Flash Mobbers Use Lady Gaga to Demand Workers Rights in SF

San Francisco: If you've been around select Union Square hotels as of late, you can't help but see and hear the loud protests of people as they swarm the sidewalks and entrances to hotels demanding a fair contract and affordable health care for employees. One group of people recently stepped up their visibility by infiltrating the Westin St. Francis hotel in San Francisco and performing an adaptation to Lady Gaga's song, "Bad Romance." Great stuff! The Westin St. Francis is among a short list of other hotels the website Hotel Workers Rising recommends a boycott of.

Starwood 4-day California Sale Ends Friday

Check out Starwood Hotel's California sale - going on now, for just three more days. Book by Friday, April 23rd and stay before June 16th to enjoy some fabulous rates at Starwood properties throughout the Golden State. For example: Westin Bonaventure in L.A is available for just $99/night; W San Diego for $149; and the Westin St. Francis San Francisco for $149/night. Click here to check other available rates and to book.

Related: Starwood has a promotion starting May 1st where every 3 hotel stays earns you 1 free weekend night at nearly any Starwood property in the world.

Stay Twice at Westin Hotels, Earn $100 Amazon Gift Card

From the *wood blog comes word of a great new Westin Hotels promotion. Simply register two separate stays between February 22 and May 13th and earn a $100 Amazon gift card. Planning on several visits? You can earn up to 3 gift cards with this offer! You must register for the promo, and only arrivals between Sunday and Thursday count. Click here for more details.

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. 

Pictures of the Ultra Chic Le Meridien Bangkok

Had the pleasure of visiting the Le Meridien Bangkok just months after it's Fall 2008 grand opening. Situated in in the Silom district, not far from Patpong, lies 282 wonderfully planned out rooms offering floor to ceiling windows overlooking the bustling streets of Bangkok.

Of all the Starwood properties I've visited throughout the world, service at the Le Meridien Bangkok was friendly and impeccable. Staff went out of their way to accommodate us, chat with us, and genuinely showed their appreciation for our visit. After staying five nights at this wonderful hotel, it felt like we were leaving a bunch of friends behind. I highly recommend you consider the Le Meridien Bangkok during your next visit to the land of smiles.

New Starwood Promotion - Choose from 12 rewards

The much anticipated Q4 Starwood promotion was just announced and the *wood blog cheers it, "the best SPG promotion in history." Any SPG member can register, and the reward payout begins after just 2 registered stays or 4 nights between October 1 and December 31, 2008. For example, after 2 stays you could choose 2,000 bonus Starpoints.

But what makes this promotion so unique though is the variety of rewards you can choose from; bonus Starpoints, free night stays, double stay credits, gift certificates and more, depending on the number of visits to Starwood hotels you anticipate staying at during the promotion period.

Click here to read more and register for this exciting promotion.

250 Starwood Points For SPG Flights Feedback

This past Tuesday Starwood Hotels & Resorts launched SPG Flights, an exciting and valuable option for using points to book airline tickets. Now the company is offering 250 Starpoints for providing feedback to this new enhancement. Click here to complete the easy online survey.

Starwood Preferred Guest Introduces SPG Flights

Starwood Hotels and Resorts and its award winning hotel loyalty program Starwood Preferred Guest launched yet another enhancement to an already generous program.

Since 1999, SPG members have been able to redeem Starpoints with a no blackout date policy, and not subjected to a policy that limits the number of rooms set aside for redemption. Now, you can use Starpoints for flights, with any carrier, and still no blackout dates. Therefore, you can utilize Starpoints for both your airline reservation and hotel stay. And best of all, in most cases you can still collect frequent flier miles with the airline.

Examples of Starpoints to airline ticket conversion:
10,000 Starpoints allows up to a $150 airline ticket
15,000 Starpoints allows up to a $215 airline ticket
20,000 Starpoints allows up to a $280 airline ticket
25,000 Starpoints allows up to a $345 airline ticket
(there are several higher tiers available as well)

Starwood continues to offer a points-to-miles deal which allows members to convert 20,000 Starpoints to 25,000 frequent flier miles with many airlines (Starwood chips in the extra 5,000). But with capacity controls in place, the airlines have tightened up the number of seats released for award redemption, and simply having enough miles to redeem doesn't guarantee a "free" seat will be offered by the airline. Plus, unlike this new Star Flights program, you don't earn miles when you redeem airline miles.

Therefore, using this new SPG Flights program with Starwood Hotels and Resorts receives 2 thumbs up from inFLIGHTout. This is truly one of the best loyalty programs in the travel industry.



How do you earn some quick Starpoints? The Starwood Preferred Guest card from American Express earns you 10,000 Starpoints after your first purchase, with an option to earn an additional 15,000 points for spending $15,000 during the first six months. Plus you earn 1 point for each dollar purchased on the card.