I am now a member of four hotel chain rewards programs and three airline rewards programs (that I can recall off the top of my head), including United Airlines Mileage Plus, Southwest Rapid Rewards, Virgin America's Elevate, Starwood Preferred Guest ("SPG," which includes St. Regis, Westin and W hotels, among others), Hyatt Gold, Leaders Club and now the Ryokan collection, thanks to my plans to stay in a Ryokan in Kyoto. This seems remarkable to me considering my minimal business travel (I fly maybe once or twice a year for business).
But it is so easy to do. Unlike the retail store credit cards (Macy's, Banana Republic, and yes, I even had a Robinsons May card at some point), which I canceled years ago, these have no impact on your credit; and now that you can register (in a matter of a minute or two) and track your points online, there just isn't any reason to not sign up, just in case the stars somehow align and you have enough points and the right opportunity. Or is there?
For one thing, apart from a few free flights from Southwest over the course of a decade, I have yet to make use of any of these rewards. The hotel/airline points are not easy to use. Granted, I don't make accumulation or use of rewards points a priority in my travel planning. Instead, for flights I look first at my preferred travel times (i.e., I like to arrive at my destination between 10am and 6pm), preferred airlines (I like British Airways, JetBlue and Southwest), and price; and for hotels, well, that's a more subtle calculation that includes consideration of historical reputation, likely comfort level of beds, location, year built/renovated, prices, cleanliness (although this one isn't so much an issue at hotels where all other criteria are met), quality of fitness facilities and spa services, and so much more. Every time, there seems to be a different airline that has the best price for the best itinerary, and a different hotel chain that comes out at the top of my list for my next vacation. For instance, we prefer, and are willing to pay for, the St. Regis (which gives us SPG points) in Rome and SF, but in Manhattan, there are so many other choices that have the same location and luxury for less. I don't even know if there's a St. Regis in or near Venice because the Hotel Monaco and Grand Canal (a Summit hotel) is ideal for us, and always has great deals. The Leaders Club provided us a great deal for the ultimate Amalfi Coast hotel, Le Sirenuse, and even got us upgraded to full sea view rooms (for those familiar with the list of top 50 hotels in the world: I know!).
Case in point, for my next trip, we won't be staying at any Starwood (W, St. Regis, or Westin) or Leader's Club (Leading Hotels of the World) hotels. No, now that we're venturing into Asia, the hotel chain du jour is the Peninsula. For instance, in Tokyo, the Peninsula is the latest/greatest luxury hotel (we'll also be staying at the Park Hyatt), and in HK, the Peninsula is the historical gold standard (why isn't it the platinum standard?). Besides which, Mark said nine years ago that if we ever went to HK, he would take me to the Peninsula HK for afternoon tea, so we're not going to visit HK without checking that off our list.
For another, it's exhausting trying to earn points at every opportunity without compromising my priorities. The worst sham in my opinion is the UA Mileage Plus programme, where the points "expire" if you go without either earning or using points for a certain amount of time. Luckily, I discovered that UA has so many partners, both airlines and hotels, that I can usually find some part of my trip that will earn me some points. But it's work nonetheless. Also, after three years as a member, I'm finally on the verge of getting a free night at a 5- or 6-star Starwood resort. I need one more stay to push me over the edge, but since I have no plans to go to Europe or the Maldives in 2009, I probably won't earn that free night anytime soon.
I used to concern myself with this stuff, but not anymore. It just isn't worth the time and mental energy. I'll sign up for programmes, because it's easy, but I've completely cut out any consideration of rewards points out of my vacation planning process. Someday, that free night at the W Retreat and Spa in the Maldives, the St. Regis Grand or the Westin Excelsior in Rome, or maybe even the St. Regis New York, will come to me worry free. In the meantime, I haven't seen any rewards programme tied to the Peninsula, so at least I won't be adding yet another rewards programme to my roster.
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