Scott Mayerowitz inspired me on Thursday night. He told me he was tired of my first class reviews and that I need to do a week of travel through middle America on low cost carriers with stays at motels inbetween.
While perhaps not a motel, he did specifically mention the American Inn & Suites in Tooele, Utah, as it does have a (fascinating) loyalty program.
They have the Loyalty Dollars Program, and they believe their rewards program is “second to none.”
For each night you stay at a single occupancy rate of at least $96 you receive your choice between a:
- $5 Cabela’s gift card
- $5 Home Depot gift card
- $5 Wal-Mart gift card
The best part is how they justify how damn awesome their program is:
We strongly encourage you to compare our reward program to any of our competitors.
According to our calculations, they will offer you points worth only about $1.00 per night, or .10 cents on the dollar. Even when they offer double or triple promotions Our “Loyalty Dollars” are still dramatically higher!
They might want to check their calculator. If competitors are offering an average of $1 per night of rewards and that equates to 0.1 cents on the dollar, they’re competing with $1,000 per night hotels!
In fairness, Tooele is a competitive hotel market — there’s a Comfort Inn, Best Western, Holiday Inn Express, Hampton Inn, and Motor Inn.
It is fascinating that they seem to be suggesting that IHG Rewards Club and Hilton Honors offer a return of ~1% on hotel spend. While neither points currency is my favorite, I do value them a lot more than that.
But still, kudos to them on a unique loyalty program. I bet a lot of business travelers are excited about the fact that they have a $25 Wal-Mart gift card at the end of a week-long stay that the company paid for.
While I’ll have more details of my “plan” soon, would you be interested in reading about a week of low cost carriers and motels?
(Tip of the hat to Scott Mayerowitz)
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