprint."
View From The Wing: "Make no mistake, these are negative changes for members, they just don’t seem as bad as I expected from the headline number of properties changing category."
"Previously we’ve seen a lot of high end hotels become more expensive as redemptions. This time we’re seeing lower category hotels go up the most. The bulk of the action with these changes are in the bottom half of the chart’s distribution. The biggest grouping of changes is category 3 hotels becoming 4’s, while we also see 1’s become 2’s and 2’s become 3’s."
Points Wire Note:
There's no way around it, devaluations hurt. Some of the category increases sting more than others, while others make little sense to me - particularly a few a properties in Washington, DC that I know well. As categories change each year, we can't be surprised at the changes, but they definitely skewed heavily toward increased award rates this year.
Book before March 26, 2024 to lock in the current award rate before rates change.
Hilton is running two bonus promos for select Hilton Honors members. The bonus offers are 4,000 or 3,000 Hilton points for one stay after registering.
You can use the links below to see if you're targeted for either offer.
I wasn't eligible for either, but I recently stayed at a Hilton property. My guess is they're targeting members who haven't stayed recently.
Disclosure: I serve on a Bilt advisory board and may receive a commission if you use the links below.
Bilt is running a March Madness promo for Rent Day this coming Rent Day (March 1, 2024). Rather than simply add an extra bonus category or benefits, you get to vote on what you want for Rent Day.
There's a bracket of options in which possible Rent Day promos face off head-to-head - just like the college basketball tournament. You can vote for your preferred promo in each match-up starting today (February 26, 2024). At the end of each day, the winners will advance to the next round and you can vote again. Each day, you can vote for your preferred options. On February 29, 2024, you'll vote on the final match-up which will determine the bonus option you'll have on March 1, 2024.
For those who grew up in a city obsessed with college basketball (this is me), consider this a warm up for your real March Madness bracket in which your hometown team will obviously will because dreams never die!
Bilt Status Matters For This Promo
Bilt Blue and Silver status holders will have access to the winning offer from the bracket.
Bilt Gold and Platinum status holders will have access to the winning offer AND the runner-up.
Redeem Bilt Points For Tourney Tickets
While I typically suggest redeeming Bilt points by transferring to airline partners (and Hyatt), Bilt is offering tickets to Sweet 16, Elite Eight, and Final Four games in several cities.
Tickets will be available on March 1 (Rent Day) with Bilt status determining when you get access:
Marriott and Cathay Pacific just announced a promo in which you can match your elite status from one program to the other - and it goes both ways. In mid-December 2023, Marriott announced a similar promotion with Singapore Airlines. It's great to see this expanding to other airlines.
Marriott Bonvoy To Cathay Status Match
If you have Marriott Platinum, Titanium, or Ambassador status, you can instantly match to Cathay Silver status (oneworld Ruby) and enjoy your new Cathay status for 12. While oneworld Ruby isn't particularly useful, Cathay actually gives its Silver members lounge access on flights operated and marketed by Cathay itself.
Once you've matched to Cathay Silver status, you can earn Gold status (oneworld Sapphire) if you earn 300 status points within 12 months. That's a 50% fewer status points than is usually required to earn Cathay Gold. Oneworld Sapphire is the sweet spot of oneworld status, in my opinion.
Cathay to Marriott Bonvoy Status Match
If you have Cathay Silver, Gold, or Diamond status, you can get Marriott Gold status instantly which will be valid through February 2025.
I find Marriott Gold status to be middling at best but, with this promo, you can earn Marriott Platinum if you stay 10 nights within six months. For context, Marriott Platinum typically requires you to stay 50 nights in a calendar year.
In the US, we have several credit cards that offer 15 Marriott elite nights for being a card holder and you can have two of these cards. One even offers 25 elite nights and comes with Marriott Platinum status. While this offer will be useful for with Cathay status who don't have access to these credit cards, this status match isn't as compelling as matching Marriott to Cathay.
Danny the Deal Guru: "As of February 20, 2024, Hyatt has moved most of the Destination by Hyatt Residences to the recently added vacation rental platform, Homes & Hideaways by World of Hyatt."
"Along with this move, there’s also a massive devaluation for those looking to redeem points at these properties. While you could routinely get a value of around 2.5 cents per points, it now drops to a fixed value of 1.2 cents per World of Hyatt point. That’s the same as other properties on Homes & Hideaways by World of Hyatt."
Loyalty Lobby: "Le Meridien Bora Bora didn’t reopen after the pandemic era arrival restrictions were lifted in French Polynesia, but the owner decided to close the hotel for 18 to 24 months for renovations (read more here) and reflag the hotel under Marriott’s other brand – Westin."
"The hotel is accepting paid reservations from August 1, 2024, but award reservations have been blocked through January 1, 2025."
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