News: Double Points At Hyatt, Earn IHG Points With OpenTable, American Will Fly To Iceland & More

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This is just a quick roundup of some of the news that I’ve noticed as I get to grips with the jet lag my recent flights have inflicted on me. This includes news that Hyatt has finally woken up and offered a year-end promotion, details of a new American Airlines route that I have yet to understand, news that we can now earn IHG rewards through OpenTable (and other food related bookings) and details of two new transfer partners for Chase Ultimate Rewards.

Hyatt Year End Promotion

Hyatt, the hotel chain that managed to destroy a pretty good loyalty program in under a year, has just announced that it is offering a year-end promotion to anyone who’s still actively participating in its World of Hyatt program.

World of Hyatt members who book stays through Hyatt.com or the World of Hyatt app will now earn double points through 31 December 2017.

a woman laughing with a man in the background

Three things you need to know:

– WoH members need to register for this promotion (link to registration page)

– Only base points are doubled (so elite bonuses won’t count) but, on the positive side, stays at M-Life properties will count….so this would be a good time to book a Vegas stay.

– Where a WoH member books multiple rooms at a property only the room the member stays in will count towards this promotion.

Hmmmm…

I guess this is better then no promotion at all but it’s not exactly exciting or engaging is it? If the WoH hierarchy think this is going to encourage  a material number of new bookings they’re almost certainly sadly mistaken.

This will be a nice bonus for anyone who already has Hyatt bookings or who was already planning to book a few Hyatt stays but I can’t see it prompting anyone to suddenly book a Hyatt stay or to change a stay from another chain.

American Airlines Adds A Seasonal Route To Iceland

I’m filing this under “I’ve no idea why they’re doing this”.

In case you missed the news, American Airlines has announced that it will offer a new service between Dallas Ft. Worth and Reykjavik next summer.

The announced schedule is as follows:

DFW 20:20 – 09:15+1 day KEF
KEF 11:10 – 14:50 DFW

The route will operate between 7 June and 27 October 2017 and will be served by a Boeing 757 aircraft fitted out with the recently introduced lie-flat Business Class seats.

the inside of an airplaneAmerican Airlines 757 Business Class Cabin

Presumably this service is being introduced as a riposte to WOW Air who announced back in September that it would start flying between Reykjavik and DFW.…but I can’t see this making any sense.

WOW is a low-cost carrier (sometimes verging on the ultra-low-cost) so travelers choosing to fly on WOW are doing so to take advantage of the low fares the airline offers….is American seriously going to compete on cost? Doubtful.

No one looking to book on WOW is going to be tempted to pay more to fly on American so American can only really be hoping for Business Class passengers to make this route viable….or perhaps it’s hoping for a sudden surge in interest in Iceland from the Dallas population.

Watch this space but I fully expect this service to be a “one summer thing” – I just can’t imagine this route making any money.

Chase Adds Two More Airlines As Ultimate Rewards Transfer Partners

There have been a few comings an goings in the world of the transferable currencies recently with Citi removing Hilton as a ThankYou transfer partner (after it lost the right to issue Hilton co-branded cards) and then adding Avianca LifeMiles as a transfer partner just a few days later…..and now Chase is joining in.

Somewhat quietly (I never got an email) Chase has added Iberia and Aer Lingus as Ultimate Rewards transfer partners and this takes the number of its airline transfer partners to 9.

a list of flights with red text

The addition of Iberia Plus is an interesting option as there are some very nice sweet spots that Iberia offers and that British Airways (its sister airline) doesn’t.

On top of this, and unlike British Airways, at the time of writing Iberia doesn’t levy huge fuel surcharges on awards.

a screenshot of a website

Aer Lingus’ surcharges are often considerably lower than what British Airways offers although, unlike some, I haven’t had any luck finding award space on Aer Lingus whenever I’ve needed it…that makes me less excited about this new transfer partner than I may otherwise have been.

I’m a big fan of using Chase Ultimate Rewards for Hyatt redemptions and neither of these new transfer opportunities looks like it will change that…but for some they could prove useful.

Earn IHG Rewards Points Through OpenTable & Grubhub

Members of the IHG Rewards program can now earn points when they order food on Grubhub or when they make a reservation through OpenTable.

Per IHG:

The Grubhub integration will be offered across markets where Grubhub is available in more than 1,000 hotels in the U.S. for guests staying at the Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites® and Candlewood Suites® brands.

The OpenTable integration is global; starting now IHG® Rewards Club members can access OpenTable via IHG channels and book reservations at any OpenTable restaurant in the U.S., including those at select IHG hotels, with the restaurant options expanding to the U.K. and Australia by the end of the 2017.

To make sure you collect points for Grubhub orders and OpenTable bookings IHG members will have to order/book using the IHG app/website or through an onsite wi-fi channel at an IHG property.

Holiday Inn Heathrow Ariel

Earning Rates:

  • 500 IHG Rewards points for 1st Grubhub booking
  • 250 IHG Rewards points for each subsequent Grubhub order
  • 500 IHG Rewards points for 1st OpenTable reservation
  • 300 IHG Rewards points for dining at a restaurant in an IHG property
  • 150 IHG Rewards points for all other OpenTable reservations

In the case of restaurants at IHG properties the 300 points is in addition to the usual 10 points/dollar awarded when the meal is charged to a guest’s room (this does not apply to Kimpton properties).

As things stand I haven’t been able to find a link to either Grubhub or OpenTable on the IHG app or website…but then I’m currently abroad and it’s possible these features will only show up when you’re in a country where they are offered.

There are two things to note here:

  1. The Grubhub orders will have to be made in conjunction with an IHG stay so you can’t earn points this way unless you’re booked into a participating property – that’s disappointing.
  2. It’s very likely that the points earned from OpenTable reservations will be in place of OpenTable’s own points so this may not be a good idea for regular OpenTable users. 1 OpenTable point = 1.0 cents and you’ll usually earn at least 100 points per booking…so that’s a $1 rebate per reservation. IHG points are worth around 0.4 cents each so, at 150 points/reservation that’s a $0.60 cent rebate.

Still, more ways to earn hotel points are always welcome and useful and an OpenTable booking that you would have made anyway should be an easy way to keep your IHG points balance from expiring.