A round up of fall promotions - For retaining status and/or maximising bonuses

We're chugging along nicely through September, and within a few short months, 2014 will come to a close. Which also means that for most loyalty programs - particularly hotels - that means reassessing your status, since virtually all of them are based on a calendar year assessment. And this is also the time for loyalty programs to offer fall promotions, many of which I've written about (at least the ones that interest me personally). In India, it is the start of most holidays - Diwali, Puja holidays, Christmas and New Year's Eve.

All of that means potentially a decent amount of travel that might be coming up. So here's a summary of what's on offer by some of the programs, so you can plan you travels in order to (a) attempt to retain status that you may have with programs, (b) maximise your bonuses and points, or both.

IHG - Into the Nights

Register for IHG's Into the Nights promotion, and find out your customised offer. You will need to complete a defined number of "challenges", which will earn you at least 2 nights (certificate) or 10k bonus points, in addition to the points for each challenge. If you have very few points with them so far, you may want to consider creating a new account to see if the customised offer there is a better one than what your old account is eligible for. Valid till 31 December 2014, register ASAP!

Starwood - More for you

SPG's More for you promotion offers 2x points (that's a 1x bonus) for all stays on weekdays. However if your stay includes a weekend (Thu/Fri in the Middle East, and Fri/Sat elsewhere), then your entire stay earns 3x points (ie, 2x bonus). Each stay should be for 2 nights minimum. Promotion valid till 30 November 2014, need to register by 31 October 2014.

Bonus offer from SPG! The SPG Triple Crave promotion offers 3x points on F&B spends individually more than $50 in value. And you don't need to stay at an SPG hotel for this.

Marriott - MegaBonus

Earn up to 25,000 bonus points on all stays between 15 September 2014 and 15 January 2015, starting with your second paid stay. Note that there are different offers, so you'll need to find out which one is yours. Refer to the linked post above for details.

Bonus offer from Marriott! Marriott also has an ongoing promotion for a free night's certificate for a stay at a category 1-5 property, after just two paid stays. This is valid for new members only - defined as having joined the Marriott Rewards program on or after 4 August 2014. You need to complete the 2 paid stays within 120 days from the last day of the month in which you enroll into the program. This is potentially stackable with the MegaBonus in the previous paragraph.

Hilton - Triple your trip

Somewhat like SPG's More for you promotion - Hilton offers 3x points (that's a 2x bonus) for weekend stays (Fri/Sat/Sun) and 2x points (ie 1x bonus) for other stays, between 1 August and 31 October 2014. You will need to register, and make sure you're set on "points and points" in your MyWay earning preferences (unless you want to earn some JP miles). Remember, that you don't earn 3x for the entire stay if it includes a weekend. The 3x is calculated for weekends, based on the average earning for your stay.

Hyatt - Sweet Dreams, Sweet Rewards

Hyatt actually has 2 offers going, and they *may* be stackable, though I'm not sure (inputs / experiences welcome). Both these offers are targetted, but if you aren't eligible for one or both, there's a good chance you can register by calling up Hyatt and asking to be registered. Here are the offers in summary:

• The first offer is customised - from 2000 bonus points for one stay, up to 10,000 bonus points for 3 stays. 
• The second offer, also targetted, earns 5,000 points after 5 nights, 15,000 after 10 nights, 30,000 after 15 nights and 50,000 points after 20 nights. 

Accor - Double points for stays in Asia-Pacific

This isn't exactly a fall offer, nor is it globally valid. However, you can earn double Accor points for stays in the Asia-Pacific region, till 1 November 2014.

Hopefully, some of these offers are useful to you. If you're just a few stays / nights away from qualifying or re-qualifying for elite status, then you may want to evaluate which of these programs work for you and which don't. Who knows, maybe you'll get lucky!