Hotels offer free nights, bonus rewards to head off slow time

By Rebecca Heslin, USA TODAY

Major hotel chains are throwing promotional offers at their loyal guests to fill rooms this fall and win repeat customers.

The offers — including free nights and up to triple bonus points — come as hotels enter a slow travel time compounded by a slow return of travelers to the road following recession.

The number of people traveling is up, as is their spending — but neither is back to pre-recession levels, analysts say. There usually are fewer leisure travelers on the road in the fall. And while business travel increases after Labor Day, it's still down compared with a few years ago.

"Demand is better this year than last, but it still isn't terribly strong," says Henry Harteveldt at Forrester Research. "There are a lot of enticing offers out there. They just aren't quite as rich or extravagant as a year ago, because they don't have to be."

Among the offers:

•Starwood is giving double points if guests stay up to nine nights through Dec. 14. Preferred Guest members can earn triple points on all nights if they stay at least 10 nights.

•Members of Hyatt's Gold Passport program can earn 10,000 loyalty bonus points after every five nights between Wednesday and Dec. 15.

•Rewards members who log two stays at Best Western before Nov. 21 get double points, or triple points for stays booked at bestwestern.com.

•Marriott Rewards launched a free-night promotion in which members can earn a free night's stay by paying for two stays with a Visa credit card between Wednesday and Jan. 15.

"The industry is offering slightly richer promotions this fall, but it's pretty across-the-board every year," says Laurie Goldstein of Marriott Rewards.

Travel analysts at STR Global forecast a 4.4% increase in hotel occupancy this year over last. The group predicts the average daily room rate this year will be about flat.

"This is good news for consumers, because rates were down in 2009 (by) 8.7%," says spokesman Jeff Higley.

Hotels also are offering more incentives, such as free Wi-Fi and breakfasts, which may outweigh offers of bonus points.

"There's very little blind loyalty among both business and leisure travelers right now," Harteveldt says. "They are willing to trade off inconvenience for savings, which is why hotels have to be more thoughtful, on top of being strategic, when it comes to rewarding loyal customers."