Earn 1,000 Bonus Points for Starwood Hotel Stays in April

Excellent promotion from Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG).

Earn 1,000 bonus SPG points for each stay during the month of April at any of the Starwood brands worldwide, including Sheraton, Westin, Le Meridien, Aloft, W and St. Regis properties. No minimum stay required, the offer can be combined with other active promotions, and is valid on current reservations booked prior to the promo start date. Best of all, the bonus can be earned multiple times throughout the month; one bonus for each stay! Click here to read more and register for the promo.

(Note: The offer is softly targeted for readers of Flyertalk, but is transferrable to friends as well).

Preview: Sheraton Check-In On Us Giveaway

In celebration of their 86 newly renovated properties throughout North America, Sheraton Hotels & Resorts is giving away single night stays at each property. According to their website, the contest begins October 6th. Click here for a preview and more details of the giveaway.

New Starwood Promo: Earn Up To 1,000 Points Per Stay

Earn up to 1,000 bonus points now through November 30th in Starwood Hotels' Get Closer to Paradise promotion. Simply stay at a participating hotel and earn either 500 or 1000 Starpoints per stay. Click here to register.

Starwood: Free Nights and Bonus Miles

Starwood Hotels, which back in April launched a free weekend nights promo, is now sweetening the deal by adding yet another incentive for hotel stays. In addition to the 1 free night after 2 stays promo, guests will also earn 1,000 Northwest or Delta miles at participating properties through July 31, 2009. Click here for full details and to register.

Register Today for Starwood's Free Weekend Nights Promo

Hats off to Tommy at *wood for letting us know about this latest Starwood Hotels latest stay promotion. 

Here's how it works: You earn a complimentary weekend night after you stay just two times at any of the Starwood properties worldwide between May 1 and July 31, 2009. Added bonuses: There is no limit to the number of free nights you can earn with this promotion, and you can redeem the free room at many of the luxury properties around the world. The complimentary night is redeemable through September 30, 2009. Click here to register for this exciting SPG promotion. 

Foreclosure Looms Over Bay Area Hotels

According to InsideBayArea.com, two East Bay hotels have slipped into foreclosure status, resulting from a decrease in corporate travel. Default notices have been filed on the 170-room Sheraton Pleasanton and 293-room Coliseum Suites in Oakland. According to the article, hotel occupancy rates in Pleasanton are down a whopping 28% as Tri-Valley businesses such as E-Loan, Safeway, JPMorgan Chase and WaMu layoff workers and cut corporate travel budgets.

The Sheraton Pleasanton continues to operate business as usual and owners are reportedly in daily negotiations with lenders. Meanwhile, lenders on the Oakland hotel are attempting to seize the closed, fenced-off property.

Passing Picture - Four Points By Sheraton

I snapped this oh-so-friendly reminder not to smoke in the room at this Four Points Hotel near Chicago-O'Hare airport.

Earlier this year, we reported on how Sheraton and Four Points are moving toward becoming entirely smoke-free at properties throughout the United States & Canada.

Vacation for 2 - San Francisco to Honolulu $534 pp/tax included

Maui deals available from $629.
Two people fly non-stop on United Airlines and stay at the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani in Waikiki for under $1100 bucks. Plus you can upgrade to other upscale Starwood properties for slightly more. Valid for travel August 25th-September 8th.
This is an inFLIGHTout verified deal as of 9:45AM. This offer may end at anytime.
Example: SFO-HNL August 28-August 31st prices at $1068.00 for two people, including airline and hotel taxes. Additional nights increase the cost only slightly. Two people per reservation - no solo travelers for this discount.
Click here to book.

Cigarette Smokers Face $250 fine At Some Hotels

Lighting up at smoke-free properties could result in a $250 hotel-accessed fine.
By Mike Grasso

As reported last week on inFLIGHTout, Sheraton & Four Points Hotels announced a new policy of going smoke free at properties throughout the United States & Canada. The change matches a move previously made by Sheraton and other hotels, and while probably not the intended purpose, aligns with a larger structural effort nationwide to get people to stop smoking. Those who must smoke at smoke-free properties are designated small areas, away from the masses, to do their thing.

But, what if you're non-compliant with hotel policy? Say, you light up on your balcony, enjoy the couple minutes of pure pleasure the cig-stick affords - without incident, then carry on the rest of your day. All seems fine; smoke detector didn't ring, sprinklers didn't flood the room, nobody saw your sinning and deviant act. Until housekeeping arrives...

Turns out, evidence of your smoking may be collected and used against you when it's time to checkout. The Denver Post recently ran a story of a Courtyard by Marriott property slapping a guest with an additional $250 on their bill for cigarette butts found in his hotel room. Walt Disney World Resort Hotels will fine up to $500. Swisshotel in Chicago even awards their housekeepers $10 bucks for each smoker they catch. Think your credit card will save you? A Quality Inn owner from the Mid-west says physical evidence is sometimes needed when upset customers unsuccessfully plea with card issuers to reverse the fees.

So as more hotels swap "designated smoking room" signs with "no smoking," it seems smokers themselves will need to abstain from lighting up, otherwise they'll pay up.

Sheraton Hotels going smoke-free by year-end

Sheraton Hotels & Resorts and Four Points by Sheraton will ban smoking at more than 300 properties throughout the U.S and Canada.

This policy matches that of Westin Hotels and Resorts which became smoke-free in 2006. Both Westin and Sheraton are owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts.

Some 8,000 rooms at the hotels will be cleaned, including treatments for air conditioning, walls, rugs, upholstery and hard surfaces.Smoking will also be banned in public areas in the hotels, but there will be a designated outdoor area at each property for guests who smoke.

Both hotel brands expect to be completely free in the U.S and Canada by December 31st.

Heavenly Bed Sweepstakes

If you've ever slept on a Westin Heavenly Bed, you'll know this Starwood sweepstakes promotion is worth clicking on. Actually, the W Signature Bed is also part of the promotion, and is right up there with the Westin Heavenly in terms of comfort.

Imagine sinking into the Westin "Cloud" as I like to call it every night in the comfort and familiarity of your own bedroom. The lucky contestant will win a bedroom makeover with prizes including:

1) Your choice of a

- W Signature Bed

- Westin Heavenly Bed

- Sheraton Sweet Sleeper

- Four Points Comfort Bed

2) $1,800 Best Buy gift card

3) $2,000 Crate & Barrel gift card

About those drinking glasses in your hotel room...

(Thanks JR) From Liveleak.com comes this hidden camera story about how some Hotels aren't cleaning the drinking glasses in rooms, cleaning them with glass cleaner, or using gloves they used to cleaned the toilet with! The suspects in this video: 1 Sheraton Suites property, a Embassy Suites, and a Holiday Inn. Lesson learned: Do some cleaning of your hotel room after housekeeping leaves.