Reading The Fine Print Of Reward Points

SAN FRANCISCO Sep. 24 2007 (KGO) (KGO) -- Currently, you can earn reward points for anything from air travel to hotel stays, but a San Francisco man found how he could easily lose them.

Many people have accumulated thousands of reward points and look forward to redeeming them for that dream vacation. But a San Francisco man by the name of Paul Izzo found out it's dangerous to put that dream on hold too long.

It was a trip he thought he could take after earning 93-thousand points for his frequent staysat A Sacramento hotel. He then got a surprise when he contacted trip rewards to try to redeem those points.

"So when I went online to utilize the points and redeem the points, I found out I was locked out of the system, out of their web site, and they told me that the account had been closed."

The fine print of the program reads that a member's trip reward account can be terminated if the member has no account activity for a period of 18 months.

Izzo says he was never told that when he called the program to find out when the points expired.

"When they do everything online, who goes and looks at the terms and conditions? I mean, the point is, I went to the frequently asked questions and it wasn't disclosed in there."

Eric Freidenrich is a travel expert with San Francisco based Airtreks.com. He says stories like Paul's are becoming more common, particularly with airline reward programs.

The large number of unredeemed points accumulated by travelers has become a liability so many businesses now have inactivity clauses like the one in trip rewards. Eric says there's an easy solution for consumers.

"For the consumer, there are a lot of ways to keep those miles in their account. One activity with the airline isn't just defined as flying on that airline."

Trip rewards gives you points for renting cars from participating partners, using credit cards associated with the reward programs or buying things from participating merchants.

ABC7 News called the program and they gave Paul Izzo back all his miles. That's something it didn't have to do.

Paul says he learned a valuable lesson.

"Keep the documentation and make sure you understand the terms and conditions in which these points are rewarded."

Paul hopes to take his dream trip using all his points this Spring.

Below is a list of alternate ways to earn points:

-Car rental
-Vacation booking
-Use a trip reward Mastercard
-Shop on line with participating merchants
Check out the Triprewards.com earning guide
Trip Rewards Terms And Conditions

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